Graphical display for recommending sleep comfort and support systems
First Claim
1. A method for displaying a recommended category of mattresses to a customer in a mattress retail environment, the recommended category selected from a set of different categories of mattresses, the method comprising:
- measuring, by a two-dimensional sensor array located between the customer and a standardized reference mattress, pressure applied by the customer;
acquiring, by a computing system, a two-dimensional pressure map of the customer lying on the standardized reference mattress in the mattress retail environment by receiving signals comprising pressure data from the two-dimensional sensor array;
calculating, by the computing system, pressure related parameters from the two-dimensional pressure map, the calculated pressure related parameters including a contact area and a measure of peak pressure;
determining, by the computing system, a recommended category of mattresses for the customer based on the calculated pressure related parameters and at least on correlations of different categories of support to the contact area and correlations of different categories of comfort to the measure of peak pressure; and
graphically displaying, by the computing system, the recommended category on a results display that includes a horizontal axis and a vertical axis, one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of support and the other one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of comfort;
wherein the results display orders the different categories of support according to the correlations of different categories of support to the contact area and orders the different categories of comfort according to the correlations of different categories of comfort to the measure of peak pressure.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A pressure sensor measures the surface pressure distribution of a body supported by a surface, for example a person lying on a mattress. In one approach, a pressure mapping system acquires a customer'"'"'s pressure map using a reference mattress and presents this pressure data in the form of a pressure map. The pressure map measurement data is then analyzed to determine body characterizing parameters such as body mass index, contact area and average peak pressure. The pressure map measurements are then located on a mattress category grid that has been referenced and aligned to a large population sample of measurements taken with a reference mattress. Alternatively, the pressure map measurements are matched to a physical profile category within a database. Each category provides ranked mattress recommendations based on selection and ranking criteria derived from pressure map data obtained from a large sample of test subjects. In this way, a customer'"'"'s pressure map can be translated to a recommendation of specific mattresses or mattress categories that are offered by a mattress retailer or manufacturer.
37 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method for displaying a recommended category of mattresses to a customer in a mattress retail environment, the recommended category selected from a set of different categories of mattresses, the method comprising:
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measuring, by a two-dimensional sensor array located between the customer and a standardized reference mattress, pressure applied by the customer; acquiring, by a computing system, a two-dimensional pressure map of the customer lying on the standardized reference mattress in the mattress retail environment by receiving signals comprising pressure data from the two-dimensional sensor array; calculating, by the computing system, pressure related parameters from the two-dimensional pressure map, the calculated pressure related parameters including a contact area and a measure of peak pressure; determining, by the computing system, a recommended category of mattresses for the customer based on the calculated pressure related parameters and at least on correlations of different categories of support to the contact area and correlations of different categories of comfort to the measure of peak pressure; and graphically displaying, by the computing system, the recommended category on a results display that includes a horizontal axis and a vertical axis, one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of support and the other one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of comfort; wherein the results display orders the different categories of support according to the correlations of different categories of support to the contact area and orders the different categories of comfort according to the correlations of different categories of comfort to the measure of peak pressure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A system for displaying a recommended category of mattresses to a customer in a mattress retail environment, the recommended category selected from a set of different categories of mattresses, the system comprising:
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a two-dimensional pressure sensor array configured for mounting on a standardized reference mattress at the mattress retail environment; and a computerized system coupled to the pressure sensor, the computerized system performing the steps of; acquiring from the pressure sensor a two-dimensional pressure map of the customer lying on the standardized reference mattress; calculating pressure related parameters from pressure data in the acquired two-dimensional pressure map, the calculated pressure related parameters including a contact area and a measure of peak pressure; determining a recommended category of mattresses for the customer based on the calculated pressure related parameters and at least on correlations of different categories of support to the contact area and correlations of different categories of comfort to the measure of peak pressure; and graphically displaying the recommended category on a results display that includes a horizontal axis and a vertical axis, one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of support and the other one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of comfort; wherein the results display orders the different categories of support according to the correlation of different categories of support to the contact area and orders the different categories of comfort according to the correlation of different categories of comfort to the measure of peak pressure.
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25. A system for displaying a recommended category of mattresses to a customer in a mattress retail environment, the recommended category selected from a set of different categories of mattresses, the system comprising:
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a two-dimensional pressure sensor array configured for mounting on a standardized reference mattress at the mattress retail environment and for measuring pressure applied by the customer; means for acquiring a two-dimensional pressure map of the customer lying on the standardized reference mattress in the mattress retail environment by receiving signals comprising pressure data from the two-dimensional sensor array; means for calculating pressure related parameters from the two-dimensional pressure map, the calculated pressure related parameters including a contact area and a measure of peak pressure; means for determining a recommended category of mattresses for the customer based on the calculated pressure related parameters and at least on correlations of different categories of support to the contact area and correlations of different categories of comfort to the measure of peak pressure; and means for graphically displaying the recommended category on a results display that includes a horizontal axis and a vertical axis, one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of support and the other one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of comfort; wherein the results display orders the different categories of support according to the correlation of different categories of support to the contact area and orders the different categories of comfort according to the correlation of different categories of comfort to the measure of peak pressure.
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26. A method for recommending mattresses from among a set of different mattresses to a customer in a mattress retail environment, the method comprising:
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measuring, by a two-dimensional sensor array located between the customer and a standardized reference mattress, pressure applied by the customer; acquiring, by a computing system, a two-dimensional pressure map of the customer lying on the standardized reference mattress located in the mattress retail environment by receiving signals comprising pressure data from the two-dimensional sensor array; calculating, by the computing system, pressure related parameters from the two-dimensional pressure map, the calculated pressure related parameters including a contact area and a measure of peak pressure; ranking, by the computing system, mattresses based on the calculated pressure related parameters including the contact area and the measure of peak pressure; and displaying, by the computing system, at least a portion of the mattress ranking on a results display that includes a horizontal axis and a vertical axis, one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of support and the other one of the horizontal axis and vertical axis indicating the different categories of comfort; wherein the results display orders the displayed mattresses according to the ranking, and orders different categories of support according to different categories to the contact area and orders the different categories of comfort according to the correlation of different categories of comfort to the measure of peak pressure.
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Specification