The present invention relates to the control of the inflation oi pressures in air beds or air mattresses and particular!) to the automatic control and monitoring of the relative pressures in multiple section or zone pneumatic mattresses or beds foi the health oi comfort of a patient or othei user

Ba. kgi oiinri of the Invention:

A n beds oi air mattresses foi such beds are disclosed in a number of U S patents, for example, in U S patent no 4,662,012 to Torbet and in U S Patent No 5,062 169 of Kennedy et al , both hei eby expi essK lncorpoi ated het em b\ l eference Such air mattresses aie typically formed of a pair of air impei meable sheets or membranes, usuaily of a reinforced thermoplastic material, vacuum formed to define a plurality of cells that aie usual ly arranged into a plurality of rows The rows are grouped into a plurality of zones, foi example, four in numbei , with the cells and rows within each of the zones being interconnected so that they maintain a common pressure within each of the zones The zones are typically longitudinally spaced and extend tiansvei se to the matti ess across the entire width of the mattress The plural zone mattress provides a structure that will support differ ent portions of a users body differently, such as a head oi upper body zone to support the upper bod) of a usei at one piessui e. a waist zone to support the user's w aist at a second pressui e a hip zone to support the usei s hip l egion at a thud pi essure and a toot zone to support the usei s legs at a fourth piessuie The differing pi essui es of the zones are used for a numbei of pui poses including, as in the Torbet patent supporting the user din ing rest oi sleep with the body in some preferred state of alignment The support provided bv such matti ess increases the comfort of the user, improves the quality of sleep experienced by the usei. and facilitates the tr eatment of the usei in a health care facility

A ir mattresses have been piovided with an inflation system that usually includes a pump, sometimes an accumulator tank, a system of valves and a control usually electi ic, that contiols the inflation and deflation of the zones of the mattress and maintains the pressures within them according to some criter ia The ideal pressure settiiics of the zones of such matti esses, howevei , vary from patient to patient The conti ols of the pπoi art have been ineffective in developing zone inflation cuter la that maintain the proper settings that are ideal toi a wide l ange ot users who would recline upon the beds on which such air mattresses are used Furthei , the air mattress conti ols of the pπoi art have failed to adequately accommodate transient conditions in the use of such beds such as wheie the user sits up or sits upon the edge of the mattress or bed wher e the user turns or whei e the inclination of adμistable portions of the bed are changed In addition, such controls of the prior art have failed to provide user s w ith a control interface that provides maximum control over the state of the mattress foi useis having the skills to operate contiols

that vary over a wide range, or for attendants that have need for a different level of control than is convenient for the actual user of the bed

Accordingly, in the art of controlling the levels of inflation of an air bed, there remains a need for a control that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art

Summary ol the Invention:

A primary obiective of the present invention is to provide an airbed svste with a control that is effective to develop zone inflation piessures that maintain the proper settings It is a particular objective of the present invention to provide such a control for such a system that automatically arrives at zone pressures that are ideal foi a wide range of useis who would recline upon the beds on which such air mattresses are used It is still a furthei objective of the present invention to provide air mattress controls that adequatel) accommodate tiansient conditions in the use of such beds, such as where the usei sits up or sits upon the edge of the mattress or bed, where the user turns or where the inclination of ad|ustable portions of the bed ai e changed

It is an additional objective of the present invention to provide controls foi an airbed system that provide usei s with a control inter face that gives each user maximum control over the state of the mattr ess whei e vanous degi ees of complexity may be desired or ideal foi diffeient users oi for users having various degrees of skill to opei te controls or to accommodate both users and attendants who desire different features to control according to the principles of the present invention, there is provided an airbed system having a control bv which the pressures of a plurality of zones of an air mattiess are controlled and maintained at levels beneficial to oi desired bv a user reclining on the bed According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, a computei conti ol is provided by which pressures are held in multiple zones of a bed, and varied up or down in accordance with deviations between predetermined pressuie settings and the actual pressure of the zones The zone pressui es are adiusted by calculating ideal time rntei vals at which valves controlling air flow into or out of the respective zones of the bed should be opened to provide minimum cycling of the valves A separate timer is provided for each zone to take into account the size of the zone and the diffeπng inflate and deflate rates of the different zones Conti ols aie provided for a user to manually ad|ust the pressure settings that will be automatically maintained to the comtoit or health of the user The controls also provide that such pressures can be adjusted to control the overall firmness by adjusting all zones equally, proportionately or according to some other relationship or algorithm Zones can be selected with the controls and individually adiusted separately from the others Such adiusted values are stored as the user's settings but can be i βset to initial values based on factory defaults or ideal user calculations Accoidiπg to certain principles of the invention the control is provided with a programmed routine that can be selected bv a usei to calculate ideal zone pressure settings for the usei The routine supplements a method bv which the pressures in the zones are set to standai dized pi essures and the zones are sealed when the user then l eclines upon the bed the pressures are automatically measured in the zones, as affected by the weight of the user thereon, and an adjustment number is calculated using a principal component analysis From the calculated adμistment number ideal pressures for the user at which each of the zones are to be set to provide the lowest pressure while maintaining optimal support for the user Optimal support may be that which provides a paiticulai alignment for the users spine or achieves some other criteria such as a cπterium that reduces pressure on certain joints such as the shoulder or hip that mav be prone to produce pain when improperlv supported The hip and waist

?one support pressures are calculated using a least squai e regression analysis, while the head and foot zone support pi essures ai e calculated by using a spline fit method These calculated support pressure are then automatical!) maintained by the computei control until manual ly adjusted or reset by the user

The flexibility of the control is enhanced, according to certain other principles of the invention by utilizing one internal control that is programmed to respond to a number of different remote control wands of varying degrees of complexitv The controls range from a simple on/off control, to controls including overall firmness control, individual zone pi essure selection and conti ol, hyperinflation and deflation contiol, reset and calibration or learn mode feature selection, and can include menu scrolling of feature selection and full computer user interfaces foi advanced control diagnostic and multiple unit control purposes A communication port allows for diagnostic uses and toi the monitoring of usei activity as well as patient care

In accoi dance with other features of the present invention, certain embodiments are pi ovided with the to detect motions such as the sitting of the user on the edge of the bed, to which the control responds by disabling zone pressure adjustment In addition, detection of the angles of inclination of the head or foot of adjustable beds is detected, to which the control responds, for example, by sealing off the hip zone and alternative!) also the waist zone or otherwise adμists or controls the hip or waist zone pressures to propei ly support the incieased eight of the user on these zones of the mattress

As a r esult of the present invention, ideal, desned and beneficial pressure distribution across the zones of a multiple zone airbed aie achieved and maintained, for the normal reclining use as well as for other motions of the bed oi usei Flexible usei control is piovided and a system ot a single design and program can accommodate a vaπetv of levels of use

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will be more readily apparent from the fol lowing description of the drawings in which

Fine! Description ol the Drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an airbed system embodying principles of the present invention Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating certain details of an an mattress in the system of Fig. I

Fig. 2A is an enlarge view of a portion of the mattress of Fig. 2

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating various user interface controls in various embodiments of the system of

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of the main portion ol the programming of the icropi ocessor of the contiol portion of the system of Fig. 1

Fig. is a flowchart of the interr pt routine of the piogi am i llustrated in the flowchart of F ig 4

Fig. 6 is a flowchart ofthe user interface processing routine of the pi ogi am illustrated in the flowchart of n« 4

Detailed Descnption of the Drawings:

An an bed system 10 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is diagrammaticaily illustrated in Fig. 1 The system 10 includes a bed or mattress support 1 1 , which ma _\ be a platform box spring unit, hospital bed frame or other such structur e In the illustrated embodiment the mattiess support I I is a hospital bed having a pivotal head section 12, a stationary mid-section 13 and a pivotal foot section 14 The head and foot sections 12 and 14 are each capable of being laised and lowered by the opeiation of a bed control I s that may be manually operable oi automatically controllable

The system 10 also includes a multiple zone air mattress 20 that is supported upon the bed 1 1 The matti ess 20, illustiated in more detail in Fig. 2, is formed of two air impermeable sheets 21 and 22 that are vacuum formed and laminated together to define a matrix of air chambers or cells 23 The cells 23 are, in the illustrated embodiment airanged in a plurality of transverse rows 24, which are, lor example, ten to twenty rows in numbei The cells 23 of the rows 24 ai e gi ouped into foui zones, including a head zone 25 a waist zone 26 a hip zone 27 and a leg zone 28, with the cells 23 within each ot the zones 25-28 being pneumatically interconnected by bleedei ports 29 formed in the walls of adiacent cells of a zone where the laminations between the sheets are located The ports 29 permit the equalization of pi essure within the cells 23 of the respective zones 25-28, allowing foi a l edistribution of the air among such cells when the user who is reclining upon the bed moves In the illusti ated embodiment, the mattress 20 mav be formed of fourteen to seventeen rows 24 including, for example the head zone 2"> is made up of the four to seven rows of cells 23 at one end of the mattress 20 the waist zone 26 is made up of the two rows of cells 20 adjacent the head zone 25, the hip zone 27 is made up of the toui rows of cel ls 23 adiacent the waist zone the foot zone 28 is made up ot the four rows of cells 23 adjacent the hip zone 27 and at the opposite end of the mattress 20 from the head zone 25 One such mattress 20 is described and illustrated in more detail in U S patent no 4 662,012 of Torbet while another is described and illusti ated in U S Patent No 3 062 1 69 of et al both incorpoiated bv refei ence herein

The pi essur es within the zones of the mattiess 20 aie maintained and l egulated bv an airbed contiol 30 to sepni πtelv contiol the piessures within the zones of the matti ess 20 The control 30 includes a controllei module 1 which contains pneumatic components including an air pu p or compr essoi 32 that has an air inlet 33 communicating with atmosphere and an outlet 34 that connects through a respective one of four normal l\ closed solenoid inflation valves 35a-38a to respective inlets of the air mattress zones 25-28 Preferably also a muffler oi accumulator tank 39 is connected to the outlet of the pump 32, between the pump 32 and the valves 35a-38a to smooth the air flow and minimize cycling of the pump 32 The pneumatic components also include a bank of foui normally closed solenoid deflation valves 35b-38b that are connected in respective outlets from each of the respective zones 25-28 which vent to atmosphere The use of onlv two valves 35-38 (a and b) for each of the zones 25-28 provides one preferred way to separately control the inflation and deflation of each ot the zones 2^ 28 A numbei of other valve schemes can be used that employ multiple way valves or valve networks Such alter natis e valve schemes can be used ith the contiol logic described below some w ith modifications thereto that would be l outmc to a control engineei based on ihe infoi mation provided herein

1 he an bed contiol 30 also includes a usei interface or hand wand 40 that connects thiough a cable such as a niodulai cable to a conti ol mtei face connector 41 on the controllei module 3 1 which in tur n connects to a conti ol cn cuil 42 within the module 31 and a powei supply 43 which powei s the circuit 42 and enei mzes th

pump 32 tluough a solid state switch 44, which has a gate or control line activated an output of the cu cuit 42 The module 3 1 is provided with four air line connector ports 45-48 through which are interconnected the four inflation valves 35a-38a, the four deflation valves 35b-38b and the four mattress zones 25-28 The control circuit 42 includes a microprocessor 50 The microprocessor 50 controls the valves 35a-38a and 35b-38b and the pump actuation switch 44 in response signals from the user interface control 40, from a deflate switch 51 on the module 1 from an auxiliary input 52 that connects either to the bed control 15 or sensoi switches 53 and 54 on the head and foot sections of the bed 1 1 , and from a set of four pressure sensors 55-58, which generate analog signals in response to measurements of the pressures on lines between the ports 45-48 and the valves 35a-38a and 35b-38b I n the circuit 42 is provided a non-volatile memory 60. which is connected to the microprocessoi 50

Add , pi ovided are a ciystal oscillator 61 and a reset chip 62, both connected to the microprocessoi 50 A lso a parr of power output amplifiers or dπvei s 63a,63b are provided from outputs of the microprocessor 50 tlu ough respective modular jacks 64a,64b to the solenoids of the respective banks of valves 35a-38a,35b-38b Intei face circuitry 65 may also be provided in the circuit 42 between the wand port 41 and inputs of the microprocessoi 50 The deflate switch 5 1 , which is preferably a momentary switch, may also connect to an input of the micioprocessoi 50 through the interface circuitry 65 The interface also preferably interconnects input and output terminals of the microprocessor 50 with a communications port 66, which connects to one oi more items of communications equipment 67, such as a communications network 67a, a data recoi der 67b, an alarm 67c oi other indicator oi display components or a co pute] system 67d Such a communications function can be used to monitor or recoid the activities of a patient on a hospital bed 1 1 , and can be also used to provide supervision and monitoring of patient care such as a record of when attendants have turned a patient or when a patient has moved to a sitting position or has left the bed

The user interface port 41 , accoiding to one embodiment of the invention, is configured to interface with a vanety of interchangeable usei inter face devices 40 ranging from a simple ON/OFF contiol 40a having a single push-on/push-off button 70 to a computer conti ol 40n as illustiated in Fig. 3 I he alternative interface conti ol devices 40 having capabilities between those of the devices 40a and 40n include a second vei sion 40b that includes the ON/OFF button 70 of the simple control 40a and additionally has a firmness conti ol featuie that includes an LED 7 1 which displays a number to the user representing the overall firmness of the mattress 20, and a pan of UP oi DOWN or +/- buttons 72a,72b by which the user can cause the oveiall piessure mattress 20 to increase or decrease

Siniilai ly, a more sophisticated control 40c may be connected to the connector 41 that includes, in addition to the control features of the control 40b, an individual zone pressure control feature, which provides capabilm foi selectively raising oi lowering the piessures of the respective zones 25-28 For this version of the conti ol an LED 73 is piovided that displays eithei a number " 1 ' tluough "4 ' indicating which of the zones HEAD, WAIS T H lP oi LEG is selected, or a '0 ' indicating that all of the zones will be simultaneously adiusted AlternativeK othei indicator concepts, such as a series of lighted and labeled indicators, can be used to inform the usei of the zone that is enabled for manual contiol by the user The selection is made on a pair of buttons 74a, 74b piovided to step up oi down the selection numbei When the selection is made, the pressui e of the zone is displayed on the LED 71 while the piessure can be changed, up oi down, tlu ough pressing of the buttons 72a.72b For one or more L LDs

an LED controller 75 is provided in the control device 40 The contiol device 40c may, in the alternative or in addition, further include a RESET button 76, that would undo all usei adjustments to the firmness or zone pressures and restore the pressures of the zones 25-28 to preset factory settings An additional CALIBRATE button 77 ma _\ be provided that will cause the microprocessor 50 to execute a program that will calculate the pioper zone pressures which may be customized to the particular user, as for example, the process described and referred to below as the

LEARN mode

A further and more sophisticated version of the control device 40 is a fourth version 40d, which includes, in addition to the features of device 40c, additional buttons 78 and 79, which provide user access to other features, such as a HYPERINFLATE function initiated by the button 78, to pressurize the bed to raise a hospital patient foi example to a level for examination Button 79 may provide a HIP-DEFLATE function In lieu of pi oviding extra buttons such as buttons 78 and 79 for specific functions, in the fifth version 40e of the control device 40 menu selection of auxiliary functions is provided In the device 40e, a LED 80 displays a function identification or code The user can step through functions by pressing up and down stepping buttons 8 l a oi 81 b indexing the display of LFD 80 When the function is selected, the user may execute the function by pressing an EXECUTF button 82 The functions available by such a control device 40e would be programmable and could vary from usei to user Foi ser\ ice personnel primarily, the computer interface 40n can be used to access maintenance functions, and to change piogra options oi code in the microprocessoi 50 Such an interface 40n can, for example change the programmed functions accessible bv a user having the control device 40e oi the functions that would be actuated bv buttons oi conti ol elements on others of the control devices 40

PROGRAMMING AND OPERA TION

The operation of the control 30 is determined by the program that is stored in the read only memoi v embedded in the microprocessor 50 and executed thereby The microprocessor ROM also stoi es default or factor y pressure setting values for each of the zones as well as individual user setting values for each of the zones 25-28 that are or under the specific command of the user or attendant, written to the EEPROM 60 from time to time such as the running of the LEARN or CALIBRATE mode or function described below The system 10 be designed to be turned on by a master ON/OFF switch 90 on the module 3 I which is in series with the powei line to the power supply 43 The ON/OFF switch 70 on the remote contiol device 40 may also be a mechanical contact switch that is alternativeK connected in series with the inlet side of the powei supply 43 oi the switch 70 bt separate fi om the switch 90 that controls the powei supply 43 allowing some level of power to l emain on when the switch 70 is turned off which could allow foi retention of information in volatile memory if desn ed in the micropi ocessoi 50 oi as an external me oiy thereto, in addition to the non-volatile memoi v 60 I n the preferred embodiment, only the power to the pump 43 and pneumatic valves 35-38 is turned off leaving the sensois 5 ^-*>8 and ciicuit 42 on so that pressure infoi mation will be constantly communicated to the communications equipment 67 connected to the communications port 66 W hen the control 30 is on the control is programmed to tui n off the pump 43 after an mtei val ot toi example 1 seconds of non-use thereby conserving power When the control circuit 42 of the control 30 is turned on l eset ciicuit 62 or othei logic piovided initializes the micioprocessoi 50. as illustrated in the flow chart of F ig 4 I n this condition as in the off condition that results when the svstem 10 is turned off or is off as a result of a powei

failure all of the valves 35a-38a and 35b-38b are closed, and the pump 43 is off, with whatever mass of air is in the zones 25-28 being maintained in a static condition The first step of the program that is loaded fi om the CEPROM 60 is to check to determine if usei defined pressure SETTINGS have been entered and retained in memory in the EEPROM 60 for each of the four zones 25-28 of the mattress 20 If such user defined SETTINGS have not been entered and retained, factory or installer set default data is used, which might be generic data for all usei s oi data for a particular class of users, such as users in a particular weight range The factory set pressures might be foi example 6 inches of water for the head zone 25, 9 inches of water for the waist zone 26, 8 inches of water for the hip zone 27 and 4 inches of water for the leg zone 28 These numbers, or whatevei numbers are used, should be those determined to be the most likely to properly support the body of a user, based on statistical analysis of measured zone pressure data foi a sample of useis, given an air mattress of a given number of zones, configuration and consti uction The default values of 6,9,8 4 are preferred foi the mattress 20 of the illustrated embodiment

When the initial pressure SETTINGS for the zones 25-28 are determined timers are set to control the sampling intei vals at which the microprocessor 50 is to run an interrupt routine, as illustrated in the flowchart of F ig. 5 to interpret pressure readings from the pressure sensors 55-58 Then the processor 50 enters the main program loop, which performs two functions The first function performed by the main loop is to run an interface piocessing routine, illustrated in the flowchart of Fig. 6 to interrogate the hand control 40 to determine if any buttons ai e pushed oi any other commands provided thereon have been entered, and second to turn solenoids of the v alves 35a-38a oi 35b-38b (hereafter collectively designated valves 35-38) on or off, as indicated by lnteπ upt flags if am that have been set by a timei interrupt routine, illustrated in the flowchart of Fig. 5 The interrupt routine is i nn pei iodicali) upon checking the zone timer interi upt flag that is pei iodically set bv the timing out of the zone intei val timei

When the user interface piocessing routine is run the program may use any of a number of know n schemes to determine the type of and 40 that is connected to the user interface port 41 The program mav test the status of the vanous pins or conductors at the port 41 to identify unique identifying electrical characteristics of the different control devices 40 In the alternative as with the illustrated embodiment, the program is geneπcally written and interpi ets the absence of a button press in the same way as the absence of a button or feature of the device 40 Alternatively, the program can store information received from the device 40 and use the information to configui e the program to most efficiently work with the type of device 40 that is in use In any event the user interface routine will determine that the configuration of the device 40 is determined before polling the pins of the intei face connectoi 41 foi button press signals Thus it is preferred that the piesence of the MENU buttons 81 be determined earl\ in the polling process In that way the EXECUTE button 82 could be associated with the same logical function as a dedicated button of another type of device 40

The oider of polling of the buttons or other controls that mav be provided is preferably following the menu selection determination, if provided, to check for a zone selection change, signaled by the user with buttons 74a 74b reading the flag therefor The button flags are set upon the release of a button with setting of the fu st flag disabling any further flag settings until the flags are leset, so that only one button press can be recognized at a tune Simultaneous button presses will be ignored bv the program When a zone change is signaled a zone counter in v olatile memory is indexed up or dow n and the current zone is display ed on the LED 73 Next buttons 72a 72b ai e checked to detei mine if a pressure change is signaled b\ the usei I f so a pressui e OFFSET value in volatile

memory within the microprocessor 50 or in a separate memory chip is incremented or decremented The actual pressuie change will not, however, be implemented until the UPDATE SOLENOID STATES step is performed in the main program loop (Fig. 4) Next, the ON/OFF button 70 is checked and processed directly Then other buttons ai e sequentially checked, such as the RESET button 76, the HYPERINFLATE button 78 and the DEFLATE button 79, and, if selected, the corresponding loutine is executed Othei functions, such as a save settings to

EEPROM ' function, as well as othei functions can be optionally provided for here Then the CALIBR ATE or LEA RN mode button 77 is checked and, if selected, the routine is executed to l ecalculate user SETTINGS

When the simple on/off control 40a is used, the only button function to check is that for an ON/OFF command With such a control 40a, during startup, the program repeatedly executes the main loop until flags are set by the mteirupt routine indicating that the initial pressures, for example of the default values of 6,9,8,4 inches of watei , aie not present in the respective zones 25-28 Thus, when the zone timer interrupt is triggered, a timeout inter rupt flag is set This flag is read in the execution of the main loop and, if set, the INTERRUPT routine of Fig. S is executed m which each of the sensors 55-58 is sequentially read at analog to digital ports of the microprocessor 50 In the interrupt routine a first sensor 55 is read If the reading is within a predetermined range of the set point value, for example within +/- 1 /4 inches of water of, for example, the default value of for example

6 inches of watei , no flags are set If no flags are set, the main loop, in its next cycle, will not cause any solenoid states of the valves 35a oi 35b (hereafter collectively referred to as the valves 35) to change

If the value is above the set value of 6 inches of water, a flag is set and a calculation is made to determine a time slightly less than that estimated to allow the pressure in zone 25 to be leduced to the set point pressure by an opening of the deflation valve 35b for the zone 25 If the pressure were too low in zone 25, a flag would have been set and a calculation made of to determine the time that valve 35a must be opened and the pump 43 run to inciease the pressure in zone 25 to that of the set point value One reset timer is provided for each of the two functions inflate oi deflate toi each zone The purpose of the leset timeis and the calculations of the l esei intervals is to minimize the amount of state changing of the valves 35-38 and the amount of cycling of the pump 43 The inflate and deflate times of each of the zones will differ due to the differing sizes of the zones 25-28 and the different piessures to which they may be inflated With the reset timers, the valves remain open for periods set bv the timei s and the piogram continues to execute simultaneously while the valves aie open Accordingly, before one valve has closed, another zone can be selected for correction or adjustment, and the opening of one of its valves can overlap with the opening of the valve previously opened When one valve is opened for a zone however further valve actuation for that zone is locked out until the leset timer for that zone has timed out The readings of the remaining sensors 56-68 are similarly processed and flags and timers aie snnilaily set for the valves 36-38 Upon exit from the INTERRUPT routine, the zone timer is l eset

Then, as the program continues to cycle through the main loop, the UPDATE SOLENOID STATES step is executed in which, if the pressure in any of the zones 25-28 is too high the corresponding one or ones of the valves 3 b-38b is opened for a period of time determined by the setting of the leset timer corresponding to the valve

If the pi essure in any of the zones 25-28 is too low, the corresponding valve 35a-38a will be opened for a period of time determined by the setting of the reset timer corresponding to the valve Where an accumulator 39 is not present, the opening of the pi essui e increase valves 35a-38a would usually require a coi respoπding iniei val of o _| ieratιon ot the pump 32 With an accumulator tank used as the muftlei 39 the opei ation ot the pump 32 mav be

controlled by a pressure sensor 91 on the outlet line 34 of the pump 32 in order to maintain a nearly constant pressure, or a pressure within a given range, on the line 34. The use of an accumulator 39 would, however, produce a substantially larger unit, which is not preferred.

During use, whenever a pressure is sensed through the sensors 55-58 that is not within the set point for a given zone, the zone pressure of that zone is adjusted, as set forth above for the initial pressure setting. If the piessure is initially adjusted when there is no user reclining on the mattress 20, then the addition of the usei onto the mattress 20 will result in a measured pressure change, that will be sensed by the sensors 55-58, which will cause the adjustment step, referred to above as the UPDATE SOLENOID STATES step in the flowchart of Fig. I , to be executed to change the status of the appropriate valve or valves 35-38 Similarly, when a usei moves while reclining on a bed, the sensed pressuie change, if any, that results will initiate such an adjustment step Also, loss of piessure foi any reason, perhaps due to slow leakage, when it causes the pressure in any zone to drop below the coi i espondmg set pressure foi the zone, to increase the pressure in that zone However, stable adjustment is maintained, and the oscillating of corrections by re|)eatedly inflating and deflating one or more zones are avoided, by ignoring transient measurements by the sensors 55-58, such as might be caused by an abrupt movement of a usei This is accomplished by validating all sensor measurements by setting flags on the first out-of-range reading and vei ifying by taking a second measurement after a delay of a short period of time, such as an interval of one second, five seconds, or some other short interval

Where the sensor 40b is used, the interface processing routine of the flowchart of Fig. 5 will detect any presses of buttons 72a or 72b This checking is preferably programmed to occur without any setting of the program designating the wand or hand control 40 being used If a control 40a is replaced by a control 40b, the program will automatically lespond to a pressing of buttons 72a,72b, as the absence of such buttons with control 40a will be interpreted the same as if as no button press has been made with a control 40b. Similarly, when the control connected to the interface port 41 is the control 40b, a number will be sent to the LED controller 75 to update the display on the LED 71 , representrng the general firmness of the mattress 20 When a user operates one of the buttons 72a or 72b signalling that the firmness of the mattress 20 is to be increased or decreased, the OFFSET values foi all of the zones 25-28 in volatile memory will be incremented or decremented As a result, the valves 35a-38a or the valves 35b-38b will be respectively activated, in the course of the execution of the UPDATE SOLENOID STATES step of the program main loop as explained above, to affect the new firmness adjustment selected by the usei With a firmness setting, all of the zones 25-28 can be increased or decreased by equal amounts of pressure, oi may be proportionately increased or decreased in pressure, or may be increased or decreased in pressure by some algorithm that has been statistically determined to be appropriate for proper body support, such as for a preferred spinal alignment, for comfort, or to achieve some other criteria. When such a firmness adjustment is made, the new values become the new setpoints at which the pressures in the zones 25-28 will be maintained

Where the wand or interface control device 40c is used, the user is given the additional ability to individually and separately vary the pressures in each of the zones 25-28 by selectively choosing one of the zones 25-28, or all of the zones, to be manually adjusted This is achieved by pressing one of the buttons 74a, 74b When the wand 40c is connected to the wand or user interface port 41 , the microprocessor sends a signal to the LED dπvei 75 to display a number indicating the zone selection that is in effect, which number is stored in inemon I heieafter, when the PROCESS USER INTERFACE routine next polls the buttons, the next user commands caused

b) the pressing of buttons 74a oi 74b will increment or decrement only the OFFSET value for the particular zone selected When such a manual adjustment of a selected zone or zones is so signaled by the user, in the execution of the UPDATE SOLENOID STATES step of the main loop as explained above, appropriate settings of the respective one or ones of the valves 35-38 are made to implement the selected manual ad _j ustments Such adjustments become the new setpoints at which the pressures in the zones 25-28 will be maintained by the automated control

When the control device or wand 40d is connected to the interface port 41 , the microprocessor interrogates the buttons 78 and 79 to respectively determine if hyperinflation has been selected, in which case the firmness of the mattress 20 is increased in all zones 25-28, making it easier for a user who is a patient in a hospital, foi example, to be treated, or if hip deflation is selected, in which case the zone 27 is reduced to a nominal pressure, making it easier for the user to sit up With the control device 40e, the button 82 can be made to represent selection of the functions of either of the buttons 78 or 79, or any other function programmed for the microprocessor 50 Such a menu feature is particularly useful to pi ovide access to less frequently used functions, such as a CALIBRATE oi LEARN function (explained below), or a SAVE function that will save to the EEPROM 60 the adjusted zone pressui es, which aie the sums of the current user setting values plus the offset values, or a RESET function that will l eset to zeio the adjustment or OFFSET values in volatile mernoiv The selection of such function is achieved b\ stepping tluough a menu, displayed by a signal from the microprocessor 50 on LED 80, by depressing the up and down buttons 81 a or 81 b

Contiol devices 40c-40e, as illustrated in Fig. 4 may also include RESET command button 76, by which all usei ad|ustments can be cancelled and the settings returned to the initial settings The RESET button 76 may oi mav not be included with a separate CALI BRATE button 77 which can be used to determine individual usei settings, which may involve the execution of a progiam routine that performs an algorithm to calculate settings ideal oi pi efeired foi a particular user, as set forth in the discussion of a LEARN mode below When the RESET button 76 is provided in combination with a CALIBRATE button 77, or when both functions are provided on the menu of a control device of the type 40e, the RESET button 76 oi its menu function, may be set to l etui n the settings either to the customized user settings achieved by the CALIBRATE function or to the initial settings used at power-on or startup, or following system reset and initialization

As stated above, the CALIBRATE button 77 or the CALIBRATE function, however selected, may be used to calculate user settings for each of the zones 25-28 that aie ideal for a particulai user, and particularly that will result m maintained adjustment ot the mattiess 20 so that the bodv of the user is proper!) supported al the lowest

_| )ossιble pressure, without the mattress bottoming out This is leferred to herein as the LEARN mode and results in a l outine in a recalculation of user zone settings The routine is initiated following interrogation of the status ot the C ALIBRATE oi "LEARN ' button 77 in the user interface processing routine to detect that the flag has been set as a lesult of the button 77 being pressed When the CALIBRATE oi LEARN button 77 is pi essed the usei should not be reclining on the mattress 20 This allows the four zones 25-28 of the mattress 20 to be inflated to initial default pressures, 6, 9, 8 and 4 inches of watei , respectively, under the control of the mam loop of the pi ogi am, as described above When the piedetermined initial pressuies have been achieved, the microprocessor 50 causes all eight of the valves 35-38 to close and an indication to appear on one of the LEDS on whatevei conti ol 40c-40e is in use that signals the user to recline upon the mattiess 20 When the user has arrived at the piefei red reclining

position on the mattress 20, the user again presses the CALIBRATE or LEARN button 77, which signals the microprocessor to proceed with the execution of the calculation of the ideal pressure settings for the user Pressing the RESET button 76 instead of pressing the LEARN button 77 for the second time mav at this stage, or pressing the RL Sb I and LL RN buttons simultaneously, mav be piogranimed to cause a lesett g in the EEPROM 60 of the settings back to the factory default values This alternative would provide for the RESET button 76 to be used alone only to l eset to zei o the OFFSETS oi adjustments made by the user since the last setting of the usei values Execut ion of the SETTINGS calculation step in the LEARN mode begins with the step of reading the piessui es sensed by each of the foui sensors 55-58 with the valves 35-38 maintained in a closed condition sealing the an that inflated the matti ess to its original pressures within each of the zones 25-28 The pressui es will have changed from the initial pressures of 6,9,8,4 initially set, due to the weight of the user upon the mattress 20 7 hese measured piessures are referred to as the SEA L pressures of each of the four zones, and ma) be designated SEAL_HD foi the head seal pressure measured with sensoi 55 at zone 25, SEAL_W for the waist seal pi essuie measured with sensor 56 at zone 26 SEAL_H P foi the hip seal pressure measured with sensor 57 at zone 57 and SEA L _F for the foot or leg seal piessure measured with sensor 58 at zone 38 From the seal pressures, an adjustment number is calculated The adjustment number l efei red to liei ein as A DJ NUM is calculated as a function of the seal pressui es F rom the adjustment number ADJ_NUV1 are calculated foui ideal support piessui es. oi ALIGN piessures These ALIGN pressures ai e the pressui es that ai e pi edicted to cause the person (who reclined upon the mattress and resulted in the genei ation of the foui measui ed SEA L pressui es) to be properly supported on the mattress 20 at the lowest possible piessure These foui ALIGN piessures, refeπed to heiein as the variables ALIGN HD for the ideal ALIGN pressuie for the head zone 25

ALIG\_W foi the ideal ALIGN pressure foi the waist zone 26 ALIGN \ P for the ideal A LIGN pressure foi the hip zone 27 and A LIGN_F for the ideal ALIGN piessui e foi the head zone 28

The functions or algor ithms used to calculate AD I NUM and the four ALI GN pressures aie denved bv siatistical analysis of data taken bv a numbei of tests in which a numbei of users ai e asked to carry out the LEARN process, with the ALIGN pressuies being manually set to such values that w ill cause the body of the usei 10 be pi opei ly supported The pressures ar e set so that the proper support occui s lor the lowest zone pi essures lequired for alignment without the sheets 2 ! .22 from touching, that is, without the mattress 20 bottoming out This is deemed the most comfortable and orthopedically desirable setting of the mattress 20, and the one least likely to cause bed soies, or to cause loint pain or othei loint problems, or that would tesult in other undesirable conditions foi hospital patients and othei users

A statistical analysis is preferably earned out bv taking at least three sets of data of SEAL piessure measui ements from each user and pei forming a "principal component analysis" using the average for each usei The first component from sucli an analysis it is found, explains mnetv percent of the measuied seal pressui e infor mation Fiom this analvsis the adjustment numbei ADJ_NUM is defined as the following function of the SEAL pi essures

( I ) AD I NUM = 0 5O5(SEAL HD) + 0 5 l 0(SEAL_W) +

0 49 I (SEAL HP) + 0 494 (SEAL F )

It is found that this adjustment number ADJ_NUM, so calculated, is highly correlated with the weight of the user Then, using least squares linear regressions for the waist and hip zones 2627, and a spline fit for the head and foot zones 25 and 28, the ALIGN pressures can be predicted as the following functions of ADJ NUM (2) ALIGN_HD = 60 foi ADJ_NUM <= 185 & = 80 foi ADJ_NUM > 185

AL1GN_W --069-r 0568(ADJ_NUM) ALIGN_HP - - I 69 + 0568(ADJ_NUM) ALIGN_r =40 toi ADI_NUM -= 185

& -55 torADJ_NUM= 185 1 he above equations are used by the LEARN MODE routine of the routine of Fig.6

Thus, as an example, when a user has selected the LEARN mode by pressing the CALIBRATE button 77 the INTERFACE routine of Fig.6, upon identif ^y ing the button 77 as having been pressed, the zones 25-28 aie inflated to the piessures 6.9,84 inches of watei. respectively, and sealed The user then lies upon the mattress 20 and pi esses the CALIB ATE button 77 again The usei having, for example, have a weight of 176 pounds and a height of 71 inches might produce SEAL pressuies that are measured by the sensors 55-58 as

SEAL _^ HD - 908 inches of water SEAL_W = 1 ! 50 inches of water SEAL_HP = 1100 inches of water SEAL_F = 475 inches of water Fiom these measuiements, ADJ_NUM is calculated from equation ( 1 ) to be 182 From this ADJ NUM the ALIGN piessures aie calculated from equations (2) to be

ALIGN_HD -60 MIGN tt =96 ALIGNJHP -86 ALIGN_F -40

1 hen having calculated the ALIGN pressures, these piessuies are stored as the set point pressures for the paiticulai usei Then, when the main loop executes the UPDATE SOLENOID STATES step, the pressures will be lowered fiom the SEAL pressures, which exist dunng the LEARN mode calculation, by opening of the valves 35b-38b These piessuies aie then maintained at these calculated ALIGN pressures unless and until the user manually ιead|usts the pressures in the manner explained above

In addition to the functions discussed above there is piovided logic in the program to detect conditions that locally change the pressures in only some ot the zones in a manner that is unchai cteπstic of a user changing fiom one leclining position to anothei Foi example heie a usei sits on the edge of the bed 11, or sits up in bed the usei s weight will be concentiated in one oi two zones, such as at the waist zone 26 and the hip zone 27 This motion of the usei has the effect of substantially incieasing the pressure at sensois 56 and 57, at least to the point that the mattress bottoms out at the edge at which the usei is sitting Such a pressure change characteiistics aie identified by comparing the measuied pressuies at the sensors 55-58 and compaiing the measurements ith a table of values that piovide a basis foi distinguishing between pressuie measurements expected tioni the noimal leclining motions of a usei and pressuie measuiements produced bv unexpected motions, paiticulai Iv non-ieclimng motions

caused bv common known events such as the sitting of the user at the edge of the bed Such tests aie perfoimed bv the OTHER MOTION FILTER step in the program main loop (Fig. 5), before the UPDATE SOLENOID STATES step is performed Other such non-reclining motions can be detected by detection of unique static or dynamic pressui e readings that are correlated therewith In addition, other activities of the user can be met with special pressure control that produces piessure settings that diffei fr om the ideal support pressures for the user who is reclining For example, when the mattiess 20 is used on hospital beds, such as the bed 1 1 illustrated in Fig. 1 , having adjustable head and foot sections 12 and 14 the laising of the head and foot of the bed will cause a concentiation of the weight of the usei at the hip zone 27 and also somewhat at the waist zone 26 Without special control of the pressuies under such conditions, the mattiess would bottom out in the hip zone 27 when the head and foot portions 12 and 14 of the bed 1 1 are raised To piovide such conti ol, in one embodiment of the invention the sensoi switches 53,54 are level detectoi switches, such as meicury switches that generate a signal indicating that the head section 12 oi foot section 14 of the bed have been l ised to an angle gi eater than, for example twenty degrees or some othei angle detei mined to be the angle at which the w eight of the user tends to concentrate substantially on the hip oi waist zones 27 or 26, respectively, of the mattiess When such a signal is detected indication that the head or foot of the bed has been l aised. the hip zone 27 and pei haps also the waist zone 26, are sealed bv closing of the valves pan s 36 and 37 disabling the adjustment function as to these zones Alternatively, rather than meiely seal the zone 27. the hip zone 27 as well as one or moi e of the adiacent zones may be inflated or deflated to special predetermined or calculated pressures othei than the support or A LIGN pressures described above Also, rather than relying on limit switches information can be derived duectly form the contiol of the bed, oi from any othei sensor or other external souice of information

Additionally , the information of bed angle adjustment, or 'gatching" as it is refened to m connection with the hospital beds and other hospital equipment, may be detected by an analysis of the pressure sensing information from the sensors 55-58 as read by the communications equipment 67 connected to the communications port 66

Those skilled in the art will appieciate that additions and modifications of the described embodiments of the method of the present invention can be made without departing from the principles of the invention

Accordingly the following is claimed