Seat force sensor for a patient support
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A patient support comprising:
- a mattress having a head section, a foot section spaced from the head section, and a seat section between the head section and the foot section, the seat section being dimensioned to support a seat region of a person,an inflatable cell associated with the seat section,an air source operable to inflate the inflatable cell,a pressure sensor operable to measure pressure in the inflatable cell,a substantially rigid collector plate located above the inflatable cell and arranged to uniformly concentrate a portion of a person'"'"'s weight on the inflatable bladder, anda controller operably coupled to the pressure sensor and to the air source, the controller being operable to automatically determine a value for total body weight of a person positioned on the mattress based on an output of the pressure sensor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A weighing system associated with a mattress and configured to measure a patient'"'"'s weight while the patient is positioned on the mattress.
75 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A patient support comprising:
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a mattress having a head section, a foot section spaced from the head section, and a seat section between the head section and the foot section, the seat section being dimensioned to support a seat region of a person, an inflatable cell associated with the seat section, an air source operable to inflate the inflatable cell, a pressure sensor operable to measure pressure in the inflatable cell, a substantially rigid collector plate located above the inflatable cell and arranged to uniformly concentrate a portion of a person'"'"'s weight on the inflatable bladder, and a controller operably coupled to the pressure sensor and to the air source, the controller being operable to automatically determine a value for total body weight of a person positioned on the mattress based on an output of the pressure sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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7. A patient support comprising:
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a mattress having a head section, a foot section spaced from the head section, and a seat section between the head section and the foot section, the seat section being dimensioned to support a seat region of a person, at least the foot section including at least one inflatable bladder, an air source operable to inflate the at least one inflatable bladder, a force sensor sized to fit within the dimensions of the seat section of the mattress and configured to output a signal indicative of force applied to the seat section of the mattress, the force sensor comprising a substantially rigid lower plate, a plurality of force transducers above the lower plate, and a substantially rigid upper plate configured to concentrate a portion of a person'"'"'s weight on the plurality of force transducers thereby to produce the signal, and a controller configured to receive the output signal from the force sensor and automatically signal the air source to adjust pressure in the foot section of the mattress based on the output of the force sensor. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 19, 20)
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Specification