ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 29 -- United States Patent no. 12,208,038, issued on Jan. 28, was assigned to Stryker Corp. (Portage, Mich.).
"Powered patient support apparatus" was invented by Richard Thomas DeLuca (Kalamazoo, Mich.) and Richard A. Derenne (Portage, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Powered patient support apparatuses-such as beds, cots, stretchers, or the like-include a plurality of user controls that allow a caregiver to control the steering and/or driving of one or more powered wheels from multiple different locations around the patient support apparatus (e.g. head end, foot end, and/or the sides). The control is carried out by force sensors that detect both an orientation of th...