Hospital bed
First Claim
1. A patient-support apparatus comprisinga control system comprising a controller area network including a serial data bus and a plurality of control modules coupled to the serial data bus, each control module including a microcontroller and a transceiver operable to communicate over the serial data bus by sending a message out on the serial data bus, the message including an arbitration field that establishes the priority of the message relative to other messages, at least one of the control modules comprising a logic module which is operable to process a message from another control module on the controller area network requesting movement of a particular component of the patient-support apparatus and operable, if movement is necessary, to cause the component to move, wherein each message includes an identifier and each of the control modules is operable to determine whether to process a particular message, wherein in determining whether to process the message, the module considers the identifier and if the identifier indicates that the message is relevant to the particular module, the message is processed by the module, and if it is not relevant, the message is ignored by the module.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A patient support includes a frame and a mattress supported by the frame. The frame includes a deck support and a deck supporting the mattress.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A patient-support apparatus comprising
a control system comprising a controller area network including a serial data bus and a plurality of control modules coupled to the serial data bus, each control module including a microcontroller and a transceiver operable to communicate over the serial data bus by sending a message out on the serial data bus, the message including an arbitration field that establishes the priority of the message relative to other messages, at least one of the control modules comprising a logic module which is operable to process a message from another control module on the controller area network requesting movement of a particular component of the patient-support apparatus and operable, if movement is necessary, to cause the component to move, wherein each message includes an identifier and each of the control modules is operable to determine whether to process a particular message, wherein in determining whether to process the message, the module considers the identifier and if the identifier indicates that the message is relevant to the particular module, the message is processed by the module, and if it is not relevant, the message is ignored by the module.
Specification