Seat cushion

• US 10,376,068 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2017
• Issued: 08/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Taiwan University (Government of The Republic of China)
• Original Assignee: National Taiwan University (Government of The Republic of China)
• Inventors: Hong, Jon-Chao, Chen, Mei-Yung, Tai, Kai-Wen, Tai, Kai-Hsin, Tsai, Chi-Ruei
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Shin H
• Application Number:
  US15/581,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20180310713A1
• Time in Patent Office: 837 Days
• Field of Search: 2972172, 297313, 297337
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 7/14 of adjustable shape; elastically mounted ; adaptable to a user contour or ergonomic seating positions movably-coupled seat and backrests with elastic adjustment means A47C1/03261; elastically-mounted back-rests or backrest-seat units in the base frame A47C7/44
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 7/62 Accessories for chairs

Abstract

A seat cushion includes a cushion body, a weight measuring unit coupled to the cushion body, a tilt adjusting unit, a storage unit storing pre-established mapping data, and a controlling unit. The weight measuring unit measures, when a user is sitting on the cushion body, weight of the user applied to the cushion body so as to generate a result of weight measurement. The controlling unit is connected to the weight measuring unit, the tilt adjusting unit and the storage unit, and controls, when the seat cushion is operated in an automatic mode, the tilt adjusting unit to adjust a seat angle of the cushion body with respect to a horizontal reference plane based on the result of weight measurement, a height value and the mapping data.

Claims

1. A seat cushion comprising

a cushion body on which a user is to sit;

a weight measuring unit coupled to said cushion body, and configured to measure, when the user is sitting on said cushion body, weight of the user applied to said cushion body so as to generate a result of weight measurement;

a tilt adjusting unit configured to adjust a seat angle of said cushion body with respect to a horizontal reference plane;

a storage unit configured to store pre-established mapping data associated with seat angles, and heights and weights of users of the seat cushion; and

a controlling unit electrically connected to said weight measuring unit, said tilt adjusting unit and said storage unit, and configured to control, when said seat cushion is operated in an automatic mode, said tilt adjusting unit to adjust the seat angle of said cushion body based on the result of weight measurement, a height value that is obtained in advance by said controlling unit and that is associated with a height of the user, and the mapping data.

2. The seat cushion as claimed in claim 1, wherein when said seat cushion is operated in the automatic mode, said controlling unit is further configured to determine an index of weight-for-height of the user according to the result of weight measurement and the height value, and to control said tilt adjusting unit to adjust the seat angle of said cushion body based on the index of weight-for-height and the mapping data.

3. The seat cushion as claimed in claim 2, wherein the index of weight-for-height is the body mass index (BMI) which is calculated by dividing the result of weight measurement by a square of the height value.

4. The seat cushion as claimed in claim 3, wherein when said seat cushion is operated in the automatic mode, said controlling unit is configured to control said tilt adjusting unit to adjust the seat angle of said cushion body based on the BMI, the mapping data which is further associated with genders of the users, and gender information that is obtained in advance by said controlling unit and that is associated with a gender of the user.

5. The seat cushion as claimed in claim 4, wherein when said seat cushion is operated in the automatic mode, said controlling unit is configured to control said tilt adjusting unit to adjust the seat angle of said cushion body based on the BMI, the gender information, the mapping data which is further associated with ages of the users, and an age information that is obtained in advance by said controlling unit and that is associated with an age of the user.

6. The seat cushion as claimed in claim 5, further comprising an input unit electrically connected to said controlling unit, said seat cushion being communicable with a server unit that is signally connected to said controlling unit via a communication network, wherein:

when said seat cushion is operated in a manual mode, said controlling unit is configured to control said tilt adjusting unit to adjust the seat angle of said cushion body based on a desired angle value for the seat cushion that is inputted by the user via said input unit, and to transmit the desired angle value, the BMI, the gender information and the age information to said server unit;

the desired angle value, the BMI, the gender information and the age information enable said server unit to store the same as an entry of angle record, to update the mapping data according to at least the entry of angle record, and to transmit the mapping data to said controlling unit; and

after receiving the mapping data from the server unit, said controlling unit is configured to replace the mapping data stored in said storage unit with the mapping data received from said server unit.