Hand-held controller for bed and mattress assembly

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention relates to a hand-held controller, and particularly to a hand-held controller for a bed and mattress assembly.
More particularly the present invention relates to a hand-held controller having buttons that are pressed to control one or more functions of the bed and mattress assembly.
Beds including hand-held controllers that are used to control functions of the bed, such as, articulation of bed frame sections, vibration of bed frame sections, and inflation of air bladders included in a mattress of the bed, are known.
Signals are either sent along wires or are transmitted remotely between the hand-held controller and a control box of the bed that is spaced apart from the hand-held controller.
Typical hand-held controllers are provided with a plurality of buttons that are pressed to control different functions of the bed.
Some hand-held controllers, such as that shown, for example, in U.
S.
Pat.
No.
5,509,154, provide numerical feedback to a user.
According to the present invention, a hand-held controller is provided for controlling at least one function of a bed and mattress assembly to which the hand-held controller is coupled electrically.
The hand-held controller includes a button that is engageable to control the at least one function of the bed and mattress assembly.
The hand-held controller further includes a display that is configured to provide feedback to a user regarding the at least one function.
The display simultaneously displays a graphical image and numerical data when the button is engaged.
In preferred embodiments, the hand-held controller includes a plurality of buttons and the display enables a user to view various screens having various images and data when the user presses a respective button that corresponds with an associated function of the bed and mattress assembly.
Also in preferred embodiments, the display defaults to a clock showing a time-of-day when none of the plurality of buttons are pressed.
In addition, some of the plurality of buttons permit the user to program a selected function of the bed and mattress assembly to occur at a programmed time