Controlling adjustable bed features with a hand-held remote control

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/025,446 filed Feb. 1, 2008 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/256,029 filed Oct. 22, 2008 which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application 60/981,676 filed Oct. 22, 2007, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This application is a continuation-in-part of the following U.S. patent application which is incorporated by reference in its entirety: U.S. Ser. No. 11/740,491 filed Apr. 26, 2007 which claims the benefit of U.S. Ser. No. 60/825,607 filed Sep. 14, 2006.

This application claims priority to foreign patent application Ser. No. PCT/US08/80729 filed Oct. 22, 2008.

This application is also related to the following U.S. patent applications each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety: U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,255 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,265 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,272 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,278 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,287 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,299 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,300 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,305 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,311 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,351 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/855,354 filed Sep. 14, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,842 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,843 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,844 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,845 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,846 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,847 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,848 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,849 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,850 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,851 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,852 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,853 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,856 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,857 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,861 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,863 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,864 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,865 filed Oct. 20, 2007; U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,866 filed Oct. 20, 2007; and U.S. Ser. No. 11/875,867 filed Oct. 20, 2007.

1. Field

This invention relates to remote control facilities for adjustable beds.

2. Background

Adjustable beds may contain at least one section of which a user may control the position. The user may typically adjust the bed by using a control to move the adjustable section in its direction of movement. Additionally, the adjustable bed may include various types of mattresses and vibration of sections. Often, users have adjustable beds because a medical issue may require certain positions to aid in recovery, positioning to relieve discomfort as a result of pain, or the like. These users may, because of these issues, spend significant amount of time in the adjustable beds, some users may be confined to bed.

The adjustable bed may have at least one actuator to position the adjustable bed sections. In some cases, there is one actuator to achieve more than one positions, such as positioning both the thigh and foot sections with one actuator. There may also be more than one actuator for each adjustable section.

A need exists for an improved adjustable bed remote control to handle the additional functionality of the adjustable beds.

An apparatus disclosed herein includes a hand held adjustable bed remote control that may include a circular group of input buttons. A first input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may control a head position of an adjustable bed and a second input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may control a foot position of the adjustable bed. A centrally located button may be positioned at an approximate center of the circular group of input buttons, wherein the central button, upon activation, may cause the adjustable bed to return to a flat position.

An apparatus disclosed herein includes a hand held adjustable bed remote control that may include a circular group of input buttons. A first input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may control at least one of a head position of an adjustable bed and a memory position associated with the head portion of the adjustable bed. A second input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may control at least one of a foot position of the adjustable bed and a memory position associated with the foot portion of the adjustable bed. A centrally located button may be positioned at an approximate center of the circular group of input buttons, wherein the central button, upon activation, may cause the adjustable bed to return to a flat position.

An apparatus disclosed herein includes a hand held adjustable bed remote control that may include a circular group of input buttons. A first input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may store a head memory position of an adjustable bed and a second input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may control a foot memory position of the adjustable bed. A centrally located button may be positioned at an approximate center of the circular group of input buttons, wherein the central button, upon activation, may cause the adjustable bed to return to a flat position.

An apparatus disclosed herein includes a hand held adjustable bed remote control that may include a circular group of input buttons. A first input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may control a head portion vibration setting of an adjustable bed and a second input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may control a foot portion vibration setting of the adjustable bed. A centrally located button may be positioned at an approximate center of the circular group of input buttons. The central button, upon activation, may cause at least one of the head and foot portion vibration settings to be stopped.

An apparatus disclosed herein includes a hand held adjustable bed remote control that may include a circular group of input buttons. A first input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may control a position of an adjustable bed and a second input button in the circular group of input buttons, upon activation, may control vibration setting of the adjustable bed. A centrally located button may be positioned at an approximate center of the circular group of input buttons. The central button, upon activation, may cause the adjustable bed to perform at least one of: return to a flat position and/or cause a vibration setting to be stopped.

An apparatus disclosed herein includes a hand held adjustable bed remote control that may comprise at least one of a button that may control a position of an adjustable bed and/or a button that may control a vibration setting of an adjustable bed. At least one other button may control an auxiliary device by wireless signals emitted from the remote control either directly to that device or to another wireless transceiver that receives and transmits the remote signal to the device wirelessly.

These and other systems, methods, objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the drawings. All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.