Chairs and seats – Convertible
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-11
2001-05-29
Cuomo, Peter M. (Department: 3624)
Chairs and seats
Convertible
C297S135000, C297S144000, C297S284110, C297S362110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237994
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to adjustable seats adapted to perform multiple functions and more particularly (although not exclusively) to aircraft passenger seats designed to enhance passenger comfort and facilitate aspects of their adjustment by passengers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Consideration of passenger comfort and convenience is a significant component of seat design. As the numbers of long- or extended-range aircraft (and other vehicles) grow in commercial fleets, passengers increasingly expend substantial amounts of time positioned in such seats. Passengers amenable to providing monetary value in exchange for enhanced comfort during long-range travel additionally have increased, as has availability of “frequent flyer” awards in which enhanced comfort is an advertised or corresponding benefit. Airlines and other commercial transportation companies thus continue to attempt to discern methods of improving the comfort and convenience of passengers as part of their overall operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,923 to Bilezikjian describes certain features of existing seats used typically in upper-class cabins. As noted at column 1, lines 25-30 of the Bilezikjian patent:
Business class and first class seats may be provided with a console with personal storage compartments, compartments for cocktail trays, and the like. A first class sleeper seat may include additional features such as a video monitor, an extendable leg rest, and other features for passenger comfort and convenience.
One such other feature provided in some reclinable seats is an elevatable seat bottom linked to each corresponding back. U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,898 to Dixon, et al. discloses a specific linkage assembly for interconnecting the bottom and back of such a seat so as purportedly to provide a ratio of seat back movement to seat bottom movement of greater than 1:1. According to the Dixon, et al. patent, the complex linkage assembly includes not only two pivot members, but also a “hip-joint pivot connection” and a link bar connected to both the seat frame and at least one pivot member. With the linkage assembly, the associated seat is designed so that it
provides greater comfort to the occupant and prevents or minimizes dishevelment of clothing during travel caused by shirttails being pulled from trousers or skirts as the seat back pivots.
See Dixon, et al., col. 1, 11. 16-19.
Another feature incorporated into numerous commercial aircraft seats is a table stowable in an armrest of the seats. U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,552 to Harris details an exemplary table of this type, which in use is adapted to move angularly in a horizontal plane should, for example, a passenger need to depart his or her seat temporarily while the table is deployed. The Harris patent does not, however, expressly address any tilting or adjustment of the height of the table vertically while in use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides multi-function, adjustable seats and methods and systems for their manufacture and utilization. In addition to providing “rocking” motion with an assembly less complex than that of the Dixon, et al. patent, seats of the present invention may enhance passenger comfort by having bottoms whose lengths are adjustable, allowing passengers to match the effective lengths of their seat bottoms more closely with the lengths of their upper legs. Tables stowable in the seats additionally are adjustable vertically, moving food or other substances or materials closer to mouths and further from legs of seat occupants (or vice-versa) as desired, and may be tilted out of a horizontal plane and latched to function as, for example, a book, magazine, or computer rest. Each of these aspects of the seats and systems of the invention is intended to improve comfort-related performance of seats used commercially for transportation, whether in aircraft, land-based vehicles, or otherwise.
Additional features of seats of the present invention may include independently (or cooperatively) adjustable headrests, legrests, backrests, and lumbar supports. Adjustment of these components may occur manually, electrically, or otherwise as appropriate or desired. Moreover, if any portions of the adjustments are to be actuated electrically, a touch-screen or similar graphical user interface or digital electronic display may be employed in place of tactile analog or digital switches conventionally utilized for analogous operations.
In some embodiments of seats of the present invention, the touch-screen may be a control panel in the form of a liquid crystal display (LCD) or similar device. Such device may be programmed to provide protocol for passenger interaction with the seat control actuators and scroll-down or multi-screen menus of options for managing adjustment of the seat. The device as well may support at least temporary storage of personalized settings for various adjustments, allowing a passenger to return the seat to a specific position upon command.
Individual digital control panels consistent with the invention additionally may be linked electronically to either or both of the passenger entertainment system and cabin communication system of an aircraft or other vehicle. Doing so would allow requests for attendants to be made merely by activating an appropriate portion of the control panel; reading lights and individualized air conditioning systems could be controlled by touch screen too. These control panels thus could substitute not only for the dedicated entertainment monitors currently prevalent in long-range aircraft, but also for the myriad buttons, switches, and manual valves in use today. They could as well be programmed to provide diagnostic information should any portion of a seat not perform as expected. Static or dynamic advertising, duty-free shopping, credit card purchases, or other information or interaction further could be furnished through the touch-screen technology, which additionally could operate as part of any telephone or similar apparatus intended to provide communication between passengers and remote locales.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide multi-function seats for commercial aircraft and other use.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide adjustable seats and methods and systems for their manufacture and utilization.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide seats having bottoms whose lengths are adjustable, enhancing passenger comfort by allowing effective lengths of seat bottoms more closely to match lengths of upper legs of passengers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide stowable tables which both are adjustable vertically and may be tilted out of a horizontal plane in use.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide electronic actuation of various features of seats, such actuation possible using, for example, digital, programmable touch-screen technology.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide seats capable of motion similar to rocking, at least in that their seat bottoms may be elevated when corresponding seat backs recline, using less-complex mechanisms than heretofore employed.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art with reference to the remainder of the text and the drawings of this application.
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Arnold Lyn
Baird Karl
Bentley Paul
Bridgeman James
McCollum John
Cuomo Peter M.
Kirkpatrick & Stockton LLP
Russell Dean W.
Weber Aircraft, Inc.
White Rodney B.
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