EP0489310A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Feedback system for load bearing surface
Assignee: Biomechanics Corp of America
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Filing: 1991-11-21
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-11-21
Abstract
Abstract An electronic system for adjusting a load bearing surface (12) such as a chair or bed to provide a desired level of comfort comprises an array of pressure sensors (14) located within the load bearing surface. The pressure sensors (14) generate data indicating the actual distribution of pressure exerted by a user on the load bearing surface. An electronic processor (40) processes the data generated by the array of pressure sensors (14). The processor (40) compares the fraction of total load exerted on each of a plurality of regions of the load bearing surface (12) with a desired range for each region. If the fraction of total load for any region is not within the desired range, a servo-mechanism (28) is activated to change the shape of the load bearing surface (12) so that the fraction of total load on each region is within the desired range, so as to provide a desired level of comfort to the user.
Inventors
- 👤 Clifford Gross
- 👤 Ravi Goonetilleke
- 👤 Jose Banaag
- 👤 Chandra Nair
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 10:53
CPC Classifications
A; A47; A47C; A47C31/00; A47C31/12; A47C31/126; A47C27/00; A47C27/08; A47C27/081; A47C27/082; A47C27/083; A47C27/10; A47C27/14; A47C27/18; A47C31/123; A47C4/00; A47C4/54; B; B60; B60N; B60N2/00; B60N2/90; B60N2/914; G; G01; G01L; G01L5/00; A61; A61G; A61G2203/00; A61G2203/30; A61G2203/34; A61G7/00; A61G7/05; A61G7/057; A61G7/05769; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S5/00; Y10S5/935
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 17
Claim 1
Independent Claim
92 words
An electronic system for adjusting a load bearing surface to provide a desired level of comfort for a user comprising pressure sensing means for generating data indicating the actual distribution of pressure exerted by said user on said surface, electronic processing means for processing said data generated by said pressure sensing means, and servo-means responsive to said processor means for reconfiguring said load bearing surface so as to change the distribution of pressure exerted by the user on said load bearing surface to achieve a desired level of comfort for the user.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said load bearing surface forms part of a seat.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
12 words
The system of claim 2 wherein said seat is a vehicle seat.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
12 words
The system of claim 2 wherein said seat is an office seat.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said load bearing surface forms part of a bed.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
38 words
The system of claim 1 wherein one or more air bladders are contained within said load bearing surface and said servo-means reconfigures said load bearing surface by controlling the amount of air within said one or more bladders.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
The system of claim 1 wherein a plurality of plates is contained within said load bearing surface and said servo-means comprises means for adjusting the position of said plates.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
The system of claim 1 wherein said pressure sensing means comprises a two-dimensional array of individual pressure sensors.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
45 words
The system of claim 8 wherein said processor determines the fraction of total load exerted on each of a plurality of regions of said load bearing surface and compares the fraction of total load for each region with a predetermined load range for each region.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
42 words
The system of claim 9 wherein said servo-means reconfigures said load bearing surface to change the distribution of load in said regions so that the fraction of total load exerted on each region is within the corresponding predetermined range for each region.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
24 words
The system of claim 10 wherein the fraction of total load exerted on each of said regions is averaged over time by said processor.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
86 words
A load bearing device comprising a load bearing surface, an array of pressure sensors within said load bearing surface for detecting pressure exerted by a user on said load bearing surface, means coupled to said load bearing surface for changing the shape of said load bearing surface, and processing means for receiving data generated by said array of pressure sensors and for controlling said shape changing means in response to the data generated by said array of pressure sensors to control the shape of said surface.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
33 words
The load bearing device of claim 12 wherein said processing means compares the fraction of total load on each of a plurality of regions of said load bearing surface with a predetermined range.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
107 words
A method for adjusting a load bearing surface to provide a desired level of comfort for an individual user comprising the steps of: sensing the distribution of pressure exerted by said individual user on said load bearing surface, comparing the fraction of total load exerted by said user on each of a plurality of regions of said load bearing surface with a predetermined range for each of said regions, and reconfiguring the shape of said load bearing surface so that the fraction of total load for each of said regions falls within the corresponding predetermined range, thereby achieving a desired level of comfort for the individual user.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
86 words
A load bearing device comprising a load bearing surface, pressure sensor means located within said load bearing surface, a processor in communication with said pressure sensor means for processing data produced by said pressure sensor means when a user is supported on said load bearing surface, shape changing means located within said load bearing surface, and servo-means controlled by said processor for activating said shape changing means to change the shape of said load bearing surface to achieve a desired level of comfort for said user.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
28 words
The device of claim 13 wherein said shape changing means comprises a plurality of air bladders and wherein said servo-means regulate the amount of air in said bladders.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
150 words
A method for adjusting a load bearing surface to provide a desired level of comfort for an individual user supported by said load bearing surface comprising the steps of: utilizing pressure sensing means to electronically generate data representative of the actual distribution of pressure exerted by said individual user on said load bearing surface, processing said data in an electronic processor to determine a set of attributes of said actual distribution of the pressure and utilizing said attributes to determine if an actual comfort level of said individual user on said load bearing surface is within a desired comfort range, and if said actual comfort level is not within a desired comfort level range, reconfiguring the shape of said load bearing surface under the control of said processor to change the distribution of pressure on said load bearing surface so that said actual comfort level is within the desired range.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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