WO2025122553A1

WO2025122553A1 - Patient support apparatus with environmental interaction

Info

Publication number: WO2025122553A1
Application number: PCT/US2024/058368
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jerald A. TREPANIER; Anish Paul; Kirby M. NEIHOUSER
Original assignee: Stryker Corp
Current assignee: Stryker Corp
Priority date: 2023-12-05
Filing date: 2024-12-04
Publication date: 2025-06-12
Anticipated expiration: 2026-06-05

Abstract

A patient support apparatus includes a patient support surface, an ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver, and a controller. The UWB transceiver is adapted to wirelessly communicate with a badge worn by a patient and with a personal belonging of the patient's. The controller is adapted to use the UWB transceiver to range with the badge and the personal belonging, and to issue a notification indicating the patient may have forgotten their personal belonging if a first set of conditions is met. The first set of conditions includes the following two conditions: (1) one of the badge and the personal belonging is positioned in a first area; and (2) the other of the badge and the personal belonging is positioned in a second area different from the first area. The first area may be defined as outside of a room and the second area may be defined as inside the room.

Description

PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application serial number 63/606,292 filed

December 5, 2023, by inventors Jerald Trepanier et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

[0002] The present disclosure relates to patient support apparatuses, such as beds, cots, stretchers, recliners, or the like. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to patient support apparatuses that automatically helps prevent a patient from losing one or more personal belongings.

SUMMARY

[0003] According to the various aspects described herein, the present disclosure is directed to a patient support apparatus system that automatically determines if a patient may have left one or more personal belongings behind when the patient is discharged from the healthcare facility and/or when the patient is moved to a different room or area of the healthcare facility. The personal belongings may include, but are not limited to, clothes, a phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a purse, a set of keys, a wallet, books, etc. The system includes a patient support apparatus adapted to determine when the patient and his/or her belongings are positioned in different areas that are indicative of the patient leaving without their belongings, or the belongings moving without being accompanied by the patient. The patient support apparatus may sense the presence of the belongings in a first area and the presence of the caregiver in a different area in different manners, such as, but not limited to, using ultra-wideband communication, using an exit detection system onboard the patient support apparatus, using a phone charger coupled to the patient support apparatus, and/or through other means. These and other aspects of the present disclosure will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the following written description and the accompanying drawings.

[0004] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a patient support apparatus is provided that includes a support surface adapted to support a patient, a mobile device charger, an exit detection system, and a controller. The mobile device charger is adapted to charge a mobile device (e.g. mobile phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, etc.) and to detect when the mobile device is connected to the device charger. The exit detection system is adapted to be armed and disarmed, and to issue an exit alert when the patient exits the patient support apparatus while the exit detection system is armed. The controller is adapted to communicate with the mobile device charger and to issue a notification indicating the patient may have forgotten their mobile device if a first set of conditions is met. The first set of conditions includes the following two conditions: (1) the mobile device is electrically coupled to the mobile device charger, and (2) the patient has exited the patient support apparatus.

[0005] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the patient support apparatus includes a network transceiver adapted to communicate with a healthcare facility computer network, and the controller is adapted to issue the notification by transmitting a message to the healthcare facility computer network using the network transceiver.

[0006] In some aspects, the mobile device charger includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and the controller is adapted to determine if the mobile device charger is electrically coupled to the mobile device by monitoring a voltage on a data line of the USB port.

[0007] In some aspects, the exit detection system includes a plurality of load cells adapted to detect a weight of the patient when the patient is positioned on the support surface.

[0008] The exit detection system, in some aspects, includes an ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient and to detect a distance from the UWB transceiver to the UWB badge. [0009] The first set of conditions, in some aspects, further includes the following third condition: the UWB badge worn by the patient moves outside of a defined area.

[0010] The defined area, in some aspects, includes an area greater than a threshold distance from the UWB transceiver.

[0011] In some aspects, the patient support apparatus further includes a plurality of additional UWB transceivers adapted to wirelessly communicate with the UWB badge worn by the patient and to detect distances to the UWB badge.

[0012] In some aspects, the defined area is a room in which the patient support apparatus is currently located.

[0013] The patient support apparatus, in some aspects, further includes a first ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient. The controller may further be adapted to issue the notification if a second set of conditions is met, wherein the second set of conditions includes the following four conditions: (a) the mobile device includes a second UWB transceiver in communication with the first UWB transceiver, (b) the mobile device is electrically decoupled from the phone charger, (c) the mobile device is positioned within a first threshold distance of the patient support apparatus; and (d) the UWB badge is positioned outside of a second threshold distance from the patient support apparatus.

[0014] In some aspects, the patient support apparatus further includes a first ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient, and the controller is further adapted to issue the notification if a second set of conditions is met. The second set of conditions includes the following four conditions: (a) the mobile device includes a second UWB transceiver in communication with the first UWB transceiver, (b) the mobile device is electrically decoupled from the phone charger, (c) the UWB badge is positioned within a first threshold distance of the patient support apparatus; and (d) the mobile device is positioned outside of a second threshold distance from the patient support apparatus.

[0015] The second threshold distance, in some aspects, is greater than the first threshold distance.

[0016] In some aspects, the patient support apparatus further includes a first ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient, and the controller is further adapted to issue the notification if a second set of conditions is met. The second set of conditions includes the following four conditions: (a) the mobile device includes a second UWB transceiver in communication with the first UWB transceiver, (b) the mobile device is electrically decoupled from the phone charger, (c) the UWB badge is positioned within a room in which the patient support apparatus is located; and (d) the mobile device is positioned outside of the room.

[0017] The patient support apparatus, in some aspects, further includes a first ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient, and the controller is further adapted to issue the notification if a second set of conditions is met. The second set of conditions includes the following four conditions: (a) the mobile device includes a second UWB transceiver in communication with the first UWB transceiver, (b) the mobile device is electrically decoupled from the phone charger, (c) the mobile device is positioned within a room in which the patient support apparatus is located; and (d) the UWB badge is positioned outside of the room.

[0018] In some aspects, the controller is further adapted to issue the notification by wirelessly transmitting a message to a caregiver badge worn by a caregiver associated with the patient.

[0019] In some aspects, the patient support apparatus further includes a network transceiver adapted to communicate with a healthcare facility computer network, and the controller is further adapted to transmit the message via the network transceiver. [0020] The patient support apparatus, in some aspects, further includes a control adapted to be activated by a user, wherein the control, when activated, prevents the controller from issuing the notification when the first set of conditions is met, and when deactivated, the control allows the controller to issue the notification when the first set of conditions is met. [0021] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a patient support apparatus is provided that includes a support surface adapted to support a patient, a ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver, and a controller. The UWB transceiver is adapted to wirelessly communicate with a badge worn by a patient and with a personal belonging of the patient’s. The controller is adapted to use the UWB transceiver to range with the badge and the personal belonging, and to issue a notification indicating the patient may have forgotten their personal belonging if a first set of conditions is met. The first set of conditions includes the following two conditions: (1) one of the badge and the personal belonging is positioned in a first area; and (2) the other of the badge and the personal belonging is positioned in a second area different from the first area.

[0022] According to other aspects of the present disclosure, the first area includes area outside of a first threshold distance from the patient support apparatus, and the second area includes area inside of a second threshold distance of the patient support apparatus.

[0023] In some aspects, the first and second threshold distances are the same.

[0024] In some aspects, the first threshold distance is farther away from the patient support apparatus than the second threshold distance.

[0025] In some aspects, the first area includes an area outside of a room in which the patient support apparatus is positioned, and the second area includes an area inside of the room.

[0026] In some aspects, the first area excludes a bathroom and the second area includes the bathroom.

[0027] The patient support apparatus, in some aspects, further includes a network transceiver adapted to communicate with a healthcare facility computer network, and the controller is further adapted to issue the notification by transmitting a message to the healthcare facility computer network using the network transceiver.

[0028] In some aspects, the patient support apparatus further includes a plurality of additional UWB transceivers adapted to wirelessly communicate with the badge and the personal belonging.

[0029] The controller, in some aspects, is further adapted to issue the notification by wirelessly transmitting a message to a caregiver badge worn by a caregiver associated with the patient.

[0030] The network transceiver, in some aspects, is adapted to communicate with a healthcare facility computer network, and the controller is further adapted to transmit the message via the network transceiver.

[0031] The patient support apparatus, in some aspects, further includes a control adapted to be activated by a user, and the control, when activated, prevents the controller from issuing the notification when the first set of conditions is met, and when deactivated, the control allows the controller to issue the notification when the first set of conditions is met. [0032] In some aspects, the personal belonging is a mobile phone.

[0033] The patient support apparatus, in some aspects, further includes a phone charger and an exit detection system. The phone charger is adapted to charge a mobile phone and to detect when the mobile phone is connected to the phone charger. The exit detection system is adapted to be armed and disarmed, and to issue an exit alert when the patient exits the patient support apparatus and the exit detection system is armed. The controller is further adapted to issue the notification when a second set of conditions is met, wherein the second set of conditions includes the following three conditions: (a) the controller is unable to range with one or both of the badge and the personal belonging; (b) the mobile phone is electrically coupled to the phone charger, and (c) the patient has exited the patient support apparatus. [0034] The phone charger, in some aspects, includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and the controller is adapted to determine if the phone charger is electrically coupled to the mobile phone by monitoring a voltage on a data line of the USB port.

[0035] The exit detection system, in some aspects, includes a plurality of load cells adapted to detect a weight of the patient when the patient is positioned on the support surface.

[0036] The patient support apparatus, in some aspects, includes a scale system and a speaker. The scale system is adapted to detect a weight of the patient when the patient is positioned on the support surface. The controller is adapted to issue a voice reminder to the patient via the speaker in response to the scale system detecting the patient on the support surface.

[0037] In some aspects, the voice reminder reminds the patient to turn on a UWB transceiver built into the patient’s mobile phone.

[0038] In some aspects, the voice reminder reminds the patient to pair their mobile phone with the patient support apparatus.

[0039] The controller, in some aspects, is adapted to automatically identify the personal belonging as a personal belonging based on an identifier received from the personal belonging.

[0040] The controller, in some aspects, is adapted to range with a fixed locator unit and to determine a position of the patient support apparatus relative to the fixed locator.

[0041] In some aspects, the personal belonging includes a UWB tag coupled to it and the UWB transceiver is adapted to range with the UWB tag coupled to the personal belonging.

[0042] In some aspects, the controller is adapted to issue the notification by sending a signal to the badge worn by the patient.

[0043] The controller, in some aspects, is adapted to automatically identify the personal belonging as a mobile phone if the controller detects the personal belonging within a threshold proximity of the phone charger while the phone charger is supplying power.

[0044] Before the various aspects of the disclosure are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the claims are not to be limited to the details of operation or to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The aspects described herein are capable of being practiced or being carried out in alternative ways not expressly disclosed herein. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of "including" and "comprising" and variations thereof is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items and equivalents thereof. Further, enumeration may be used in the description of various embodiments.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, the use of enumeration should not be construed as limiting the claims to any specific order or number of components. Nor should the use of enumeration be construed as excluding from the scope of the claims any additional steps or components that might be combined with or into the enumerated steps or components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a patient support apparatus according to a first aspect of the present disclosure;

[0046] FIG. 2 is a plan view of an illustrative caregiver control panel of the patient support apparatus of FIG. 1 ;

[0047] FIG. 3 is a plan view of an illustrative patient control panel of the patient support apparatus of FIG. 1 ;

[0048] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a patient support apparatus system of the present disclosure showing the patient support apparatus and a plurality of devices whose location may be automatically detected by the patient support apparatus; [0049] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the patient support apparatus system of FIG. 4;

[0050] FIG. 6 is a plan view of a healthcare facility room illustrating a plurality of zones that the patient support apparatus may use to determine whether a patient belonging has been inadvertently left behind;

[0051] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a mobile device charger integrated into a siderail of the patient support apparatus;

[0052] FIG. 8 is a plan view of a healthcare facility room illustrating a zone that the patient support apparatus may use to automatically associate a personal belonging with the patient;

[0053] FIG. 9 is a screen shot of an illustrative new patient control that may be displayed on one of the control panels of the patient support apparatus; and

[0054] FIG. 10 is a screen shot of a personal belongings notification control that may be displayed on one of the control panels of the patient support apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0055] An illustrative patient support apparatus 20 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown in FIG. 1. Although the particular form of patient support apparatus 20 illustrated in FIG. 1 is a bed adapted for use in a hospital or other medical setting, it will be understood that patient support apparatus 20 could, in different embodiments, be a cot, a stretcher, a recliner, an operating table, or any other structure capable of supporting a patient in a healthcare environment.

[0056] In general, patient support apparatus 20 includes a base 22 having a plurality of wheels 24, a pair of lifts

26 supported on the base 22, a litter frame 28 supported on the lifts 26, and a support deck 30 supported on the litter frame 28. Patient support apparatus 20 further includes a headboard 32, a footboard 34 and a plurality of siderails 36. Siderails 36 are all shown in a raised position in FIG. 1 but are each individually movable to a lower position in which ingress into, and egress out of, patient support apparatus 20 is not obstructed by the lowered siderails 36.

[0057] Lifts 26 are adapted to raise and lower litter frame 28 with respect to base 22. Lifts 26 may be hydraulic actuators, electric actuators, or any other suitable device for raising and lowering litter frame 28 with respect to base 22. In the illustrated embodiment, lifts 26 are operable independently so that the tilting of litter frame 28 with respect to base 22 can also be adjusted, to place the litter frame 28 in a flat or horizontal orientation, a Trendelenburg orientation, or a reverse Trendelenburg orientation. That is, litter frame 28 includes a head end 38 and a foot end 40, each of whose height can be independently adjusted by the nearest lift 26. Patient support apparatus 20 is designed so that when an occupant lies thereon, his or her head will be positioned adjacent head end 38 and his or her feet will be positioned adjacent foot end 40. [0058] Litter frame 28 provides a structure for supporting support deck 30, the headboard 32, footboard 34, and siderails 36. Support deck 30 provides a support surface for a mattress 42, or other soft cushion, so that a person may lie and/or sit thereon. In some embodiments, the mattress 42 includes one or more inflatable bladders that are controllable via a blower, pump, or other source of pressurized air. In at least one embodiment, the inflation of the bladders of the mattress 42 is controllable via electronics built into patient support apparatus 20. In one such embodiments, mattress 42 may take on any of the functions and/or structures of any of the mattresses disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent 9,468,307 issued October 18, 2016, to inventors Patrick Lafleche et al., the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Still other types of mattresses may be used.

[0059] Support deck 30 is made of a plurality of sections, some of which are pivotable about generally horizontal pivot axes. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, support deck 30 includes at least a head section 44, a thigh section 46, and a foot section 48, all of which are positioned underneath mattress 42 and which generally form flat surfaces for supporting mattress 42. Head section 44, which is also sometimes referred to as a Fowler section, is pivotable about a generally horizontal pivot axis between a generally horizontal orientation (not shown in FIG. 1) and a plurality of raised positions (one of which is shown in FIG. 1). Thigh section 46 and foot section 48 may also be pivotable about generally horizontal pivot axes.

[0060] In some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 may be modified from what is shown to include one or more components adapted to allow the user to extend the width and/or length of patient support deck 30, thereby allowing patient support apparatus 20 to accommodate patients of varying sizes. When so modified, the width of deck 30 may be adjusted sideways and/or lengthwise in increments or otherwise.

[0061] As used herein, the term “longitudinal” refers to a direction parallel to an axis between the head end 38 and the foot end 40. The terms “transverse” or “lateral” refer to a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and parallel to a surface on which the patient support apparatus 20 rests.

[0062] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that patient support apparatus 20 can be designed with other types of mechanical constructions that are different from what is shown in the attached drawings, such as, but not limited to, the construction described in commonly assigned, U.S. Patent No. 10,130,536 to Roussy et al., entitled PATIENT SUPPORT USABLE WITH BARIATRIC PATIENTS, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In another embodiment, the mechanical construction of patient support apparatus 20 may include the same, or nearly the same, structures as the Model 3002 S3 bed manufactured and sold by Stryker Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan. This construction is described in greater detail in the Stryker Maintenance Manual for the MedSurg Bed, Model 3002 S3, published in 2010 by Stryker Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In still another embodiment, the mechanical construction of patient support apparatus 20 may include the same, or nearly the same, structure as the Model 3009 Procuity MedSurg bed manufactured and sold by Stryker Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan. This construction is described in greater detail in the Stryker Maintenance Manual for the 3009 Procuity MedSurg bed (publication 3009-009-002, Rev. A.0), published in 2020 by Stryker Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

[0063] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that patient support apparatus 20 can be designed with still other types of mechanical constructions, such as, but not limited to, those described in commonly assigned, U.S. Pat. No. 7,690,59 issued April 6, 2010, to Lemire et al., and entitled HOSPITAL BED; and/or commonly assigned U.S. Pat. publication No. 2007/0163045 filed by Becker et al. and entitled PATIENT HANDLING DEVICE INCLUDING LOCAL STATUS INDICATION, ONE-TOUCH FOWLER ANGLE ADJUSTMENT, AND POWER-ON ALARM CONFIGURATION, the complete disclosures of both of which are also hereby incorporated herein by reference. The overall mechanical construction of patient support apparatus 20 may also take on still other forms different from what is disclosed in the aforementioned references provided the patient support apparatus includes one or more of the functions, features, and/or structures discussed in greater detail below.

[0064] Patient support apparatus 20 further includes a plurality of control panels 54 that enable a user of patient support apparatus 20, such as a patient and/or an associated caregiver, to control one or more aspects of patient support apparatus 20. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , patient support apparatus 20 includes a footboard control panel 54a, a pair of outer siderail control panels 54b (only one of which is visible), and a pair of inner siderail control panels 54c (only one of which is visible). Footboard control panel 54a and outer siderail control panels 54b are intended to be used by caregivers, or other authorized personnel, while inner siderail control panels 54c are intended to be used by the patient associated with patient support apparatus 20. Each of the control panels 54 includes a plurality of controls 50 (see, e.g. FIGS. 2-3), although each control panel 54 does not necessarily include the same controls and/or functionality.

[0065] Among other functions, controls 50 of control panel 54a allow a user to control one or more of the following: change a height of support deck 30; raise or lower head section 44; activate and deactivate a brake for wheels 24; arm and disarm an exit detection system 136 and/or an onboard monitoring system 138 (FIG. 5); change various settings on patient support apparatus 20; view the current location of the patient support apparatus 20 as determined by the location detection system discussed herein; view what devices, such as, but not limited to, medical devices, exercise devices, nurse call devices, caregiver badges, patient badges, tagged objects, etc. that the patient support apparatus 20 has associated itself with; input boundary information regarding the room in which patient support apparatus 20 located in (or may be located in in the future; control a process by which patient support apparatus 20 automatically determines such boundary information; input other room information; control characteristics of one or more zones that patient support apparatus 20 uses for associating itself with nearby devices; and/or perform other actions.

[0066] One or both of the inner siderail control panels 54c also include at least one control that enables a patient to call a remotely located nurse (or other caregiver). In addition to the nurse call control, one or both of the inner siderail control panels 54c also include one or more controls for controlling one or more features of one or more room devices positioned within the same room as the patient support apparatus 20. As will be described in more detail below, such room devices include, but are not necessarily limited to, a television, a reading light, and a room light. With respect to the television, the features that may be controllable by one or more controls 50 on control panel 54c include, but are not limited to, the volume, the channel, the closed-captioning, and/or the power state of the television. With respect to the room and/or night lights, the features that may be controlled by one or more controls 50 on control panel 54c include the on/off state and/or the brightness level of these lights.

[0067] Control panel 54a includes a display 52 (FIG. 2) configured to display a plurality of different screens thereon. Surrounding display 52 are a plurality of navigation controls 50a-f that, when activated, cause the display 52 to display different screens on display 52. More specifically, when a user presses navigation control 50a, control panel 54a displays an exit detection control screen on display 52 that includes one or more icons that, when touched, control an onboard exit detection system 136 (FIG. 5). The exit detection system 136 is as adapted to issue an alert when a patient exits from patient support apparatus 20. Exit detection system 136 may include any of the same features and functions as, and/or may be constructed in any of the same manners as, the exit detection system disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application 62/889,254 filed August 20, 2019, by inventors Sujay Sukumaran et al. and entitled PERSON SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH ADJUSTABLE EXIT DETECTION ZONES, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Other types of exit detection systems may be included within patient support apparatus 20.

[0068] When a user presses navigation control 50b (FIG. 2), control panel 54 displays a monitoring control screen that includes a plurality of control icons that, when touched, control the onboard monitoring system 138 (FIG. 5) built into patient support apparatus 20. The onboard monitoring system 138 alerts the caregiver through a unified indicator, such as a light or a plurality of lights controlled in a unified manner, when any one or more of a plurality of settings on patient support apparatus 20 are in an undesired state, and uses that same unified indicator to indicate when all of the plurality of settings are in their respective desired states. Stated alternatively, monitoring system 138, when armed, monitors a plurality of conditions of patient support apparatus 20 (such as, but not limited to, any one or more of the following: brake status, siderail position, litter frame height, exit detection system 136, A/C cord status, nurse call cable status, etc.) and issues an alert if any one of those conditions are in an undesired state. Further details of one type of monitoring system that may be built into patient support apparatus 20 are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 62/864,638 filed June 21, 2019, by inventors Kurosh Nahavandi et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH CAREGIVER REMINDERS, as well as commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 16/721,133 filed December 19, 2019, by inventors Kurosh Nahavandi et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES WITH MOTION CUSTOMIZATION, the complete disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference. Other types of monitoring systems may be included within patient support apparatus 20. [0069] When a user presses navigation control 50c, control panel 54a displays a scale control screen that includes a plurality of control icons that, when touched, control a scale system 144 (FIG. 5) of patient support apparatus 20. Such a scale system 144 may include any of the same features and functions as, and/or may be constructed in any of the same manners as, the scale systems disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application 62/889,254 filed August 20, 2019, by inventors Sujay Sukumaran et al. and entitled PERSON SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH ADJUSTABLE EXIT DETECTION ZONES, and U.S. patent application serial number 62/885,954 filed August 13, 2019, by inventors Kurosh Nahavandi et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH EQUIPMENT WEIGHT LOG, the complete disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference. The scale system may utilize the same force sensors and/or other components that are utilized by the exit detection system 136, or it may utilize one or more different sensors and/or other components. Other scale systems besides those mentioned above in the ‘254 and ‘954 applications may alternatively be included within patient support apparatus 20.

[0070] When a user presses navigation control 50d, control panel 54 displays a motion control screen that includes a plurality of control icons that, when touched, control the movement of various components of patient support apparatus 20, such as, but not limited to, the height of litter frame 28 and the pivoting of head section 44. In some embodiments, the motion control screen displayed on display 52 in response to pressing control 50d may be the same as, or similar to, the position control screen 216 disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 62/885,953 filed August 13, 2019, by inventors Kurosh Nahavandi et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH TOUCHSCREEN, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Other types of motion control screens may be included on patient support apparatus 20.

[0071] When a user presses navigation control 50e, control panel 54a displays a motion lock control screen that includes a plurality of control icons that, when touched, control one or more motion lockout functions of patient support apparatus 20. Such motion lockout functions typically include the ability for a caregiver to use control panel 54a to lock out one or more of the motion controls 50 of the patient control panels 54c such that the patient is not able to use those controls 50 on control panels 54c to control the movement of one or more components of patient support apparatus 20. The motion lockout screen may include any of the features and functions as, and/or may be constructed in any of the same manners as, the motion lockout features, functions, and constructions disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 16/721,133 filed December 19, 2019, by inventors Kurosh Nahavandi et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES WITH MOTION CUSTOMIZATION, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Other types of motion lockouts may be included within patient support apparatus 20.

[0072] When a user presses on navigation control 50f, control panel 54a displays a menu screen that includes a plurality of menu icons that, when touched, bring up one or more additional screens for controlling and/or viewing one or more other aspects of patient support apparatus 20. Such other aspects include, but are not limited to, one or more of the aforementioned functions (e.g. activating and deactivating a brake for wheels 24; changing various settings on patient support apparatus 20; viewing the current location of the patient support apparatus 20 as determined by the location detection system discussed herein; viewing what devices, such as, but not limited to, medical devices, exercise devices, nurse call devices, caregiver badges, patient badges, tagged objects, etc. that the patient support apparatus 20 has associated itself with; viewing what devices have been identified as personal belongings of the patient; inputting boundary information regarding the room in which patient support apparatus 20 located in (or may be located in in the future; controlling a process by which patient support apparatus 20 automatically determines such boundary information; inputting other room information; controlling and/or viewing characteristics of one or more zones that patient support apparatus 20 uses for associating itself with nearby devices; and/or performing other actions); displaying diagnostic and/or service information for patient support apparatus 20; displaying mattress control and/or status information; displaying configuration settings, location information, and other settings and/or information; and/or displaying and/or controlling other information relating to patient support apparatus 20.

[0073] Examples of menu screens are shown in FIGS. W and 11, as well as the menu screen 100 disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 62/885,953 filed August 13, 2019, by inventors Kurosh Nahavandi et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH TOUCHSCREEN, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Other types of menus and/or settings may be included within patient support apparatus 20. In at least one embodiment, utilization of navigation control 50f allows a user to navigate to a screen that enables a user to see which devices, if any, are currently associated with patient support apparatus 20. As will be discussed in greater detail below, patient support apparatus 20 includes an onboard locating system that is adapted to automatically determine the relative position of one or more devices with respect to patient support apparatus 20 and, in some instances, automatically associate and/or disassociate those devices with and/or from patient support apparatus 20 (and/or the patient assigned to patient support apparatus 20) depending upon the proximity of the device to patient support apparatus 20. Further details of this locating system are provided below.

[0074] For all of the navigation controls 50a-f (FIG. 2), screens other than the ones specifically mentioned above may be displayed on display 52 in other embodiments of patient support apparatus 20 in response to a user pressing these controls. Thus, it will be understood that the specific screens mentioned above are merely representative of the types of screens that are displayable on display 52 in response to a user pressing on one or more of navigation controls 50a-f. It will also be understood that, although navigation controls 50a-f have all been illustrated in the accompanying drawings as dedicated controls that are positioned adjacent display 52, any one or more of these controls 50a-f could alternatively be touchscreen controls that are displayed at one or more locations on display 52. Still further, although controls 50a-f have been shown herein as buttons, it will be understood that any of controls 50a-f could also, or alternatively, be switches, dials, or other types of non-button controls. Additionally, patient support apparatus 20 may be modified to include additional, fewer, and/or different navigation controls from the navigation controls 50a-f shown in FIG. 2.

[0075] FIG. 3 illustrates one example of a patient control panel that may be integrated into patient support apparatus 20 (e.g. control panel 54c), that may be integrated into a stand-alone pendant that is communicatively coupled to patient support apparatus 20, either by a cord or wirelessly, and/or that may be both integrated into patient support apparatus 20 and a stand-alone pendant. As will be discussed in more detail below, when the patient control panel of FIG. 3 is integrated into a wireless pendant, it may be considered to be one type of a device 100 that patient support apparatus 20 is configured to automatically pair with if it is positioned within a particular zone, as will also be discussed in greater detail below. Regardless of whether it is part of an integrated control panel 54c or a device 100, the patient control panel of FIG. 3 includes a plurality of controls 50g-t that are intended to be operated by a patient. A nurse call control 50g, when pressed by the patient, sends a signal to a nurse call system requesting that a remotely positioned nurse talk to the patient. A Fowler-up control 50h, when pressed by the patient, causes a motorized actuator onboard patient support apparatus 20 to raise Fowler section 44 upwardly. A Fowler-down control 50I, when pressed by the patient, causes the motorized actuator to lower Fowler section 44 downwardly. A gatch-up control 50j, when pressed by the patient, causes another motorized actuator to raise a knee section of support deck 30, while a gatch-down control 50k causes the motorized actuator to lower the knee section of support deck 30. The knee section may refer to the joint that couples thigh section 46 to foot section 48. [0076] A volume-up control 50I, when pressed by the patient, causes patient support apparatus 20 to send a signal to an in-room television instructing it to increase its volume, while a volume down control 50m, when pressed, causes patient support apparatus 20 to send a signal to the television instructing it to decrease its volume. A channel-up control 50n, when pressed by the patient, causes patient support apparatus 20 to send a signal to the television instructing it to increase the channel number, while a channel-down control 50o, when pressed, causes patient support apparatus 20 to send a signal to the television instructing it to decrease the channel number.

[0077] A mute control 50p, when pressed, causes patient support apparatus 20 to send a signal to the television instructing it to either mute itself or unmute itself, depending upon whether the television is currently muted or unmuted. In other words, mute control 50p is a toggle control that alternatingly sends mute and unmute commands to the television when it is pressed.

[0078] Power control 50q is a toggle control that, when pressed, sends a signal to the television to either turn on or turn off, depending upon the television’s current power status. Closed-captioning control 50r is another toggle control that, when pressed, sends a signal to the television to either turn on its closed-captioning feature or to turn off its closed captioning feature, depending upon whether the closed-captioning feature is currently on or off.

[0079] Control 50s is a toggle control that, when pressed, sends a signal to a first light to either turn on or turn off, depending upon the current state of that first light. Control 50t is another toggle control that, when pressed, sends a signal to a second light to either turn on or turn off, depending upon the current state of that second light. In some embodiments, the first light is a reading light and the second light is a room light, both of which are positioned off-board the patient support apparatus 20. In other embodiments, instead of being pure toggle switches, controls 50s and/or 50t may gradually increase or decrease the brightness of the reading or room light as long they are held down, and if subsequently turned off and on, they may reset the brightness level to an initial low (or high) intensity level (that the user can adjust by continuing to press down on the corresponding control 50s or 50t.

[0080] It will be understood that not only the number of controls 50 on the control panel of FIG. 3, but also the functions of these controls 50, the layout of these controls 50, and/or other aspects of these controls 50 may be modified from what is shown in FIG. 3.

[0081] In those embodiments where the control panel of FIG. 3 is integrated into a wireless pendant device

100, patient support apparatus 20 may be configured to only respond to commands from a wireless pendant device 100 if the wireless pendant device 100 has been paired with, or associated with, that particular patient support apparatus 20. The terms “paired” or “associated,” and/or their variants, are generally used interchangeably with each other herein. The manner in which patient support apparatus 20 associates, or pairs, with one or more devices 100 is discussed in greater detail below. In general, patient support apparatus 20 is configured to automatically pair with a device 100, such as a pendant device 10Od, if the device is moved inside a boundary of a corresponding zone. As will also be discussed further below, some of such devices 100 (i.e. devices 100b and/or 100c) are flagged by patient support apparatus 20 as being personal belongings of the patient, and patient support apparatus 20 may be configured to send out a notification if such personal belongings appear to have been inadvertently left behind by the patient.

[0082] FIG. 4 illustrates patient support apparatus 20 positioned within a room 58 of a healthcare facility. FIG.

4 also illustrates additional items that may be present in a healthcare facility and which patient support apparatus 20 is configured to communicate with, including, but not limited to, a locator unit 60, a conventional local area network 80 of the healthcare facility, and a plurality devices 100— such as a patient badge 100a, a tagged personal belonging 100b, an untagged personal belong 100c, and a non-personal belong UWB device 10Od— that may be present within the healthcare facility. Locator units 60 are positioned at known and fixed locations within the healthcare facility in which patient support apparatus 20 is positioned. Locator units 60 function as fixed locators. That is, locator units 60 communicate with patient support apparatuses 20 and share information with them that allows the location of the patient support apparatuses 20 to be determined, as well as the location of any devices 100 that are associated with patient support apparatus 20. In some embodiments, locator units 60 may store, determine, and/or share boundary information regarding the boundary of the particular room 58 in which the locator unit 60 is positioned. Locator units 60, in some embodiments, may also store, determine, and/or share other room information. The sharing of such information includes the transmission of such information to one or more patient support apparatuses 20 and/or to the healthcare facility network 80 (or a server in communication with the network 80).

[0083] In some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 is configured to be able to communicate with at least two different types of locator units 60: linked locator units and unlinked locator units. In other embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 may be only able to communicate with a single type of locator unit 60, or with no locator units 60, or with more than two different types of locator units 60. One example of a linked locator unit 60 is shown in FIG. 4. Examples of unlinked locator units 60 are shown (and referred to as unlinked locator units 60b) in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/306,279 filed February 3, 2022, by inventors Madhu Sandeep Thota et al. and entitled COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Other examples of unlinked locator units 60 are shown (and referred to as unlinked locator units 60a) in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/356,061 filed June 28, 2022, by inventors Krishna Bhimavarapu et al. and entitled BADGE AND PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Patient support apparatus 20 is configured to communicate with the unlinked locator units described in either of the aforementioned ‘279 or ‘061 applications and/or to perform any one or more of the functions described therein that utilize such unlinked locator units and/or information provided by such unlinked locator units. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all references herein to “locator units 60” without the term “linked” or “unlinked” in the reference may refer to linked locator unit 60, unlinked locator units 60, and/or both.

[0084] Linked locator units 60 are adapted to be communicatively linked to a conventional communication outlet 64 and are adapted to provide location information to patient support apparatus 20. Linked locator units 60 are also adapted to serve as a communication conduit for routing wireless communications between patient support apparatus 20 and one or more devices and/or systems that are communicatively coupled to communication outlet 64 (e.g. room devices 72, 74, 76, and/or nurse call system 70, FIG. 4). In general, linked locator units 60 are typically positioned in patient rooms of the healthcare facility where one or more communication outlets 64 are present.

[0085] As shown in FIG. 4, linked locator unit 60 is adapted to be mounted to a wall 62, such as a headwall of a patient room 58 within the healthcare facility. The headwall of a conventional healthcare facility room 58 typically includes a conventional communications outlet 64 physically integrated therein. Communications outlet 64 is adapted to receive a nurse call cable 66 that physically connects at its other end either to patient support apparatus 20 (not shown) or to linked locator unit 60 (shown in FIG. 4). In many healthcare facilities, communication outlet 64 includes a 37-pin connector, although other types of connectors are often found in certain healthcare facilities. As will be discussed in greater detail below, linked locator unit 60 and nurse call cable 66 allow patient support apparatus 20 to communicate with a nurse call system 70, and one or more room devices positioned within room 58.

[0086] Communication outlet 64 is electrically coupled to one or more cables, wires, or other types of conductors 68 that electrically couple the communication outlet 64 to a nurse call system 70 and one or more conventional room devices, such as a television 72, a room light 74, and/or a reading light 76. Conductors 68 are typically located behind wall 62 and not visible. In some healthcare facilities, conductors 68 may first couple to a room interface circuit board that includes one or more conductors 68 for electrically coupling the room interface circuit board to room device 72, 74, 76 and/or nurse call system 70. Still other communicative arrangements for coupling communication outlet 64 to nurse call system 70 and/or one or more room devices 72, 74, 76 are possible.

[0087] Nurse call cable 66 (FIG. 4) enables linked locator unit 60 to communicate with nurse call system 70 and/or room devices 72, 74, 76. Because patient support apparatus 20 is able to wirelessly communicate with linked locator unit 60, patient support apparatus 20 is thereby able to communicate with nurse call system 70 and room devices 72, 74, 76. A patient supported on patient support apparatus 20 who activates a nurse call control (e.g. 50g; see FIG. 3) on patient support apparatus 20 causes a signal to be wirelessly sent from patient support apparatus 20 to linked locator unit 60, which in turn conveys the signal via nurse call cable 66 to the nurse call system 70, which forwards the signal to one or more remotely located nurses (e.g. nurses at one or more nurse’s stations 78). If the patient activates one or more room device controls (e.g. controls 50l-t; see FIG. 3), one or more wireless signals are conveyed to linked locator unit 60, which in turn sends appropriate signals via nurse call cable 66 to communication outlet 64 and the room device 72, 74, 76 that change one or more features of these devices (e.g. the volume, channel, on/off state, etc.).

[0088] As is also shown in FIG. 4, patient support apparatus 20 is further configured to communicate with a local area network 80 of the healthcare facility. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, patient support apparatus 20 includes a wireless network transceiver 96 (FIG. 5) that communicates wirelessly with local area network 80. Network transceiver 96 is, in at least some embodiments, a WiFi transceiver (e.g. IEEE 802.11) that wirelessly communicates with one or more conventional wireless access points 82 of local area network 80. In other embodiments, network transceiver 96 may be a wireless transceiver that uses conventional 5G technology to communicate with network 80, one or more servers hosted thereon, and/or other devices. In some embodiments, network transceiver 96 may include any of the structures and/or functionality of the communication modules 56 disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent 10,500,401 issued to Michael Hayes and entitled NETWORK COMMUNICATION FOR PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Still other types of wireless network transceivers may be utilized.

[0089] In some embodiments, network transceiver 96 is a wired transceiver that is adapted to allow patient support apparatus 20 to communicate with network 80 via a wired connection, such as an Ethernet cable that plugs into an Ethernet port (e.g. an RJ-45 style port, an 8P8C port, etc.) built into patient support apparatus 20. In still other embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 includes both a wired transceiver 96 for communicating with network 80 via a wired connection and a wireless transceiver 96 for wirelessly communicating with network 80.

[0090] Patient support apparatus 20 is configured to communicate with one or more servers that are accessible via local area network 80 of the healthcare facility. One such server is a patient support apparatus server 84. Patient support apparatus server 84 is adapted, in at least one embodiment, to receive data from the patient support apparatuses 20 positioned within the healthcare facility and distribute this data to caregivers, other servers, one or more electronic devices 98, and/or other software applications. As will be discussed in greater detail below, server 84 may also be configured to receive data from one or more devices 100 that are positioned within one or more zones defined around patient support apparatus 20 and/or within one or more zones defined around locator units 60. Such data is then routed by patient support apparatus server 84 to one or more desired destinations. In some embodiments, discussed in more detail below, the data that is received from one or more devices 100 may include audio signals from a microphone in the device 100, and patient support apparatus server 84 may forward those audio signals to an appropriate caregiver device (e.g. a smart phone 98, a badge 100, or another device with audio-playback capabilities).

[0091] In some embodiments, the data from the device(s) 100 is forwarded from the device(s) 100 to patient support apparatus 20, and from patient support apparatus 20 to server 84 via network transceiver 96 and one or more access points 82. In other embodiments, such as where a locator unit 60 includes its own network transceiver, the data from a device 100 may be forwarded to the locator unit 60 and the locator unit 60 may then forward the data to server 84 via its network transceiver’s communication with one or more of the access point 82. In such embodiments, the device 100 may forward its data directly to the locator unit 60 without sending it to patient support apparatus 20, or it may send its data to patient support apparatus 20 first and patient support apparatus 20 may then forward the data to the locator unit 60. Other manners of routing data from the device 100 to server 84 may be used, and in some embodiments, the device 100 may send some types of data to server 84 along a first route and send other types of data to server 84 along a second and different route.

[0092] In some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 may be configured to communicate at least some of its data and/or at least some of the data from one or more devices 100 to a remote server 86 that is positioned geographically remotely from the healthcare facility. Such communication between patient support apparatus 20 and the remote server 86 may take place without utilizing patient support apparatus server 84, or it may take place using patient support apparatus server 84 as a communication conduit between patient support apparatus 20 and the remote server 86. The communication with the remote server 86 may take place via a conventional network appliance 88, such as, but not limited to, a router and/or a gateway, that is coupled to the Internet 90. The remote server 86, in turn, is also coupled to the Internet 90, and patient support apparatus 20 and/or patient support apparatus server 84 is/are provided with the URL and/or other information necessary to communicate with remote server 86 via the Internet connection between network 80 and server 86.

[0093] In those embodiments where patient support apparatus 20 is configured to communicate directly with one or more cloud-based servers, such as remote server 86, without utilizing patient support apparatus server 84, patient support apparatus server 84 may be omitted and any one or more of the functions of patient support apparatus server 84 described herein may be performed by remote server 86. Alternatively, patient support apparatus server 84 may be retained in such embodiments and may perform any one or more of the functions described herein.

[0094] Patient support apparatus server 84 may be configured to determine the location of each patient support apparatus 20 (and/or its associated devices 100), or receive the location of each patient support apparatus 20 (and/or its associated devices 100) from the patient support apparatuses 20. In some embodiments, patient support apparatus server 84 determines the room number and/or bay area of each patient support apparatus 20 and its associated devices 100 that are positioned within a room 58, as well as the location of patient support apparatuses 20 and their associated devices 100 that are positioned outside of a room 58, such as those that may be positioned in a hallway, a maintenance area, or some other area. In general, patient support apparatus server 84 may be configured to determine the position of any patient support apparatus 20 that is positioned within communication range of one or more locator units 60, as well as the location of any associated devices 100 that are positioned within one or more zones defined around the patient support apparatus 20, as will be discussed in greater detail below.

[0095] Patient support apparatus server 84 (FIG. 4) may be adapted to communicate with a plurality of other servers, such as a conventional EMR server 92, a conventional badge server 94, a conventional Admission, Discharge, and Transfer (ADT) server 102, and/or a conventional caregiver assignment server 104. Alternatively, patient support apparatus server 84 may be combined, either partially or wholly, with any one or more of these other servers. The functionality of any one or more of these other servers may also be combined, either partially or wholly, with any other ones of these other servers. For example, the caregiver assignment server 104 may have one or more of its functions combined with ADT server 102 and/or badge server 94, and/or one or more of the functions of ADT server 102 may be combined with EMR server 92 and/or caregiver assignment server 104. Other combinations of functionality are, of course, also possible.

[0096] EMR server 92 stores individual patient records. Such patient records identify a patient by name and include medical information associated with that patient. Such medical information may include all of the medical information generated from the patient’s current stay in the healthcare facility as well as medical information from previous visits. It will be understood that the term “EMR server,” as used herein, also includes Electronic Health Records servers, or EHR servers for short, and that the present disclosure does not distinguish between electronic medical records and electronic health records. [0097] Caregiver assignment server 104 (FIG. 4) stores data that matches specific caregivers to specific rooms and/or bays within the healthcare facility. Caregiver assignment server 104 stores information regarding shift changes, personnel, and the general assignments of caregivers who are employed by the healthcare facility. In some caregiver assignment servers 104, caregivers are assigned to specific patients, rather than to specific rooms, in which case server 104 may correlate caregivers to individual patients rather than rooms and/or bays. Still further, some conventional nurse call systems may be configured to carry out the functions of caregiver assignment server 104, in which case caregiver assignment server 104 may be replaced by and/or supplemented with a nurse call server.

[0098] ADT server 102 stores patient information, including the identity of patients and the corresponding rooms 58 and/or bays within rooms to which the patients are assigned. That is, ADT server 102 matches specific patients to specific rooms and/or bays within the healthcare facility. The patient’s names are entered into the ADT server 102 by one or more healthcare facility staff whenever a patient checks into the healthcare facility and the patient is assigned to a particular room within the healthcare facility. If and/or when a patient is transferred to a different room and/or discharged from the healthcare facility, the staff of the healthcare facility update ADT server 102. ADT server 102 therefore maintains an up-to- date set of data that correlates patient names with their assigned rooms and/or bays. In some conventional electronic medical record systems, the functions of the ADT server 102 may be incorporated into the EMR system, and EMR server 92 may therefore, in some embodiments, carry out the functions of ADT server 102.

[0099] Badge server 94 (FIG. 4) is configured to manage communications between, and keep track of the locations of, and the specific caregivers assigned to, individual badges 100. For purposes of the following description, badges 100 come in two types: badges 100a and badges 10Od. Badges 100a are worn by patients. Badges 10Od are typically worn by caregivers, service technicians, visitors, cleaning personnel, transportation assistants, and/or other healthcare facility personnel. Badge server 94 maintains a set of data that correlates badge IDs with individual healthcare workers and/or patients. Each badge 100a, d includes a unique ID that distinguishes that badge 100a, d from other badges 100a, d. When a healthcare provider or patient arrives at a healthcare facility, he or she is provided with a badge 100a, d that often comes from a common collection of badges 100a, d. The healthcare worker or patient then wears the badge 100a, d for the duration of his or her work shift or stay within the healthcare facility. After the caregiver completes his/her shift and/or after a patient is discharged from the healthcare facility, the badge 100a, d may be returned to the general collection of badges 100a, d. For some badge servers 94, in order for the badge server 94 to know that a particular badge 100a, d is assigned to a particular person, a person must manually associate the particular badge 100a, d they will wear with their name (or some other ID). This manual association may involve scanning the badge on a badge reader in communication with badge server 94, typing information (such as the badge ID and/or the worker’s or patient’s ID) into a computer coupled to badge server 94, entering information into badge 100a, d (if it is a badge that allows data entry), performing other actions, and/or a combination of these steps.

[00100] In some embodiments, the badges 100a worn by patients may be different from the badges 10Od worn by caregivers. In such embodiments, the patient badges 100a may have reduced or different sets of functionality when compared to the caregiver badges 10Od. For example, the patient badges 100a in some embodiments may simply serve to identify a patient, while the caregiver badges 10Od may provide communication and/or other functions in addition to containing an ID that identifies the caregiver. In some embodiments, the patient badges 100a may be incorporated into a wristband, or other easily wearable device.

[00101] Badge server 94 may also be configured to monitor the location of badges 100a, d within a healthcare facility. Typically this location monitoring is performed through the monitoring of the wireless access points 82 throughout the healthcare facility. That is, badges 100a, d are often equipped to use WiFi, or other wireless communication protocols, that allow them to communicate with wireless access points 82. By monitoring which access points the badges 100a, d are currently connected to, using a map of the location of the access point 82 within the facility, and, in some cases, using the signal strengths between the badges 100a, d and one or more of the access points 82, the general position of the badges 100a, d within the healthcare facility can be determined by badge server 94. In some embodiments, badges 100a, d may include UWB transceivers that enable their location within the healthcare facility to be more precisely determined, and/or that enable the badges 100a to perform other functions. Examples of badges 100a, d that include UWB transceivers and that may be incorporated into the system of the present disclosure are described in greater detail in commonly assigned U.S. provisional patent application serial number 63/356,061 filed June 28, 2022, by inventors Krishna Bhimavarapu et al. and entitled BADGE AND PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM; in commonly assigned U.S. provisional patent application serial number 63/356,065 filed June 28, 2022, by inventors Jerald Trepanier et al. and entitled BADGE AND PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM; and in commonly assigned U.S. provisional patent application serial number 63/356,238 filed June 28, 2028, by inventors Madhu Sandeep Thota et al. and entitled BADGE AND PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM; the complete disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Patient support apparatus 20, patient support apparatus server 84, badges 100a, d, and/or locator units 60 of the present disclosure may be configured to carry out any of the functions of the patient support apparatuses, patient support apparatus server, badges, and locator units, respectively, disclosed in any of the aforementioned ‘061, ‘065, and/or ‘238 patent applications.

[00102] Caregiver badges 10Od may be badges of the type sold or marketed by Stryker Corporation of

Kalamazoo, Michigan, under the names Vocera Badge, Vocera Smartbadge, and/or Vocera Minibadge. Other types of badges may also, or alternatively, be used. Such badges 10Od include the ability to transmit voice communications of healthcare workers to other badges 100a, d and/or other locations within a healthcare facility. Some of the badges may also include text messaging abilities, alarm notifications, and other functions. When integrated into the system described herein, such badges 10Od may be modified to include one or more ultra-wideband transceivers that communicate with ultra- wideband transceivers onboard patient support apparatus 20 and/or built into locator unit 60, as will be discussed in greater detail herein. Patient support apparatus 20 and/or locator units 60 may be configured to repetitively determine the location of any of the badges 100a, d that are positioned within range of its ultra-wideband transceivers and determine whether the badge 100a, d is positioned inside or outside of one or more zones, as will also be discussed in greater detail below.

Badges 100a, d that do not include UWB transceivers may also be incorporated into the communication system described herein

[00103] In some embodiments, patient support apparatus server 84 and/or remote server 86 (FIG. 4) communicates with EMR server 92 in order to transmit patient data that is to be recorded in a patient’s health record (e.g. vital sign readings from one or more vital sign sensors; weight readings taken from the scales built into patient support apparatuses 20; therapies provided to patients using a powered mattress 42 onboard patient support apparatuses 20; data from other devices that are determined to be associated with the patient assigned to patient support apparatus 20, etc.). In addition, server 84 and/or 86 communicates with EMR server 92, in some embodiments, in order to receive data from one or more of the devices that are being used with a particular patient.

[00104] It will be understood that the architecture and content of local area network 80 will vary from healthcare facility to healthcare facility, and that the example shown in FIG. 4 is merely one example of the type of network a healthcare facility may be employ. Typically, one or more additional servers will be hosted on network 80 and one or more of them may be adapted to communicate with patient support apparatus server 84. Local area network 80 will also typically allow one or more electronic devices 98 to access the local area network 80 and the servers hosted thereon via wireless access points 82. Such electronic devices 98 include, but are not limited to, smart phones, tablet computers, portable laptops, desktop computers, smart televisions, network-connected displays, and other types of electronic devices that include a WiFi capability and that are provided with the proper credentials (e.g. SSID, password, etc.) to access network 80 (and, in at least some situations, patient support apparatus server 84). Patient support apparatus server 84 is configured, in some embodiments, to share data with one or more electronic devices 98 that relates to patient support apparatus 20, that relates to one or more devices 100 that become associated with patient support apparatus 20 (or the patient assigned thereto), that relates to one or more badges 100a that become associated with patient support apparatus 20, and/or that relates to one or more medical records of the patient stored in EMR server 92.

[00105] Linked locator units 60 are adapted to wirelessly receive signals from patient support apparatus 20 and deliver the signals to communications outlet 64 in a manner that matches the way the signals would otherwise be delivered to communications outlet 64 if a conventional nurse call cable 66 were connected directly between patient support apparatus 20 (via a cable port 148; FIG. 5) and communications outlet 64. Linked locator units 60 are also adapted to transmit signals received from communications outlet 64 to patient support apparatus 20 via a BT transceiver 106 and/or a UWB transceiver 126 (FIG. 5). Thus, patient support apparatus 20 and linked locator unit 60 cooperate to send signals to, and receive signals from, communications outlet 64 in a manner that is transparent to communications outlet 64 such that outlet 64 cannot detect whether it is in communication with patient support apparatus 20 via a wired connection or it is in communication with patient support apparatus 20 via a wireless connection between patient support apparatus 20 and linked locator unit 60 (the latter of which is in wired communication with outlet 64). In this manner, a healthcare facility can utilize the wireless communication abilities of one or more patient support apparatuses 20 without having to make any changes to their existing communication outlets 64.

[00106] As noted, in addition to sending signals received from patient support apparatus 20 to communications outlet 64, linked locator units 60 are also adapted to forward signals received from communications outlet 64 to patient support apparatus 20. Linked locator units 60 are therefore adapted to provide bidirectional communication between patient support apparatus 20 and communications outlet 64. This bidirectional communication includes, but is not limited to, communicating command signals from any of controls 50 to corresponding room devices 72, 74, and/or 76, and communicating audio signals between a person supported on patient support apparatus 20 and a caregiver positioned remotely from patient support apparatus 20. The audio signals received by linked locator unit 60 from a microphone on patient support apparatus 20 are forwarded to communications outlet 64 (for forwarding to nurse call system 70), and the audio signals of a remotely positioned nurse that are received at communications outlet 64 (from nurse call system 70) are forwarded to a speaker onboard patient support apparatus 20.

[00107] Nurse call cable 66, in some embodiments, includes a conventional 37 pin connector on each end, one of which is adapted to be inserted into outlet 64 and the other one of which is adapted to be inserted into a linked locator unit 60 (or cable port 148 of patient support apparatus 20 if wired communication is desired). Such 37 pin connections are one of the most common types of connectors found on existing walls of medical facilities for making connections to the nurse call system 70 and room devices 72, 74, and 76. Linked locator unit 60 and nurse call cable 66 are therefore configured to mate with one of the most common type of communication outlets 64 used in medical facilities. Such 37 pin connectors, however, are not the only type of connectors, and it will be understood that linked locator units 60 can utilize different types of connectors that are adapted to electrically couple to different types of nurse call cables 66 and/or different types of communication outlets 64. One example of such an alternative communications outlet 64 and cable 66 is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 14/819,844 filed August 6, 2015, by inventors Krishna Bhimavarapu et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES WITH WIRELESS HEADWALL COMMUNICATION, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Still other types of communication outlets 64 and corresponding connectors may be utilized. [00108] Locator unit 60 (FIG. 4) also includes an electrical cord 150 having a plug positioned at a far end that is adapted to be inserted into a conventional electrical outlet 108. Electrical cord 150 enables locator unit 60 to receive power from the mains electrical supply via outlet 108. It will be appreciated that, in some embodiments, locator unit 60 is battery operated and cord 150 may be omitted. In still other embodiments, locator unit 60 may be both battery operated and include cord 150 so that in the event of a power failure, battery power supplies power to locator unit 60, and/or in the event of a battery failure, electrical power is received from outlet 108.

[00109] In some embodiments, locator units 60 include a video port 120 that is adapted to receive a display cable 110 (FIG. 4). The display cable 110 is adapted to couple to locator unit 60 at one end and a display device 56 at its opposite send. Locator unit 60 may be configured to use cable 110 to send data to display device 56 that is to be displayed thereon. Such data may include data from one or more devices 100 that are associated with the patient on patient support apparatus 20 (or with patient support apparatus 20 itself), data from one or more badges 100a, status data from one or more sensors onboard patient support apparatus 20, location data regarding the location of patient support apparatus 20 and/or devices 100, and/or other data. Cable 110 may be a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable, a Video Graphics Array (VGA) cable, a DisplayPort (DP) cable, a plurality of Radio Corporation of America (RCA) cables, a Digital Visual Interface (DVI) cable, and/or another type of cable. Locator unit 60 is configured to include a complementary type of connector that mates with a connector on an end of cable 110. In some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20, locator units 60, and display device 56 may be configured to display data in any of the manners disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/426,450 filed November 18, 2022, by inventors Madhu Sandeep Thota et al. and entitled COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[00110] In addition to the other functions described herein, locator units 60 are configured to communicate location data to patient support apparatus 20 that enables patient support apparatus 20, patient support apparatus server 84, and/or remote server 86 to determine the location of patient support apparatus 20 within the healthcare facility. In general, such location determination is carried out by patient support apparatus 20 analyzing wireless signals communicated between itself and locator unit 60 in order to determine its position relative to locator unit 60. If patient support apparatus 20, or a predefined reference point R (FIG. 6) on patient support apparatus 20 (e.g. its head end, its center, etc.) is positioned within a threshold distance of locator unit 60, patient support apparatus 20 associates itself with the locator unit 60. When associated, patient support apparatus 20 may communicate data to locator unit 60, receive data from locator unit 60, and also deem its location within the healthcare facility to be the same as the location of locator unit 60. When patient support apparatus 20 is outside of the threshold distance, it does not associate itself with locator unit 60, and therefore does not exchange data with locator unit 60 or consider its location to be the same as that of locator unit 60’s location.

[00111] In some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 is configured to associate itself with a particular locator unit 60 if controller 140 determines that the locator unit 60 is within a particular zone (e.g. 152a of FIG. 4), or locator unit 60 determines that patient support apparatus 20 (or a reference point R thereon) is positioned within the zone, such as zone 152a. In some embodiments, the zone 152a is defined with respect to each locator unit 60 and does not move. In other embodiments, the zone 152a is defined with respect to patient support apparatus 20 and moves as patient support apparatus 20 moves. In some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 associates itself with a nearby locator unit 60 if both the locator unit 60 and the patient support apparatus 20 (or a reference point R thereon) are concurrently within the predefined zone 152a. Regardless of whether zone 152a is defined with respect to a locator unit 60, or with respect to a patient support apparatus 20, by at least one or both of these devices (locator unit 60 and patient support apparatus 20) being positioned within the same zone 152a, the locator unit 60 and patient support apparatus 20 will be positioned within a threshold distance of each other. An example of patient support apparatus 20 occupying a zone 152a is shown in FIG. 4, where head end 38 of patient support apparatus 20 (that includes the appropriate reference point R on patient support apparatus 20) is positioned inside of zone 152a, and patient support apparatus 20 has therefore associated itself with that particular locator unit 60.

[00112] After associating itself with a particular locator unit 60, patient support apparatus 20 is configured to be able to have its absolute position within the healthcare facility determined by receiving a unique locator identifier (ID) 122 (FIG. 5) from the locator unit 60. The location of each locator unit 60 in the healthcare facility is surveyed during the installation of locator units 60, and the unique IDs 122 of each locator unit 60 are also recorded during the installation of locator units 60. This surveying information and corresponding ID information may be stored in patient support apparatus server 84, remote server 86, and/or onboard the patient support apparatuses 20, thereby enabling a patient support apparatus 20, remote server 86, and/or patient support apparatus server 84 to determine the location of a patient support apparatus 20 once it is associated with a particular locator unit 60.

[00113] In those embodiments where patient support apparatus server 84 is configured to determine the location of patient support apparatus 20, patient support apparatus 20 sends its relative position information with respect to the associated locator unit 60, and/or the ID 122 of the associated locator unit 60 (and its own unique patient support apparatus ID 130 (FIG. 5)) to server 84. Server 84 includes a table of all of the locations of the locator units 60 (which, as noted, is generated via a surveying operation during the installation of locator units 60), and it uses that table to correlate the patient support apparatus IDs 130 and the locator unit IDs 122 it receives to specific locations within the healthcare facility. Thus, if a particular patient support apparatus 20 (with a particular ID 130) sends to server 84 an associated locator unit ID 122 that corresponds to room 430, server 84 determines that that particular patient support apparatus 20 is currently located in room 430. Generally speaking, and as will be discussed in greater detail below, the location of a patient support apparatus 20 is deemed to correspond to whichever locator unit 60 it is currently associated with, and if it is not currently associated with any locator unit 60, its location may be considered to be indeterminate (unless determined by means other than locator unit 60).

[00114] In some embodiments of patient support apparatuses 20 and locator units 60, the relative location of a patient support apparatus 20 to a locator unit 60 is determined solely using ultra-wideband communication between the patient support apparatus 20 and the locator unit 60. Alternatively, in some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 solely uses short range infrared communications with locator unit 60 to determine its relative location, wherein such short range infrared communications are only possible when the patient support apparatus 20 is positioned within a close proximity to the locator unit 60 (e.g. in the range of about 1-3 unobstructed meters). In these latter embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 may report that its location coincides with that of the nearby locator unit 60 when it is able to successfully communicate with the nearby locator unit 60 using these short range infrared communications. Still further, in some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 and locator unit 60 may communicate with each other using both infrared and ultra-wideband communications. Further details regarding the use of short range infrared communications for location determination are described in commonly assigned U.S. patent 9,999,375 issued June 19, 2018, to inventors Michael Hayes et al. and entitled LOCATION DETECTION SYSTEMS AND METHODS, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[00115] In some embodiments, locator units 60 and/or patient support apparatuses 20 may be constructed to include any or all of the functionality of the wireless headwall units and/or patient support apparatuses disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 14/819,844 filed August 6, 2015, by inventors Krishna Bhimavarapu et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES WITH WIRELESS HEADWALL COMMUNICATION; in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/26,937 filed May 19, 2020, by inventors Alexander Bodurka et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES WITH HEADWALL COMMUNICATION; and/or in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/245,245 filed September 17, 2021, by inventors Kirby Neihouser et al. and entitled SYSTEM FOR LOCATING PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES, the complete disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[00116] Still further, in some embodiments, locator units 60 and/or patient support apparatuses 20 may be constructed to include any of the features and/or functions of the headwall units 144a and/or patient support apparatuses disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/131 ,508 filed December 29, 2020, by inventors Kirby Neihouser et al. and entitled TOOL FOR CONFIGURING HEADWALL UNITS USED FOR PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS COMMUNICATION, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[00117] In some embodiments, one or more devices 100 may interact with locator units 60 in the same or similar manner as the patient support apparatuses 20 interact with the locator units 60, as described above. That is, in some embodiments, locator units 60 may be configured to communicate location data to one or more devices 100 that enables the device 100, an associated patient support apparatus 20, patient support apparatus server 84, and/or remote server 86 to determine the location of the device 100 within the healthcare facility. In general, such location determination is carried out by the device 100 performing ultra-wideband ranging with the locator unit 60 in order to determine its position relative to locator unit 60. If the device 100 is positioned within a threshold distance of locator unit 60 (such as within a particular zone 152), the device 100 associates itself with the locator unit 60. When associated, the device 100 may communicate data to locator unit 60, receive data from locator unit 60, and also deem its location within the healthcare facility to be the same as the location of locator unit 60. When device 100 is outside of the threshold distance (e.g. zone), it does not associate itself with locator unit 60, and therefore may cease to exchange data with locator unit 60.

[00118] FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of patient support apparatus 20, a linked locator unit 60, network 80, and four illustrative examples of devices 100a, 100b, 100c, and 10Od. As will be discussed in greater detail below, patient support apparatus 20 is configured to automatically determine the location of one or more locator units 60 and/or devices 100 that have wireless location technology built into them, such as one or more UWB transceivers. In addition, patient support apparatus 20 is adapted to perform at least one of the following: determine what devices 100, if any, are personal belongings of the patient, monitor the position of such personal belongings, and issue a notification if patient support apparatus 20 (and/or server 84 and/or server 86) determine that one or more personal belongings may have been left behind by the patient while the patient is checking out of his/her room, or while the patient is being moved from one location within the healthcare facility to another location within the healthcare facility. Patient support apparatus is also configured to automatically carry out communications with devices 100 (and locator unit 60) if they are positioned within a defined proximity (i.e. a zone) of patient support apparatus 20. In some embodiments, if a particular locator unit 60 and/or device 100 is positioned within the defined zone, patient support apparatus 20 automatically associates the locator unit 60 and/or device 100 with the patient assigned to patient support apparatus 20 (and/or with patient support apparatus 20 itself), and causes data from that locator unit 60 and/or device 100 (or devices 100) to be automatically directed to one or more destinations. When the locator unit 60 and/or device 100 is positioned outside the defined proximity, patient support apparatus 20 may automatically disassociate itself from the locator unit 60 and/or device 100 and, in some situations, terminate communications with the locator unit 60 and/or device 100 and/or inform patient support apparatus server 84 and/or remove server 86 of the disassociation.

[00119] In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, locator unit 60 includes an ultra-wideband transceiver 126, a Bluetooth transceiver 106, a locator unit controller 112, configuration circuitry 114, a television controller 116, a headwall interface 118, a video port 120, a unit ID 122, a memory 178, and, in some embodiments, an infrared transceiver 124. It will be understood, of course, that the components of locator unit 60 may vary in different embodiments and that locator unit 60 may include fewer components than that illustrated in FIG. 5, as well as, in some other embodiments, additional components. For example, and without limitation, locator unit 60 in some embodiments may omit any one or more of the following: video port 120, IR transceiver 124, and/or BT transceiver 106. When locator unit 60 is an unlinked locator unit, it may also omit headwall interface 118, TV controller 116, and configuration circuitry 114. Still further, in some embodiments, one or more of the items stored in memory 178 (e.g. unit ID 122, boundary info 180, doorway info 182, and/or room info 184) may be omitted and/or stored elsewhere (e.g. in a memory 134 of patient support apparatus 20). Still other variations are possible.

[00120] Bluetooth transceiver 106 of locator unit 60 (FIG. 5) is adapted to communicate with a Bluetooth transceiver 128 onboard patient support apparatus 20 using RF waves in accordance with conventional Bluetooth standards (e.g. IEEE 802.14.1 and/or any of the standards maintained by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) of Kirkland, Washington, USA.). In some embodiments, transceivers 106 and 128 utilize Bluetooth Low Energy communications.

[00121] Ultra-wideband transceiver 126 is adapted to communicate with one or more ultra-wideband transceivers 132 positioned onboard patient support apparatus 20 and/or one or more ultra-wideband transceivers 158 positioned onboard devices 100. Transceiver 126 is adapted to determine a distance between itself and patient support apparatus 20 and/or a device 100. Alternatively, or additionally, transceiver 126 may be adapted to allow one or more of the UWB transceivers 132 onboard patient support apparatus 20 (or one or more of the UWB transceivers 158 onboard device(s) 100) to determine their distance(s) from transceiver 126. In other words, one or more location engines may be positioned onboard the patient support apparatus 20, onboard the locator unit 60, onboard the devices 100, and/or onboard server 84 and/or server 86.

[00122] In some embodiments, UWB transceivers 126, 132, and 158, use time of flight (TOF) computations to determine the distances between patient support apparatus(es) 20, locator unit(s) 60, and device(s) 100. In other embodiments, transceivers 126, 132, and 158 may utilize other techniques (e.g. time difference of arrival, two-way ranging, angle of arrival, channel state information, etc.) for determining their distances from each other, either in addition to, or in lieu of, TOF computations. In some embodiments, transceivers 126, 132, and 158 may also determine an angle between themselves using angular information derived from antenna arrays positions onboard transceivers 126, 132, and 158, or by using other techniques. During the manufacture of patient support apparatus 20 (or during the installation of patient support apparatus 20 within a healthcare facility), the position and orientation of each transceiver 132 onboard patient support apparatus 20 relative to a frame of reference defined with respect to patient support apparatus 20 is determined and stored in an onboard memory 134. This position and orientation information is used to determine the position and orientation of patient support apparatus 20 with respect to the locator unit(s) 60 with which the patient support apparatus 20 communicates. Such position and orientation information may be determined using conventional trilateration and/or triangulation techniques, or other techniques.

[00123] In some embodiments, transceivers 126, 132, and 158 are implemented as any of the Trimension™ ultra-wideband modules available from NXP Semiconductors of Austin, Texas. These modules include, but are not limited to, the Trimension™ UWB modules ASMOP1BOON1, ASMOP1COOR1, and/or the ASMOP1COOA1, that utilize any of the following chips: the NXP SR150, SR100T, SR040, NCJ29D5, and/or the OL23DO chips. Modules manufactured and/or marketed by other companies may also be used, including, but not limited to, the Decawave DWM1000, DWM10001C, DWM3000 modules (available from Decawave of Dublin, Ireland); the Nordic TSG5162 SIP module (available from Tsingoal Technology of Beijing, China); and/or the UWB hub, wand, and/or sensors available from Zebra technologies of Lincolnshire, Illinois. Still other types of UWB modules may be used to implement transceivers 126, 132, and 158.

[00124] Locator unit controller 112 is adapted to control the operation of transceivers 126, 106, configuration circuitry 114, TV controller 116, headwall interface 118, video port 120, and, if included, IR transceiver 124 (FIG. 5). When infrared transceiver 124 is included, it may be included to provide backwards compatibility to patient support apparatuses 20 that are not equipped with a UWB transceiver 132. That is, some healthcare facilities may include one or more patient support apparatuses that are not equipped with a UWB transceiver 132, but that do include an IR transceiver that is adapted to communicate with IR transceiver 124. When locator unit 60 includes IR transceiver 124, it is able to communicate its unit ID 122 to such patient support apparatuses via IR transceiver 124, which is a short range transceiver that is configured to only communicate with an adjacent patient support apparatus when the patient support apparatus is nearby (e.g. without about five feet or so). Such an adjacent patient support apparatus 20 then communicates the received locator unit ID 122 along with its own unique ID 130 (FIG. 5) to server 84 and/or server 86 which, as noted previously, is able to correlate the locator unit ID 122 to a particular location with the healthcare facility. In this manner, server 84 and/or server 86 is able to use locator units 60 determine the location of versions of patient support apparatuses 20 that don’t have a UWB transceiver 132, but that do have an IR transceiver.

[00125] Headwall interface 118 is adapted to change the electrical state of one or more pins that are in electrical communication with communication outlet 64 (via cable 66). Headwall interface 118 changes these electrical states in response to instructions from controller 112. For example, if the exit detection system 136 of patient support apparatus 20 detects a patient exit, a controller 140 of patient support apparatus 20 sends an exit alert signal to linked locator unit 60 and controller 112 responds by instructing headwall interface 118 to change the electrical state of at least one pin that is used to signal an exit alert (or a generic priority alert) to the nurse call system 70 via communications outlet 64. Additionally, if a device 100, such as a portable exit detection sensor, is associated with patient support apparatus 20 and it detects a patient exit, the exit detection sensor may transmit an exit detection alert signal to patient support apparatus 20, which in turn forwards the exit alert signal to linked locator unit 60, and controller 112 responds by instructing headwall interface 118 to change the electrical state of the same pin or pins that it does in response to receiving an exit detection alert from exit detection system 136.

[00126] In some embodiments, headwall interface 118 may be constructed in the same manner as, and/or may include any one or of the functions as, the cable interface 88 described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/193,778 filed May 27, 2021, by inventors Krishna Bhimavarapu et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS AND HEADWALL UNIT SYNCING, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Alternatively, or additionally, headwall interface 118 may be constructed in the same manner as, and/or may include any one or more of the same functions as, the headwall interface 120 disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/131 ,508 filed December 29, 2020, by inventors Kirby Neihouser et al. and entitled TOOL FOR CONFIGURING HEADWALL UNITS USED FOR PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS COMMUNICATION, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Linked locator unit 60 may also be configured to perform any of the functions of the headwall units 94 disclosed in the above-mentioned 778 patent application.

[00127] Configuration circuitry 114 and TV controller 116 may be configured to perform any of the same functions as, and/or be constructed in any of the same manners as, the configuration circuitry 132 and the TV control circuit 134, respectively, of commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/131,508 filed December 29, 2020, by inventors Kirby Neihouser et al. and entitled TOOL FOR CONFIGURING HEADWALL UNITS USED FOR PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS COMMUNICATION, the complete disclosure of which has already been incorporated herein by reference. Additionally, or alternatively, linked locator unit 60 may be configured to perform any of the functions of the headwall units 144 disclosed in the aforementioned ‘508 patent application.

[00128] As was noted, headwall interface 118, television controller 116, and configuration circuitry 114 may be omitted from unlinked locator units 60. This is because unlinked locator units 60 are not adapted to communicate with a communication outlet 64 and these components are designed for communications with outlet 64. Unlinked locator units 60 may also omit (or include) IR transceiver 124 (and/or BT transceiver 106). Linked locator units and/or unlinked locator units 60 may optionally include (or omit) video port 120. In some embodiments, linked and/or unlinked locator units 60 may include a network transceiver adapted to communicate with network 80 (and patient support apparatus server 84 and/or remote server 86 via access points 82 and network 80).

[00129] As was noted, memory 178 of locator unit 60 may include one or more of the following additional items of information: boundary info 180, doorway info 182, and/or room info 184 (FIG. 5). Boundary information 180 refers to data that defines the boundary of the room 58 in which locator unit 60 is positioned. Such boundary information includes data that defines the location of the walls 62 of the room 58. Such boundary data is defined with respect to a reference location that is detectable by patient support apparatus 20. In some embodiments, the fixed locator unit 60 itself acts as the reference location (patient support apparatus 20 is able to detect its position and orientation with respect to locator unit 60 via its onboard UWB transceivers 132). In some such embodiments, locator unit 60 defines the boundary of the room in a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate frame of reference wherein the location of locator unit 60 in that frame of reference is also stored. In this manner, when the location of patient support apparatus 20 with respect to locator unit 60 is determined, the location of the walls of the room 58 with respect to patient support apparatus 20 can also be determined. In other words, boundary info 180 allows for patient support apparatus 20 (and/or locator unit 60, server 84, or server 86) to determine the position of patient support apparatus 20 relative to the walls 62 of room 58.

[00130] In some embodiments, the boundary of a room 58 may be defined in a three-dimensional coordinate frame of reference, rather than a two-dimensional frame of reference. In such embodiments, the boundary of the room 58 defines not only the location of the perimeter walls 62 of room 58, but also the height of the walls 62 (i.e. the height of the ceiling of room 58). In such embodiments, the height of locator unit 60 is also determined (either through surveying when installed, or through other means discussed further below) and stored in memory 178. The height of locator unit 60 within the 3D frame of reference allows for patient support apparatus 20, and/or devices 100, to also determine their height within the room 58 (by first determining their height relative to locator unit 60 and then converting that height into a room height). [00131] In some embodiments, boundary info 180 also allows for patient support apparatus 20 (and/or locator unit 60, server 84, or server 86) to determine the orientation of patient support apparatus 20 relative to the walls 62 of room 58. As will be discussed in greater detail below, patient support apparatus 20, locator unit 60, server 84, and/or server 86 may use the relative position and/or orientation of patient support apparatus 20 to the walls 62 (and/or doorways) for carrying out one or more actions.

[00132] Doorway information 182, if included within memory 178 of locator unit 60, defines the position of one or more doorways 190 within, or connected to, room 58. Such doorways 190 may be entrances/exits to a hallway 194 (or other areas that allows a person to enter/exit room 58), to a restroom 192, to a closet 196, and/or to other areas. Doorway info 182 may define not only the location of the doorway(s) 190 of a given room 58, but also what type of doorway the doorway 190 is (i.e. whether doorway 190 leads to a hallway 194, a restroom 192, and/or a closet 196). As with the room boundary info 180, the doorway information 182 may be defined in a frame of reference (2D and/or 3D) in which the position of locator unit 60 is known. Indeed, in most embodiments, the boundary information 180, doorway information 182, and room information 184 are all defined in a common frame of reference in which the position (and orientation) of locator unit 60 is known. As will be discussed more below, this common frame of reference may be a room frame of reference.

[00133] Room information 184 (FIG. 5) may include additional information about room 58 that is not contained within boundary info 180 and/or doorway info 182. Such additional information may include, but is not limited to, any one or more of the following: a room number of room 58 (e.g. room 408); a floor of the healthcare facility in which room 58 is located (e.g. second floor), a wing, department, ward, or the like of which room 58 is a part (e.g. post-operative department, pediatric department, emergency department, etc.); an indication whether room 58 is a private room (one patient and one patient support apparatus 20) or a semi-private room (two or more patients and patient support apparatuses 20); the location of any areas of interest within the room, as well as an identification of what those areas of interest are (e.g. a handwashing station, a sink, a supply closet, a storage area for patient belongings, a safe for patient use, a cupboard, etc.); a height of room 58 (e.g. three meters); and/or the presence/absence and/or location of any other equipment within the room 58 (e.g. X-ray machine, MRI machine, etc.).

[00134] Controller 112, in some embodiments, is configured to share room ID 122 and any one or more of boundary info 180, doorway info 182, and/or room info 184 with a patient support apparatus 20 that is positioned within room 58 and that becomes associated with locator unit 60. In some embodiments, controller 112 may share some, or all, of this information with one or more devices 100 that are positioned within room 58 and that become associated with locator unit 60 and/or patient support apparatus 20. As will be discussed in greater detail below, in some embodiments, any one or more of the boundary info 180, doorway info 182, and/or room info 184 may alternatively, or additionally, be stored within memory 134 of patient support apparatus 20 (and/or on server 84 and/or server 86).

[00135] Patient support apparatus 20 includes a controller 140, a memory 134, exit detection system 136, a scale system 144, monitoring system 138, a microphone 146, Bluetooth transceiver 128, one or more UWB transceivers 132, display 52 (which may be part of control panel 54a, and/or another control panel 54), network transceiver 96, a nurse call interface 154, a mobile device charger 142, and a plurality of additional components that are not shown in FIG. 5. It will be understood, of course, that the components of patient support apparatus 20 may vary in different embodiments and that patient support apparatus 20 may include fewer components than that illustrated in FIG. 5, as well as, in some other embodiments, additional components. For example, and without limitation, patient support apparatus 20 may omit may omit any one or more of the following: exit detection system 136, microphone 146, monitoring system 138, scale system 144, cable port 148, device charger 142, and/or Bluetooth transceiver 128. In other embodiments, one or more other components may be omitted. In still other embodiments, one or more additional components may be added beyond those shown in FIG. 5.

[00136] Each UWB transceiver 132 is positioned at a known location on patient support apparatus 20. This known location information is stored in memory 134 and/or elsewhere, and may be defined with respect to any suitable frame of reference that is common to patient support apparatus 20. The known location information may include the spatial relationship between UWB transceivers 132 and/or any other components of patient support apparatus 20. For example, in some embodiments, the known location information includes the spatial relationship not only between UWB transceivers 132, but also the spatial relationships between UWB transceivers 132 and one or more of the following: the head end 38 of patient support apparatus 20, the foot end 40 of patient support apparatus 20, the sides of patient support apparatus 20, a reference point R defined on patient support apparatus 20, the floor, and/or other components and/or landmarks of patient support apparatus 20. In some embodiments, this location information is used to determine the orientation of patient support apparatus 20 with respect to one or more walls 62, locator units 60, another patient support apparatus 20, and/or another object or structure within the healthcare facility.

[00137] In some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 includes four UWB transceivers 132, each of which are positioned generally adjacent one of the four corners of patient support apparatus 20. In some such embodiments, the four UWB transceiver 132 are attached to, or positioned near, the four corners of litter frame 28. In other embodiments, the four UWB transceivers 132 are attached to, or positioned near, the four corners of base 22. In some embodiments, each of the four UWB transceivers 132 are attached to the corners of support deck 30. Still other locations of the UWB transceivers 132, as well as different numbers of the UWB transceiver 132, may be incorporated into patient support apparatus 20. In those embodiments of patient support apparatus 20 where one or more of the UWB transceivers 132 are coupled to components of patient support apparatus 20 that are movable (e.g. litter frame 28, which can have its height and orientation changed; or support deck 30 that can have its sections, such as head section 44, pivoted), sensors are included within patient support apparatus 20 that communicate the current position of the movable component to controller 140 so that controller 140 is able to determine the current positions of the UWB transceivers 132 and use those positions when determining the current location of a device 100 and/or a locator unit 60.

[00138] Nurse call interface 154 of patient support apparatus 20 (FIG. 5) includes Bluetooth transceiver 128 and a cable port 148, in some embodiments. Nurse call interface 154 provides an interface for patient support apparatus 20 to communicate with outlet 64 of nurse call system 70. That is, nurse call interface 154 provides the means for patient support apparatus 20 to bidirectionally communicate with communication outlet 64. As has been discussed, in some situations, patient support apparatus 20 uses Bluetooth transceiver 128 to communicate with Bluetooth transceiver 106 of linked locator unit 60, and linked locator unit 60 forwards communications back and forth between outlet 64 and patient support apparatus 20. In other words, in some situations, linked locator unit 60 functions as a communications intermediary between nurse call interface 154 and outlet 64. Alternatively, a nurse call cable 66 may be coupled directly between patient support apparatus 20 and wall outlet 64, thereby avoiding the need to use linked locator unit 60 as a communication intermediary. In such situations, one end of a nurse call cable 66 is plugged into cable port 148 of patient support apparatus 20 and the other end of the cable 66 is plugged directly into outlet 64. Nurse call interface 154 thereby provides patient support apparatus 20 with the ability to communicate either wirelessly or via wired means with the outlet 64. Outlet 64, as was noted, is not only communicatively coupled to nurse call system 70, but also to television 72, room light 74, and reading light 76.

[00139] When patient support apparatus 20 includes microphone 146 (FIG. 5), it is used to detect the voice of the patient when the patient wants to speak to a remotely positioned nurse. The patient’s voice is converted to audio signals by microphone 146 and controller 140 is adapted to forward these audio signals to an adjacent communications outlet 64 positioned in wall 62 (FIG. 4). When a cable 66 is coupled between cable port 148 of patient support apparatus 20 and outlet 64, controller 140 forwards these audio signals to outlet 64 via the cable 66. When no such cable 66 extends between patient support apparatus 20 and outlet 64, controller 140 wirelessly forwards these audio signals to the linked locator unit 60 that it is currently associated with (using transceiver 128, or in some embodiments, one of transceivers 132) and controller 112 of linked locator unit 60 forwards these audio signals to outlet 64 via a cable 66. As was noted, outlet 64 is in electrical communication with a conventional nurse call system 70 that is adapted to route the audio signals to the correct nurse’s station 78, and/or other location. In some embodiments, microphone 146 acts as both a microphone and a speaker. In other embodiments, a separate speaker may be included in order to communicate the voice signals received from the remotely positioned nurse. In some embodiments, the audio communication between patient support apparatus 20 and communications outlet 64 is carried out in any of the manners, and/or includes any of the structures, disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 16/847,753 filed April 14, 2020, by inventors Alexander Bodurka et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES WITH NURSE CALL AUDIO MANAGEMENT, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[00140] In the example shown in FIG. 5, there are four types of devices 100a, 100b, 100c, and 10Od positioned in the vicinity of patient support apparatus 20. The first type of device 100a is a patient badge adapted to be worn by a patient. The second type of personal belonging 172 is a tagged personal belonging of the patient’s. That is, it is a personal belonging of the patient’s that has a UWB tag 170 attached to it. The third type of device 100c is an untagged patient personal belonging. Such untagged personal belongings 100c include a UWB transceiver built into them. Untagged personal belongings 100c therefore do not need (although they can have, if desired) a separate UWB tag 170 attached to them in order for them to communicate with UWB transceivers 132 and 126 of patient support apparatus 20 and locator unit 60, respectively. The fourth type of device 10Od includes any devices that are capable of UWB communication with transceivers 132 and/or 126 and that are not patient badges, nor personal belongings of the patient’s. Devices 100d therefore include any other UWB device that is not one of UWB devices 100a, b, or c.

[00141] Devices 10Od may include any of the following: another patient support apparatus 20, an infusion pump, a vital sign sensor, an exercise device, a heel care boot, an IV stand and/or pole, a ventilator, a DVT pump, a patient monitor (e.g. a saturated oxygen (SpO2) monitor, an EKG monitor, a vital sign monitor, etc.), a patient positioning devices (e.g. a wedge, turning device, pump), an ambient sensor (e.g. air temperature, air flow, light, humidity, pressure, altitude, sound/noise), a mattress 42, an incontinence pad or one or more sensors adapted to detect patient incontinence, a Holter device adapted to monitor and record a patient’s heart signals, a caregiver tag, badge, or ID bracelet worn by a caregiver that identifies the caregiver, a patient temperature management device (or associated device, such as a one or more hoses, thermal wraps, etc.), a pendant, one or more mobility assistance devices that a patient may be expected to use, and/or other types of devices. Devices 10Od may also include a configuration device of the type disclosed in (and referred to therein as “configuration device 100a”) commonly assigned U.S. provisional patent application serial number 63/194,655, filed November 9, 2023, by inventors Michael Graves et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[00142] Patient badge 100a includes a controller 162a, a UWB transceiver 158a, and a unique ID 160a. In some embodiments, patient badge 100a may include additional components, such as, but not limited to, a control panel, a speaker, a microphone, a display, and/or other components. Controller 162a oversees the operation of patient badge 100a and is in communication with UWB transceiver 158a and unique ID 160a. UWB transceiver 158a is adapted to range with UWB transceiver(s) 132 of patient support apparatus 20 and/or UWB transceiver 126 of fixed locator unit 60. The term “range,” or its variants, refers to the act of determining the distance and/or relative position and/or relative orientation of one UWB transceiver with respect to another transceiver. When UWB transceiver 158a ranges with the UWB transceiver(s) 132 of patient support apparatus 20, those patient support apparatus UWB transceivers 132 (and/or UWB transceiver 158a itself) determine their distance from each other and/or their angular relationship to each other. In some embodiments, in addition to ranging with other UWB transceivers, UWB transceiver 158a is adapted to communicate other data (i.e. nonranging data) with one or more other UWB transceivers, such as UWB transceivers 132 and/or 136.

[00143] Patient badge 100a is adapted to be worn by a patient while the patient is visiting a healthcare facility. Patient badge 100a is typically provided by the healthcare facility to the patient when the patient is admitted to the healthcare facility. The unique ID 160a is read, or otherwise detected, when the patient badge 100a is assigned to a particular patient, and the ID 160a is then correlated with that particular patient during the course of his/her stay at the healthcare facility. In some embodiments, ADT server 102 maintains a list of which unique IDs 160a correlate to which specific patients within the healthcare facility. As will be discussed in greater detail below, patient support apparatus 20 is configured to repetitively determine the position of badge 100a and to use that position determination to determine whether the patient may be leaving behind one or more personal belongings. The manner in which controller 140 of patient support apparatus 20 determines whether a patient may be leaving behind one or more belongings is described in greater detail below.

[00144] Each tagged personal belonging 100b (FIG. 5) includes a UWB tag 170 and a personal belonging 172 to which the tag 170 is affixed. The personal belonging 172 may be any piece of property, whether electronic or nonelectronic, such as, but not limited to, an item of clothing, a book, a purse, a wallet, a set of keys, a book e-reader, a phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, etc. The tag 170 is adapted to be secured to the personal belonging 172 in any suitable manner, such as via adhesive, one or more ties, pins, clamps, hook and loop fastener, etc. When the personal belonging 172 is an electronic device, such as a cell phone, laptop computer, tablet computer, etc., it typically won’t include its own UWB transceiver built into it because such electronic devices are typically qualified as a untagged UWB personal belonging 100c. However, most cell phones, laptop computers, tablet computers, etc. that include a UWB transceiver built into them also include a control that allows the user to manually turn on or off its UWB communications. For such electronic devices, they may be qualified as an untagged personal belonging 100c when their UWB communications have been turned on by the patient, and as a tagged personal belonging 100b when their UWB communications have been turned off by the patient (and a tag 170 has been attached to them). Regardless of whether they are considered tagged or untagged personal devices 100b or 100c, they operate in accordance with the same principles discussed herein.

[00145] UWB tag 170 is a UWB tag that is adapted to range with, and in some cases communicate with, either or both the UWB transceiver 126 of fixed locator unit 60 and/or the UWB transceivers 132 of patient support apparatus 20. In general, UWB transceivers 126 and/or 132 range with the UWB transceiver 158b of tag 170 in order to determine the position of tag 170 relative to patient fixed locator unit 60 and/or patient support apparatus 20. Controller 112 and/or controller 140 is configured to determine the position of UWB tag 170 in two or three dimensions within the room frame of reference and/or another frame of reference. As will be discussed in greater detail below, after determining the position of UWB tag 170, controller 112 and/or 140 may be configured to associate a personal belonging 172 with fixed locator unit 60 and/or patient support apparatus 20 (and/or the patient assigned to patient support apparatus 20) if the tag 170 of that personal belonging 172 is positioned within a particular zone 152.

[00146] UWB tags 170 may take on any of the forms of the tags described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/193,777 filed May 27, 2021, by inventors Thomas Deeds et al. and entitled SYSTEM FOR ASSOCIATING MEDICAL DEVICE DATA, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Tags 170 may also take on other forms.

[00147] Untagged personal belongings 100c (FIG. 5) differ from tagged personal belongings 172 in that, instead of a separate tag 170 attached to a personal belonging 172, untagged personal belongings 100c have the electronics and functionality of a UWB tag 170 built into them. In effect, untagged personal belongings 100c include an internal tag 170 that is built into them and that may interact with the electronics 166 of the device 100c. Stated alternatively, untagged personal belongings 100c are themselves adapted to perform the functions of UWB tag 170, thereby making it unnecessary to attach a UWB tag 170 to them. Some examples of such devices 100c include, but are not limited to, certain (i.e. UWB-equipped) cell phones, tablet computer, and/or laptop computers.

[00148] As can be seen in FIG. 5, untagged personal belongings 100c include a UWB transceiver 158c, an identifier 160c, a controller 162c, and device electronics 166. UWB transceiver 158c, identifier 160c, and controller 162c all work in the same manner as UWB transceivers 158a and b, identifiers 160 and b, and controllers 162a and b, of devices 100a and b, respectively. The only difference between controller 162b and controller 162c is that controller 162c may be part of, and/or electrically communicate with, the electronics 166 of the device 100c itself. Thus, for example, if untagged device 100c is a cell phone, controller 162c may, in addition to overseeing ranging operations and communications with patient support apparatus 20 and/or fixed locator unit 60, also oversee the execution of one or more mobile software apps and/or the making, receiving, and/or carrying out of phone calls. Further, because controller 162c is in communication with the electronics 166 of untagged personal belonging 100c, controller 162c is able to forward information relating to the operation of untagged personal belonging 100c to patient support apparatus 20 and/or fixed locator unit 60. Such information may include the outputs of any sensors onboard device 100c, any patient information contained within device 100c, and/or any other information that is generated by, or relates to, device 100c.

[00149] Devices 10Od, which are any UWB devices that are neither personal belongings (100b or 100c) nor patient badges 100a, may include any of the UWB devices 10Od previously mentioned. Devices 10Od may include objects or structures that have their own UWB transceiver built into them, or that have a UWB tag, similar to, or the same as, UWB tag 170 attached to them. When a UWB device 10Od constitutes a UWB tag 170 attached to a non-electronic structure that doesn’t include its own UWB transceiver, UWB device 10Od may include only a controller 162d, unique ID 160d, and a UWB transceiver 158d. When UWB device 100 constitutes a UWB tag 170 attached to an electronic device that doesn’t include its own UWB transceiver, UWB device 10Od may include controller 162d, ID 160d, and transceiver 158d, as well as the device’s electronic 166 and/or controls 164, although such electronics 166 and/or controls 164 do not necessarily need to be in communication with controller 162d. Alternatively, in some embodiments where UWB device 100 constitutes a UWB tag 170 attached to an electronic device that doesn’t include its own UWB transceiver, UWB device 10Od may be constructed such that controller 162d is in communication with the device’s electronic 166 and/or controls 164. Still further, when device 10Od includes its own built-in UWB transceiver— and therefore doesn’t include a separate tag 170 attached to it— controller 162d will be in communication with the device electronics 166 and/or controls 164, and will oversee the operation and use of UWB transceiver 158d and ID 160d, as well as the device electronics 166 and controls 164.

[00150] Regardless of the precise construction and/or form of UWB devices 10Od, they operate in the same manner as devices 100a-c. That is, UWB transceiver 158d is adapted to range with UWB transceiver(s) 132 of patient support apparatus 20 and/or UWB transceiver 126 of fixed locator unit 60. When UWB transceiver 158d ranges with the UWB transceiver(s) 132 of patient support apparatus 20, those patient support apparatus UWB transceivers 132 (and/or UWB transceiver 158d itself) determine their distance from each other and/or their angular relationship to each other. In some embodiments, in addition to ranging with other UWB transceivers, UWB transceiver 158d is adapted to communicate other data (i.e. non-ranging data) with one or more other UWB transceivers, such as UWB transceivers 132 and/or 126. Controller 140 of patient support apparatus 20 repetitively determines the position of the UWB device 10Od relative to patient support apparatus 20, one or more zones 152, and/or locator unit 60, and may take one or more actions (e.g. associating, disassociating, carrying out or terminating communications, etc.) in response to the current relative position of a device 10Od.

[00151] It will be understood that, in some embodiments of patient support apparatus 20, controller 140 is not configured to detect any devices 10Od. Instead, in such embodiments, controller 140 may be configured to only detect badges 100a and/or personal belongings 100b, c. However, in other embodiments, controller 140 may be configured to detect all four types of devices 100a-d. Still further, in some embodiments, controller 140 may be configured to not be able to detect any one or more of devices 100a, 100b, 100c, and/or 10Od. Thus, in at least one embodiment, controller 140 may be configured to not detect any of devices 100a-d using UWB, yet, as will be explained further below, still be able to issue a notification when a personal belonging may be left behind. In this particular embodiment, patient support apparatus 20 may omit any or all of UWB transceivers 132.

[00152] As was noted above, the UWB transceivers 158 of devices 10Oa-d are adapted to communicate with the UWB transceivers 132 positioned onboard patient support apparatus 20 (and/or transceiver 126 onboard fixed locator unit 60) so that the position of the devices 10Oa-d relative to patient support apparatus 20 (and/or to fixed locator unit 60) can be repetitively determined. The UWB transceivers 158 of devices 100 may be the same as all of the other UWB transceivers discussed herein (e.g. UWB transceivers 126, 132). Each of the UWB transceivers 158 of devices 100a-d is further adapted to transmit its corresponding unique ID 160a-d to patient support apparatus 20 and/or to fixed locator unit 60 so that so that patient support apparatus 20 and/or fixed locator unit 60 knows which specific device 100 it is communicating with.

[00153] It will be understood that the components of devices 100a-d shown in FIG. 5 are merely illustrative examples of devices 10Oa-d, and that different devices 100 may be utilized with the system of the present disclosure that have fewer, greater, and/or different components than those shown in FIG. 5.

[00154] For example, when a particular device 10Od is a caregiver badge, the device 10Od may be adapted to allow a user of the device 10Od to speak into a microphone integrated therein so that the user may have his or her voice transmitted to a remotely positioned phone, a different badge, and/or another type of remotely positioned computing device. Similarly, when device 10Od is a caregiver badge, it may be adapted to receive audio signals from a remotely positioned phone, a different badge, and/or another type of remotely positioned computing device, and to route them to a speaker onboard device 10Od so that the user of the device 10Od can hear those audio signals. In other words, when device 10Od is a caregiver badge, device 10Od may be adapted to allow a user to bidirectionally communicate with remotely positioned personnel. In some embodiments, patient badges 100a may also, or alternatively, include such bidirectional communication abilities.

[00155] Controllers 112, 140, and 162 may take on a variety of different forms. In the illustrated embodiment, each of these controllers is implemented as a conventional microcontroller. However, these controllers may be modified to use a variety of other types of circuits— either alone or in combination with one or more microcontrollers— such as, but not limited to, any one or more microprocessors, field programmable gate arrays, systems on a chip, volatile or nonvolatile memory, discrete circuitry, and/or other hardware, software, or firmware that is capable of carrying out the functions described herein, as would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art. Such components can be physically configured in any suitable manner, such as by mounting them to one or more circuit boards, or arranging them in other manners, whether combined into a single unit or distributed across multiple units. The instructions followed by controllers 112, 140, and 162 when carrying out the functions described herein, as well as the data necessary for carrying out these functions, are stored in a corresponding memory that is accessible to that particular controller (e.g. memory 134 for controller 140). In some embodiments, controllers 112, 140, and 162 may include and/or work with a microcontroller that is integrated into, or associated with, the UWB transceiver(s) aboard that particular device (e.g. UWB transceivers 126, 132, and 158), and that microcontroller may act as a location engine, either alone or in combination with its associated controller 112, 140, and 162, for determining the locations of the other UWB transceivers with which it is in communication.

[00156] Controller 140 of patient support apparatus 20 utilizes UWB transceivers 132 to determine the relative position of patient support apparatus 20 with respect to one or more nearby locator units 60 and any devices 100 that are positioned within communication range of patient support apparatus 20. If patient support apparatus 20 is positioned within range of a locator unit 60, its UWB transceivers 132 communicate with the UWB transceiver 126 positioned on that locator unit 60, and the transceivers 132 and 126 exchange signals that enable them to determine the distances between themselves (i.e. they range with each other). This distance determination is done for each UWB transceiver 132 positioned onboard patient support apparatus 20 (or for as many as is necessary in order to determine an accurate position of locator unit 60 relative to patient support apparatus 20).

[00157] If a device 100 is positioned within range of the UWB transceivers 132 of patient support apparatus 20, the UWB transceivers 158 of the device 100 range with the UWB transceivers 132 of patient support apparatus 20. In some embodiments, this ranging is done for each UWB transceiver 132 positioned onboard patient support apparatus 20 (or for as many as is necessary in order to determine an accurate position of the device 100 relative to patient support apparatus 20). [00158] In some embodiments, the UWB transceivers 126, 132, 158 may also be configured to determine an angular relationships between themselves during the ranging process. The distance (and angle information) in at least some embodiments is calculated by UWB transceiver 132 and/or controller 140 of patient support apparatus 20. In other embodiments, one or more of the locator unit 60 or device(s) 100 may also, or alternatively, calculate the distance (and angle information) and forward the results of this calculation to patient support apparatus 20 (either via a UWB transceiver or BT transceiver). In either situation, patient support apparatus controller 140 is informed of the distances (and, in some embodiments, as noted, the angle information) between its UWB transceivers 132 and those onboard nearby fixed locator(s) 60 and/or device(s) 100. These distances and orientations are then used to calculate a relative position of patient support apparatus 20 to these devices (locator units 60 and/or devices 100) in a common frame of reference that may be defined in a fixed relationship to the patient support apparatus 20 or the device. Alternatively, or additionally, controller 140 may determine the position of locator unit(s) 60 and/or device(s) 100 in the room frame of reference, if patient support apparatus 20 and/or locator unit 60 has been supplied with boundary info 180.

[00159] Although FIGS. 4 and 5 only illustrate a single locator unit 60, it will be understood that a typical healthcare facility will include multiple locator units 60 positioned at different locations throughout the facility, including ones positioned within patient rooms and others positioned outside of patient rooms. Typically, at least one locator unit 60 will be positioned in each patient room of the healthcare facility, and if the patient room is intended to be occupied by more than one patient (e.g. it includes multiple bays), then additional locator units 60 may be included so that each patient support apparatus 20 will have a locator unit 60 positioned adjacent to each bay area in the room. Additional locator units 60, such as unlinked locator units 60, may also be positioned at other locations through the healthcare facility. In some embodiments, any of locator units 60 may include more than one UWB transceiver 126.

[00160] The location of patient support apparatus 20 relative to locator units 60 and devices 100 is repetitively determined by the ranging signals exchanged between their UWB transceivers 126, 132, and 158. This exchange may be initiated by an interrogation signal that is sent by the UWB transceivers 126, 132, and/or 158 of any of these devices. The trigger for sending these interrogation signals (from any source) may simply be the passage of a predefined interval of time, in at least some embodiments. That is, in some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20, locator units 60, and/or devices 100 may be configured to periodically send out an interrogation signal that will be responded to by any UWB transceivers that are positioned with range of that signal. In those embodiments where patient support apparatuses 20 are configured to send out such an interrogation signal, the time intervals between the interrogation signals may be varied depending upon the location, the number of devices 100 that are positioned within range of patient support apparatus 20, and/or the status of the patient support apparatus 20. For example, in some embodiments, controller 140 may be configured to send out the interrogation signals with longer timer intervals between them when the patient support apparatus is stationary (and, in some cases, when no devices 100 are currently positioned in communication range), and to send out the interrogation signals with shorter time intervals between them when the patient support apparatus 20 is in motion and/or when at least one device 100 is currently positioned within communication range of transceivers 132. In any of the aforementioned embodiments, motion of the patient support apparatus 20 may be detected in any suitable manner, such as by including one or more motion sensors on the patient support apparatus 20 (e.g. one or more accelerometers), and/or by monitoring the values of the repetitive distance measurements and looking for changes indicative of movement.

[00161] In some embodiments, the UWB transceivers 126, 132, and/or 158 are configured to act as either UWB anchors or as UWB tags. In at least one embodiment, the UWB transceivers 126 of locator units 60 and the UWB transceivers 158 of devices 100 are both configured to act as UWB tags, while the UWB transceivers 132 of patient support apparatus 20 are configured to act as UWB anchors. It will be understood that modifications to these roles of anchors and tags can be made. For example, in some embodiments, the UWB transceivers 132 of patient support apparatus 20 may be modified to act as UWB anchors in some instances and as UWB tags in other instances. Still other modifications can be made.

[00162] In general, when a UWB transceiver is configured to act as a UWB tag, it is configured to periodically transmit a UWB start packet, which acts as a discovery packet. The start packet requests that any UWB anchors that are within communication range to respond. If another UWB transceiver that is acting as a UWB tag happens to receive the start packet from another UWB tag, that UWB transceiver is configured to not respond to it. In other words, tags transmit start packets, but do not respond to start packets. UWB anchors, on the other hand, do not transmit start packets, but instead respond to start packets with a response packet that may be referred to as a stamp packet. Anchors therefore transmit stamp packets, but do not transmit start packets. UWB anchors also do not respond to other stamp packets that they may detect from other UWB anchors. In response to receiving a stamp packet from a UWB anchor, the UWB tags are configured to transmit an end packet back to the UWB anchor that transmitted the stamp packet.

[00163] The combination of the start, stamp, and end packet generally defines a ranging session between a UWB anchor and a UWB tag. The ranging session uses time of flight (TOF) information generated from the start, stamp, and end packets to allow the anchor and/or tag to determine a distance between the tag and the anchor. In some embodiments, the start, stamp, and/or end packet may also contain other data in their payloads that is used for other purposes besides ranging. From the ranging information, the distance between the anchor and tag is determined. These ranging sessions are repetitively carried out while a UWB anchor and UWB tag are within communication range.

[00164] In some embodiments, the time interval between ranging sessions is controlled by the UWB tag. That is, after the UWB tag sends a start packet, receives a stamp packet in response, and sends an end packet in response to the stamp packet, the UWB tag is configured to wait a defined amount of time before sending out another start packet. The defined amount of time is programmed into the UWB tag and can be varied during operation of the UWB tag. In some embodiments, the UWB tag may be configured to change this defined amount of time (hereinafter, the “ranging interval”) based upon whether the UWB device with the tag is associated with, or not associated with, a UWB device having an anchor. In other embodiments, the ranging interval may be changed by a tag based upon the status of one or more of the UWB devices that are involved in the ranging session. Such status may include, but is not limited to, the movement status of one or more of the UWB devices, the position and/or state of one or more components of the devices, the location of the device within the healthcare facility and/or in relation to other UWB device(s), and/or other factors.

[00165] After the installation of locator units 60 in a particular healthcare facility, the location of each locator unit 60 within that facility is recorded. In some embodiments, the coordinates of the locations of locator units 60 are recorded in a common frame of reference (or converted to a common frame of reference after recordation). Such coordinates may be three dimensional (i.e. include a vertical and two horizontal components), or they may be two dimensional (no height component). In other embodiments, a more generalized location of one or more locator units 60 is determined, rather than the precise coordinates of the locator units 60. The generalized location of the locator units 60 may include an indication of the room, bay, area, hallway, portion of a hallway, wing, maintenance area, etc. that the locator unit 60 is positioned in. In still other embodiments, the locations of one or more locator units 60 are determined both generally and more precisely. [00166] Regardless of how the location of each locator unit 60 is initially determined after they are installed in a healthcare facility (e.g. whether their coordinates are determined or a more generalized location is determined), the locations of all of the locator units 60, as well as their unique IDs 122, are stored in a memory accessible to server 84 and/or 86.

Server 84 and/or 86 then uses this location data and ID data to determine the location of a patient support apparatus 20 (as well as the location of any associated devices 100). Alternatively, or additionally, the location data and IDs 122 are forwarded to patient support apparatuses 20 for storage in their onboard memories 134 and for use in determining their own locations. In some embodiments, the location of each locator unit 60 (whether specific and/or general) may also, or alternatively, be stored in a memory within that particular locator unit 60 and shared with the devices it communicates with (e.g. patient support apparatuses 20). In some other embodiments, the location of each locator unit 60 may be stored in multiple locations.

[00167] For all of the UWB devices 100 that patient support apparatus 20 is configured to determine the location of (i.e. perform UWB ranging with), controller 140 of patient support apparatus 20 uses the relative position information to determine how it will interact with these devices 100, including whether to associate with these devices 100 or not and/or whether or to issue a notice that a patient personal belonging may have been left behind. When controller 140 associates patient support apparatus 20 with one or more of devices 100, as will be discussed in greater detail below, controller 140, server 84 and/or server 86 may take one or more of the following actions: display data from these devices 100 on display 52 and/or another display device; automatically route data from one or more of these devices 100 to one or more appropriate destinations; retrieve data about one or more of these devices 100 from patient support apparatus server 84, EMR server 92, and/or badge sever 94 via network transceiver 96; send one or more signals from these devices 100 to communication outlet 64 (via a cable 66 or through linked locator unit 60); forward one or more signals from outlet 64 to one or more of these devices 100; retrieve data from EMR server 92 that was generated by these devices 100; retrieve data from these devices 100 via another route that is independent from EMR server 92; associate the device 100— such as, but not limited to, a personal belonging— with the particular patient assigned to patient support apparatus 20; and/or perform other actions. [00168] For locator units 60, controller 140 is configured to determine whether to automatically associate patient support apparatus 20 with a particular locator unit 60 based on whether both locator unit 60 and patient support apparatus 20 (or a reference point R thereon) are positioned within a common zone (e.g. zone 152a of FIG. 4). For some devices 100, controller 140 is configured to determine whether to automatically associate patient support apparatus 20 with a particular device 100 based on whether the device 100 is positioned within a zone 152 that surrounds the patient support apparatus 20, such as zone 152b of FIG. 4. For other devices, such as personal belongings 100b, 100c, controller 140 may utilize a different zone 152, such as a zone 152 that is matched to the boundaries of the room 58, or still another zone 152, for determining whether to associate the personal belongings 100b and/or 100c with the patient assigned to patient support apparatus 20.

[00169] Once a device 10Od or locator unit 60 is associated with patient support apparatus 20, it thereafter remains associated with that particular patient support apparatus 20 until either it or patient support apparatus move outside of a particular zone, such as zones 152a-c of FIG. 4, at which point controller 140 disassociates the device from patient support apparatus 20. That is, controller 140 repetitively determines and monitors the position of the devices 100 and locator unit 60 while they are within UWB communication range, and if either of patient support apparatus 20 or the device 100 moves outside of a corresponding zone 152, controller 140 automatically disassociates the device from patient support apparatus 20. The same is true for fixed locator unit 60. For example, controller 140 may make such an automatic disassociation if patient support apparatus 20 moves such that locator unit 60 is no longer inside zone 152a (if zone 152a is defined with respect to patient support apparatus 20), or such that patient support apparatus 20 is no longer inside zone 152a (if zone 152a is defined with respect to locator unit 60). Similarly, if a device 10Od, for example, moves outside of a zone 152b defined around an associated patient support apparatus 20, controller 140 may automatically disassociate the device 100 from the patient support apparatus 20.

[00170] Still further, in some embodiments discussed in more detail below, controller 140 may not completely disassociate itself from a device 10Od if it moves outside of a first zone 152 and into a second zone, but instead change a manner in which controller 140 interacts with the device 10Od. In such embodiments, controller 140 may wait to completely disassociate the device 10Od from patient support apparatus 20 only if the device 10Od moves outside of both of the first and second zones 152.

[00171] In some embodiments, controller 140 may use modified zones— such as larger zones— when determining whether to automatically disassociate devices 10Od (or locator units 60) from patient support apparatus 20. In other words, once a device 10Od has been determined to be positioned inside of a particular zone, such as zones 152a-c (and any additional association conditions are met, if there are any), and controller 140 has associated the device 10Od with patient support apparatus 20, controller 140 may thereafter increase the size of— and/or otherwise change one or more dimensions of— the zone 152 when determining whether to automatically disassociate the device 10Od from patient support apparatus 20. In this manner, the zones152 may have a sort of hysteresis aspect wherein a device 10Od has to be positioned inside of a smaller zone in order to be associated with patient support apparatus 20, but thereafter can only be disassociated if it moves outside of a larger sized zone. One example of this type of hysteresis effect is shown in FIG. 12 of commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/356,242 filed June 28, 2022, by inventors Madhu Sandeep Thota et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS COMMUNICATION AND LOCATION SYSTEM, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Controller 140 may be configured, in some embodiments, to utilize the hysteresis effect disclosed in the aforementioned ‘242 application, and/or to implement any of the functions of the patient support apparatuses disclosed therein. In still other embodiments, controller 140 may use the same dimensions for the zones 152 for both association and disassociation purposes.

[00172] Devices 100a-c, in contrast to devices 10Od, may utilize different rules for disassociation from patient support apparatus 20 and/or locator unit 60 than are used for devices 10Od. For example, personal belongings 100b and/or 100c are not disassociated from a particular patient or patient support apparatus 20 when they are moved outside of a particular zone 152. Instead, when they are moved outside of a particular zone 152, controller 140 may issue a notification indicating that such personal belongings 100b and/or 100c may have been left behind (and, as will be discussed more below, controller 140 may also issue such a notification if patient support apparatus 20 is moved into a different area than the area in which the personal belonging 100b and/or 100c is positioned). Such notifications do not involve disassociating the personal belonging 100b and/or 100c from the patient support apparatus 20 or patient assigned thereto. Thus, personal belongings 100b and/or 100c are automatically associated based on their position relative to one or more zones 152, but their automatic disassociation is not based on their position relative to one or more zones 152.

[00173] For patient badges 100a, controller 140 may be configured to only disassociate the patient badge 100a from a particular patient support apparatus 20 if the patient badge 100a is moved within a threshold distance (such as being positioned on) another patient support apparatus 20 for a threshold amount of time (and/or in response to an authorized person manually disassociating the patient badge 100a from a particular patient support apparatus, or in response to the badge 100a being re-used with a new patient). Thus, controller 140 may be configured to not utilize zones 152 when determining whether to disassociate a patient badge 100a from patient support apparatus 20. Patient badges 100a may therefore be automatically associated with a particular patient or patient support apparatus 20 based on their position relative to one or more zones 152, but their automatic disassociation is not based on their position relative to one or more zones 152 that are defined relative to that particular patient support apparatus 20.

[00174] In some embodiments, any one or more of zones 152 (FIG. 4) may be defined with respect to patient support apparatus 20 and therefore move as patient support apparatus 20 moves. One or more other zones 152, however, may be defined with respect to other objects, and therefore not move with patient support apparatus 20. In FIG. 4, zone 152a, which may be the smallest of the zones 152, is generally used for the automatic association and disassociation between patient support apparatus 20 and a locator unit 60 and may be defined in a fixed relationship to patient support apparatus 20 or locator unit 60. When defined relative to locator unit 60, zone 152a does not move with patient support apparatus 20. When defined in a fixed relationship to patient support apparatus 20, zone 152a moves with patient support apparatus 20.

[00175] Zone 152b (FIG. 4) is generally used for the automatic association and disassociation between patient support apparatus 20 and some devices 100 that are expected to be used in close proximity to the patient, such as a patient badge 100a, a personal belonging 100b or 100c, and/or some non-personal belonging devices 10Od. Zone 152c is generally used by controller 140 for the automatic association and disassociation between patient support apparatus 20 and devices 100 that are expected to be positioned further away from patient support apparatus 20, such as, but not limited to, caregiver badges 10Od, patient badges 100a, personal belongings 100b and/or 100c, and/or other devices 10Od. It will be understood that controller 140 may utilize zones 152 other than the three shown in FIG. 4.

[00176] In some embodiments, zone 152c may be matched to the size and shape of the particular room 58 in which patient support apparatus is currently positioned. Alternatively, or additionally, another zone 152 may be used by patient support apparatus 20 that is matched to the size and shape of the particular room 58. Still further, in some embodiments, controller 140 may dynamically switch between using a first zone 152 that is not matched to size and shape of room 58 when boundary information 180 is not present, and then automatically switch to using a second zone 152 that is matched to the size and shape of room 58 when boundary information 180 is present, at least for some devices 100a-d. That is, in some embodiments, controller 140 is configured to change the size and/or shape of a zone 152 based upon whether or not boundary information 180 is stored in memory 134 (or has been communicated to controller 140 from fixed locator unit 60).

[00177] For example, in such embodiments, controller 140 may be configured to use a default or first definition of a zone 152 when no boundary information 180 is stored or available to controller 140, and to use a second definition of zone 152 when boundary information 180 for the room in which it is positioned is available. The first or default zone definition may be a zone 152 having a predetermined size and shape that moves with the movement of patient support apparatus 20. The second definition of the zone may be a zone 152 that is defined to substantially coincide with the perimeter of the room 58 and that is fixed relative to the room 58 (i.e. it does not move when the patient support apparatus 20 moves). In other words, when boundary information 180 is available, controller 140 may automatically switch to using a zone 152 (at least for some devices 100 and/or for some purposes) that has substantially the same size and shape as the size and shape of the room 58 in which the patient support apparatus 20 is currently located. In this manner, controller 140 can be configured to automatically associate certain ones of devices 100a-d that are within the same room 58 with patient support apparatus 20. [00178] In some embodiments, if room 58 is a semi-private room, controller 140 of patient support apparatus 20 may be configured to automatically choose a zone 152 that has the same size and shape as the portion of the room in which the patient support apparatus 20 is located. Similar to some of the embodiments described above, controller 140 may be configured to utilize a default zone selection 152 (e.g. a zone with a default size and shape) when the boundary information 180 relating to portions of a semi-private room is not available to controller 140, and to automatically switch from the default zone 152 to a zone 152 shaped and sized to match a portion of the room 58 in response to the room boundary information 180 that defines the portion of the room 58 in which patient support apparatus 20 is currently located.

[00179] It will be understood that when controller 140 of patient support apparatus 20 selects a zone 152 that substantially matches the boundaries of the room 58, the zone 152 need not exactly match the boundaries of the room 58. Instead, the zone 152 is selected to substantially, but not necessary perfectly, match the boundaries of the room 58. The degree of fidelity between the boundary of zone 152 and the room 58 may vary, depending upon the purpose for the selection of zone 152, depending upon the type of devices 100 that may be used in the vicinity of patient support apparatus, depending upon the ranging accuracy of the UWB transceivers 126, 132, and 158, and/or depending upon other factors. In at least one embodiment, the zone 152 selected by controller 140 should have a boundary that is accurate to about six to twelve inches of the actual walls of the room 58 (although other ranges of accuracy may be used).

[00180] It will be understood that the size and shape of any of zones 152 may be dynamic. That is, in response to a triggering event, controller 140 may change the size and/or shape of one or more of the zones 152 that is uses. Such triggering events may include any one or more of the following: the presence or absence of another patient support apparatus within the room 58, the presence or absence of a caregiver within the room 58, the presence or absence of a room divider in the room 58, the receipt by controller 140 of boundary information defining a boundary of a room 58, movement of patient support apparatus 20, movement of a device 100, the opening and/or closing of a door 198, and/or other events. The changing of a zone in response to any one or more of these triggers may be especially useful for zones 152 that are used for functions other than solely association.

[00181] It will also be understood that, although the accompanying drawings all depict all of the zones 152 as having rectangular shapes, these shapes may be varied, including shapes that are all curved and/or shapes that have a combination of curved and straight boundaries. For example, in some embodiments, such as where patient support apparatus 20 has only a single UWB transceiver 132, the zones 152 may be spherical and/or arcuate. It will also be understood that zones 152 may be defined in two dimensions or three dimensions, and thus refer to areas of space or volumes of space.

[00182] In some embodiments, controller 140 may be configured to allow a user to associate a device 100 to patient support apparatus 20 via a manual process, in addition to the previously described automatic association process. For the manual process, the caregiver has to manually inform patient support apparatus 20 that a particular device 100 should now be associated with that patient support apparatus 20. This manual process may be accomplished in different manners. For example, in some embodiments, the device 100 and patient support apparatus 20 may include near field transceivers that, when positioned within close proximity (e.g. several inches) of each other, exchange information that establishes that that particular device 100 should be associated with that particular patient support apparatus. Further details regarding the use of near field transceivers for associating devices 100 to a patient support apparatus 20 are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/352,061 filed June 14, 2022, by inventors Jerald Trepanier et al. and entitled COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUSES, the complete disclosure of which has already been incorporated herein by reference. Other types of manual association processes may also, or alternatively be used.

[00183] FIG. 6 illustrates one manner in which controller 140 may implement a personal belongings notification function wherein controller 140 issues a notification if it appears that a patient may have left behind one or more personal belongings 100b or 100c. In the example shown in FIG. 6, a personal belonging 100b or 100c is shown positioned within room 58. That is, personal belonging 100b, c is positioned within zone 152d, which is sized and shaped to substantially match the dimensions of room 58. The patient badge 100a, however, is shown in hallway 194, which is positioned outside of zone 152d. In this particular example, when controller 140 detects that patient badge 100a has moved outside of room 58 (i.e. zone 152d), controller 140 is configured to issue a notification alert indicating that the patient associated with patient badge 100a may have left one or more of his/her personal belongings behind; namely personal belonging 100b or 100c. [00184] Thus, in some embodiments, controller 140 is configured to carry out a personal belongings notification function by monitoring the position of one or more personal belongings 100b and/or c while simultaneously monitoring the position of the patient (via his/her patient badge 100a). If the patient moves to a different area than the area in which one or more of the patient’s belongings 100b or 100c is located, or one or more of the patient’s belongings are moved to an area different from the area in which the patient is located, controller 140 is configured to issue a personal belongings notification. More specifically, controller 140 is configured to issue a personal belongings alert if one or more of the following conditions are met: (1) a personal belonging 100b, c is positioned in the same zone 152 as the patient and either the patient or the personal belonging 100b is moved out of that common zone 152 (or into a specific other zone); (2) a personal belonging 100b, c is positioned in a first zone and the patient is positioned in a second zone and either the personal belonging 100b, c or the patient moves to a third zone; and/or (3) a personal belonging 100b, c is positioned in a first zone and the patient is positioned in a second zone and either the personal belonging 100b, c or the patient moves outside of their respective zone into an area that is not positioned within any zones 152. Stated alternatively, controller 140 is configured to issue a personal belongings notification when the patient and one or more of his/her personal belongings 100b, c are moved to different “areas,” wherein the “areas” may refer to different zones 152, different areas outside of zones 152, and/or different distances that are more than a threshold distance apart.

[00185] The particular zones 152 that controller 140 may utilize for determining whether to issue a personal belongings notification may vary, and in some embodiments, may be customizable by authorized individuals of a healthcare facility, using a control panel 54 and/or a device in communication with patient support apparatus server 84 or remote server 86. Thus, for example, an authorized user may customize patient support apparatus 20 such that a personal belongings notification is issued by controller 140 when one of a personal belonging 100b, c and the patient are moved outside of a common zone. The common zone 152 may also be customized by the user. Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 6, controller 140 may issue a personal belongings notification after the patient (shown by patient badge 100a) exits zone 152d, which is the zone in which personal belonging 100b, c is located. In this example, controller 140 may also be instructed to issue the personal belongings notification after a personal belonging 100b, c exits zone 152d while the patient remains inside zone 152d.

[00186] Of course, the user may also choose a different zone besides zone 152d as the common zone 152 that triggers activating the personal belongings notification. For example, the user may choose zone 152c as the common zone 152 for triggering a personal belongings notification. In that case, as long as the patient and their personal belonging 100b, c both remain inside zone 152c, controller 140 will not issue a personal belongings notification. However, if either the patient or his/her personal belonging 100b, c moves outside of zone 152c, controller 140 will issue a personal belongings notification. If both the personal belonging 100b, c and the patient simultaneously exit the common zone 152c, controller 140 may be configured to issue the personal belongings notification, or it may be configured to thereafter monitor the distance between the patient and their personal belonging 100b, c as the patient and personal belonging moves. If the distance exceeds a threshold, controller 140 issues the personal belongings notification. If the distance remains under the threshold, controller 140 does not issue the personal belongings notification.

[00187] As was noted, controller 140 may be configured to also or alternatively issue a personal belongings notification if the patient or his/her personal belonging 100b, c are positioned in different zones 152 and one of them moves to a third and different zone 152. Thus, for example, in the illustration of FIG. 6, controller 140 may be configured to not issue a personal belonging notification if the patient is positioned in zone 152b and his/her personal belonging is positioned in zone 152a, but to issue the personal belonging notification if the patient moves outside of zone 152b and into zone 152c (or vice versa: the patient stays in zone 152b but the patient’s personal belonging 100b, c moves outside of zone 152a into zone 152c).

[00188] As was also noted, controller 140 may be configured to also or alternatively issue a personal belongings notification if the patient or his/her personal belonging 100b, c are positioned in different zones 152 and one of them moves to a location that is not positioned in any zone 152. Thus, for example, in the illustration of FIG. 6, controller 140 may be configured to not issue a personal belonging notification if the patient is positioned in zone 152d and his/her personal belonging is positioned in zone 152c, but to issue the personal belonging notification if the patient moves outside of zone 152d and into hallway 194, or into bathroom 192, or into closet 196 (or vice versa: the patient stays in zone 152c but the patient’s personal belonging 100b, c moves outside of zone 152d and into hallway 194, bathroom 192, or closet 196).

[00189] Although FIG. 6 illustrates zone 152d as having a boundary that excludes bathroom 192, closet 196, and hallway 194, patient support apparatus 20 may be customizable and/or configured to utilize a zone, such as zone 152d, that includes any one or more of these additional areas (bathroom 192, closet 196, and/or a portion of hallway 194). In such situations, nuisance notifications of personal belongings left behind may be avoided when a patient hasn’t left any of his or her personal belongings behind but instead has just used the restroom, entered closet 196, or walked a short distance down hallway 194.

[00190] In some embodiments, controller 140 may be configured to issue a personal belonging notification based on the movement of patient badge 100a and any personal belonging 100b, c through the hallway doorway 190. In such embodiments, controller 140 looks for movement of a patient through the hallway doorway 190 without his/her personal belongings 100b, c, or movement of a personal belonging 100b, c through hallway doorway 190 without the associated patient. Whenever such unpaired movement is detected— i.e. movement of a patient without his/her belonging or movement of a belonging without the corresponding patient— controller 140 is configured to issue a personal belonging notification. In some of these embodiments, the particular zone 152 in which a patient or his/her belongings are located is ignored and controller 140 only focuses on issuing a personal belonging notification when such unpaired movement is detected through the hallway doorway 190.

[00191] Still further, in some embodiments, a time threshold may be utilized when determining whether unpaired movement through hallway doorway 190 is detected. That is, if controller 140 detects movement of a patient through doorway 190 without simultaneously detecting a personal belonging 100b, c, moving through the hallway doorway 190, controller 140 may wait a threshold amount of time to see if a personal belonging 100b, c is detected moving through hallway doorway 190 before issuing a personal belonging notification. Similarly, if controller 140 detects movement of a personal belonging 100b, c through doorway 190 without simultaneously detecting a patient moving through the hallway doorway 190, controller 140 may wait a threshold amount of time to see if the patient is detected moving through hallway doorway 190 before issuing a personal belonging notification. The threshold amount of time may vary in different embodiments. In general, the threshold amount of time may be in the order of one to several seconds, or it may be on the order of one to several minutes, or in between. In some embodiments, the threshold amount of time is customizable by an authorized healthcare worker.

[00192] It will, of course, be understood that the personal belonging notification may be issued by controller 140 based upon unpaired movement through other doorways 190 besides hallway doorway 190, and/or based upon unpaired movement through other locations within the healthcare facility. For example, in some embodiments, instead of monitoring for unpaired movement through hallway doorway 190, controller 140 may monitor unpaired movement through another doorway in the hallway corridor, or another area of the hallway corridor, or still another area within the healthcare facility. In some embodiments, if the area to be monitored for unpaired movement is outside of the range of the UWB transceivers 132 onboard patient support apparatus 20, one or more UWB tags or anchors may be mounted at fixed locations in the area to be monitored for unpaired movement. Such UWB tags or anchors may be in communication with patient support apparatus server 84, remote server 86, and/or patient support apparatus 20. In such situations, it may be patient support apparatus server 84 and/or remote server 86 that issues the personal belongings notification. In some embodiments, UWB tags and/or anchors may be placed near or at each of the entrances into the healthcare facility and used to monitor for unpaired movement of a patient and his/her personal belongings. In such situations, the UWB tags and/or anchors placed near the entrance are configured to communicate with patient support apparatus server 84 and/or remote server 85.

[00193] The monitoring of patient movement through a doorway is described in greater detail in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/194,655, filed November 9, 2023, by inventors Michael Graves et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Controller 140 may utilize any of the methods and/or techniques described therein for determining the position of doorways 190 and/or monitoring the movement of a patient into or out of such doorways 190. [00194] In order for controller 140, patient support apparatus server 84, and/or remote server 86 to distinguish between a patient badge 100a, a tagged personal belonging 100b, an untagged personal belonging 100c, and another type of UWB device 10Od, controller 140, patient support apparatus server 84, and/or remote server 86 may be provided with information that correlates the unique IDs 160 to the different types of devices 100a, b, c, and d. Providing this information to controller 140, patient support apparatus server 84, and/or server 86 may be performed in different manners for different ones of these devices 100a-d. Specifically, for devices 100 that are provided by the healthcare facility, an authorized worker simply needs to input the IDs 160 that correspond to the different types of devices 100 into patient support apparatus 20, server 84, remote server 86, and/or another computing device that is in communication with patient support apparatus 20, server 84, or remote server 86. Once input, the information may be shared between patient support apparatuses 20, server 84, and/or remote server 86, as appropriate. The devices 100 that are typically provided by a healthcare facility include the badges 100a, the tags 170 which are attached to a personal belonging brought by the patient (which, in combination, form a tagged device 100b), and some, if not all, of the other devices 10Od.

[00195] The devices 100 that are not typically provided by the healthcare facility include the untagged personal belongings 100c. The IDs 160 of these devices may be communicated to controller 140 (or servers 84, 86) in different manners so that controller 140 (or server 84, 86) know that these IDs 160 correspond to a patient’s personal belongings. In general, the IDs 160 may be communicated manually or automatically. In a manual process, the IDs 160 of devices 100c are manually input into patient support apparatus 20 (using a control panel 54) or into one or both of servers 84, 86 (using a computing device in communication therewith, e.g. electronic device 98). In the automatic process, which may take on different forms— some of which are discussed below— controller 140 and/or server 84, 86 are configured to automatically detect and conclude that a particular UWB device 100c is a personal belonging of a patient.

[00196] In one automatic process, controller 140 is configured to automatically conclude that a UWB device 100 that is positioned within a particular zone 152 and that does not have an ID 160 recognized by controller 140 as belonging to a device 100a, 100b, or 10Od should be treated as an untagged personal belonging 100c. As one example, if controller 140 detects a UWB device 100 within the same room (e.g. zone 152d in FIG. 6) as the patient support apparatus 20 (assuming it is a private room not shared with other patient support apparatuses 20), and the ID 160 read from that device is not one it recognizes as belonging to a device 100a, 100b, or 10Od, controller 140 may be programmed to automatically conclude that the device is an untagged personal belonging 100c.

[00197] In another automatic process, controller 140 is configured to automatically conclude that a UWB device is an untagged personal belonging if the UWB device is positioned within a particular zone 152 and controller 140 is unable to communicate data to and/or from the device because the device has not been programmed to communicate with patient support apparatus 20. In such cases, controller 140 is able to perform UWB ranging with the device, but is not able to perform further communications with the device because the device has not been programmed to carry out communications with patient support apparatus 20. In such cases, the device 100c may be a cell phone, tablet computer, laptop, or other computer that has a UWB transceiver, but that has not been provided with any software for carrying out communications with patient support apparatus 20.

[00198] In yet another automatic process, controller 140 is configured to automatically conclude that a UWB device 100 is an untagged personal belonging 100c if the UWB device includes software installed on it that tells controller 140 it is an untagged personal belonging 100c. In such cases, controller 140 is able to perform both UWB ranging with the device and further communications with the device because the device includes software enabling such further communications with patient support apparatus 20. In such cases, the device 100c may be a cell phone, tablet computer, laptop, or other computer that has a UWB transceiver and that has a software app installed thereon that is tailored to allow communications with patient support apparatus 20. In some embodiments, the software app is an app provided by the manufacturer of patient support apparatus 20 (or an entity authorized by the manufacturer of patient support apparatus 20). Still further, in some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 may be configured to communicate a message to the patient asking them if they want to download such an app onto their untagged personal belonging 100c so that the belonging 100c is able to communicate with patient support apparatus 20, and controller 140 is therefore able to carry out a personal belonging notification, if appropriate.

[00199] The software app may be downloadable from a conventional software app center, such as, but not limited to, Google Play, the Apple App Store, the Microsoft Store, or another mobile app distribution platform. In some embodiments, any one of patient support apparatus 20, patient support apparatus server 84, and/or remote server 86 may be configured to supply the software app via a WiFi connection to the device 100c. As was noted above, in some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 may be configured to provide an aural, visual, and/or other prompt to the patient to download such an app onto their personal device 100c. The prompt may be provided in response to exit detection system 136 detecting the weight of the patient on patient support apparatus 20 (or a time period after that), the determination by patient support apparatus server 84 (via communication with ADT server 102) that a new patient has been admitted to the healthcare facility and assigned to a particular room or patient support apparatus 20, the detection of a patient badge 100a, a new patient control being activated on patient support apparatus 20 (e.g. see control 222 of FIG. 9) and/or in response to other triggers. In some embodiments, the number of times that patient support apparatus 20 provides such a prompt to the patient may be customizable and/or otherwise limited so that the patient need not be subjected to multiple prompts to download the software app.

[00200] Once the patient has the software app on his/her mobile device 100c, the software app communicates with patient support apparatus 20. The communications may take place via UWB communications, Bluetooth, WiFi, and/or via other means. The communications enable the mobile device 100c to tell patient support apparatus 20 that it is a personal belonging, and that controller 140 should therefore apply its personal belongings monitoring algorithm to it (i.e. issue a personal belongings notification if controller 140 detects that the device 100c may have been left behind). The software app may also allow the patient to turn on/off the personal belongings monitoring algorithm for that particular device 100c (and in some embodiments, any other of the patient’s belongings 100b). The software app may also be configured to remind the patient to turn on the UWB transceiver within their personal mobile electronic device 100c (if one exists), and/or to automatically turn it on. Just as many mobile electronics devices (e.g. phones, tablets, etc.) allow a user to turn on/off the WiFi on the device, many mobile electronic devices that include one or more UWB transceivers allow the user to turn on/off the UWB transceiver(s). The software app may therefore be configured to check to see if the UWB transceiver is turned on or off, and if it is off (and the patient wants the personal belongings notification algorithm of controller 140 to be active), it prompts the patient to turn on the UWB transceiver(s) 158c of the device 100c. If the mobile electronic device does not have a UWB transceiver built into it (such as a non-UWB-equipped smart phone or a non-UWB-equipped tablet), and it is desired to have controller 140 apply the personal belongings monitoring algorithm to the mobile electronic device, a tag 170 should be applied to the mobile electronic device so that controller 140 may issue a personal belongings notification if it is left behind.

[00201] FIG. 7 illustrates one example of a device charger 142 that may be included in some embodiments of patient support apparatus 20 (and which may be omitted in some embodiments of patient support apparatus 20). Device charger 142 is integrated into one or more of the siderails 36 of patient support apparatus 20. In the illustrated embodiment, device charger 142 includes a device holder 156 having an angled wall 168 into which a USB port 174 is integrated. Device holder 156 is designed to allow a user to insert a mobile phone, or other similarly-sized mobile electronic device, and have the device held therein. USB port 174 is configured to have a one end of a UWB cable plugged therein, and the other end plugged into the mobile electronic device to thereby charge the device. That is, siderail 36 includes the circuitry necessary to provide electrical power to USB port 174, thereby enabling a mobile device plugged thereinto to be recharged.

[00202] The USB port 174 includes any one or more conventional USB ports (standard A, B, mini-A, mini-B, Micro-A, Type C, etc.). The USB port 174 includes at least one pin that supplies power to the connected device (e.g. a mobile phone). Controller 140 is adapted to detect when power is being drawn through that pin by a device, such as a mobile phone, connected thereto. In this manner, controller 140 is able to detect when a phone, or other mobile device, is plugged into USB port 174. Controller 140 may be adapted to detect this power draw my monitoring the voltage at the pin that supplies the power, and/or through other means. In some embodiments, controller 140 is adapted to detect when a device is plugged into USB port 174, even when the device is fully charged. [00203] In some embodiments, controller 140 is configured to automatically conclude that a mobile device plugged into USB port 174 is a personal belonging of the patient, regardless of whether or not the mobile device includes a UWB transceiver 158 or not. In such embodiments, controller 140 may be configured to issue a personal belongings notification if controller 140 detects that the patient (via their UWB badge 100a) moves more than a threshold distance away from patient support apparatus 20 while the mobile device is plugged into USB port 174. The threshold distance, in some embodiments, may correspond to patient movement outside of a particular zone 152. Thus, for example, in some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 may be configured to issue a personal belongings notification if the patient moves outside of room 58 while a mobile device remains plugged into charger 142. In other embodiments, the zone 152 that triggers the personal belongings notification may refer to a zone that does not match the boundary of the room, such as, for example, zone 152c of FIG. 6 (or a zone larger than zone 152d of FIG. 6). Alternatively, or additionally, the threshold distance needed to trigger a personal belongings notification may simply refer to the patient exiting the patient support apparatus 20, as detected by exit detection system 136 (in which case it is not necessary for the patient to wear a patient badge 100a).

[00204] It will be understood that, in those embodiments where controller 140 is configured to automatically conclude that a mobile device plugged into USB port 174 is a personal belonging of the patient, controller 140 is able to issue a personal belongings notification for the mobile device even if the mobile device does not include a UWB transceiver (i.e. it is not a device 100c) and even if the mobile device does not include a UWB tag 170 attached to it (i.e. the device is not a tagged device 100b). This is because the personal belonging notification is based on the device being currently plugged into USB port 174 and the patient badge moving beyond a threshold distance away from patient support apparatus 20. In this scenario, controller 140 is able to keep track of the position of the mobile device without utilizing UWB communication, but instead by way of the detected connection to device charger 142. In other words, the fact that the mobile device is plugged into device charger 142 allows controller 140 to conclude that the mobile device is still on, or near, patient support apparatus 20, and if the patient moves far enough away from patient support apparatus 20, it is likely that they have forgotten to retrieve their mobile device. Still further, in some such embodiments, controller 140 may issue a personal belongings notification in response to the patient exiting patient support apparatus 20, as detected by exit detection system 136, in which case it is not necessary for the patient to be wearing a UWB badge 100a.

[00205] In those embodiments where controller 140 automatically concludes that a mobile device plugged into USB port 174 is a personal belonging of the patient, controller 140 may be configured to automatically attempt to establish UWB communication with the device when it detects the device is plugged into USB port 174. Specifically, controller 140 may attempt to range with the device. If such ranging is unsuccessful, either because the device does not include a UWB transceiver, or the device includes a UWB transceiver that is turned off, controller 140 may presume the device is a personal belonging of the patient’s, and begin (or continue) monitoring the movement of the patient to see if a personal belongings alert should be issued. If the ranging is successful, controller 140 is configured to determine the location of the device, as well as to receive the device’s ID 160. Controller 140 may then use the device’s ID 160 to continue to monitor the location of the device, even after the device is disconnected from mobile charger 142. If the device’s position changes relative to the patient’s position in any of the manners discussed above (e.g. they are moved to different zones 152 or move more than a threshold distance from each other), controller 140 issues a personal belongings notification.

[00206] If controller 140 is able to range with a device plugged into mobile device charger 142, controller 140 determines the position of the device relative to patient support apparatus 20. Controller 140 may use this position determination to match the particular device ID to the particular device that is plugged into charger 142. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, if controller 140 detects that a device (100b or 100c in FIG. 8) is plugged into charger 142, controller 140 attempts to range with the device. Because there may be multiple UWB devices within range of patient support apparatus 20, controller 140 uses the position of those multiple (potentially) devices to determine which one Is the one plugged Into charger 142. Controller 140 does this, In some embodiments, by determining which device Is positioned within a zone 152e that Is positioned In the Immediate vicinity of charger 142 (within a common UWB cord’s length thereof, In some embodiments). Whichever device controller 140 determines Is positioned within zone 152e, controller 140 concludes that that particular device Is the device plugged Into charger 142, and then automatically associates that device with the patient assigned to patient support apparatus 20 (and treats It as a personal belonging of that patient). If there are multiple UWB devices positioned within zone 152e, and controller 140 Is not able to determine which one Is plugged Into charger 142, controller 140 may prompt the patient to move the one plugged Into charger 142 and look for that movement using UWB ranging between the device and UWB transceivers 132. Controller 140 may also take other actions to determine which device Is the one plugged Into charger 142.

[00207] In some embodiments, controller 140 of patient support apparatus 20 Is configured to allow an authorized user to enter information into the patient support apparatus 20 indicating when a new patient has been assigned to patient support apparatus 20. FIG. 9 illustrates one example of a new patient screen 220. New patient screen 220 may be accessible to an authorized user by pressing on control 50f (FIG. 2), proceeding through one or more sub-menus, and/or by navigating to it in other manners. New patient screen 220 includes a reset control 222, a cancel control 224, and a back control 226. When a caregiver, or other authorized user, wishes to inform controller 140 that a new patient has been assigned to patient support apparatus 20, he or she navigates to new patient screen 220 and touches, or otherwise activates, reset control 222. This causes controller 140 to erase from memory 134 data associated with the previous patient, including, but not limited to, data relating to the previous patient’s personal belongings. Such data includes, but is not limited to, the IDs 160 of the UWB devices 100b, c that were identified as personal belongings of the previous patient. If the user inadvertently navigates to new patient screen 220 and does not wish to erase the previous patient’s data, he or she can press the cancel control 224. Alternatively, or additionally, the user can press the back control 226 to navigate back to the previously displayed screen.

[00208] In some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 further includes a patient belongings screen 230, one example of which is shown in FIG. 10. Patient belongings screen 230 includes a back control 226, an on control 232, and an off control 234. Patient belongings screen 230 allows a user to turn on or off the personal belongings notifications issued by controller 140. Thus, if an authorized person does not want patient support apparatus 20 to monitor the location of a patient’s belongings and issue a personal belonging notification when the patient may have left behind a personal belonging, he or she presses on, or otherwise activates, the off control 234. If an authorized user wishes to have personal belongings notifications issued by controller 140 when it detects that a personal belonging may have been left behind, he or she presses on, or otherwise activates, the on control 232. The personal belongings notification function of patient support apparatus 20, in some embodiments, therefore can be selectively enabled or disabled by an authorized user.

[00209] The term “associates,” or its variants, as used herein, refers to the identification by controller 140 that a UWB device 100 is correlated with a particular patient support apparatus 20 such that controller 140 of the patient support apparatus 20 can safely conclude that the UWB device 100a is a badge of the patient assigned to that particular patient support apparatus 20, is a personal belonging 100b, c of the patient assigned to that particular patient support apparatus, or is a device 10Od intended for use with the patient assigned to that particular patient support apparatus 20. Alternatively, or additionally, the term “associates,” or its variants, as used herein, refers to the identification by controller 140 and/or controller 112 that a UWB device 100 is positioned within a sufficiently close proximity to patient support apparatus 20 or fixed locator unit 60 (i.e. within a particular zone 152) such that the controller 140 or 112 can safely conclude that the location of the UWB device 100 within the healthcare facility is the same as the location of patient support apparatus 20 and/or fixed locator unit 60. Alternatively, or additionally, the term “associates,” or its variants, as used herein, may mean the pairing of patient support apparatus 20 and/or fixed locator unit 60 with another device 100. Such pairing may occur in response to the device 100 being positioned within a particular zone 152.

[00210] Once an association has been made between a particular UWB device 100 and a particular patient support apparatus 20 and/or a particular locator unit 60, a further association may be made between that particular UWB device 100 and a particular patient. This task of associating and disassociating a particular patient to a particular UWB device 100 may also be carried out locally by controller 140 and/or 112, or it may be carried out remotely by patient support apparatus server 84 and/or remote server 86. Such remote association to a particular patient generally involves patient support apparatus server 84 using information from ADT server 102 or EMR server 92 on network 80 to determine the room location (e.g. room number and/or bed bay ID) of a particular patient, and then matching that room location with the room location of a particular UWB device 100 (which is reported to server 84 by patient support apparatus 20 or fixed locator unit 60 after either or both of these have associated themselves with the UWB device 100). In other words, server 84 consults a conventional server on network 80 that correlates specific patients to specific room numbers and/or bay areas, such as ADT server 102 and/or EMR server 92, and then uses the known room numbers and/or bay areas of specific UWB devices 100 to match a specific patient to those specific UWB devices 100.

[00211] In some embodiments, when controller 140 and/or server 84 or 86 associate a UWB device 100 with a specific patient, controller 140, and/or server 84 or are configured to inform medical personnel (via electronic devices 98) that the UWB device 100 is associated with a specific patient. Either or both of patient support apparatus 20 and/or fixed locator unit 60 may therefore be configured to automatically forward various data from one or more associated UWB devices 100 to server 84 and/or 86 after the corresponding devices 100 become associated with a specific patient. If the data comes from a non-personal belongings UWB device 10Od and is medical data, it may, in turn, be automatically forwarded by server 84 to EMR server 92 for entry into the corresponding patient’s electronic medical record. Alternatively, or additionally, such data may be forwarded by server 84 or 86 to one or more electronic devices 98 associated with corresponding caregivers so that the caregivers assigned to that particular patient may be remotely informed of the data from the associated UWB device(s) 100.

[00212] Once a particular UWB device 10Od is associated with a particular patient, data from the associated UWB device 10Od can be automatically recorded in that patient’s particular electronic medical record without requiring the caregiver to manually associate the UWB device 10Od with a particular patient and/or with the patient support apparatus 20 assigned to that patient. In other words, because controller 140 and/or 112 automatically determines what UWB devices 10Od they are associated with, it is not necessary for a caregiver to take any manual steps to ensure that data from any of these UWB devices 10Od is forwarded to the proper corresponding patient’s electronic medical record. Further details regarding at least one manner in which this automatic patient determination may be made are found in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/193,777 filed May 27, 2021 , by inventors Thomas Deeds et al. and entitled SYSTEM FOR ASSOCIATING MEDICAL DEVICE DATA, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Additional details regarding a manner of automatically associating a UWB device with a particular patient, location, caregiver, or other parameters are found in commonly assigned Indian patent application serial number 202211062036 filed October 31 , 2022, in the Indian Patent Office by inventors Thomas Durlach et al. and entitled CAREGIVER ASSISTANCE SYSTEM, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[00213] In some embodiments, patient support apparatus server 84 is configured to determine patient-to-room, patient-to-bed, patient-to-bed-bay, patient-to-caregiver, caregiver-to-room, caregiver-to-patient-support-apparatus, and/or caregiver-to-bed-bay correlations in any of the manners disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 62/826,097, filed March 29, 2019 by inventors Thomas Durlach et al. and entitled PATIENT CARE SYSTEM, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. [00214] The personal belonging notifications issued by controller 140 may include a local indication on patient support apparatus 20, such as one or more lights, sounds, and/or graphics or text displayed on one or more control panels 54. However, because the patient may not be positioned near patient support apparatus 20 when a personal belongings notification is issued, controller 140 is also configured to issue the personal belongings notification by sending a message to patient support apparatus server 84 and/or to remote server via network transceiver 96, or, in some cases, by sending a message directly to one or more caregiver badges 10Od, such as via UWB transceivers 132, Bluetooth transceiver 128, and/or another transceiver.

[00215] When patient support apparatus 20 issues a personal belongings notification and sends a message to patient support apparatus server 84 and/or remote server 86, the server 84 and/or 86 determines which caregivers and/or other personnel in the healthcare facility should be notified of the personal belongings notification. The server 84 and/or 86 then forwards a message to one or more appropriate individuals. The message may be a text message, an email, a voice message, a phone call, or another kind of message. The message may be sent to the appropriate individual’s phone, badge, computer, and/or other device. Authorized individuals can customize patient support apparatus server 84 and/or remote server 86 by defining rules of who should receive a personal belongings notification (caregivers, transport personnel, volunteers, security, etc.) and how those individual(s) should be notified (text, email, phone, etc.) so that the server 84 and/or 86 carries out the notifications in the manner desired by the healthcare facility. Patient support apparatus server 84 and/or remote server 86 may automatically determine which caregiver(s) and/or other personnel to notify based on these customized rules, as well as based upon any of the patient-to-room, patient-to-bed, patient-to-bed-bay, patient-to-caregiver, caregiver-to-room, caregiver-to-patient-support-apparatus, and/or caregiver-to-bed-bay correlations mentioned above. In those embodiments where patient badges 100a include a user interface for interacting with the patient, the notification may, of course, be sent to the patient badge 100a, which then triggers an audio, visual, graphic, and/or textual alert to the patient indicating that they may have left a personal belonging behind.

[00216] In some embodiments, UWB transceivers 126, 132, and/or 158 (FIG. 5) may operate in the same manner as, and include any of the same functions as, the anchors and pseudo-anchors disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/193,777 filed May 27, 2021 , by inventors Thomas Deeds et al. and entitled SYSTEM FOR ASSOCIATING MEDICAL DEVICE DATA, the complete disclosure of which has already been incorporated herein by reference. In some embodiments, locator units 60 may also be configured to determine the location of a device 100 in any of the manners disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/132,514 filed December 31, 2020, by inventors Alexander Bodurka et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS AND MEDICAL DEVICE NETWORKS, and in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/154,677 filed February 27, 2021, by inventors Celso Pereira et al. and entitled SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS AND MEDICAL DEVICE LOCATION, the complete disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[00217] In some embodiments, patient support apparatus 20 may determine the room boundary information, utilize the room boundary information, and/or carry out any one or more of the functions of the patient support apparatuses and/or server 84,86 disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application serial number 63/194,655, filed November 9, 2023, by inventors Michael Graves et al. and entitled PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[00218] In some embodiments, devices 10Od may include any of the devices disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application 63/154,677 filed February 27, 2021, by inventors Celso Pereira et al. and entitled SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING PATIENT SUPPORT APPARATUS AND MEDICAL DEVICE LOCATION, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. [00219] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the use of the term “transceiver” throughout this specification is not intended to be limited to devices in which a transmitter and receiver are necessarily within the same housing, or share some circuitry. Instead, the term “transceiver” is used broadly herein to refer to both structures in which circuitry is shared between the transmitter and receiver, and transmitter-receivers in which the transmitter and receiver do not share circuitry and/or a common housing. Thus, the term “transceiver" refers to any device having a transmitter component and a receiver component, regardless of whether the two components are a common entity, separate entities, or have some overlap in their structures.

[00220] Various additional alterations and changes beyond those already mentioned herein can be made to the above-described embodiments. This disclosure is presented for illustrative purposes and should not be interpreted as an exhaustive description of all embodiments or to limit the scope of the claims to the specific elements illustrated or described in connection with these embodiments. For example, and without limitation, any individual element(s) of the described embodiments may be replaced by alternative elements that provide substantially similar functionality or otherwise provide adequate operation. This includes, for example, presently known alternative elements, such as those that might be currently known to one skilled in the art, and alternative elements that may be developed in the future, such as those that one skilled in the art might, upon development, recognize as an alternative. Any reference to claim elements in the singular, for example, using the articles “a,” “an,” “the” or “said,” is not to be construed as limiting the element to the singular.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A patient support apparatus comprising: a support surface adapted to support a patient; a mobile device charger adapted to charge a mobile device and to detect when the mobile device is connected to the mobile device charger; an exit detection system adapted to be armed and disarmed, the exit detection system adapted to issue an exit alert when the patient exits the patient support apparatus and the exit detection system is armed; and a controller in communication with the mobile device charger and adapted to issue a notification indicating the patient may have forgotten their mobile device if a first set of conditions is met, wherein the first set of conditions includes the following two conditions: (1) the mobile device is electrically coupled to the mobile device charger, and (2) the patient has exited the patient support apparatus.

2. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further including a network transceiver adapted to communicate with a healthcare facility computer network, and wherein the controller is further adapted to issue the notification by transmitting a message to the healthcare facility computer network using the network transceiver.

3. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 wherein the mobile device charger includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and the controller is adapted to determine if the mobile device charger is electrically coupled to the mobile device by monitoring a voltage on a data line of the USB port.

4. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 wherein the exit detection system includes a plurality of load cells adapted to detect a weight of the patient when the patient is positioned on the support surface.

5. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 wherein the exit detection system includes an ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient and to detect a distance from the UWB transceiver to the UWB badge.

6. The patient support apparatus of claim 5 wherein the first set of conditions includes the following third condition: the UWB badge worn by the patient moves outside of a defined area.

7. The patient support apparatus of claim 6 wherein the defined area include an area greater than a threshold distance from the UWB transceiver.

8. The patient support apparatus of claim 6 further including a plurality of additional UWB transceivers adapted to wirelessly communicate with the UWB badge worn by the patient and to detect distances to the UWB badge.

9. The patient support apparatus of claim 8 wherein the defined area is a room in which the patient support apparatus is currently located.

10. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further including a first ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient, and wherein the controller is further adapted to issue the notification if a second set of conditions is met, wherein the second set of conditions includes the following four conditions: (a) the mobile device includes a second UWB transceiver in communication with the first UWB transceiver, (b) the mobile device is electrically decoupled from the mobile device charger, (c) the mobile device is positioned within a first threshold distance of the patient support apparatus; and (d) the UWB badge is positioned outside of a second threshold distance from the patient support apparatus.

11. The patient support apparatus of claim 10 wherein the second threshold distance is greater than the first threshold distance.

12. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further including a first ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient, and wherein the controller is further adapted to issue the notification if a second set of conditions is met, wherein the second set of conditions includes the following four conditions: (a) the mobile device includes a second UWB transceiver in communication with the first UWB transceiver, (b) the mobile device is electrically decoupled from the mobile device charger, (c) the UWB badge is positioned within a first threshold distance of the patient support apparatus; and (d) the mobile device is positioned outside of a second threshold distance from the patient support apparatus.

13. The patient support apparatus of claim 12 wherein the second threshold distance is greater than the first threshold distance.

14. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further including a first ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient, and wherein the controller is further adapted to issue the notification if a second set of conditions is met, wherein the second set of conditions includes the following four conditions: (a) the mobile device includes a second UWB transceiver in communication with the first UWB transceiver, (b) the mobile device is electrically decoupled from the mobile device charger, (c) the UWB badge is positioned within a room in which the patient support apparatus is located; and (d) the mobile device is positioned outside of the room.

15. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further including a first ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a UWB badge worn by the patient, and wherein the controller is further adapted to issue the notification if a second set of conditions is met, wherein the second set of conditions includes the following four conditions: (a) the mobile device includes a second UWB transceiver in communication with the first UWB transceiver, (b) the mobile device is electrically decoupled from the mobile device charger, (c) the mobile device is positioned within a room in which the patient support apparatus is located; and (d) the UWB badge is positioned outside of the room.

16. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 wherein the controller is further adapted to issue the notification by wirelessly transmitting a message to a caregiver badge worn by a caregiver associated with the patient.

17. The patient support apparatus of claim 16 further including a network transceiver adapted to communicate with a healthcare facility computer network, and wherein the controller is further adapted to transmit the message via the network transceiver.

18. The patient support apparatus of claim 1 further including a control adapted to be activated by a user, wherein the control, when activated, prevents the controller from issuing the notification when the first set of conditions is met, and when deactivated, the control allows the controller to issue the notification when the first set of conditions is met.

19. A patient support apparatus comprising: a support surface adapted to support a patient; an ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a badge worn by a patient and with a personal belonging of the patient’s; and a controller adapted to use the UWB transceiver to range with the badge and the personal belonging, the controller further adapted to issue a notification indicating the patient may have forgotten their personal belonging if a first set of conditions is met, wherein the first set of conditions includes the following two conditions: (1 ) one of the badge and the personal belonging is positioned in a first area; and (2) the other of the badge and the personal belonging is positioned in a second area different from the first area.

20. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the first area includes area outside of a first threshold distance from the patient support apparatus, and the second area includes area inside of a second threshold distance of the patient support apparatus.

21. The patient support apparatus of claim 20 wherein the first and second threshold distances are the same.

22. The patient support apparatus of claim 20 wherein the first threshold distance is farther away from the patient support apparatus than the second threshold distance.

23. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the first area includes area outside of a room in which the patient support apparatus is positioned, and the second area includes area inside of the room.

24. The patient support apparatus of claim 23 wherein the first area excludes a bathroom and the second area includes the bathroom.

25. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 further including a network transceiver adapted to communicate with a healthcare facility computer network, and wherein the controller is further adapted to issue the notification by transmitting a message to the healthcare facility computer network using the network transceiver.

26. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 further including a plurality of additional UWB transceivers adapted to wirelessly communicate with the badge and the personal belonging.

27. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the controller is further adapted to issue the notification by wirelessly transmitting a message to a caregiver badge worn by a caregiver associated with the patient.

28. The patient support apparatus of claim 27 further including a network transceiver adapted to communicate with a healthcare facility computer network, and wherein the controller is further adapted to transmit the message via the network transceiver.

29. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 further including a control adapted to be activated by a user, wherein the control, when activated, prevents the controller from issuing the notification when the first set of conditions is met, and when deactivated, the control allows the controller to issue the notification when the first set of conditions is met.

30. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the personal belonging is a mobile device.

31. The patient support apparatus of claim 30 further including: a device charger adapted to charge a mobile device and to detect when the mobile device is connected to the device charger; and an exit detection system adapted to be armed and disarmed, the exit detection system adapted to issue an exit alert when the patient exits the patient support apparatus and the exit detection system is armed; wherein the controller is further adapted to issue the notification when a second set of conditions is met, wherein the second set of conditions includes the following three conditions: (a) the controller is unable to range with one or both of the badge and the personal belonging; (b) the mobile device is electrically coupled to the device charger, and (c) the patient has exited the patient support apparatus.

32. The patient support apparatus of claim 31 wherein the device charger includes a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and the controller is adapted to determine if the device charger is electrically coupled to the mobile device by monitoring a voltage on a data line of the USB port.

33. The patient support apparatus of claim 31 wherein the exit detection system includes a plurality of load cells adapted to detect a weight of the patient when the patient is positioned on the support surface.

34. The patient support apparatus of claim 30 further including: a scale system adapted to detect a weight of the patient when the patient is positioned on the support surface; and a speaker; wherein the controller is adapted to issue a voice reminder to the patient via the speaker in response to the scale system detecting the patient on the support surface.

35. The patient support apparatus of claim 34 wherein the voice reminder reminds the patient to turn on a UWB transceiver built into the patient’s mobile device.

36. The patient support apparatus of claim 34 wherein the voice reminder reminds the patient to pair their mobile device with the patient support apparatus.

37. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the controller is adapted to automatically identify the personal belonging as a personal belonging based on an identifier received from the personal belonging.

38. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the controller is further adapted to range with a fixed locator unit and to determine a position of the patient support apparatus relative to the fixed locator.

39. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the personal belonging includes a UWB tag coupled to it and the UWB transceiver is adapted to range with the UWB tag coupled to the personal belonging.

40. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 wherein the controller is adapted to issue the notification by sending a signal to the badge worn by the patient.

41. The patient support apparatus of claim 19 further including a device charger adapted to charge a mobile device and wherein the controller is adapted to automatically identify the personal belonging as a mobile device if the controller detects the personal belonging within a threshold proximity of the device charger while the device charger is supplying power.