PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES WITH NAVIGATION AND GUIDANCE SYSTEMS

• US 20160367415A1
• Filed: 06/17/2016
• Published: 12/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stryker Corporation
• Original Assignee: Stryker Corporation
• Inventors: Vanderplas, Jason A., Hayes, Michael Joseph, Bhimavarapu, Krishna Sandeep, Brosnan, Daniel Vincent, Furman, Aaron Douglas, Campbell, Jonathan David, Puvogel, Thomas Alan, Galer, James K.
• Granted Patent: US 10,406,045 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 1/013 foldable or collapsible A61G1/017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 1/02 with wheels
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 1/0275 having driven wheels, e.g. motorised
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 1/0281 having a steering device
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 2203/22 for automatically guiding movable devices, e.g. stretchers or wheelchairs in a hospital
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 7/015 divided into different adjustable sections, e.g. for Gatch position
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 7/018 Control or drive mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 7/05 Parts, details or accessories of beds devices for prevention against falling out A47C21/08, A47D7/00 ; mattresses A47C27/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61G 7/0528 Steering or braking devices for castor wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 31/0008 including means for detecting potential obstacles in vehicle path
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0223 involving speed control of the vehicle vehicle fittings for automatically controlling, i.e. preventing speed from exceeding an arbitrarily established velocity or maintaining speed at a particular velocity, as selected by the vehicle operator B60K31/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0248 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0257 using a radar radar systems designed for anti-collision purposes between land vehicles or between land vehicle and fixed obstacles G01S13/931
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0289 with means for avoiding collisions between vehicles vehicle fittings for automatically controlling speed including means for detecting potential obstacles B60K31/0008; avoiding obstacles by action on the steering system B62D; radar, sonar, lidar systems designed for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 901/01 Mobile robot

Abstract

Patient support apparatuses, such as beds, cots, stretchers, recliners, or the like, include control systems with one or more image, radar, and/or laser sensors to detect objects and determine if a likelihood of collision exists. If so, the control system controls the speed and steering of the patient support apparatus in order to reduce the likelihood of collision. The control system may be adapted to autonomously drive the patient support apparatus, to transmit a message to a remote device indicating whether it is occupied by a patient or not, and/or to transmit its route to the remote device. The remote device may determine an estimate of a time of arrival of the patient support apparatus at a particular destination and/or determine a distance of the patient support apparatus from the particular destination.

Claims

1. A patient support apparatus comprising:

a frame;

a plurality of wheels;

a motor for driving a first one of the wheels;

an actuator for steering the patient support apparatus;

a support surface supported by the frame and adapted to support a patient thereon;

an image sensor positioned at the patient support apparatus, the image sensor adapted to capture images of an area within a field of view of the image sensor; and

a control system in communication with the image sensor and adapted to analyze the images to detect objects within the field of view, to identify at least some of the detected objects, to determine a relative velocity of the detected objects to the patient support apparatus, to use the relative velocity to determine if any of the detected objects have a likelihood of collision with the patient support apparatus that exceeds a threshold, and to control the motor and the actuator in order to reduce the likelihood of collision below the threshold.

2. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control system is adapted to identify walls and floors in the images and to use the identification of the walls and floors to autonomously drive the patient support apparatus.

3. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further including a user interface adapted to allow a user to input a desired destination of the patient support apparatus within a healthcare facility, wherein the control system is adapted to automatically control the motor and the actuator such that the patient support apparatus arrives at the desired destination.

4. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

an orientation sensor adapted to determine an orientation of the patient support apparatus within a frame of reference;

a speed sensor adapted to determine a speed of the patient support apparatus; and

a memory having map of a healthcare facility in which the patient support apparatus is positioned, the memory further including data sufficient to correlate the frame of reference with the map.

5. The patient support apparatus of claim 4 wherein the image sensor is further adapted to detect landmarks within the healthcare facility and the control system is further adapted to utilize the detected landmarks to autonomously drive the patient support apparatus to a destination.

6. The patient support apparatus of claim 5 wherein the landmarks include human readable signs positioned within the healthcare facility.

7. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an exit detection system adapted to detect if the patient supported on the support surface may be about to exit the patient support apparatus, wherein the control system is in communication with the exit detection system and adapted to reduce a speed of the motor if the exit detection system detects that the patient supported on the support surface may be about to exit the patient support apparatus.

8. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further including a memory having dimensions of the patient support apparatus stored therein, the control system is adapted to utilize the dimensions in determining the likelihood of collision with any of the detected objects.

9. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further including a second image sensor positioned at the patient support apparatus at a known distance from—

and a known orientation with respect to—

the image sensor, the control system adapted to determine distances between the patient support apparatus and the detected objects by utilizing the known distance, the known orientation, and by analyzing the images from the image sensor and from the second image sensor.

10. A patient support apparatus comprising:

a frame;

a plurality of wheels;

a motor for driving a first one of the wheels;

an actuator for steering the patient support apparatus;

a support surface supported by the frame and adapted to support a patient thereon;

an image sensor positioned at the patient support apparatus, the image sensor adapted to capture images of an area within a field of view of the image sensor; and

a control system in communication with the image sensor and adapted to analyze the images to detect landmarks within a healthcare facility, the control system further adapted to utilize the detected landmarks to autonomously drive the patient support apparatus to a destination within the healthcare facility.

11. The patient support apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

an orientation sensor adapted to determine an orientation of the patient support apparatus within a frame of reference;

a speed sensor adapted to determine a speed of the patient support apparatus; and

a memory having map of the landmarks within healthcare facility, the memory further including data sufficient to correlate the frame of reference with the map.

12. The patient support apparatus of claim 11 wherein the landmarks include human readable signs positioned within the healthcare facility.

13. The patient support apparatus of claim 12 wherein the signs include signs indicating room numbers within the healthcare facility.

14. The patient support apparatus of claim 11 wherein the memory further includes landmark descriptors stored therein, and the control system is adapted to analyze the images to detect the landmarks by comparing data from the images to the landmark descriptors.

15. The patient support apparatus of claim 11 wherein the control system is further adapted to analyze the images to detect objects within the field of view, to determine a relative velocity of the detected objects to the patient support apparatus, to use the relative velocity to determine if any of the detected objects have a likelihood of collision with the patient support apparatus that exceeds a threshold, and to control the motor and the actuator in order to reduce the likelihood of collision below the threshold.

16. The patient support apparatus of claim 11 further including:

a radar transmitter positioned on the patient support apparatus and adapted to emit radar transmissions;

a radar sensor positioned on the patient support apparatus and adapted to detect reflections of the radar transmissions; and

wherein the control system is in communication with the radar sensor and adapted to analyze the reflections to detect objects, to determine a relative velocity of the detected objects to the patient support apparatus, to use the relative velocity to determine if any of the detected objects have a likelihood of collision with the patient support apparatus that exceeds a threshold, and to control the motor and the actuator in order to reduce the likelihood of collision below the threshold.

17. The patient support apparatus of claim 11 further including:

a laser transmitter positioned on the patient support apparatus and adapted to emit laser transmissions;

a laser sensor positioned on the patient support apparatus and adapted to detect reflections of the laser transmissions; and

wherein the control system is in communication with the laser sensor and adapted to analyze the reflections to detect objects, to determine a relative velocity of the detected objects to the patient support apparatus, to use the relative velocity to determine if any of the detected objects have a likelihood of collision with the patient support apparatus that exceeds a threshold, and to control the motor and the actuator in order to reduce the likelihood of collision below the threshold.

18. The patient support apparatus of claim 11 further including a user interface adapted to allow a user to input the destination into the patient support apparatus.

19. A patient support apparatus comprising:

a frame;

a plurality of wheels;

a support surface supported by the frame and adapted to support a patient thereon;

an image sensor positioned at the patient support apparatus, the image sensor adapted to capture images of an area within a field of view of the image sensor; and

a control system in communication with the image sensor and adapted to analyze the images to detect objects within the field of view, to identify at least some of the detected objects, to determine a relative velocity of the detected objects to the patient support apparatus, to use the relative velocity to determine if any of the detected objects have a likelihood of collision with the patient support apparatus that exceeds a threshold, and to provide an indication to a user of the patient support apparatus that a collision may be imminent.

20. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 further comprising a brake for braking at least one of the wheels, wherein the control system is in communication with the brake and adapted to apply the brake automatically when the control system provides the indication.

21. The patient support apparatus of claim 20 wherein the patient support apparatus is driven and steered manually by the user.

22. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the control system is adapted to identify walls and floors in the images and to determine a likelihood of collision with the walls.

23. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the control system determines if any of the detected objects have a likelihood of collision with the patient support apparatus by performing the following for each detected object:

computing a relative speed of the patient support apparatus with respect to the detected object along a path aligned with the detected object, determining a distance between the patient support apparatus and the detected object along the path, and calculating an amount of time until a collision would occur with the detected object if the patient support apparatus were to continue to move at the relative speed along the path.

24. The patient support apparatus of claim 23 wherein the control system compares the calculated amount of time to a threshold amount of time, and if the calculated amount of time exceeds the threshold amount of time, the control system provides the indication to the user.

25. The patient support apparatus of claim 24 wherein the threshold amount of time varies based on an absolute speed of the patient support apparatus.