Patent ID: 7523888
Filing Date: 2009-04-28
Classification: B60N,B64D

Abstract:
1. A passenger accommodation unit for a vehicle, including a seat assembly adapted to provide self-contained, individual seating and sleeping accommodation for a passenger, said passenger accommodation unit comprising: supporting structure for supporting said unit off the floor of a vehicle; one or more movable passenger-bearing, structural components; and means for connecting said movable, structural components to said structure such that said components can be selectively moved between a seat configuration, in which a plurality of passenger-bearing surfaces on said one or more structural, movable components or said supporting structure form a seat for the passenger, and a bed configuration, in which a plurality of said bearing surfaces are disposed substantially coplanarly and substantially contiguously to form a bed for the passenger; wherein at least one of said movable components is double-sided, comprising first and second opposite sides, one of said sides defining a first seat surface that forms part of the seat in said seat configuration, and the other side defining a second bed surface that forms part of said bed in said bed configuration, said at least one double-sided movable component being a back-rest component that is connected to said supporting structure such that it can be selectively pivoted between a first generally upright position, in which said first surface is arranged to form part of said seat, and a second prone position in which said second surface is arranged to form part of said bed, and wherein one or more of said passenger-bearing surfaces comprise a bed extension surface, separate from said second bed surface of said moveable component, which bed extension surface is positioned or deployable to be positioned rearwardly of the seat to form part of said bed in said bed configuration, wherein one or more of said passenger-bearing surfaces comprises a forward bed extension surface, which forward bed extension surface is positioned or deployable to be positioned forwardly of the seat in said seat configuration.