When it comes to consumer sleep technologies, not all mattress companies are created equal. Sleep Number is the most innovative mattress company in the space, with 80 patent assets that are mostly directed to smart mattresses with sensing features and/or temperature control. Commercial competitors including Mattress Firm, Tempur-Pedic, and Casper lag behind. A look at the Patent Forecast® shows that Sleep Number appears to be investing consistently in new patents after a lull in 2019, with many published assets from 2020. Sleep Number’s most recent patents were for climate-controlled mattress toppers, which is a departure from its previous patents for climate-controlled beds. Mattress toppers are more versatile and less of an investment, so they could provide more market opportunity. In addition, Sleep Number presented in June 2021 that its smart mattresses could be used to detect COVID-19 via biometric data analysis. Wearables companies Oura and Whoop have been using their devices for COVID-19 detection in partnerships with healthcare providers, but this is the first study where a mattress has been used for the same purposes. Will the results drive Sleep Number’s innovation? Keep track of how the company uses its advantageous patent position with the Consumer Sleep Patent Forecast®.
