REPOSE APPARATUS
Systems and apparatus to receive a person in repose is in the present application. The apparatus to receive a person in repose includes a base portion including a top surface, a bottom surface, and two side surfaces. Also, a first relief area and a second relief area each within a sub-portion of the top surface and extending from a side surface to toward a longitudinal axis are included. The first relief area and the second relief area each corresponds to a volume including an adjustable relief apparatus that is separately adjustable from the top surface not within the relief area to provide adjustable relief relative to the top surface that is not within the relief area.
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 62/064,671, entitled “Prego Bed,” filed Oct. 16, 2014. The disclosure of the foregoing application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
BACKGROUNDThis specification relates to repose apparatus, for example, beds and couches.
Repose apparatus are used to support one or more people in repose, for example, a bed, couch, chair, among other types of apparatus and furniture. While these repose apparatus may support and be comfortable to a general population at large, certain individuals, for example, pregnant women, may find those repose apparatus to be uncomfortable and unsupportive. During pregnancy, for example, when in repose on their side, women may require different support and repose structure (including surface height) for their abdomen than the rest of their body. Consequentially, pregnant women may seek a repose apparatus that allows them to have different, adjustable support and structure for their abdomen.
SUMMARYIn general, one innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in an apparatus that includes receiving a person in repose, including a base portion including a top surface, a bottom surface, and opposing first and second side surfaces, and defining a longitudinal axis that separates the first side surface from the second side surface. Also, included is a first relief area within a sub-portion of the top surface and extending from the first side surface to toward the longitudinal axis, the first relief area corresponding to a volume including a first adjustable relief apparatus that is separately adjustable from the top surface not within the first relief area to provide adjustable relief relative to the top surface that is not within the first relief area. Further, included is a second relief area within a sub-portion of the top surface and extending from the second side surface to toward the longitudinal axis, the second relief area corresponding to a volume including a second adjustable relief apparatus that is separately adjustable from the top surface not within the first relief area to provide adjustable relief relative to the top surface that is not within the second relief area.
The details of one or more embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims.
Repose apparatus 100 may be placed upon another repose device, for example, a mattress, or in some implementations, repose apparatus 100 may be a full mattress (e.g., a twin, queen, or king size mattress) or partial mattress (e.g., half of a queen or king size mattress) with the components described herein. Also, repose apparatus 100 can be configured to be a full mattress with one or more relief areas (as described below), thereby providing, for example, a “His-and-Hers” mattress (see
Relief areas 144 and 154, in the illustrated implementation, are of a semi-oval shape, but relief areas 144 and 154 may be configured in any shape including a circle, semi-circle, square, rectangle, among others. Each relief area includes an adjustable relief apparatus that is separately adjustable from the top surface 120 of the base that not within the first relief area so as to provide adjustable relief relative to the top surface 120. Various types of relief apparatus are described below. Thus, by adjusting the relief apparatus in each relief area, the relief areas 144 and 154 may be of a height equal to or different from the height of the top surface 120.
The top surfaces of the relief areas 144 and 154 may be flat, or may be configured to slop downward in the direction from the longitudinal axis 111 to the edges 140 and 150. As described in greater detail below, relief top surfaces 145 and 155 may thus be flat or parallel with top surface, or, alternatively, may be angled or curved such that the depth at one point on the surface of the relief areas 144 and 154 is different from the depth in another area of the relief areas 144 and 154.
In some implementations, a depth within the relief areas 144 and 154 in which a relief apparatus is located may be approximately three-nine inches less than the depth between the top surface 120 and 130. Also, in some implementations the shape, location, and/or height of relief areas 144 and 154 may be different from one another.
In the illustrated implementation of
In
Other configurations and relief area geometries may also be used.
The insert elements may be made of the same material as that of the base 120, e.g., memory foam, or some other support material. In some implementations, the softness and/or material used in a relief area (e.g., insert elements) may be different than the softness and/or material used on the top surface 120 or other areas of the base portion 110.
The insert elements may be stacked on top of one another so as to provide relief for a body portion, e.g., relief for the abdomen during pregnancy. The number of insert elements that are stacked can thus raise or lower the height of the top surface of each relief area 144 and 154, thereby providing more or less relief for a portion of a body.
The height of each relief element may vary. For example, in some implementations, each insert element may be two inches in height or other heights. In some implementations, the height of each insert element is the same, but in some implementations the height of each insert element varies. Insert elements may be placed on top of one another, and in some implementations, fasteners connect one insert element to another insert element. For example, hook and loop fasteners, ties, string, buttons, adhesives, among others may be used to fasten one insert element to another insert element, and/or the bottom most insert element to the relief top surface 145 and 155, or to side walls of the volumes.
The width of each insert element may be the same or different from one another, and in some implementations, the width of the insert elements is substantially similar to the width of relief areas 144 and 154; however, such a configuration is not required, and insert elements may have a width greater than or less than that of the width of relief areas 144 and 154.
In alternate implementations, the height of the relief bottom surface 145 may increase between the innermost relief area 341 to the outermost relief area 342. Corresponding inserts are constructed to provide increasing support extending from the longitudinal axis to the edges of the base 120.
Insert elements 346a, 346b, and 346c are included as the relief apparatus within relief area 144, and insert elements 356a, 356b, and 356c are included as the relief apparatus with relief area 154. The number of insert elements may vary, as described with reference to
Insert elements 346a, 346b, and 346c may be connected or fastened to one another in relief area 144. As illustrated in
A difference between insert elements in implementations of
As seen in
As seen in
Alternatively, in the surface contour 474, a box-like shape results when each of the walls of the relief area are substantially perpendicular to the surface 120. In yet another implementation, side walls 476 and 472 may be perpendicular to the surface 120, and the bottom surface of the relief area may slope downward from in the direction from the longitudinal axis to the outer edge of the relief area, i.e., along the line A-A′ of
Further, when each inflatable element 646 and 656 are not fully inflated, the inflatable elements 646 and 656 provide a corresponding volume that provides less support than provided by the top surface 120. However, in some implementations, the support provided by each inflatable element 646 and 656 may be different from one another and/or may provide greater support than top surface 120.
In some implementations, when valves 647 and 647 are electronically controlled, a controller 660 is be included. Connections 648 and/or 658 may be included to connect valves 647 and 657 to controller 660. However, in other implementations, there may be a wireless connection provided between valves 647 and 657 and controller 660. For example, the communication may occur via a cellular network, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, other LAN or WAN network communication, RF communication, among others. Further, valves 647 and 657 may include sensors, controllers, and/or transceivers to determine and communicate information to controller 660, as well as control the function of the valves via commands from controller 660. However, in other implementations, controller 660 may be configured to obtain information from the valves 647 and 657 and control the valves directly, and also be operatively associated with a pumping apparatus to inflate and deflate the inflatable elements 646 and 656. The locations of valves 647 and 657 may be located on any portion of the inflatable elements 646 and 656, or valves 647 and 657 may be located at any location of the repose apparatus 600 that enables the inflatable substance to inflate or be removed from inflatable elements 646 and 656.
Controller 660 may be an independent device or may be provided on another device or as software enabled to be implemented on a multitude of devices. Controller 660 may be downloadable as a program or application on an electronic device (e.g., mobile device, tablet, laptop, smart phone), or controller 660 may be a separate device configured to communicate with such a program or application (the communication may be enabled as previously described). For example, controller 660 may be configured to be downloaded and controlled on a mobile phone.
Each inflatable element 646 and 656 is shown with a corresponding valve 647 and 657. Alternatively, a tubular connection may be made between inflatable elements 646 and 656 and only one value (either 647 or 657) may be used.
The amount of air or other substance used to inflate and/or deflate base portion 710 is controlled through the valve 712, and the valve may be manually (e.g., user controlling or user applying a pump or other mechanism) or electronically controlled. In some implementations, base portion 710 may be made of a rubber material. If the valve is electronically controlled (e.g., controller 660), the valve is configured to be controlled by a control system that monitors the pressure in the base portion 710, and adjust the volume of inflatable substance (e.g., air) used to inflate the base portion 710 in order to keep the volume within a certain range or above or below a certain volume. Also, in some implementations, the base portion 710 is of a volume when fully inflated to provide support that substantially matches support provided by inflatable elements 646 and 656 so that the response apparatus 700 provides consistent support across the entire top surface 720. However, in other implementations the volume within the base portion 710 and support provided within the inflatable elements 646 and 656 may be different from one another.
Further, in some implementations, one valve (712, 647, 657, or another valve) may be configured to control the amount of inflatable substance provided within base portion 710, inflatable element 646, and/or inflatable element 656. Additionally, valve 712 may be configured to be controlled by controller 660 or another controller. Moreover, base portion 710 may substitute for or be substituted for base portion 110 throughout the entire disclosure.
The inflatable elements described in the various implementations above be configured in a variety of different shapes, such as describe with reference to the various volumes in
While this specification contains many specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any inventions or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular implementations of particular inventions. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate implementations can also be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single implementation can also be implemented in multiple implementations separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.
Thus, particular implementations of the subject matter have been described. Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.
Claims
1. A apparatus to receive a person in repose, comprising:
- a base portion including a top surface, a bottom surface, and opposing first and second side surfaces, and defining a longitudinal axis that separates the first side surface from the second side surface;
- a first relief area within a sub-portion of the top surface and extending from the first side surface to toward the longitudinal axis, the first relief area corresponding to a volume including a first adjustable relief apparatus that is separately adjustable from the top surface not within the first relief area to provide adjustable relief relative to the top surface that is not within the first relief area; and
- a second relief area within a sub-portion of the top surface and extending from the second side surface to toward the longitudinal axis, the second relief area corresponding to a volume including a second adjustable relief apparatus that is separately adjustable from the top surface not within the first relief area to provide adjustable relief relative to the top surface that is not within the second relief area.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each first and second relief apparatus respectively comprise a set of stackable insert elements, each insert element being of a height that is less than a height of the base portion such that when the set of stackable insert elements are stacked in the volume corresponding to relief area, a top surface of the relief area is of a same height as the top surface of the base portion, and when a proper subset of the stackable insert elements are stacked in the volume corresponding to the relief area, the top surface of the relief area is less than the height of the top surface of the base portion.
3. The bed apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one insert element is fastened to at least one side wall of the volume of a relief area.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the base portion includes at least one flap that extends from the top face over at least one of the first relief area or the second relief area.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first relief area and the second relief area are each substantially semi-oval in shape.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each first and second relief apparatus respectively comprise an inflatable element, each inflatable element being of a first volume when fully inflated to provide support that substantially matches support provided by the top surface not within the relief area, and when not fully inflated provides a corresponding volume that provides less support than provided by the top surface not within the relief area.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each first and second relief apparatus respectively comprise a set of insert elements, each insert element being of a triangular cross section defining an apex and a base, wherein the apex is positioned toward the longitudinal axis and the base is positioned along a respective side surface when the relief element is inserted into the relief area.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the insert elements include a first insert element having a triangular cross sectional area such that when the first insert element is inserted into a relief area a top surface of the first insert element is of a same height as the top surface of the base portion.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the insert elements include a second insert element having a triangular cross sectional area such that when the first insert element is inserted into a relief area a top surface of the first insert element extending outwardly from the longitudinal axis decreases relative to the top surface of the base portion in proportion to a distance from the longitudinal axis.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bottom surface of the base portion of the apparatus is configured to be placed on a bed.
11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a relief top surface extending from an innermost relief area to an outermost relief area of each of the first relief area and second relief area decreases in height and is concavely sloped from the innermost relief area to the outermost relief area.
12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein each first and second relief apparatus respectively comprise a set of stackable insert elements, each insert element being of a height that is less than a height of the base portion such that when the set of stackable insert elements are stacked in the relief area a top surface of the relief area is of a same height as the top surface of the base portion, and when a proper subset of the stackable insert elements are stacked in the relief area the top surface of the relief area is less than the height of the top surface of the base portion.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein each of the stackable insert elements substantially conform to slope of at least one of the relief top surface and the insert element to be stacked upon.
14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein each stackable insert element substantially conforms to the slope of the portion of the relief top surface the stackable insert element is configured to contact.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 3, 2015
Publication Date: Apr 21, 2016
Inventor: Jennifer Mirinda Lee (Yuba City, CA)
Application Number: 14/612,562