This is a Reissue of application Ser. No. 11/618,103, filed on Dec. 29, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,522,062.
The present invention relates to bedding products. More specifically, it is directed to a bed adapted to stop the snoring of a person sleeping thereon.
Various ways have been developed to prevent snoring. Snoring may disturb persons sleeping in the same room or on the same bed as the person snoring. From time to time snoring can become so loud that it may even awaken the snoring person or others in the same room or bed. Some may deal with a snorer by waking him/her up to cause the snoring to stop, but this causes the snorer's sleep to be interrupted. Furthermore, after going back to sleep, snoring may start again, often shortly afterwards.
Snoring may occur when soft tissue in the back of a person's mouth relaxes during sleep, especially when a person sleeps on his or her back. The relaxation of the tissue may partially block the airway, which causes the body of the person to react by breathing harder, which in turn causes vibration of the tissue that results in a snoring sound. In some cases it has been determined that the snoring sounds do not occur if and as long as the person concerned sleeps in a particular position, such as lying on his or her side. Fewer people tend to snore when lying on their side, as the soft tissue may not obstruct the airway in the same manner as when the person is lying on his or her back.
Several devices have sought to address the above problem. German Patent No. 1198005, for example, teaches a device including a padded board having the same length as the upper part of a person's body and which may be hinged along the longitudinal axis of the board. The board may be equipped with a locking device that locks the part of the board that can be lifted up at an angle of between 60 degrees and 90 degrees. Such a device may be equipped at both ends with loops through which one leg and one arm are disposed so that the sleeping person is forced into the side position by the part that is lifted up. This type of device, however, may not be conducive to restful sleep since the sleeping person is pinned in a side position and is not able to turn around.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,089,130 teaches a device adapted to be mounted on a bed in which the head of the sleeping person is put on a head support that can be tilted and is equipped with a vibrator. Snoring sounds are detected by a microphone and are fed as a control signal to a control system that then activates the vibrator. By actuation of the vibrator, the head of the sleeping person is shaken up and down so that he/she wakes up, thereby causing the snoring to cease. Such a device also has the disadvantage of interrupting the sleep of the person, often numerous times throughout the night.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,533 teaches a device for interrupting the snoring of a sleeping person as soon as the snoring begins. The device includes a microphone which picks up the snoring noise emitted by an individual and compares the intensity of the snoring noise detected by the microphone to a threshold level. In the event the detected noise is above the threshold, a sound device is actuated which does not awaken the subject but does subconsciously cause a change in behavior in the subject.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,360 discloses a device for preventing the snoring of a sleeping person which again does not wake the person. The device includes a box having a microphone which picks up the snoring noise emitted by an individual and filters out other sounds. In the event the snoring continues for more than a specified period of time, i.e. thirty seconds, a vibrator is actuated which does not awaken the subject but does influence him/her to change his or her sleeping position.
The use of these devices does not provide that the snorer will change his or her sleeping position to stop the snoring without waking the snorer. Therefore there is a need for a bedding product and associated method suitable to stop a person's snoring by changing his or her sleeping position without substantially disturbing his/her sleep.
These and other problems in the prior art are addressed by this invention which, in one embodiment, includes an adjustable bed having a stationary frame, a first head deck mattress support member supported by the frame, a second seat deck mattress support member supported by the frame and pivotally coupled to the head deck mattress member, a sensor assembly adapted to detect a sound associated with human snoring, and a motorized drive assembly operatively coupled to the sensor assembly and to the first mattress member. The adjustable bed may be such that detection of the snoring sound actuates the motorized drive assembly thereby causing relative movement of the first mattress member with respect to the second mattress member.
The sensor assembly may further be adapted to recognize a sound associated with snoring of a particular person and actuation of the motorized drive assembly may move the first mattress member between an inclined position and a horizontal flat position.
In one aspect of the invention, an adjustable bed may include a first mattress member having a first edge, a second mattress member having a second edge generally parallel to and adjacent the first edge, and a pivotal coupling of the first and second mattress members along the first edge. In another aspect of the invention, the relative movement of the first mattress member with respect to the second mattress member may include incremental relative movements.
In another embodiment, an adjustable bed may include a stationary frame, a first head deck mattress support member supported by the frame, at least one other mattress support member supported by the frame being pivotally coupled to the first mattress support member, a sensor assembly adapted to detect a sound associated with human snoring, and a motorized drive assembly operatively coupled to the sensor assembly and to the first mattress support member. The adjustable bed may be such that detection of the snoring sound actuates the motorized drive assembly thereby causing relative movement of the first mattress support member with respect to the at least one other mattress support member.
The adjustable bed in this embodiment may be such that the first mattress support member includes a first edge, one of the other mattress support members includes a second edge generally parallel to and adjacent the first edge, and such that the first mattress support member and one other mattress support member are pivotally coupled along the first edge.
Advantageously, the embodiments herein described provide an adjustable bed suitable to stop a person's snoring by changing the relative positions of one or more mattress members thereby causing cessation of the snoring without disturbing the sleep of the person sleeping on the bed.
These and other objectives and advantages will become readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the following description of embodiments of the invention and from the drawings in which:
Referring to the drawings, particularly to
With reference to
The adjustable bed 10 may comprise a base 14 including a generally rectangular stationary frame 16 and four legs 18 supporting the frame 16 a fixed distance about a floor or supporting surface 20. The stationary frame 16 comprises a pair of opposed side rails 22 and a pair of opposed end rails 24 extending between the side rails 22 at the ends thereof. The end rails 24 include a head rail 26 and a foot rail 28. The legs 18 may be secured to the end rails 24 or may alternatively be secured to the side rails 22.
With reference to
The head deck board 34 is hingedly secured to the seat deck board 36 with hinges 42, in turn secured to the lower surfaces 43, 45 of the head and seat deck boards 34, 36, respectively. Similarly, seat deck board 36 is hingedly secured to leg deck board 38 with hinges 44, in turn secured to the lower surfaces 45, 47 of the seat and leg deck boards 36, 38, respectively. Leg deck board 38 is hingedly secured to foot deck board 40 with hinges 46, in turn secured to the lower surfaces 47, 49 of the leg and foot deck boards 38, 40, respectively. Although two hinges 42 are shown (
With continued reference to
Two seat tubes or connectors 62 are pivotally secured to the side rails 22 of the stationary frame 16 with fasteners 63 so that each pivots about a horizontal pivot axis 64. Each seat tube 62 has a center portion 66 and a pair of leg portions 68 extending downwardly from opposed ends of the center portion 66. The center portion 66 of each of the foot tubes 62 is secured to the seat deck board 36 with clips 70. Clips 70 are secured to the lower surface 45 of the seat deck board 36. Although each seat tube 62 is illustrated being secured to two clips 70, any other methods and/or components for securing the seat tubes 62 to the seat deck board 36 may alternatively be used.
With reference to
With reference to
The output of the electric motor 86 drives or rotates a drive tube 88 that extends between the upper ends 82 of the lever arms 78. The electric motor 86 may be powered by a power supply 96 and may be controlled via a sensor assembly including, for example, a microphone 100 coupled to a processor 90. The power supply 96, microphone 100 and the processor 90 may be electrically powered, via respective connections, to a power source such as one in the form of a wall outlet 120. The electric motor 86 may be further controlled via a remote unit 130 coupled to a control unit 92 with a line 94.
With continued reference to
With reference to
The processor 90 may be configured to cause actuation of the electric motor 86 in one direction so as to cause the change in position described above from the fully horizontal position (
With continued reference to FIGS. 232-3, the processor 90 may be also configured such that after a predetermined length of time without detected snoring, it causes the head deck board 34 to return from any starting position between the fully horizontal position (
Movement of the head deck board 34 between the fully horizontal position (
With continued reference to
The adjustable bed 10 may be also moved from its fully inclined position (
Accordingly, many further embodiments, applications and modifications of the invention will become readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention which is intended to be defined by the claims appended hereto.
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Entry |
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Decision, Institution of Inter Partes Review 37 C.F.R. § 42.108, IPR2016-00183, 28 pages. |
Exhibit 1002 to Petition for IPR, U.S. Pat. No. 7,522,062 File History, 113 pages. |
Exhibit 1003 to Petition for IPR, Declaration of Dr. Glen Stevick in Support of the Petition for Inter Partes Review of U.S. Patent No. 7,522,062, 131 pages. |
Exhibit 1026 to Petition for IPR, Declaration of Dr. Saurabh Gupta, 2 pages. |
Exhibit 1027 to Petition for IPR, Declaration of Marissa Golub, 10 pages. |
Petition for Inter Partes Review of U.S. Pat. No. 7,522,062, 66 pages. |
Preliminary Response by Patent Owner Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 42.107, 55 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11618103 | Dec 2006 | US |
Child | 15213669 | US |