A seating assembly for athletes includes seats having a back and seat portion, a base, an adjustable element, a user interface device, and a controller. The back portion includes a back heating member that provides heat to a user's torso. The seat portion includes a lower limb heating member that provides heat to the user's lower limbs. The base supports each seat. The adjustable element is coupled to the base and one of the seats and adjusts height of the seat. The user interface device receives an input regarding a desired temperature of the back heating member and the lower limb heating member. The controller receives the input and adjusts an operation of the back heating member and the lower limb heating member to achieve the desired temperature. The user interface device receives a second input to adjust the a height of the seat relative to the floor surface.

A ventilating or heating/cooling element having a first side having an air permeability of 15-800 m.sup.3/m.sup.2/h at 120 Pa. The first side is for directing an air flow toward a person. The ventilating/cooling/heating element may form or form part of a mattress, a duvet/blanket, a pillow, a sleeping bag, a seat, a clothes item or the like. A pump may be provided for providing air into the ventilating/cooling/heating element, or one or more openings may be provided for receiving air when a person is moving, such as when riding a motor cycle.

Upholstery support arrangements for conditioned furniture are disclosed herein. A representative arrangement, such as for a ventilated bed, comprises an upholstery support structure having a support platform that defines a support plane, for supporting an upholstery item, the upholstery support platform having a first array of apertures that allow a flow of air through the support platform; the upholstery supported on the support platform (e.g., a mattress) having a bottom face facing the support platform and including a second array of apertures positioned to allow the flow of air through the bottom face into the upholstery; wherein a periodicity of the first array of apertures and a periodicity of the second array of apertures are matched to one another.

Articles of furniture with a system of heating and cooling that can be integrated into a building environmental control network are provided. The heating/cooling system of the article has surfaces of a porous or non-porous, moisture-permeable material allowing convective and evaporative heat exchange from the body surface to the environment. The material covers a plenum that has reflective surfaces to reduce radiant losses and low-wattage fans to circulate air that convectively cools the occupant. Resistance heating may be incorporated at key occupant contact areas in the seat and backrest. Temperature, occupancy and other sensors can be incorporated. A control interface controls the actions of the heating/cooling system of the article and can interact with a network server to transmit measurements of environmental temperatures and occupant selection of control settings that are useful for control of the building's indoor environment.

An upholstered furniture system includes an item of upholstered furniture. The item of upholstered furniture includes electrical functions, at least one seating element, and a control system. The control system includes a mobile input device, a communications terminal, and at least one control unit arranged on the item of upholstered furniture. The at least one control unit is operatively connected to the communications terminal.

A method and associated systems for furniture-enabled monitoring and discouragement of sedentary behavior. One or more sensors embedded into a computer-monitored and computer-controlled piece of furniture determine that a user has sat or reclined on the piece of furniture for a predetermined period of time. In response, controllers embedded into the furniture are directed to make the furniture less comfortable in order to encourage the user to get up. In some cases, if the user does not get up, the controllers continue to make the furniture increasingly uncomfortable. Once the user does get up, the furniture is restored to its original comfortable condition after a specified period of time.

The present invention relates to an effect control system of a screening facility chair and a method thereof, and the effect control system includes an input device for transmitting chair angle control information or effect control information input from a user to a management server; the management server for transmitting the chair angle control information or the effect control information to a corresponding motion chair; and the motion chair for adjusting a slope according to the chair angle control information or providing an effect synchronized with an image according to the effect control information.

A seating system, particularly suited for personal mobility vehicles, such as wheelchairs, includes a seat cushion having pressure relieving properties and enhanced thermal conduction properties. The seat cushion includes a thixotropic fluid contained within a flexible envelope. The thixotropic fluid includes nanoparticles that enhance the thermal conduction properties of the seat cushion to increase heat transfer from a seated user to provide a reduced temperature sensory effect.

A system that has a plurality of monitors, a control unit, a first object and a second object is provided. The second object has one or more sensors operable to generate data and is remote from the first object. The control unit is configured to determine whether a first user is positioned on a first or on a second location of the first object and display a simulation of a second user onto the plurality of monitors based on the generated data. The second user is located remote from the first user and is displayed as being positioned in a different location on the first object than the first user on the first object. The control unit is further configured to activate the one or more heat generating devices to simulate a presence of the second user being positioned in the different location on the first object.

A double heated recreational chair includes a pair of chair frames and a table top tray pivotally and swivelly carried by the chair frame. The chair frame is selectively deployable in a folded, collapsed configuration in which the table top tray is deployed in a folded position adjacent to the chair frame. The chair frame is selectively deployable in an extended, functional configuration in which the table top tray is supported on the chair frame in a generally horizontal position.