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Mattress for a hospital bed for use in a healthcare facility and management of same

  • US 8,461,968 B2
  • Filed: 08/29/2007
  • Issued: 06/11/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2007
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A mattress for use in a healthcare facility having a communication system and a plurality of bed frames, the mattress comprising:

  • a support member;

    a unique electronic identifier, associated with the mattress, to uniquely identify the mattress; and

    a transceiver, associated with the mattress and operably coupled to the communication system, to transmit the unique electronic identifier over the communication system;

    a bed frame transceiver associated with a bed frame from the plurality of bed frames;

    an install-confirming device comprising a user input button that is used to confirm placement of the mattress on one of the bed frames of the plurality of bed frames;

    a communications network coupled to the transceiver, the bed frame transceiver, and the install-confirming device, the communications network used to communicate data between the transceiver, the bed frame transceiver, and the install-confirming device;

    a first visual indicator to indicate whether the mattress is successfully associated with one of the bed frames of the plurality of bed frames, the first visual indicator coupled to the install-confirming device;

    a second visual indicator to indicate whether the transceiver associated with the mattress is successfully communicating with the communication system of the healthcare facility, the second visual indicator coupled to the install-confirming device, the second visual indicator becoming enabled when the bed frame transceiver receives, via the communications network, a confirmation signal from the communication system of the healthcare facility, the bed frame transceiver receiving the confirmation signal and causing the bed frame transceiver to enable the second visual indicator; and

    a controller coupled to the transceiver and the install-confirming device, the controller receiving a signal from the user input button to confirm that the mattress is placed on one of the bed frames of the plurality of bed frames, to activating the first visual indicator in response to determining a successful association, and activating the second visual indicator in response to determining successful communication with the communication system of the healthcare facility.

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