CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of German Patent Application, Serial No. 10 2018 108 870.1, filed Apr. 13, 2018, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a furniture drive and to a piece of furniture having such a furniture drive.

The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.

Such furniture drives with manual control by means of a cable-bound manual operator control unit are commercially available in various forms since they can be manufactured in such a way that they can be operated reliably and are cost-effective. In particular, alternatively furniture drives which can be controlled in a wireless fashion by means of a specific manual operator control system or by means of a mobile device, e.g. a smartphone, are also commercially available, and compared with cable-bound manual control this is distinguished by a more conventional and flexible operator control capability. Voice-actuated controls are also known for furniture drives.

It would be desirable and advantageous to obviate other prior art shortcomings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, a furniture drive includes a control device, an electromotive adjustment drive, a manual control including a manual operator control unit which is connected to the control device via a cable for activating the adjustment drive via a first transmission path for operator control commands, and an adapter coupled to the control device to establish a second transmission path for operator control commands.

The present invention resolves prior art problems by, i.e. providing an adapter, by means of which a second transmission path for operator control commands is made available, and which is coupled to the control device. For example, the adapter can be coupled to the connection for the manual operator control unit on the control device.

The adapter can therefore access the furniture drive in a controlling fashion in such a way that it converts operator control commands, received by the other second transmission path, of a user into corresponding (switching) signals which, for the control device, appear to come from the manual operator control unit. The interface, already present, of the control device to the manual operator control unit is used. Therefore, for the control device, the addition of the operator control demands which are received via the second transmission path takes place in a transparent fashion. By means of the adapter it is therefore easily possible to retrofit a second transmission path for operator control commands and therefore further possible operator control means for already existing furniture drives, without having to modify the existing furniture drive.

According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the adapter can be arranged electrically between the control device and the manual operator control unit. The plug-type connection which is generally present between the manual control and the control device can then be disconnected by the user with little effort and without tools, in order to connect the adapter intermediately. The plug can advantageously be formed integrally with a housing of the adapter, as a result of which the adapter is connected not only electrically but also mechanically to the control device.

According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the adapter can include a receiver for waves or signals of the second transmission path. The receiver can be a radio receiver, with the second transmission path including a wireless radio transmission of the operator control commands. In this way, a conveniently usable wireless remote operator control can be retrofitted, for example with a specific remote-control system or a mobile device, e.g. a smartphone which functions as a remote control by means of a corresponding program (“app”). The adapter can be configured for transmission according to the WLAN protocol, Bluetooth protocol or ZigBee protocol. In addition to such standardized protocols, proprietary radio protocols can also be used. Of course, in addition to the receiver, it is also possible to provide a transmitter in the adapter, in order to permit the bidirectional transmission of signals and data. Owing to the protocol, this is generally also necessary when (useful) data is to be transmitted only to the adapter.

According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the receiver can be or can include a microphone, with the second transmission path including a sound transmission of the operator control commands. In this way, e.g. a voice-actuated control system for the furniture drive can be retrofitted. Advantageously, the adapter has for this purpose a local speech analysis device in order to recognize spoken operator control commands. Alternatively or advantageously additionally, the adapter can be connected to an external speech analysis device in order to recognize spoken operator control commands. The external speech analysis device makes it possible to recognize even complex speech commands without the need to implement the necessary technology in the adapter itself.

According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the local speech analysis device can act on the control device with a priority that is higher than a priority of the manual control and/or the external speech analysis device. As a result, the local speech analysis device can serve as a safety device for emergency shutdown. For example, it can be provided that the local voice analysis device recognizes instructions such as “stop” and then forwards signals to the control device which lead to an immediate stop (or even a short reversal of the movement direction) of the currently moving adjustment drive, regardless of whether the movement was due to a voice command or the manual control.

According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the receiver can include an optical sensor, with the second transmission path including an optical transmission of the operator control commands. In this way, the furniture drive can e.g. be extended by an infrared remote control.

According to another advantageous feature of the present invention, the adapter can be configured to evaluate signals of the optical sensor for a gesture control of the furniture drive. In this case, the optical sensor can be e.g. a camera.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a piece of furniture, in particular a bed, includes a furniture drive which includes a control device, an electromotive adjustment drive, a manual control including a manual operator control unit which is connected to the control device via a cable for activating the adjustment drive via a first transmission path for operator control commands, and an adapter coupled to the control device to establish a second transmission path for operator control commands.

