Abstract:
An operating system ( 10 ) for operating an article of furniture ( 12 ), the article of furniture ( 12 ) comprising a support structure, at least one component displaceably arranged relative to the support structure and a receiver. The operating system ( 10 ) includes a (controller  34 ) which communicates wirelessly with the article of furniture ( 12 ), the controller ( 34 ) outputting operating signals ( 46 ) containing operating instructions. A signal processing module communicates with the wireless controller ( 34 ) via a routing arrangement ( 48 ), the signal processing module receiving the operating signals ( 46 ) and converting the operating signals into control signals to be provided to the receiver to effect displacement of the at least one component of the article of furniture ( 12 ) relative to the support structure under the control of a user.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application claims priority from Australian Provisional Patent Application No 2014904114 filed on 15 Oct. 2014 and Australian Provisional Patent Application No 2014904998 filed on 10 Dec. 2014, the contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
       TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    This disclosure relates, generally, to furniture and, more particularly, to an operating system for, and a method of, operating an article of furniture. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    In a first aspect, there is provided an operating system for operating an article of furniture, the article of furniture comprising a support structure, at least one component displaceably arranged relative to the support structure and a receiver, the operating system including 
         [0004]    a controller which communicates wirelessly with the article of furniture, the controller outputting operating signals containing operating instructions; and 
         [0005]    a signal processing module which communicates with the wireless controller via a routing arrangement, the signal processing module receiving the operating signals and converting the operating signals into control signals to be provided to the receiver to effect displacement of the at least one component of the article of furniture relative to the support structure under the control of a user. 
         [0006]    The controller may include a human-machine interface (HMI) via which the user can input commands. 
         [0007]    The system may include a safety interlock, or anti-entrapment feature, associated with the furniture, the safety interlock monitoring the displacement of the components of the furniture and ceasing displacement of the furniture when at least one predetermined condition is breached. 
         [0008]    In an embodiment, the controller may include at least one preset field able to be input by the user to enable the user to displace the position of the at least one component relative to the support structure into a favoured position of the user by the user operating the preset field of the controller. 
         [0009]    The article of furniture may have at least one accessory associated with it, the controller further being configured to control operation of the at least one accessory via the signal processing module and the receiver. 
         [0010]    The article of furniture may comprise a plurality of components displaceably arranged relative to the support structure, the controller being configured to effect displacement of at least some of the components independently of other of the components. 
         [0011]    In an embodiment, the controller may be a smart device with an associated software application. Examples of smart devices include smart phones, tablets, phablets, smart watches, or the like. The software application may be a dedicated application commonly referred to as an “app”. 
         [0012]    In an embodiment, the controller may include a voice operated input system. In addition, or instead, the smart device may have a display associated with it, the display being a haptic, or touch screen, display. The display may either be built into the device itself or the device may communicate with the display. 
         [0013]    The system may include the routing arrangement, the routing arrangement comprising a wireless router and a server in communication with the router, the server, in turn, further communicating with the signal processing module via a Wi-Fi bridge. The signal processing module may communicate with the Wi-Fi bridge, the Wi-Fi bridge having a translator which converts a Wi-Fi signal received from the controller into a signal suitable for the receiver. For example, the translator may convert the Wi-Fi signal into a Bluetooth signal or a signal of a protocol similar to Bluetooth, e.g. Home RF. 
         [0014]    In an embodiment, the controller may be a wireless identification device to which the receiver of the article of furniture is responsive. The wireless identification device may, for example, be a biometric or RFID identification device. 
         [0015]    In a second aspect, there is provided a method of operating an article of furniture, the article of furniture comprising a support structure, at least one component displaceably arranged relative to the support structure and a receiver, the method including 
         [0016]    inputting operating commands into a controller to cause the controller to output operating signals containing operating instructions; and 
         [0017]    wirelessly receiving the operating signals at the receiver of the article of furniture and converting the operating signals into control signals to effect displacement of the at least one component of the article of furniture relative to the support structure under the control of a user. 
         [0018]    The method may include monitoring the displacement of the at least one component of the article of furniture and ceasing displacement of the component when at least one predetermined condition is breached. 
         [0019]    In a third aspect, there is provided an operating system for operating an article of furniture, the article of furniture comprising a support structure, at least one component displaceably arranged relative to the support structure and a receiver, the operating system including 
         [0020]    a proximity responsive interface having a plurality of proximity responsive components for enabling a user to control displacement of the at least one component of the article of furniture relative to the support structure under instructions of the user; and 
         [0021]    a signal processing module responsive to the proximity responsive interface, the signal processing module incorporating a memory device in which a preferred setting of the at least one component relative to the support structure can be stored, storage and retrieval of the preferred setting being effected by a predetermined manipulation sequence of at least some of the proximity responsive components of the proximity responsive interface. 
         [0022]    In one embodiment, each proximity responsive component may be a touch sensitive component. It will therefore be appreciated that, in this specification, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the term “proximity responsive interface” includes a touch responsive interface. 
         [0023]    Each touch sensitive component may comprise a touch sensor, the predetermined manipulation sequence comprising simultaneously touching a number of the touch sensors for a predetermined first period of time to store the preferred setting and touching the same touch sensors for a predetermined second period of time, different from the first period of time, for example, a predetermined second, shorter period of time, to retrieve the preferred setting. 
         [0024]    In another embodiment, each touch sensitive component may comprise a touch sensor, the predetermined manipulation sequence comprising touching at least one of the touch sensors a predetermined first number of times and with a predetermined first cadence to store the preferred setting and touching at least one of the touch sensors a predetermined second number of times, different from the first number of times, and with a predetermined second cadence, different from the first cadence, to retrieve the preferred setting. 
         [0025]    In a further embodiment, each proximity responsive component may be a proximity sensitive component. Each proximity sensitive component may comprise a proximity sensor. The predetermined manipulation sequence may comprise a user swiping his or her hand over at least one of the proximity sensors in a first direction to retrieve the preferred setting for that user. Further, the predetermined manipulation sequence may comprise the user swiping his or her hand over at least one of the proximity sensors in a second direction to return the article of furniture to its “home” position. 
         [0026]    A plurality of preferred settings may be stored in the memory device of the signal processing module. Different users may be able to access their preferred setting as stored in the memory device by that user swiping his or her hand over the at least one proximity sensor in the first direction a predetermined number of times. The predetermined number of times selected may be unique for that user so that only that user&#39;s preferred settings are retrieved when the relevant predetermined manipulation sequence is carried out. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0027]    Embodiments of the disclosure are now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0028]      FIG. 1  shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an operating system for operating an article of furniture; 
           [0029]      FIG. 2  shows a schematic, sectional side view of an embodiment of the article of furniture with parts of a displacement mechanism of the article of furniture being omitted for the sake of clarity; 
           [0030]      FIG. 3  shows a schematic circuit layout of the operating system; 
           [0031]      FIGS. 4 to 7  show flow charts of embodiments of a method of operating an article of furniture; and 
           [0032]      FIG. 8  shows a schematic, side view of a further embodiment of an operating system for operating an article of furniture. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
       [0033]    In the drawings, reference numeral  10  generally designates an embodiment of an operating system for operating an article of furniture  12 . An embodiment of an article of furniture  12  is shown in greater detail in  FIG. 2  of the drawings. 
         [0034]    The article of furniture  12  includes a support structure, or base,  14  and a plurality of components  16 ,  18 ,  20  and  22 . The component  16  is a headrest, the component  18  is a backrest, the component  20  is a seat and the component  22  is a footrest. The headrest  16  is displaceable relative to the backrest  18  via a displacement mechanism in the form of an actuator motor  24 . 
         [0035]    The seat  20  can be extended relative to the base  14  independently of the backrest  18  and headrest  16 . The seat  20  is displaceable relative to the base  14  under the action of a displacement mechanism in the form of an actuator motor  26 . When the seat  20  is extended relative to the base  14 , the footrest  22  extends to the position shown in  FIG. 2  of the drawings. The mechanism by which the footrest  22  is displaced relative to the seat  20  is omitted from  FIG. 2  of the drawings for the sake of clarity. 
         [0036]    The article of furniture  12  further includes a receiver  28 . The receiver  28  receives signals from a proximity responsive interface  29  of the article of furniture  12 . In the illustrated embodiment, the proximity responsive interface is shown as carried by the seat  20  of the article of furniture  12 . It will, however, be appreciated that the proximity responsive interface  29  could be carried on a different component of the article of furniture  12  such as, for example, an armrest  31 , the base  14 , or elsewhere on the article of furniture  12 . 
         [0037]    The proximity responsive interface  29  comprises sensors  30  and  32  which, in the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 2  of the drawings, are touch responsive components, in the form of touch sensors arranged on the seat  20  of the article of furniture  12 . The receiver  28  is a dual channel switch unit for both motors  24  and  26  and incorporates a memory as well as wireless and wired (if required) connectivity. 
         [0038]    The system  10  includes a controller  34  which communicates wirelessly with the receiver  28  of the article of furniture. Thus, the receiver  28  acts as a wireless base station for the controller  34  to control the article of furniture  12 . Internally within the article of furniture  12 , the receiver  28  communicates either wirelessly or via cable with the actuator motors  24 ,  26  of the article of furniture  12 . 
         [0039]    The controller  34  can adopt various forms. In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 1  of the drawings, the controller  34  is illustrated as a smart device such as, for example, a smart phone, a tablet, a phablet, a smart watch, or the like. For ease of explanation, the controller  34  will be described in this embodiment with reference to the controller  34  being a smart phone and will be referred to as the device  34 . In other embodiments, the controller  34  is implemented as a wireless key fob control, an internet-based controller, an intranet-based controller, or the like. 
         [0040]    The device  34  includes a display  36  and an installed software application which is bespoke for controlling the operation of the article of furniture  12 . Such a software application is commonly referred to as an “app”. The user controls operation of the device  34  using the installed app. The display  36  is a haptic display, or touchscreen, and the user controls operation of the device  34  by touching the display  36 , as shown schematically at  38 . Instead, or in addition, the device  34  is responsive to voice commands and the user controls operation of the device  34  via the voice commands as shown schematically at  40 . 
         [0041]    Thus, initially, the user opens the app via a first command as shown at  42  and then initiates control of operation of the article of furniture  12  via a second command  44 , the commands being effected either by touch or by voice. 
         [0042]    The device  34  emits operating signals  46  which are fed via a routing arrangement  48  to the receiver  28 . 
         [0043]    The system  10  includes a signal processing module, or microcontroller  50  ( FIG. 3 ), which in the illustrated embodiment, is shown as part of the receiver  28 . However, it will be appreciated that the signal processing module, or microcontroller  50 , could be a separate unit from the receiver  28 . 
         [0044]    The microcontroller  50  communicates with the device  34  via the routing arrangement  48  to receive the operating signals  46 . The microcontroller  50  converts the operating signals into control signals to control operation of the actuator motor  24  and/or the actuator motor  26 . 
         [0045]    The routing arrangement  48  includes a Wi-Fi router  52  which communicates with a server  54 . The server  54 , in turn, communicates with a Wi-Fi bridge  56  which feeds the operating signals  46  to the microcontroller  50  in a suitable format for the microcontroller  50 . Thus, the Wi-Fi bridge  56 , for example, converts the operating signals  46  into a Bluetooth signal to which the receiver  28  is responsive. 
         [0046]    As shown in greater detail in  FIG. 3  of the drawings, the device  34 , whether the device of  FIG. 1  or some other suitable controller, includes a radio frequency (RF) transmitter  58 . Various inputs  60  can be input into the transmitter  58  by the user. As described above, these inputs  60  can be voice inputs, touchscreen inputs, keystroke inputs, mouse (or other pointer device) inputs, or the like. The device  34  further includes a power source in the form of a rechargeable battery  62 . 
         [0047]    The app associated with the device  34  can store a user&#39;s preferred settings. Thus, by way of appropriate inputs  60  into the device  34 , the user can control the article of furniture  12  to displace the components  16 - 22  into that user&#39;s preset, preferred setting. 
         [0048]    In an embodiment, the device  34  has an electronic identification tag associated with it which is transmitted as part of the operating signal  46  to the article of furniture  12 . Thus, different users of the article of furniture  12  can each store their own preferred settings in the receiver  28  of the article of furniture  12  and in the app of their own devices  34 . When any user operates the article of furniture  12  using his or her device  34  to set the article of furniture at the user&#39;s preferred setting, the microcontroller  50  of the receiver  28  determines the identity of the user via the identification tag of the device  34  and selects the appropriate stored preferred setting for that user. 
         [0049]    As described above, the article of furniture  12  also includes the sensors  30  and  32  for controlling operation of the actuator motors  24  and  26 . In this embodiment, each sensor  30 ,  32  includes a pair of touch sensor inputs in the form of buttons  64 . Outputs from the buttons  64  feed into a sensor interface circuit  66 . The sensor interface circuit  66  communicates with the microcontroller  50  via an electrostatic discharge protection circuit  68 . 
         [0050]    The system  10  includes a power source  70  which is an electrical power supply and/or a backup battery. An output from the power source  70  feeds via a power protection circuit  72  and a power conditioning circuit  74  to the microcontroller  50  and the protection circuit  68 . The power protection circuit  72  further feeds into a motor drive H-bridge circuit  76  which drives the actuator motors  24  and  26 . 
         [0051]    The receiver  28  also includes a status LED  78 , an RS 232 interface  80  and an audio feedback module  82 . 
         [0052]    In an embodiment, instead of, or in addition to controlling preferred settings of the article of furniture  12  via the device  34 , the user can store preferred settings in the memory of the receiver  28  via the touch sensor buttons  64  of the sensors  30 ,  32 . Thus, in one example, by the user simultaneously pressing two of the buttons  64  of the sensors  30 ,  32  for a predetermined period of time, for example, about 5-10 seconds, the setting in which the components  16 - 22  of the article of furniture are at that time is stored in the memory of the receiver  28  as the user&#39;s preferred setting. 
         [0053]    At any time thereafter, when the user presses the same two buttons  64  for a shorter period of time, say about one second or less, the components  16 - 22  of the article of furniture are displaced into the user&#39;s preferred setting. 
         [0054]    In another example, the user can store his or her preferred setting by initially tapping one of the buttons  64  of the sensors  30  and  32  and thereafter tapping the same button  64  repeatedly with a predetermined cadence for a predetermined number of times, say about three or four times. When this occurs, the setting of the article of furniture  12  is stored in the memory of the receiver  28 . To retrieve that setting at any time thereafter, the user again taps the same button initially and then taps that button repeatedly with a predetermined cadence for a different predetermined number of times, for example, twice. In this way, different users can store their preferred settings in the memory of the receiver  28  using the sensors  30 ,  32 . 
         [0055]      FIG. 8  of the drawings, shows another embodiment of the operation of the article of furniture  12 . With reference to the previous drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts, unless otherwise specified. 
         [0056]    In this embodiment, each sensor  30 ,  32  comprises a pair of proximity sensitive components, or proximity sensors,  65 . The predetermined manipulation sequence comprises the user swiping his or her hand  67  over at least one, and, preferably, at least two of the proximity sensors  65  in a first direction, as illustrated by arrow  69 , to retrieve the preferred setting for that user when the article of furniture  12  is in its “home” position as shown in  FIG. 8  of the drawings. 
         [0057]    To cater for different users, the controller  34  is responsive to the number of times the user sweeps his or her hand  67  over the sensors  65  in the direction of arrow  69 . Thus, for example, a first user may sweep his or her hand  67  once in the direction of arrow  69  to retrieve the preferred setting of the article of furniture  12  for the first user. A second user sweeps his or her hand  67  in the direction of arrow  69  at least twice to retrieve the second user&#39;s preferred setting, etc. Hence, in this way, the preferred settings of the article of furniture  12  for each of a number of users are able to be stored to be retrieved by the relevant user. 
         [0058]    When the article of furniture  12  is in the extended position, as shown in  FIG. 2  of the drawings, to return the article of furniture  12  to the “home” position, as shown in  FIG. 8  of the drawings, the user swipes his or her hand  67  in the direction of arrow  71  across at least one, and, preferably, at least two, of the sensors  65 . 
         [0059]    It is to be understood that the reference to “hand” may mean the user&#39;s entire hand or part of the user&#39;s hand such as one or more fingers of the user&#39;s hand being swiped across the sensors  65 . Further, the reference to the user swiping his or her hand “over” the sensors  65  is intended to encompass both making contact with the sensors  65  and the user&#39;s hand  67  passing over, but not in contact with, the sensors  65 . 
         [0060]    In still another embodiment of the controller  34 , the controller  34  can be implemented as a wireless identification device such as a biometric sensor, RFID sensor, or the like to which the receiver  28  is responsive to operate the motors  24  and  26 . In this latter embodiment, a user&#39;s preferred settings of the components  16 - 22  of the article of furniture  12  are stored in the memory of the receiver  28 . When the user approaches the article of furniture  12 , the sensor constituting the controller  34  is detected by the receiver  28 . If the user then enters an input into the receiver  28 , for example, by operating one of the buttons  64  of the sensors  30  or  32 , the components  16 - 22  of the article of furniture  12  are displaced relative to the base  14  into that user&#39;s preferred setting. 
         [0061]    Referring now to  FIGS. 4-7  of the drawings, different methods of operating the article of furniture  12  are described. In  FIG. 4 , reference numeral  90  generally designates a flow chart of the basic operation of the article of furniture  10 . At  92 , the microcontroller  50  of the receiver  28  queries whether or not a button  64  (or sensor  65  in the case of the embodiment of  FIG. 8 ) of one of the sensors  30 ,  32  has been actuated or whether or not a command has been received from the controller  34 . 
         [0062]    The microcontroller  50  checks whether or not the relevant component is in a fully up or down position as shown at  94  by means of sensors  96  ( FIG. 2 ). In this embodiment, the sensors  96  are limit switches. If not, the microcontroller  50  sets the relevant motor  24  or  26  running as shown at  98 . 
         [0063]    It will be appreciated that, when the user controls operation of the article of furniture  12  via the controller  34 , the user will often not be within sight of the article of furniture  12 . The user may not know that a young child, infant or pet has crawled into the article of furniture  12  and that by operating the article of furniture  12 , an injury could result. The system  10  thus includes a safety interlock or an anti-entrapment feature to inhibit the likelihood of injury being caused to young children and/or pets as described in the following paragraphs. 
         [0064]    After a current stabilisation delay  100 , the microcontroller  50  assesses whether or not the motor  24 ,  26  is running within its rated current limits as shown at  102 . If not, the microcontroller  50  sets a current error fault condition as shown at  104  and stops the motor running as shown at  106 . If the motor  24 ,  26  is running within limits, the microcontroller then queries if the maximum runtime of the motor  24 ,  26  has been exceeded as shown at  108 . If it has, a runtime error condition is set as shown at  110  and the microcontroller  50  again stops the motor running as shown at  106 . 
         [0065]    It is to be noted that the motor current limit is a fixed value for an up operation and a different fixed value for a down operation for the relevant component  16 - 22  of the article of furniture  12 . Further, the motor runtime limit is a fixed value for the up operation and a different fixed value for the down operation. 
         [0066]    Finally, as shown at  112 , the microcontroller  50  continues to poll the sensors  30 ,  32  to determine whether or not the desired operation has or has not been completed. 
         [0067]      FIG. 5  shows a flow chart of a second embodiment of a method of operating the article of furniture  12 . With reference to  FIG. 4  of the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts, unless otherwise specified. 
         [0068]    The fully up or down position of the relevant component  16 - 22  of the article of furniture  12  is determined by the sensors  96 , which, in this embodiment, are position sensors. These position sensors are each in the form of an incremental encoding unit in conjunction with a limit position reference or an absolute positioning encoder. The position of the relevant component is sensed via the position sensors  96  as shown at  114  and motor current and motor speed limits are accessed by the microcontroller  50  from a lookup table as shown at  116 . 
         [0069]    In addition to sensing current limits of the motor  24 ,  26  and maximum runtime, the microcontroller  50  also senses speed of the motor  24 ,  26  as shown at  118 . If the speed is not within limits, a motor speed error fault condition is set by the microcontroller  50  as shown at  120  and the microcontroller  50  stops the motor  24 ,  26  running as shown at  106 . 
         [0070]      FIG. 6  shows still a further embodiment of a method of operating the article of furniture  12 . Once again, with reference to  FIGS. 4 and 5  of the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts, unless otherwise specified. 
         [0071]    In this embodiment, motor current and speed lookup tables are learned for each different article of furniture to allow variability from unit to unit to be removed. As shown at  122 , an initial step involves setting a learning mode where the position sensors  96  sense the position of the relevant component  16 - 22  of the article of furniture  12  and implement motor current measurement facilities. After the microcontroller  50  has checked motor current limits, motor speed limits and motor runtime limits, the microcontroller  50  sets the motor current and motor speed limits in a lookup table as shown at  124  and then determines whether the relevant component  16 - 22  is in a fully up or down position as sensed by the position sensors  96  as shown at  126 . If the microcontroller  50  determines that the component is fully up or down, as the case may be, the current and speed settings are saved in the lookup table as shown at  128 . 
         [0072]    In this regard, it is also to be noted that, if the microcontroller  50  determines, in the initial state that the component is not fully up or down (step  94 ), it sets an initial position error condition as shown at  130 . 
         [0073]    Referring now to  FIG. 7  of the drawings, yet a further embodiment of a method of operating the article of furniture  12  is illustrated. As with  FIGS. 4-6  of the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts, unless otherwise specified. In this embodiment, the microcontroller  50  effects adaptive adjustment during furniture operation to minimise variability due to wear and lubrication degradation. 
         [0074]    In this case, the microcontroller  50  adjusts the motor current and motor speed limiting lookup table as shown at  132 . This is effected gradually from the present values to adapt the limit to changing operating conditions, for example, as caused by wear or increased friction due to lubrication degradation. 
         [0075]    It is therefore an advantage of the described embodiments that a system  10  is provided which allows for remote operation of articles of furniture. In addition, accessories (not shown) associated with the articles of furniture such as lamps, speakers, or other electrically powered devices can be operated by the controller  34  even when the user is away from the article of furniture  12 . 
         [0076]    Thus, for example, a user can, using the controller  34 , set the article of furniture  12  to the user&#39;s preferred setting prior to the user arriving home. Simultaneously, the user can set the relevant accessories as desired via the controller  34 . 
         [0077]    Still further, the user can, via the controller  34 , control multiple parts of composite furniture such as sofas and, using the controller  34 , can set individual parts of the composite furniture and/or return all those parts to their retracted or stored positions, either when the user is in the vicinity of the furniture or is remote from the furniture. 
         [0078]    It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments, without departing from the broad general scope of the present disclosure. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.