US 5,904,172 · Granted 1999-05-18
The Smart Valve That Keeps Your Air Mattress Perfectly Inflated
Imagine an air mattress that knows exactly how firm it should be and adjusts itself automatically. This patent covers the brain and plumbing behind that magic—a sealed valve system with a pressure sensor and processor that talk to your pump, keeping everything balanced without you having to fiddle with it.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a sealed valve enclosure assembly that sits between an air pump and an inflatable mattress bladder. What's protected here is the specific combination of: an air chamber inside the enclosure, one or more inlets connected to the pump, a pressure monitor that constantly measures the bladder's pressure, and a processor that commands the pump to inflate or deflate based on those readings. Someone making a competitor's smart air mattress system with this exact architecture would be infringing.
Why it matters
This patent matters because it automates something mattress users had to do manually before—monitor and adjust firmness. By coupling a pressure sensor, processor, and smart valve together, Select Comfort (now Sleep Number) locked down a key piece of the technology that powers their adjustable air mattress business. It's the kind of foundational patent that protects a core feature customers pay for.
Real-world use
Every time someone with a Sleep Number bed adjusts the firmness using the remote control, they're using machinery covered by this patent—the system measures the pressure inside and automatically opens or closes valves to reach the target firmness.
Original USPTO abstract
An improved valve enclosure assembly for use with an air inflatable mattress includes at least one air bladder, a pump fluidly coupled to the at least one air bladder for providing compressed air thereto, and a processor for providing commands to the improved valve enclosure assembly during an inflate/deflate cycle. The improved valve enclosure assembly is fluidly coupled intermediate the pump and the at least one air bladder for controlling the inflation of the at least one air bladder. An enclosure defines a substantially fluidly sealed air chamber and has at least one air inlet to the air chamber being fluidly coupled to the pump. A pressure monitor is operably coupled to the processor and is in fluid communication with the at least one bladder for continuously monitoring the pressure in the at least one bladder. A method of effecting a desired pressure in a bladder of an air inflatable mattress is also disclosed.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,904,172
- Filing date
- 1997-07-28
- Grant date
- 1999-05-18
- Assignee
- Select Comfort Corporation
- Inventor(s)
- GIFFT; JAMES EDWIN, MAHONEY; PAUL JAMES
- CPC class
- A47C27/082
Want to file your own patent?
If you're designing a furniture gadget with pumps, sensors, or automatic controls, check our free scanner to see if there's already a patent blocking your path.
Free patentability scan