Patent 7757316 was granted and assigned to Maquet on July, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In a patient bed system, comprising a patient bed, a support column for supporting the bed and a trolley for transporting the bed, the bed having arranged on it first coupling elements (22) which are intended for selective connection to second or third coupling elements (24, 26) on the support column and on the trolley respectively, at least one of the coupling elements (24) located on the support-column side has provided on it at least one sensor (102) for sensing the position of a first coupling element (22) connected to the bed (18) in relation to the column-side coupling element (24), the sensor (102) taking effect when the bed is located on the trolley and the latter assumes in relation to the support column a specific position for transferring the bed onto the latter.