CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional Application No. 61/229,865 filed July 30, 2009; the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Various embodiments relate to body massagers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGURE 1 is a schematic view of a body massager according to an embodiment; and

FIGURE 2 is a flowchart for a method for controlling the massager of Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

Referring now to Figure 1 , a body massager is illustrated according to an embodiment and is referenced generally by numeral 10. The body massager includes a backrest 12. The body massager 10 may also include a seat support (not shown). The internal assemblies of the backrest 12 are collectively retained within a flexible cover (not shown). Massage effects provided by the body massager 10 include a rolling massage effect and a kneading massage effect provided in the backrest 12, which is operable to provide the massage effects longitudinally along the length of the backrest 12.

The backrest 12 is sized to be received upon a backrest of a conventional chair. The body massager 10 is portable due to its compact size and light weight so that the user may place the body massager 10 upon a conventional chair for receiving a massage when seated upon the chair. The backrest 12 includes a height and a width corresponding to the conventional chair and has a thickness that is adequate for housing a massage assembly while avoiding disruption of comfort and support provided by the underlying chair.

The backrest 12 includes a backrest surface for receiving and supporting the back of a user. The backrest 12 includes a housing 14, which may be a single piece, or multiple pieces for retaining a massage assembly 16 within the housing 14. The massage assembly 16 of the backrest 12 imparts massage effects to the backrest surface.

The massage assembly 16 includes a carriage 18 which cooperates with the housing 14 for limited longitudinal translation within the backrest 12. The housing 14 includes a longitudinal guide 20 for cooperating with the carriage 18. A suitable guide is illustrated and described in greater detail in U.S. Patent No.

7,470,242 B2, which is incorporated by reference herein. The massage assembly 16 may include a first motor 22 mounted to the carriage 18 for driving a transmission 24. The transmission 24 may include an output gear 26, which is engaged with a gear rack 28 that is mounted to the housing 14. Operation of the first motor 22 provides rotation to the output gear 26 thereby driving the carriage 18 along the guide 20. Suitable transmissions are disclosed in Ferber et al. U.S. Patent No. 7,128,721 B2, which is incorporation by reference herein; and Ferber et al. U.S. Patent No. 7,470,242 B2, which has been incorporated by reference.

The carriage 18 may also include a pair of massage members 30 for providing a rolling massage effect as the carriage 18 is translated along the guide 20. The massage members 30 may each include a pair of massage nodes 32, 34. The massage members 30 may be rotatably connected to the carriage 18 and driven to counter-rotate for providing a rotary kneading massage effect. The massage members 30 may each be driven by the first motor 22 as disclosed in the Ferber et al. U.S. 7,128,721 B2 patent, which has been incorporated by reference. Alternatively, a second motor 36 may be provided on the carriage 18 for driving the massage members 30 independent of the translation of the carriage 18, as disclosed in the U.S. 7,470,242 B2 patent, which has been incorporated by reference.

The motors 22, 36 are each connected to and controlled by a controller

38. The massager 10 includes a manual remote controller 40 with mechanical switches, such as push buttons 42, in communication with the controller 38. The controller 38 may be oriented within the housing 14 of the massager 10, or within the remote controller 40.

The massager 10 also includes a pair of limit switches 44, 46 in connection with the controller 38. The upper limit switch 44 is located at an upper range of the travel of the carriage 18. The lower limit switch 46 is located at a lower range of travel of the carriage 18. Upon the carriage 18 reaching one of the limits to the range of travel, the carriage 18 engages one of the limit switches 44, 46 thereby signaling the end of travel position to the controller 38. In response to the signal, the controller 38 reverses rotation of the first motor 22 thereby reversing the direction of travel of the carriage 18. Of course, additional limit switches may be employed for limiting travel of the carriage 18 to various regions as disclosed in the Ferber et al. 7,128,721 B2 patent, which has been incorporated by reference.

The maximum range of travel of the carriage 18 is labeled by zones A and C in Figure 1. Typically, the range of travel is designed for users of varying height thereby resulting in a range of travel that may exceed a height of a given user.

When a user of a prior art massager has a body part surface, such as a back surface, that does not span the length of the range of travel, the user may experience a delay in the upper range of travel wherein the massage members 30 disengage from the user's back as the carriage 18 continues to travel to the extent of the range of travel and then subsequently return. The range of travel of the carriage 18 depicted, is customizable to provide a user selected range of travel. This user selected range of travel is maintained by a programmable memory feature in the controller 38.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2, the operation of the massage assembly 16 is illustrated and described. At block 48, the massager 10 is powered on with the massage assembly 16 on standby, and the controller 38 memory assesses preliminary data. At block 50, the controller 38 identifies the position of the carriage 18 based on the memory. For example, the controller 38 includes a timer, which measures the length of travel of the carriage 18 by a function of time. If the carriage 18 was left at an intermediate position within the range, that position is determined by the remaining time on the timer. Alternatively, the position of the carriage 18 may be identified at block 50 by a signal sent to the controller 38 by one of the limit switches 44, 46. As the carriage 18 translates along the guide 20, thereby providing the massage effect, the timer monitors the position of the carriage 18 as a function of time.

At decision block 52, the controller 38 determines whether a user has pressed one of the push buttons 42 associated with storing a position for limiting the range of travel of the carriage 18. For example, the user may have pressed the button

42 for storing the position at intermediate location B in Figure 1. If so, position B is stored at block 54 in Figure 2. If the user has not pressed the store position button 42, then block 54 is skipped. If the carriage 18 is traveling in an upward direction, for example from position C to position A in Figure 1, and the button 42 is pressed at position B, the controller 38 can reverse the direction of the carriage 18 to prevent the carriage 18 from traveling in the region from B to A, which would be outside the desired limit selected by the user.

At decision block 56, the controller 38 determines if the maximum position function is on. If not, the massager 10 operates at a normal setting at block 60, wherein the carriage 18 travels from position A to position C and reverses direction each time it contacts one of the limit switches 44, 46. If the maximum selected position function is on, the carriage 18 travels to the lower limit C at limit switch 46 at which point the carriage 18 reverses its direction. At decision block 58, the timer monitors the position of the carriage 18 until it reaches the maximum selected position indicated by region B. If the maximum selected position is reached, the carriage 18 reverses direction and returns back towards the lower limit in block 62. If the maximum selected position has not yet been reached, the carriage 18 continues to travel upward. Although a timer has been described, the invention contemplates that the massager 10 may employ any programmable memory feature, such as a counter for measuring rotations of the motor 22, Hall-Effect sensors for measuring pulses of the motor 22, an encoder for measuring the position of the carriage 18, a potentiometer for measuring the distance of the carriage 18, or any suitable sensor or method for monitoring the position of the carriage 18 and storing the desired limit to the range of travel.

While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the invention.