Patent Application
20230128814
The present application claims the right of priority to and the benefit of Singapore Application No. 10202111920U having a filing date of Oct. 27, 2021, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This invention relates a massage system. More particularly, this invention relates to a massage chair and a method for operating the massage chair using an input device.
The following discussion of the background to the invention is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention only. It should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge of the person skilled in the art in any jurisdiction as at the priority date of the invention.
Massage apparatus, such as a massage chair, is operated using a remote controller. One such remote controller is a mobile phone running an appropriate app. Existing apps often come with a predefined list of massage programs. A user customizable program for massaging specific body parts is usually not available. And where available, the app for making such customization is often not very user friendly and difficult to navigate. They often involve multiple complicated flows. Furthermore, instructions for navigation where available are often in text. This further complicates operation for those who do not understand the text. The user interface for such apps is thus not very intuitive.
There is therefore a need for a massage system which addresses, at least in part, one or more of the forgoing problems.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a massage system that includes a massage chair and an input device in data communication with the massage chair. The massage chair has several massaging mechanisms, each of which is for massaging a corresponding one of a number of body parts of a user. The input device includes a touch screen display. The input device is operable to display on the touch screen display a body part selection screen. This body part selection screen includes a human body representation and a number of body part representations corresponding to the body parts of the user. Each body part representation is individually selectable for actuating a corresponding massaging mechanism to massage a corresponding body part of the user. One of more of the plurality of body part representations is of an irregular shape and of a size that at least substantially covers a corresponding body part of the human body representation.
In some embodiments of the system, the irregular shape includes a number of border segments, each of which is being defined according to a cubic Bezier curve.
In some embodiments of the system, the input device defines an irregular polygon based on the irregular shape.
In some embodiments of the system, detecting whether the irregular shape is selected by a touch is based on whether the touch is within the irregular polygon.
In some embodiments of the system, determining whether the touch is within the irregular polygon is based on a Jordan curve theorem.
In some embodiments of the system, the irregular polygon includes vertices that lie on a border of the irregular shape.
In some embodiments of the system, the irregular shape includes a number of border segments and at least one of them follows a contour of the corresponding body part of the human body representation.
In some embodiments of the system, each body part representation is further selectable for adjusting one or more parameters of the corresponding massaging mechanism.
In some embodiments of the system, each body part representation is selectable for selecting the corresponding massaging mechanism via a tap and selectable for adjusting the one or more parameters of the corresponding massaging mechanism via either a press, a slide gesture or a double-tap.
In some embodiments of the system, the input device is further operable to display a parameter adjustment screen when a body part representation is selected for adjusting the one or more parameters of the corresponding massaging mechanism. The parameter adjustment screen includes the human body representation with the selected body part representation distinguished from the other body part representations; and the one or more parameters for adjustment adjacent the human body representation.
In some embodiments, the parameter adjustment screen further includes a massage button that is actuatable before adjustment of the one or more parameters can proceed.
In some embodiments, the massaging mechanisms include a shoulder massaging roller whose position along a backrest of the massage chair is selectable in a shoulder roller positioning mode. In this mode, the input device is further operable to display in a shoulder roller positioning screen a representation of the shoulder massaging roller and a representation of the backrest, wherein a position of the shoulder massaging roller representation along the backrest representation is shown in synchronization with a movement of the shoulder massaging roller along the backrest of the massage chair.
In some embodiments, the massage chair includes a number of sensors for detecting the position of the shoulder massaging roller along the backrest. The massage chair sends positional information to the input device as each of the sensors detects the shoulder massaging roller in its proximity for the input device to position the shoulder massaging roller representation in a corresponding position in the shoulder roller positioning screen.
In some embodiments, the shoulder roller positioning screen includes a human body representation that appears only after the position of the shoulder massaging roller has been selected; the human body representation having a shoulder portion that is adjacent the shoulder massaging roller representation.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a device in data communication with a massage chair having a number of massaging mechanisms. Each massaging mechanism is for massaging a corresponding one of a number of body parts of a user. The device includes touch screen display. The device is operable to display on the touch screen display a body part selection screen. The body part selection screen includes a human body representation and a number of body part representations corresponding to the body parts of the user. Each body part representation is individually selectable for actuating a corresponding massaging mechanism to massage a corresponding body part of the user. One or more of the body part representations is of an irregular shape and of a size that at least substantially covers a corresponding body part of the human body representation.
In some embodiments of the device, the irregular shape includes a plurality of border segments, each border segment being defined according to a cubic Bezier curve.
In some embodiments of the device, an irregular polygon is defined based on the irregular shape.
In some embodiments of the device, detecting whether the irregular shape is selected by a touch is based on determining whether the touch is within the irregular polygon.
In some embodiments of the device, determining whether the touch is within the irregular polygon is based on a Jordan curve theorem.
In some embodiments of the device, wherein vertices of the irregular polygon lie on a border of the irregular shape.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.
The invention will be better understood with reference to the drawings, in which:
Throughout this document, unless otherwise indicated to the contrary, the terms “comprising”, “consisting of”, “having” and the like, are to be construed as non-exhaustive, or in other words, as meaning “including, but not limited to.”
Furthermore, throughout the specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the word “include” or variations such as “includes” or “including” will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.
Throughout the description, it is to be appreciated that the term ‘processor’ and its plural form include microcontrollers, microprocessors, programmable integrated circuit chips such as application specific integrated circuit chip (ASIC), computer servers, electronic devices, and/or combination thereof capable of processing one or more input electronic signals to produce one or more output electronic signals. The processor includes one or more input modules and one or more output modules for processing of electronic signals.
Throughout the description, it is to be appreciated that the term ‘server’ and its plural form can include local, distributed servers, and combinations of both local and distributed servers.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as is commonly understood by a skilled person to which the subject matter herein belongs.
As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention may be embodied in a novel and user-friendly massage system. Existing systems tend to be not so user friendly and intuitive to use. Referring to
Specifically,
The server computer 103 stores a number of massage programs that are executable on the massage chair 106. The server computer 103 connects with the terminal device 104 to transfer one or more of the massage programs via the terminal device 104 to the massage chair 106. In one embodiment, the server computer 103 can be maintained and operated by a seller of the massage programs. In other embodiments, the massage programs can be stored in the massage chair 106 and/or the terminal device 104.
The terminal device 104 may be a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a personal computer, or any device that is suitable to be used as an input device. The terminal device 104 executes an application program 114 that allows the terminal device 104 to interact with the server computer 103 and the massage chair 106 for providing massage related services. More specifically, the application program 114 executed on the terminal device 104 can connect with the server computer 103 to, for example, receive notifications about the release of new massage programs, and downloading the massage program from the server computer 103. The application program 114 can also connect with the massage chair 106 to conduct various tasks including, for example, displaying current settings of the massage chair 106, transferring a massage program to the massage chair 106, and controlling certain functionality of the massage chair 106 including but not limited to adjusting a position of a shoulder massaging roller 200 (
The massage chair 106 may be operable to apply massage, play music (
The driver 122 may be one or more circuits that provide the control interface between the microcontroller 130 and the massage unit 120 and are operable to drive operation of the massage mechanisms of the massage unit 120 according to control signals outputted by the microcontroller 130.
The control interface 124 is connected to sensors, including the positional sensors, and limit switches arranged in the massage apparatus 106, and can deliver various detection signals to the microcontroller 130 to provide information such as physical height of the user, limits of movements, motor revolutions, position of the shoulder massage roller, etc.
The wireless communication interface 126 can include a Bluetooth interface and/or Wi-Fi interface that enables data exchange between the microcontroller 130 of the massage chair 106 and other external devices in a wireless manner.
The microcontroller 130 controls and supervises the operation of the massage chair 106. In one embodiment, the microcontroller 130 can exemplary be a 32-bit Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) microcontroller. The microcontroller 130 can select one of a number of massage programs stored internally, execute the massage program through the massage unit 120 to apply a sequence of massage actions on a user’s body. The microcontroller 130 interacts with the terminal device 104 via the wireless communication interface 126. In one embodiment, the microcontroller 130 can include a processing unit/processor 132, a first and a second memory 134, 136 for storing massage program codes or instructions, input/output (I/O) ports 138 through which the processing unit 132 can exchange signals with the driver 122 of the massage unit 120 and the control interface 124, a transceiver 140 for data exchange with the communication interface 126, and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface 142.
The first memory 134 stores preset programming codes of massage programs IMP made initially available in the massage chair 106. The second memory 136 can store the programming codes of massage programs DMP that are loaded into the massage chair 106 by a user from an external device. The massage programs DMP may include one or more user customizable massage programs. In one embodiment, the first memory 134 may for example be a flash read-only memory (ROM), and the second memory 136 may for example be an electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). Some massage programs DMP may be downloaded from a server computer (e.g., the server computer 103) into the terminal device 104, and then transferred from the terminal device 104 to the massage chair 106 for storage in the second memory 136. The massage programs DMP may be transferred from the external device to the massage chair 106 via the wireless communication interface 126 or the USB interface 142.
The transceiver 140 can be a Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter through which data can be received by the processing unit 132 of microcontroller 130 and transmitted to a component outside the microcontroller 130.
The remote controller 150 is connected to the microcontroller 130. The remote controller 150 can include a display screen driven by a display controller 152, and a microcontroller 154 operable to receive user’s inputs on the remote controller 150, to control graphical content shown on the display screen of the remote controller 150, and to interact with the microcontroller 130. In one embodiment, the microcontroller 154 of the remote controller 150 can include an internal memory 156 that stores graphical icons associated with the massage programs IMP and DMP. These graphical icons can be displayed on the screen of the remote controller 150 for facilitating the setting, control and operation of the massage chair 106 by the user. The functions provided by the remote controller 150 can also be additionally or alternatively provided on the terminal device 104.
The terminal device 104 may include hardware similar to those in the remote controller 150. For example, the terminal device 104 can include a touch screen display 204 driven by a suitable touch and display controller, and a microcontroller operable to receive user’s touch inputs on the touch screen display 204, to control graphical content shown on the touch screen display, and to interact with the microcontroller 130 of the massage chair 106. In one embodiment, the microcontroller of the terminal device 104 can include a memory that stores program instructions that is executable by the microcontroller therein for performing a number of functions/features.
An operation of the massage system 100 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure is next described with the aid of
The method 210 next proceeds to a ROLLER POSITION SETTING step 216, wherein the shoulder massage roller 200 is positioned where the shoulder of the user is. In this step, the massage chair 106 can automatically detect a shoulder position of the user in an automatic roller positioning mode. Alternatively or additionally, the shoulder massage roller 200 may be positioned at a position selected by the user in a manual shoulder roller positioning mode. Automatic positioning of the shoulder position is carried out under the control of the microcontroller 103, wherein the shoulder massage roller 200 is moved up and down the backrest 202 of the massage chair 106 until a shoulder position of the user is automatically detected by a suitable sensor (not shown) coupled to the shoulder massage roller 200. In the manual shoulder roller positioning mode, the user gets to select where to position the shoulder massage roller 200. The shoulder massage roller 200 is moved under the control of the microcontroller 103 along the length of the backrest 202 of the massage chair 106 to impinge against the user, and the user can stop the shoulder massage roller 200 in any desired position. After positioning of the massage roller 200 is completed, the massage chair 106 records the shoulder massage roller position for the user in the memory 136. The shoulder massage roller position may alternatively or additionally be stored on the server computer 103. In the ROLLER POSITION SETTING step 216, a roller positioning screen 220 as shown in
In one embodiment, the massage chair 106 will go into the automatic shoulder roller positioning mode in the ROLLER POSITION SETTING step 216. In other embodiments, the user is provided with a screen (not shown) to select either automatic shoulder roller positioning or manual shoulder roller positioning. Selection of the manual shoulder roller positioning will instruct the massage chair 106 to go into the manual shoulder roller positioning mode, wherein the massage chair 106 continues to move the shoulder massage roller 200 without deciding where to finally position the shoulder massage roller 200. The position of the circle indicium 222 will be updated in tandem with shoulder massage roller position sensed by the positional sensors as described above. The massage chair 106 may move the shoulder massage roller 200 along the backrest in a continuous manner at a speed of about 0.1 m/s. Alternatively, the massage chair 106 may move the shoulder massage roller 200 at a faster rate of about 0.2 m/s between positional sensor positions and stopping intermittently at each positional sensor position to allow more time for the user to decide if the shoulder massage roller 200 has been positioned at his/her desired shoulder position. In the manual shoulder positioning mode, when the user decides that the shoulder massage roller is at a desired shoulder position, the user may tap on a call-to-action “Start Massage” button (not shown) and that will cause the massage chair 106 to stop the advancing of the shoulder massage roller 200. At this point the terminal device 104 will momentarily show the human body representation 226 in the shoulder roller positioning screen 220 as described above in relation to the automatic shoulder roller positioning mode.
After the position of the shoulder massage roller 200 is set, the method 210 next proceeds to a BODY PART SELECTION step 232, wherein the terminal device 104 displays in a body part selection screen 234 a human body representation 236. This human body representation 236 is shown in
The terminal device 104 is able to detect selection of each of these body part representations 238A-238G by the user touching it on the touch screen display 204. Once a selection is detected, the terminal device 104 changes the colour of the body part representation 238A-238G selected to for example light blue in colour to indicate its selected state. A further touch on this same selected body part representation 238A-238G will deselect it when its colour will be changed back to grey to indicate its deselected state. In this manner, repeated touch of a body part representation 238A-238G in the body part selection screen 234 will toggle the body part representation 238A-238G between a selected state and a deselected state.
As each body part is individually selectable, a user can select any combination of body parts to create his/her own customized massage program. For example, the user may select a combination of head and shoulder, and arms as shown in
A method of obtaining an irregular shape body part representation 238A-238E and detecting a touch of such an irregular shape body part representation 238A-238G on the touch screen display 204 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is next described with the aid of
After the border segments 242A-242C are defined, an irregular polygon 244 is defined based on the irregular shape 238C. Vertices 246 of the irregular polygon 244 may lie on the border segments 242A-242C of the irregular shape as shown in
Once the user has selected one or more body parts according to that described above, the method 210 next proceeds to a START MASSAGE step 252, wherein the massage chair 106 will actuate the massage mechanisms corresponding to the selected body part representations 238A-238G to massage the corresponding body parts of the user. The massage mechanisms are actuated according to a default parameter settings of the massage chair 106. In this massage mode of the massage chair 106, a massage screen 254 such as that shown in
During the massage sequence in the START MASSAGE step 252 or before the start of the massage sequence in the BODY PART SELECTION step 232, the user is able to adjust the parameters of each massage mechanism of the massage chair 106. The user can do so by pressing on the body part representation 238A-238G. Other inputs such as but not limited to a slide gesture and a double-tap may also be used. Pressing is distinguished from a tap in that the amount of time a finger is in contact with the touch screen is longer. Such an action will not toggle the selection of the body part representation 238A-238G but will cause the method 210 to go into an ADJUST PARAMETER step 254, wherein the terminal device 104 will display on the touch screen display 204 a parameter adjustment screen 260 corresponding to the pressed body part representation 238A-238G. For example, when the head and shoulder body part representation 238A is pressed, the parameter adjustment screen 260 shown in
In this manner, parameters for the massage mechanism corresponding to each body part may be adjusted.
Advantageously, the user interface associated with massage system 100 described above is user friendly and intuitive. A user can easily create a customized massage program for massaging user selected body parts without the aid of user guides and complicated screen navigations, leading to a better overall user experience.
Although the present invention is described as implemented in the above-described embodiments, it is not to be construed to be limited as such. For example, although it is described in the context of a massage chair 106, the system can be implemented in any massage apparatus including, but not limited to, a massage belt, a foot massage apparatus, and the like.
As another example, positional sensors are described to be located at corresponding positions along the backrest 202 of the massage chair 106 for detecting the position of the shoulder massage roller 200. Other mechanisms for detecting the position of the shoulder massage roller 200 may also be used. For example, these mechanisms may include a single optical or audio sensor appropriately located so that a distance between the senor and the shoulder massage roller 200 may be detected.
As yet another example, the terminal device 104 is described as receiving positional information of the shoulder massage roller 200 from the massage chair 106 for positioning the circle indicium 222 on its touch screen display 204. This is not to be construed to be limited as such. In other embodiments, the terminal device 104 may receive just a current or start position of the shoulder massage roller 200 from the massage chair 106 and thereafter advance the circle indicium 222 independently of the massage chair 106 according to a known speed and direction of a movement of the shoulder massage roller 200 in the massage chair 106 so that movement of the two remain synchronized.
As yet a further example, the body part representations are described as being drawn using a cubic Bezier curve. Other means of drawing these body part representations, including but not limited to, using bit map representations, may also be used.
It should be further appreciated by the person skilled in the art that one or more of the above modifications or improvements, not being mutually exclusive, may be further combined to form yet further embodiments of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10202111920U | Oct 2021 | SG | national |
