Patent Publication Number: US-2023141906-A1

Title: Wireless bed locating system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/113,201, filed Dec. 7, 2020, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. XXXXXXXX, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/739,486, filed Jan. 10, 2020, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,886,024, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/273,831, filed Sep. 23, 2016, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,566,088, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/098,704, filed Dec. 6, 2013, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,465915, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/242,255, filed Sep. 23, 2011, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,604,916, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/961,608, filed Dec. 7, 2010, which issued as U.S. Patent No. 8,031,057, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/846,906, filed Aug. 29, 2007, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,868,740, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Some hospital beds are configured to communicate information to a nurse call system. Such nurse call systems typically have a computer at a remote nurse&#39;s station with a display on which information concerning bed status is shown. One or more nurse call buttons are sometimes provided on a hospital bed, such as on one or more siderails of the bed and/or on a handheld pendant that is coupled to the bed. A patient may press one of the nurse call buttons to request to speak with a nurse. A nurse at the remote nurse&#39;s station and the patient may communicate with each other over a two-way communications link which includes audio circuitry, such as a microphone and a speaker included on the bed or mounted on a room wall near the bed. In addition, the nurse at the remote nurse&#39;s station may use the computer to establish a two-way communications link between the remote nurse&#39;s station and a caregiver at some other location in a healthcare facility and/or between the patient placing the nurse call and a caregiver at some other location in the healthcare facility. 
     Hospital beds that connect to nurse call systems, typically do so via a wired connection established by a nurse call cable that extends between the bed and an interface unit having a jack mounted on a wall or headwall unit in the hospital room in which the bed is situated. Typically, a power cord from the bed also plugs into a power outlet on the wall or headwall unit. Before the bed is moved from one location to another in a healthcare facility, the nurse call cable and the power cord need to be unplugged. Caregivers sometimes forget to unplug the nurse call cable resulting in damage to the nurse call cable when the bed is wheeled away from the wall. When the bed arrives at its new location, the caregivers need to remember to plug in both the power cord and the nurse call cable. When the nurse call cable is unplugged, bed status data is no longer communicated to the nurse call system. In addition, many prior art nurse call systems are configured as local area networks (LAN&#39;s) which require the installation in the healthcare facility of the associated network infrastructure, such as the bed interface units and the wiring from the bed interface units to the computer at the remote nurse&#39;s station. 
     Support surfaces such as, for example, mattresses may be placed upon decks of the hospital beds. The support surfaces often include an array of different functions used to care and/or treat various ailments and/or conditions of a patient. Hospital beds are often configured to receive support surfaces from different manufactures and/or different models from the same manufacture. As a result, a healthcare facility may include numerous different combinations of hospital bed models and support surface models. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention may comprise a system, apparatus and/or method that may have one or more of the following features and/or steps, which alone or in any combination may comprise patentable subject matter: 
     A surface association system for a healthcare facility may comprise a plurality of beds. The system may further comprise a computing device and a plurality of support surfaces to be placed upon beds of the plurality of beds. The computing device may associate a support surface of the plurality of support surfaces with a bed of the plurality of beds. The computing device may make the association based upon status data received from the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces. 
     In one embodiment, the bed to be associated may initiate a surface association request. The computing device, in response to the surface association request initiated by the bed, may request performance of one or more actions on the support surface to be associated with the bed in order to identify the support surface. The support surface to be associated may provide the computing device with data indicative of the one or more actions in response to the one or more actions being performed. 
     The system may further comprise a plurality of location transmitters. Each location transmitter may transmit a location identifier signal comprising a location identifier indicative of a location of the respective location transmitter. Each of the plurality of beds may include a location receiver to receive the location identifier. The computing device may associate the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces with the bed of the plurality of beds based upon the location identifier of the bed. Each of the plurality of surfaces may also include a location receiver to receive the location identifier. The computing device may associate the bed of the plurality of beds with the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces based upon the location identifier of the support surface. 
     A method for associating a bed of a plurality of beds and a support surface of a plurality of support surfaces is also disclosed. The method may comprise receiving data from the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces. The method also may comprise determining that a support surface of the plurality of support surfaces is placed upon a bed of the plurality of beds based upon the data received from the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces, and updating data to associate the support surface and the bed. The method may further determine that the support surface is placed upon the bed based upon a location identifier of the support surface and a location identifier of the bed. 
     In one embodiment, the method may request a user to perform one or more actions upon the bed to identify the bed of the plurality of beds. The method may then determine that the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces is placed upon the bed of the plurality of beds based upon data that indicates the user performed the one or more actions upon the bed. 
     In another embodiment, the method may request a user to perform one or more actions upon the support surface to identify the support surface. The method may then determine that the support surface of the plurality of support surfaces is placed upon the bed of the plurality of beds based upon data that indicates the user performed the one or more actions upon the support surface. 
     Embodiments of the method may further comprise receiving location identifiers for the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces. The method may then determine that the support surface is placed upon the bed based upon at least a portion of the location identifiers received for the plurality of beds and the plurality of support surfaces. 
     Other embodiments may include transmitting location identifiers from location transmitters located throughout a healthcare facility to the plurality of beds and/or the plurality of support surfaces. The method may then determining that the support surface is placed upon the bed based upon at least a portion of the location identifiers received for the plurality of beds and/or the plurality of support surfaces. 
     A bed for use in a healthcare facility comprising a plurality of location transmitters and a network is also described. The bed may comprise a deck to receive a support surface and a location receiver to receive a location identifier signal from a location transmitter of the plurality of location transmitters of the healthcare facility. The bed may have a network interface to establish a communications link between the bed and the network. The bed may also have a communications interface to establish a communications link between the bed and a support surface that has been placed into position upon the deck of the bed. The bed may also have a user interface having a plurality of user inputs to control operation of the bed. The user interface may also have one or more user inputs to initiate a request to associate a support surface to the bed. The user interface may also request one or more actions be performed upon the support surface and the one or more actions may selected to identify the support surface from a plurality of support surfaces. 
     The bed may also have control circuitry to control operation of the bed and to control the transfer of data between the bed and the network of the healthcare facility. The control circuitry may control operation of the support surface based upon data received from the network via the network interface by providing control words to the support surfaces via the communications interface. The control circuitry may initiate a request to associate a support surface to the bed in response to one or more actions performed upon the bed. In one embodiment, the one or more actions may include actions beyond activating user inputs of the user interface. 
     A support surface is described for use in a healthcare facility comprising a plurality of location transmitters and a network. The support surface may be placed upon a deck of a bed and may include a location receiver to receive a location identifier signal from a location transmitter of the plurality of location transmitters. The support surface may include a communications interface and a network interface. The communications interface may establish a communications link between the support surface and the bed upon which the support surface has been placed. The network work interface may establish a communications link between the support surface and the network. 
     The support surface may also comprise a user interface. The user interface may include a plurality of user inputs to control operation of the support surface. The user interface may also include one or more user inputs to initiate a request to associate a support surface to the bed. The user interface may requests that one or more actions be performed upon the bed to be associated with the support surface to identify the bed from the plurality of beds of the healthcare facility. 
     The support surface may include control circuitry to control operation of the support surface and to control the transfer of data between the bed and the network of the healthcare facility. The control circuitry may control operation of the bed based upon data received from the network via the network interface by providing control words to the bed via the communications interface. The control circuitry may initiate a request to associate the support surface to the bed in response to one or more actions performed upon the support surface and/or bed. The one or more actions may includes actions beyond activating user inputs of the user interface. 
     A machine readable medium for associating beds and supports surfaces is also described herein. The machine readable medium may comprise a plurality of instructions, that in response to being executed, result in a device providing an interface to receive user input that identifies a bed of a healthcare facility and a location of the healthcare facility, and updating data to reflect the bed being associated with the location of the healthcare facility in response to receiving user input that requests the bed be associated with the location. The plurality of instructions may further result in the device providing the interface to further receive user input that identifies a support surface of the healthcare facility, and updating data to further reflect the support surface being associated with the bed in response to receiving user input that requests the support surface be associated with the bed. The instructions may also result in the device providing the interface to receive user input that identifies a previously associated bed, surface and location, and updating data to reflect that the previously associated bed, surface and location are no longer associated in response to user input that requests the bed, surface and location be unassociated. 
     Additional features, which alone or in combination with any other feature(s), such as those listed above, may comprise patentable subject matter and will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of various embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the embodiments as presently perceived. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figures, in which: 
         FIG.  1    is a block diagram showing computing devices, a network, and network access points of a healthcare facility as well as rooms, beds, supports surfaces and bed stations of the healthcare facility; 
         FIG.  2    is a perspective view of an embodiment of a hospital bed, with one enlarged portion of the view showing a user interface including LED&#39;s to indicate whether or not wireless communications are enabled, whether or not wireless communications are online, and whether or not housekeeping has been summoned to clean the associated bed and/or hospital room, and another enlarged portion of the view showing a label having bed ID data; 
         FIGS.  3 A and  3 B  are perspective views of beds according to another embodiment, with one enlarged portion of the view associated with one of the beds showing indicator LED&#39;s on a base frame of the bed to indicate whether or not wireless communications are enabled and whether or not wireless communications are online, and another enlarged portion of the view associated with another of the beds showing a label having bed ID data and a bar code; 
         FIG.  4    is a block diagram showing electrical and control aspects of a bed and an associated support surface which communicate with a network of the healthcare facility via a network interface of the bed; 
         FIG.  5    is a block diagram showing electrical and control aspects of a bed and an associated support surface which each have a network interface for communicating with a network of the healthcare facility. 
         FIG.  6    is a block diagram showing electrical and control aspects of a bed and an associated support surface which communicate with a network of the healthcare facility via a network interface of the support surface; 
         FIG.  7    is a flowchart of one embodiment of a support surface association method which may be implemented by a computing device of the healthcare facility in order to provide a support surface association service that associates beds and support surfaces of the healthcare facility to one another; 
         FIG.  8    is a flowchart of another embodiment of a support surface association method which may be implemented by a computing device of the healthcare facility in order to provide a support surface association service that associates beds and support surfaces of the healthcare facility to one another; 
         FIG.  9    is a flowchart of yet another embodiment of a support surface association method which may be implemented by a computing device of the healthcare facility in order to provide a support surface association service that associates beds and support surfaces of the healthcare facility to one another; 
         FIG.  10    is a block diagram of an interface via which a user may associate a bed with a location of the healthcare facility; 
         FIG.  11    is a block diagram of an interface via which a user may associate a surface with a location of the healthcare facility; and 
         FIG.  12    is a block diagram of an interface via which a user may associate a bed and surface of the healthcare facility; and 
         FIG.  13    is a block diagram of an interface via which a user may associate a bed, surface and a location of the healthcare facility. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Embodiments contemplated by this disclosure may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments disclosed herein may also be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read and executed by one or more processors. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computing device). For example, a machine-readable medium may include read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; and others. 
     The following description describes techniques for associating a support surface such as a mattress to a hospital bed and/or associating a hospital bed with a support surface. Such techniques may be incorporated into a surface association system of a healthcare facility such as the healthcare facility shown diagrammatically in  FIG.  1   . As shown, the healthcare facility may comprise one or more computing devices  4  coupled to a network  10  via wireless connections  5  and/or wired connections  7 . In support of wireless connections, the network  10  may comprise one or more wireless access points, bridges, proxy, switches, and/or routers  12  that provide devices such as computing devices  4  with wireless access to the network  10  and devices connected thereto. While the terms wireless access point, bridge, switches, and routers are used in the art to refer to different types of wireless devices, all such devices generally provide wireless access to a network. Thus, herein the term “access point”  12  is used to broadly refer to any such wireless device that provides computing devices  4 , beds  22 , support surfaces  46 , and/or other devices wireless access to the network  10 . 
     Each computing device  4 , in one embodiment, provides the network  10  and devices connected thereto with one or more healthcare support services. Such healthcare support services may include, for example, a nurse call system, an admission-discharge-tracking (ADT) system, an electronic medical records (EMR) system, a workflow system, a medical records archiving system, a surface association system, and the like. As explained in greater detail below, one or more of the computing devices  104  includes software and/or firmware that, in response to being executed, results in one or more computing devices  104  providing the healthcare facility with a surface association service. The surface association service associates beds  22  with surfaces  46  and/or surfaces  46  with beds  22  based upon data received from the beds  22  and/or surfaces  46 . Furthermore, the surface association service in some embodiments associates the beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  with locations in the healthcare facility based upon the data received from the beds  22  and/or surfaces  46 . 
     As shown, the healthcare facility comprises several rooms  20  with bed stations  24 . The bed stations  24  include power outlets, audio stations, and various other equipment and/or ports for connecting equipment used to care for a patient lying in a corresponding bed  22 . While  FIG.  1    only depicts rooms  20  having a single bed  22 , surface  46  and station  24 , the healthcare facility may comprise rooms  20  having one, two, three or more stations  24  in order to support one, two, three or more beds/surfaces per room  20 . 
     Referring now to  FIG.  2   , an embodiment of hospital bed  22  and support surface  46  is shown. The hospital bed  22  comprises a network interface  340  mounted to a base frame  48  of the hospital bed  22 . In other embodiments, the network interface  340  may be mounted to bed  22  at other locations. Hospital bed  22  also has a user interface  50  accessible on the outwardly facing side of a siderail  52  of the hospital bed  22 . In  FIG.  2   , an enlarged view of user interface  50  is shown so the various indicia associated with various user inputs (control buttons in the shown embodiment) can be seen more easily. Various buttons that are pressed to control associated functions of hospital bed  22  are included on user interface  50 . These buttons include the following: a chair button  51  to articulate a support deck  47  upon which support surface  46  rests into a chair position; a “go to flat” button  52  to move the support deck  47  into a flat position; a Trendelenburg button  53  to tilt the support deck  47  into a Trendelenburg position; a reverse Trendelenburg button  54  to tilt the support deck  47  into a reverse Trendelenburg position; a head up button  55  to pivot a head section of the support deck  47  upwardly, a head down button  56  to pivot the head section of the support deck  47  downwardly; a knee up button  57  to pivot a thigh section of the support deck  47  upwardly; a knee down button  58  to pivot the thigh section of the support deck  47  downwardly; a raise button  59  to raise the support deck  47  and an upper frame  49  carrying the support deck  47  upwardly relative to base frame  48 ; a lower button  60  to lower the support deck  47  and the upper frame  49  downwardly relative to base frame  48 ; a key button  61  that is pressed to enable the use of other buttons for certain bed functions; a foot retract button  62  to shorten a foot section of the mattress support deck  47 ; a foot extend button  63  to lengthen the foot section of the support deck  47 ; a nurse call button  64  to place a nurse call to a remote nurse call computer; a lock button  65  that is pressed simultaneously with other buttons to lock or unlock certain bed functions; a hi/lo motor lockout button  66  to lock out hi/lo motors of bed  22  to prevent the upper frame  49  and support deck  47  from being raised and lowered relative to base frame  48 ; a head motor lockout  67  to lock out a head section actuator from raising and lowering the head section of the support deck  47 ; and a thigh motor lockout  68  to lock out a thigh section motor from raising and lowering a thigh section of the support deck  47 . 
     The support surface  46 , when placed into position, rests upon the support deck  47  of hospital bed  22 . A particular hospital bed  22  may be compatible with multiple types of supports surfaces  46  such as, for example, air mattresses including therapy mattresses of various types (e.g. lateral rotation mattresses, alternating pressure mattresses, low air loss mattresses, and so on), and other specialty mattresses that each provide various features to support patient care. The support surface  46  may comprise a control unit in a housing that couples to a footboard of a bed  22 , or to some other portion of the bed  22 . Such surface control units typically have pumps, compressors, blowers, valves, manifolds, and the like, as well as electrical control circuitry and user interfaces to provide control signals to the various other components housed in the control unit. Other support surfaces  46  may integrate some or all of the components of such a control unit into a portion of the surface, such as a foot section of the surface. 
     The hospital bed  22  further has a label  76  with bed ID data  78  thereon as shown in  FIG.  2   . In some embodiments, the bed ID data  78  is the MAC address assigned to the network interface of the bed  22 . It should be appreciated that the support surface  46  may have a label similar to label  76  with surface ID data thereon. Further, like the bed ID data  78  the, surface ID data may include a MAC address assigned to the network interface of the support surface  46 . 
     In connection with the wireless communication capability provided by the network interfaces of bed  22  and/or support surface  46  of  FIG.  2   , the user interface  50  has an enabled button  70  with an indicator  71 , a housekeeping button  72  with an indicator  73 , and an on-line indicator  74 . In some embodiments, indicators  71 ,  73 ,  74  are light emitting diodes (LED&#39;s), such as LED&#39;s that are operable to shine red, green, and/or amber. For example, when bed  22  is successfully wirelessly communicating with an access point  12  of the network  10 , indicator  74  may shine green and when no wireless communications are taking place, indicator  74  may shine red. On-line indicator  74  may shine yellow during a time period in which bed  22  is attempting to reestablish wireless communication with network  10  after wireless communications are initially lost. In other embodiments, one or more of indicators  71 ,  73 ,  74  may comprise single color LED&#39;s or other types of indications including messages on electronic display screens. 
     Successive presses of enabled button  70  enable and suspend a Care Alert template for bed  22 . Successive presses of housekeeping button  72  makes a housekeeping request and cancels the housekeeping request. However, in order for presses of buttons  70 ,  72  to be effective, key button  61  is first be pressed and held for a predetermined period of time, such as one second. Once button  261  has been pressed for the predetermined period of time, then buttons  70 ,  72  may be pressed within another predetermined period of time, such as 20 seconds, to change the state of the associated feature of buttons  70 ,  72 . This control scheme for buttons  61 ,  70 ,  72  prevents inadvertent presses of buttons  70 ,  72  from changing the associated state of the associated feature. In some embodiments, Care Alerts enabled indicator  71  of Care Alerts enable button  70  shines green when the Care Alert template associated with bed  22  is enabled, blinks or flashes green when the Care Alert template associated with bed  22  is suspended, and is turned off when no Care Alert template is set up for bed  22 . In some embodiments, the housekeeping indicator  73  shines green when a housekeeping request has been made by a press of housekeeping button  72  and is turned off when no housekeeping request has been made or after a housekeeping request has been canceled. The housekeeping request may be canceled before or after a staff member actually cleans the bed and/or room. 
     Referring now to  FIGS.  3 A and  3 B  (referred to collectively herein as  FIG.  3   ), another embodiment of a hospital bed  22  is shown which includes a Care Alerts enabled indicator  80  and an on-line status indicator  82  on a base frame  84  of the bed  22 . An enable button (not shown) is provided on one or more of siderails  86  of bed  22 . Other than the fact that indicators  80 ,  82  are mounted to base frame  84  of the hospital bed  22  shown in  FIG.  3   , whereas corresponding indicators  71 ,  74  are mounted to siderail  52  of the hospital bed  22  shown in  FIG.  2   , indicators  80 ,  82  are substantially the same as indicators  71 ,  74  and therefore, the discussion above of indicators  71 ,  74  is equally applicable to indicators  80 ,  82 . Optionally, the hospital bed  22  of  FIG.  3    may also include a housekeeping button, with or without an associated housekeeping indicator, on one siderails  86  which functions in the same manner as button  72  (and indicator  73 , if present) described above. The hospital bed  22  also has a label  76  with bed ID data  78  thereon. The bed ID data  78  includes numerical data and a bar code in the illustrative example of label  76 . The label  76  of  FIG.  3    is substantially the same as the label  76  of  FIG.  2    so the same reference numeral is used. In some embodiments, the bed ID data  78  is the MAC address assigned to the network interface  340  of the hospital bed  22 . 
     Referring now to  FIGS.  4 - 6   , three embodiments of control aspects of the beds  22  and their support surfaces  46  are shown. In order to distinguish between beds  22  and supports surfaces  46  of these three embodiments, the following description uses a single prime (′for the bed  22 ′ and support surface  46 ′ of  FIG.  4   , a double prime (″for the bed  22 ″ and support surface  46 ″ of  FIG.  5   , and a triple prime (′″) the bed  22 ′″ and support surface  46 ′″ of  FIG.  6   . However, the present disclosure generally drops the prime designations when referring to beds  22  and support surfaces  46  in a general sense. 
     As shown in  FIG.  4   , the bed  22 ′ includes a location receiver  342  to receive a location ID from a location transmitter  332 . In one embodiment, each bed station  24  (See,  FIG.  1   ) includes a location transmitter  332 . However, it should be appreciated that location transmitters  332  may be positioned at other locales throughout the hospital and are not limited to bed stations  24 . Moreover, it should be appreciated that a healthcare facility may chose to position location transmitters  332  at locales other than bed stations  24  thus resulting in some or all of the bed stations  24  without location transmitters  332 . 
     The location transmitter  332  transmits a location identifier (ID) signal from which the location of the transmitter  332  may be determined. In one embodiment, the location transmitter  332  transmits a number such as, for example, a serial number which the has been uniquely assigned to the location transmitter  332 . In such an embodiment, a user or technician may supply a surface association service of a computing device  4  with the location and location IDs for each location transmitter  332 . As such, the surface association computing device  4  may maintain associations or mappings of location IDs to locations in the healthcare facility. 
     In another embodiment, the location transmitter  332  may be assigned a location ID that comprises data in addition to or instead of a serial number or an otherwise unique number. In particular, a location transmitter  332  may be assigned a location ID that comprises information regarding the location of the location transmitter  332 . For example, the location ID may comprise one or more identifying location fields such as a floor, a room, a care unit, a zone, bed station, and/or some other location field. A technician or user may configure the location transmitters  332  with appropriate values for such fields thus resulting in a location ID for the location transmitter  332  from which the location of the location transmitter  332  may be determined. For example, a transmitter  332  may be configured to transmit an location ID with a value of “520” in the room field and a value of “2” in the zone field to indicate the transmitter  332  is located in zone 2 of room  520 . It should be appreciated that the location ID may be implemented with numerous different fields, and the selection of appropriate fields for the location ID is influenced by the healthcare facility. For example, if the healthcare facility has unique room numbers for every room in the healthcare facility, then a room field is sufficient to uniquely identify the room in which the transmitter  332  is located. In contrast, for other healthcare facilities a room number may be insufficient and additional information (e.g. building number, wing, etc.) may be provided in order to uniquely specify the locations of the location transmitter  332  is located. Accordingly, the location ID of transmitter  332  is programmed at the discretion of the end users in some embodiments. 
     In one embodiment, the location transmitters  332  comprise stand-alone units that are not operatively coupled to the network  10  of the healthcare facility. Such an embodiment enables location transmitters  332  to be placed throughout a healthcare facility regardless of whether the healthcare facility has network infrastructure in the vicinity of a particular location transmitter  332 . In other embodiments, one of more of the location transmitters  332  may be coupled to the network  10 . In such an embodiment, a location identifier may be assigned to each location transmitters  332  via the network  10 . In some embodiments, stand-alone transmitters  332  are battery powered, whereas network connected transmitters  332  receive power from the network (e.g. power of LAN). However, it should be appreciated that other means of powering the transmitters  332  are contemplated such as connecting to the main power of the healthcare facility. 
     Furthermore, various wireless technologies may be used to implement the location transmitters  332 . In some embodiments, the location transmitters  332  transmit the location IDs using infrared signals. In other embodiments, the location transmitters  332  transmit the location IDs using radio frequency (RF) signals. Similarly, various wireless technologies may be used to implement the location ID receivers  342 . Moreover, the location receivers  342  and location transmitters  332  may support multiple wireless technologies to increase the compatibility of the receivers  342  of the beds  22 ′ with the transmitters  332 . In other words, the receivers  342  may be implemented to receive multiple types of location signals thus supporting reception of location signals from different types of location transmitters  332 . Similarly, the location transmitters  332  may be implemented to transmit multiple types of location signals thus supporting transmission of location IDs to different types of locations receivers  342 . 
     The bed  22 ′ includes a user interface  50  coupled to bed control circuitry  344  to enable a user such as a patient or a caregiver to control the operation of various functions  346  of the bed  22 ′ as shown diagrammatically in  FIG.  4   . As mentioned above, the user interface  50  may comprise various user inputs (e.g. buttons, switches, touch sensitive displays) and various user outputs (e.g. LEDs, LCD displays, speakers) incorporated into siderails, footboards, headboards, handheld remotes or pendants of the bed  22 ′. Besides controlling bed functions  346  based upon input received from the user interface  50 , the bed control circuitry  344  may further control bed functions  346  based upon data received via the network interface  340  and/or communication interface  348 . 
     The support surface  46 ′ includes a user interface  360  coupled to surface control circuitry  364  to enable a user such as a patient or a caregiver to control the operation of various functions  366  of the support surface  46 ′ as shown in  FIG.  4   . Similar to the user interface  50  of the bed  22 ′, the user interface  360  of the support surface may comprise various user inputs (e.g. buttons, switches, touch sensitive displays) and various user outputs (e.g. LEDs, LCD displays, speakers) incorporated into head section, foot section, and/or handheld remotes or pendants of the support surface  46 ′. Besides controlling support surface functions  356  based upon input received from the user interface  360 , the surface control circuitry  364  may further control support surface functions  366  based upon data received from the bed  22 ′ via communication interface  368 . It should be appreciated that the bed  22 ′ may transmit control data to the support surface  46 ′ via the communication interfaces  348 ,  368  and such control data may be based upon data received from the bed user interface  50 , location receiver  342 , and/or network interface  340 . Thus, the operation of the support surface  46 ′ may be influenced by input received from the user interfaces  50 ,  360 , location receiver  342 , and/or the network interface  340 . 
     In one embodiment, the communication interfaces  348 ,  368  are coupled to one another via a cable to establish a physical communications link between the bed  22 ′ and the support surface  46 ′. In another embodiment, the communication interfaces  348 ,  368  comprise electrical contacts, interconnection ports, or the like which when the support surface  46 ′ is positioned upon bed  22 ′ results in the electrical contacts, interconnection ports or the like to engage each other to establish a physical communications link between the bed  22 ′ and the support surface  46 ′. In yet another embodiment, the communication interface  348 ,  368  establish a wireless communications link between the bed  22 ′ and the support surface  46 ′. Such a wireless communications link may be implemented using various wireless technologies such as infrared transceivers and/or RF transceivers. Moreover, the communication interfaces  348 ,  368  may support wirelessly communicating between the bed  22 ′ and the support surface  46 ′ via a capacitive and/or inductive coupling established between the communication interfaces  348 ,  368 . 
     The network interface  340  of the bed  22 ′ provides a wired and/or wireless communications link to the network  10  of a healthcare facility. The bed control circuitry  344  may monitor the bed functions  346  and maintain status data regarding the bed  22 ′ and its support surface  46 ′. Using the network interface  340 , the bed control circuitry  344  may communicate a location ID received via location receiver  342 , bed status data of the bed functions  446  and/or surface status data of the surface  46 ′ to the network  10  and the computing devices  4  coupled thereto. In one embodiment, the network interface  340  may be incorporated into the bed control circuitry  344 . In another embodiment, the network interface  340  is provided by a separate networking card, wireless communications module (WCM), and/or a network interface unit (NIU). 
     In one embodiment, the network interface  340  transmits data between the bed  22 ′ and the network  10  using a networking protocol such as, for example, the IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) wireless communication protocols and/or the IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) protocol. In an embodiment supporting a wired connection to the network  10 , the network interface  340  includes a communications port to which a networking cable such as, for example, a coaxial cable, a twisted pair cable, or and fibre optic cable may be coupled in order to establish a wired communication link between the bed  22 ′ and the network  10 . In one embodiment, the communications port comprises an RJ-45 port, but other ports such as BNC connector ports are contemplated. In some wireless embodiments, the network interface  340  comprises a wireless transceiver to transfer data in accordance with the wireless protocol such as IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and/or 802.11n. 
       FIG.  5    shows an embodiment of control aspects of the bed  22 ″ and support surfaces  46 ″. The embodiment of  FIG.  5    is similar to the embodiment of  FIG.  4   . Accordingly, similar components have been labeled with the same reference numerals in  FIG.  4    and  FIG.  5   . As shown, support surface  46 ″ of  FIG.  5    differs from the embodiment of  FIG.  4    in that the support surface  46 ′ may further include a location receiver  362  and a network interface  370 . The location receiver  362  receives a location ID signal comprising location ID data from a location transmitter  332  and provides the received location ID data to the support surface control circuitry  364 . The location receiver  362  may be implemented in the manner described above in regard to the location receiver  342  of the bed  22 ″. 
     The network interface  370  of the support surface  46 ″ couples the support surface  46 ″ to the network  10  of the healthcare facility. The network interface  370  may support establishing a wired and/or wireless communications link between the support surface  46 ″ and the network  10 . As shown, the support surface control circuitry  364  may use the network interface  370  to transfer support surface ID data, location ID data, support surface support data, control words and possibly other data between the network  10  and the support surface  46 ″. Further, the network interface  370  may be implemented in a similar fashion to the network interface  340  of bed  22 ″ which was described above in regard to  FIG.  4   . 
     Thus, the control circuitry  344 ,  364  of the bed  22 ″ and the support surface  46 ″ may respectively control the operation of bed functions  346  and support surface functions  366  based upon inputs received via the user interfaces  50 ,  360 . Furthermore, the control circuitry  344 ,  364  may respectively control the operation of the bed functions  346  and support surface functions  366  based upon control words from the network  10  via the network interface  340 ,  370 . Moreover, the bed  22 ″ may receive information from the support surface  46 ″ such as support surface ID data, location ID data, support surface status data, and control via network interfaces  340 ,  370 . Likewise, the support surface may receive information from the bed  22 ″ such as bed ID data, location ID data, bed status data, and control words via network interfaces  340 ,  370 . While not shown, the bed  22 ″ and support surface  46 ″ may optionally comprise communication interfaces similar to the communication interfaces  348 ,  368  of  FIG.  4    in order to transfer information such as support surface ID data, bed ID data, location ID data, support surface status data, bed status data, and control words between the bed  22 ″ and support surface  46 ″ without relying upon the network interfaces  340 ,  370 . 
     Referring now to  FIG.  6   , an embodiment of control aspects of bed  22 ′″ and support surface  46 ′″ is shown. The embodiment of  FIG.  6    is similar to the embodiments of  FIGS.  4  and  5   . Accordingly, similar components of  FIG.  6    have been labeled with the similar reference numerals as corresponding components of  FIG.  4    and  FIG.  5   . The embodiment of  FIG.  6    basically reverses the roles of the bed  22 ′ and support surface  46 ′ of the embodiment of  FIG.  4   . In particular, whereas the bed  22 ′ of  FIG.  4    includes a location receiver  342  and a network interface  340  and the support surface  46 ′ of  FIG.  4    does not, the support surface  46 ′″ of  FIG.  6    includes a location receiver  362  and a network interface  370  and the bed  22 ′″ of  FIG.  6    does not. 
     Thus, the control circuitry  344 ,  364  of the bed  22 ′″ and the support surface  46 ′″ may respectively control the operation of bed functions  346  and support surface functions  366  based upon inputs received via the user interfaces  50 ,  360 . Furthermore, the support surface control circuitry  364  may control the operation of the support surface functions  366  based upon control words from the network  10  via the network interface  370 . Moreover, the bed  22 ′″ and support surface  46 ′″ may use communication interfaces  348 ,  368  in order to transfer information such as support surface ID data, bed ID data, location ID data, support surface status data, bed status data, and control words between the bed  22 ′″ and support surface  46 ′″. Further, it should be appreciated that operation of the bed  22 ′″ may be controlled via the network  10  by transferring a control word to the network interface  370  of the support surface  46 ′″ associated with the bed  22 ′″. The support surface control circuitry  364  may in turn transfer the control word to the bed  22 ′″ via the communication interfaces  348 ,  368 . 
     In some embodiments, location receivers  342 ,  362  may be omitted from the beds  22  and/or the surfaces  46  of  FIGS.  4 - 6   . In such embodiments, the beds  22  and/or the surfaces  46  may obtain a location ID via several different techniques. For example, a caregiver may enter or select a location using the user interface  346  of the beds  22  and/or the user interface  360  of the surfaces  46 . 
     As another technique, the beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  may obtain a location ID from a computing device  4  of the healthcare facility which determines the location of the beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  based upon network parameters associated with the beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  and provides the beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  with the appropriate location ID via network interfaces  348  and/or  368 . In particular, the strength of signals or lack of signals between an access point  12  and beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  of the healthcare facility may be indicative of the position of such beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  in relation to the access point  12 . Based upon data received from the beds  22 , surfaces  46  and/or access points  12  regarding the strength of such signals or lack of such signals, the computer device  4  may determine the position of the beds and/or surfaces  46  in the healthcare facility using triangulation and/or other positioning techniques. The computer device  4  may also determine location of the bed  22 ″ and/or surface  46  based upon other network parameters of the bed  22 ″ and/or surface  46 ″ such as network routing paths of communications between the bed/surface and the computing device  4 . 
     As yet another technique for providing beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  with a location ID, an administrator may associate beds  22  and/or the surfaces  46  with locations using an interface of a computing device  4 , the beds  22 , and/or surfaces  46  such as the interfaces shown in  FIGS.  10 - 13   .  FIG.  10    shows a user interface that enables an administrator to associate a bed  22  with a location. Similarly,  FIG.  11    shows a user interface that enables an administrator to associate a surface  46  with a location. In such embodiments, the surface  46  may obtain the location ID from bed  22  and/or computing device  4 , and the bed  22  may obtain the location ID from surface  46  and/or computing device  4 .  FIG.  12    shows a user interface that enables an administrator to associate a bed  22  and a surface  46 , and  FIG.  13    shows a user interface that enables an administrator to associate a location, bed  22  and a surface  46 . 
     Referring now to the interface shown in  FIG.  10    in more detail, the interface includes a locations control  1002  that identifies locations of the healthcare facility to which a bed  22  may be associated. The locations control  1002  may comprise a simple list control that provides a list of location identifiers that identify various locations of the healthcare facility to which a bed  22  may be associated. However, the locations control  1002  may comprise other types of user interface controls such as a tree control that provides a user with locations in a hierarchal manner. For example, the tree control may present location identifiers for units of the healthcare facility such as, for example, recovery, operating, and intensive care units. Under each of these units, the tree control may further present location identifiers such as room numbers or other subunits of the unit in question. These subunits may be even further divided by the tree control and so on. 
     The interface further includes an unassigned beds control  1004  that identifies beds  22  of the healthcare facility that have yet to be associated with a location of the healthcare facility. The unassigned beds control  1004  may be implemented in a manner similar to the locations control  1002 . In particular, the unassigned beds control  1004  may comprise a simple list control that provides a list of bed identifiers which each identify a bed  22  of the healthcare facility that has yet to be associated with a location of the healthcare facility. In another embodiment, the unassigned beds control  1004  comprises a table control in which each row of the table corresponds to an unassigned bed of the healthcare facility and the columns provide information that identifies the respective bed such as, for example, serial number, MAC address, IP address, bed identifier, etc. 
     The interface of  FIG.  10    further includes a selected location control  1006  and a selected bed control  1008 . The selected location control  1006  displays the location identifier of the location selected from the locations control  1002 . Similarly, the selected bed control  1008  displays the bed identifier  22  of the bed selected from the unassigned beds control  1004 . The user interface also includes an associate control  1010 . The associate control  1010  may include a button control or other control which when clicked, pressed, or otherwise activated causes the computing device  4  to associate the bed identified by the selected bed control  1008  with the location identified by the selected location control  1006 . In another embodiment, the controls  1006  and/or  1008  are omitted. In such an embodiment, the interface may depict the selected location and/or bed by highlighting the appropriate identifier of the controls  1002 ,  1004 . Accordingly, the associate control  1010  upon being activated may associate the bed highlighted or otherwise identified by the unassigned beds control  1004  with the location highlighted or otherwise identified by the locations control  1002 . 
     As shown in  FIG.  10   , the user interface also include a beds and associated locations control  1012 . The beds and associated locations control  1012  may be implemented in a manner similar to the beds control  1004 . In particular, the beds and associated locations control  1012  may comprise a simple list control that provides a list bed identifiers and their associated location identifiers. In another embodiment, the beds and associated locations control  1012  may include a table control in which each row of the table corresponds to a bed and its associated location and the columns provide information regarding the bed and its associated location such as, for example, serial number, MAC address, IP address, bed identifier, and location identifiers (e.g. unit identifiers, subunit identifiers, etc.) 
     The user interface also includes an unassociate control  1014 . The unassociate control  1014  may include a button control or other control which when clicked, pressed, or otherwise activated causes the computing device  4  to unassociate the bed or beds selected by the beds and associated locations control  1012  from their respective locations. In particular, the beds and associated location control  1012  may enable a user to select one or more beds, and the unassociate control  1014  upon being activated may unassociate the selected beds from their respective locations. 
     The user interface of  FIG.  11    is similar to the user interface of  FIG.  10    but associates surfaces  46  and locations of the healthcare facility instead of beds and locations of the healthcare facility. To this end, the user interface of  FIG.  11    includes an unassigned surfaces control  1016  which presents a list of surface identifiers in a manner similar to the list of bed identifiers presented by the unassigned beds control  1004 . Furthermore, the selected surface control  1028  presents the surface identifier selected via the unassigned surfaces control  1014  and the associate control  1017  upon being activated associates the surface  46  identified by the selected surface control  1018  and the location identified by the selected location control  1006 . Moreover, the interface of  FIG.  11    includes a surfaces and associated locations control  1020  that may be implemented in a manner similar to the beds and associated locations control  1012  in order to show surfaces and associated locations. The unassociate control  1021  upon being activated may unassociate surface(s)  46  and locations selected by the surfaces and associated locations control  1020 . 
     The interface of  FIG.  12    enables an administrator to associated beds  22  and surfaces  46 . The unassigned beds control  1004 , unassigned surfaces control  1016 , selected beds control  1008  and selected surfaces control  1018  may be implemented in a manner similar to corresponding controls depicted in  FIGS.  10  and  11   . The associate control  1022  upon being activated may associate a bed  22  and surface  46  selected by the unassigned beds control  1004  and the unassigned surfaces control  1016 . In turn, the beds and associated surfaces control  1024  may list beds  22  and associated surfaces  46  in a manner similar to the controls  1012 ,  1020  of  FIGS.  10  and  11   . The unassociate control  1026  upon being activated may unassociate beds  22  and surfaces  46  selected via the beds and associated surfaces control  1024 . 
     Referring now to  FIG.  13   , the shown interface may be used by an administrator to associate a location, bed  22  and surface  46 . The majority of the controls operate in a manner similar to such controls shown in  FIGS.  10 - 12    and are thus referenced with the same numerals and not described here further. The associate control  1030  upon being activated associates the location, bed  22  and surface  46  selected by the controls  1002 ,  1004  and  1016  and shown by the controls  1006 ,  1008  and  1018 . The beds and associated surfaces and locations control  1032  lists beds  22  of the healthcare facility that have been associated with a location and surface  46  in a manner similar to the controls  1012 ,  1020  and  1024  of  FIGS.  10 - 12   . Moreover, the beds and associated surfaces and locations control  1032  shows information regarding the associated beds, surfaces and locations to aid the administrator in determine which beds, surfaces and locations have been associated with one another. The unassociate control  1036  upon being activated may unassociated the beds  22 , surfaces  46  and locations selected by the beds and associated surfaces and locations control  1032 . 
     In one embodiment, data transmitted by the network interface  340  between the bed  22  and the network  10  includes bed status data as well as surface status data. One example of bed status data and surface status data is given in Tables 1-3 which are described below. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
                   
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
            
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Read - R 
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Write - W 
               
               
                   
                 0x04 Location 
                   
                   
                 Auto 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 0x04 Bed Status Messages 
                 Byte 
                 Bit 
                 Name 
                 ID 
                 Broadcast - B 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Standard Template 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 Standard 
                 Brake Status 
                 1 
                 4 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 1 = Brake set, 0 = Brake not 
               
               
                 Bed Status 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 set 
               
               
                   
                 Surface prevent mode 
                 1 
                 2 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not activated, 1 = 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Activated 
               
               
                   
                 Fall Prevention 
               
               
                   
                 Bed Exit Armed 
                 1 
                 1 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Armed, 1 = Not armed 
               
               
                   
                 Bed Low Position 
                 1 
                 3 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Bed not down, 1 = Bed 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 down 
               
               
                   
                 Head Rail Positions 
                 1 
                 6 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not down, 1 = Down 
               
               
                   
                 Restraints 
               
               
                   
                 Head rail positions 
                 1 
                 6 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not down, 1 = Down 
               
               
                   
                 Foot rail positions 
                 1 
                 5 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not down, 1 = Down 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     As shown in Table 1, brake status data indicates whether a brake for one or more of the casters of the hospital bed is set or not set; surface prevent mode data indicates whether a surface of the hospital bed is or is not activated to control air bladder pressures in a manner which attempts to inhibit formation of pressure ulcers (e.g., bed sores); bed exit armed status to indicate whether or not bed exit system which detects whether or not a patient has exited the bed is armed or not armed; bed low position data to indicate whether or not an upper frame which carries a mattress support deck is in its lowest position relative to a base frame of the bed; head rail position data to indicate whether head end siderails are up or down; and foot rail position data to indicate whether foot end siderails are up or down. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
                 Enhanced Fall Prevention 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 Enhanced 
                 PPM mode - Move 
                 3 
                 8 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not selected, 1 = Mode 
               
               
                 Bed Status 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 selected 
               
               
                   
                 PPM mode - Start egress 
                 3 
                 7 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not selected, 1 = Mode 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 selected 
               
               
                   
                 PPM mode - Patient exit 
                 3 
                 6 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not selected, 1 = Mode 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 selected 
               
               
                   
                 PPM alarming 
                 3 
                 5 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not selected, 1 = Mode 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 selected 
               
               
                   
                 Enhanced Restraints 
               
               
                   
                 Right head rail position 
                 2 
                 1 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not down, 1 = Down 
               
               
                   
                 Left head rail position 
                 2 
                 2 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not down, 1 = Down 
               
               
                   
                 Right foot rail position 
                 2 
                 3 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not down, 1 = Down 
               
               
                   
                 Left foot rail position 
                 2 
                 4 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not down, 1 = Down 
               
               
                   
                 Bed Safety 
               
               
                   
                 Head Motor Lockout 
                 2 
                 5 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not locked, 1 = Locked 
               
               
                   
                 Knee Motor Lockout 
                 2 
                 6 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not locked, 1 = Locked 
               
               
                   
                 High-Low Motor Lockout 
                 2 
                 8 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not locked, 1 = Locked 
               
               
                   
                 All Motor Lockout 
                 2 
                 7 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not locked, 1 = Locked 
               
               
                   
                 Wound Prevention 
               
               
                   
                 Surface turn assist left mode 
                 3 
                 2 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 Surface turn assist right mode 
                 3 
                 3 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 Surface max inflate mode 
                 3 
                 4 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 Heel suspension mode 
                 5 
                 4 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 Rotation mode 
                 5 
                 3 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 Optirest mode 
                 5 
                 2 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 Pulmonary 
               
               
                   
                 Percussion 
                 4 
                 5 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 Vibration 
                 4 
                 6 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 Operational Alerts 
               
               
                   
                 Housekeeping 
                 5 
                 1 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 (switch status, not bed 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 cleaned status) 
               
               
                   
                 Maintenance Alerts 
               
               
                   
                 Battery status modes, 2 bits 
                 4 
                 2 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 0 = No battery present 
               
               
                   
                   
                 4 
                 3 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 1 = Battery disconnected 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 1 0 = Battery needs charging 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 1 1 = Battery fully charged 
               
               
                   
                 AC power not present mode 
                 4 
                 1 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 1 = AC present, 0 = AC not 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 present 
               
               
                   
                 Service required light 
                 4 
                 4 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = No service req&#39;d, 1 = 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 Service req&#39;d 
               
               
                   
                 Other Bed Data 
               
               
                   
                 CPR mode 
                 3 
                 1 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 AC power present mode 
                 4 
                 1 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 1 = AC present, 0 = AC not 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 present 
               
               
                   
                 Nurse Call switch 
                 4 
                 7 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
                 CareAlert Switch 
                 4 
                 8 
                 BedStatus 
                 0x04 
                 B 
                 0 = Not active, 1 = Active 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     As shown in Table 2, patient position mode data indicates whether or not a patient position monitoring system of the hospital bed is in move mode in which patient movement of a first amount is considered an alarm condition, a start egress mode in which patient movement of a second amount greater than the first amount is considered an alarm condition, or patient exit mode in which patient movement of a third amount greater than the second amount (including movement off of the bed) is considered an alarm condition, and the patient position mode data also indicates whether or not an alarm condition, of the selected mode, has occurred. As also shown in Table 2, siderail position data indicates whether each of a right head rail, a left head rail, a right foot rail, and a left foot rail are in up or down positions; motor lockout data indicates whether or not a head motor which is operable to raise and lower a head section of the mattress support deck is locked out; whether or not a knee motor which is operable to raise and lower a thigh section (or seat section) of the mattress support deck is locked out; whether or not one or more high-low motors which are operable to raise and lower an upper frame carrying the mattress support deck relative to a base frame of the bed is locked out; and whether or not all of the motors just described are locked out. 
     Table 2 further shows surface status data such as whether or not a left turn assist mode or right turn assist mode to turn the patient, on a one-time basis, in one direction or another is active; whether or not a max inflate mode to inflate air bladders of the mattress to a preprogrammed maximum pressure to harden the surface for patient transfer, patient ingress or egress, or CPR is active; whether or not a heel suspension mode to deflate bladders in a heel region of the patient to attempt to inhibit formation of pressure ulcers on the patient&#39;s heels is active; whether or not a rotation mode to cyclically rotate the patient to the left and to the right is active; whether or not an optirest mode to sequentially inflate head zone bladders, seat zone bladders, and foot zone bladders is active; whether or not percussion to pulsate one or more air bladders of the surface is active; and whether or not vibration to vibrate one or more air bladders of the surface is active. In other embodiments, the surface status data may indicate whether or not a low air loss mode in which air is expelled from openings in the mattress to cool the patient and/or to transport moisture away from the patient is active and/or whether or not an alternating pressure mode in which sets of alternating bladders are each inflated and deflated at different times so that different portions of the patient are primarily supported by different bladders sets at different times is active. 
     As further shown in Table 2, housekeeping data indicates whether or not a housekeeping switch or button on the bed is active (e.g., has been pressed) to request that a staff member clean the hospital bed and/or the associated room; battery status data indicates whether or not a battery is present on the bed, whether or not the battery is disconnected from bed circuitry, whether or not the battery needs to be charged, and whether or not the battery is fully charged; AC power data indicates whether or not AC power is being received by the bed; service data indicates whether or not the bed needs to serviced; CPR mode data indicates whether or not a CPR release handle of the bed, which causes a head section of the mattress support deck to be lowered rapidly so that CPR can be quickly administered to a patient, has been activated; nurse call data indicates whether or not a nurse call switch to request to speak with a caregiver has been activated; and Care Alert data indicates whether or not a Care Alert switch to enable and disable any Care Alerts set up in templates at a remote computer has been activated. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                   
                 TABLE 3 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Object Dictionary Data 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Bed Management 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 Other 
                 Bed Type 
                 0x02 record 
                 BedType 
                 0x02 
                 B 
                 Bed type byte, revision 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 number 
               
               
                   
                 Bed Location 
                 0x05 record 
                 BedLocation 
                 0x05 
                 R 
                 Wall ID, 4 bytes 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Pulmonary 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Head Angle 
                 OD entry 
                 Pulmonary 
                 &lt;3262000 
                 R 
                 Object dictionary entry 
               
               
                   
                   
                 0x3262, 0x00 
                   
                   
                   
                 16-bit unsigned (VC), 16-bit 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 signed (TC) 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Switches 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Installed Switches 
                 OD entry 
                 ISwitches 
                 &lt;3642000 
                 R/W 
                 Object dictionary entry 
               
               
                   
                   
                 0x3642, 0x00 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                   
                 1 
                 4 
                   
                   
                   
                 1 = brake switch installed 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 0 = not installed 
               
               
                   
                   
                 1 
                 5 
                   
                   
                   
                 1 = siderail foot switches 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 installed, 0 = not installed 
               
               
                   
                   
                 1 
                 6 
                   
                   
                   
                 1 = siderail head switches 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 installed, 0 = not installed 
               
               
                   
                   
                 1 
                 7 
                   
                   
                   
                 1 = Nurse call switch input 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 available, 0 = not available 
               
               
                   
                   
                 1 
                 1 
                   
                   
                   
                 1 = Bed exit info available, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 0 = not available 
               
               
                   
                   
                 1 
                 3 
                   
                   
                   
                 1 = Bed down info available, 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 0 = not available 
               
               
                   
                 Weight 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Patient Weight 
                 OD entry 
                 Weight 
                 &lt;2180000 
                 R 
                 Data in Hex format. Convert 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 to decimal divide by 10 to 
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 get weight in pounds. 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     As shown in Table 3, bed type data indicates the type of bed (e.g., manufacturer and model number) transmitting the data; bed location data indicates the location in the healthcare facility at which the bed is located such as the location ID received from the location transmitters  332 ; head angle data indicates an angle at which the head section of the mattress support deck is elevated relative to another portion of the bed, such as an upper frame or another deck section, or relative to horizontal or vertical; switch installed data indicates whether or not one or more brake switches, siderail foot switches, siderail head switches, and/or nurse call switches are installed on the bed; information availability data to indicate whether or not bed exit data and/or bed low position data is available from the bed; and patient weight data indicates the weight of a patient as measured by a weigh scale system of the hospital bed. 
     Any of the bed status data in any of the three above tables may be transmitted to the network  10  via network interface  340  and/or network interface  370 . The data may then used by one or more healthcare support services provided by the computing devices  4  such as a nurse call service which operates to contact assigned caregivers when certain conditions on the bed  22  or surface  46  are detected, a workflow service to assign tasks to caregivers and other staff members, a locating-and-tracking service to track the whereabouts of people and/or equipment, an admission discharge and transfer (ADT) service, a bed assignment service, a surface/bed association service and the like. 
     It will be appreciated that a hospital will have multiple beds, similar to bed  22 , multiple support surfaces  46  associated with the various beds  22 , and multiple location transmitters  332  positioned throughout the healthcare facility. Each location transmitter  332  may be mounted at a particular location in a hospital. For example, one or more location transmitters  332  may be located in various patient rooms such as, for example, at the bed stations  24 . Each bed  22 , support surface  46 , and location transmitter  332  in one embodiment is assigned a unique identification (ID) code, such as a serial number. In some embodiments, one or more of the computing devices  4  comprises software to associate bed ID data with location ID data to keep track of which bed  22  is located in each room of the hospital and convey this information to caregivers. Moreover, one or more of the computing devices  4  comprises software to associated surface ID data with bed ID data to keep track of which support surface  46  is associated with which bed  22 . 
     Beds  22  and surfaces  46  may each have power cords (not shown) that are plugged into electrical outlets in hospital rooms during normal use of the beds  22  regardless of whether the beds  22  communicate with other devices in the associated network via wired or wireless connections. In some embodiments, beds  22  may have a socket into which a power cord of an accessory such a surface  46  may be plugged. According to this disclosure, when the power cords of beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  are unplugged, which usually happens when the bed is to be moved from one location in a healthcare facility to another, the associated Care Alert templates are automatically disabled. Thus, even if the bed  22  and/or surface  46  is still able to communicate wirelessly during transit from one location to another, the associated nurse call system does not initiate any communications with the wireless communication devices carried by the caregivers. Such alarm notifications are not generally needed because other caregivers should be accompanying the bed  22  during transit. Before the automatic disabling of the Care Alert templates, a slight delay period, such as 10 or 20 seconds, may be required to elapse so that, if the bed&#39;s power plug was unplugged inadvertently, there is time to plug the bed back in before the Care Alert templates are disabled. 
     In the case of beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  that communicate wirelessly, data is sent from the respective wireless transmitters to notify the associated nurse call system that the bed and/or surface has been unplugged. Such data may be transmitted after the above-mentioned delay period (i.e., the bed determines when the delay period has elapsed) or substantially immediately in response to the bed and/or surface being unplugged (i.e., the nurse call system determines when the delay period has elapsed). In the latter case, appropriate data is sent from the wireless transmitter if the bed and/or surface is plugged back in before the delay period elapses so that the nurse call system does not disable the Care Alert template. 
     Beds and/or surfaces having wireless communication circuitry may be powered by battery back-up power or by one or more capacitors for a period of time sufficient to permit the transmission of data indicating that the bed and/or surface has been unplugged (and, in some embodiments, for a return acknowledgment to be received by the bed and/or surface). Additionally or alternatively, the nurse call system may also conclude that the bed  22  and/or surface  46  has been unplugged and is in transit if a different wireless transceiver or receiver receives a signal from the bed  22  and/or surface  46 , such as a wireless access point or a transceiver of an associated locating-and-tracking system, and proceed to automatically disable the Care Alert alarm notifications as a result. 
     Moreover, it should be appreciated that even beds  22  without a network interface  340  or a network interface  340  without wireless circuitry may still notify the associated nurse call system that the bed  22  has been unplugged using its associated support surface  46  to relay such information. In particular, the bed  22  may inform the support surface  46  via communication interfaces  348 ,  368  that the bed  22  has been unplugged and the support surface  46  may in turn send such information to the network  10  using its network interface  370 . Likewise, it should be appreciated that even surfaces  436  without a network interface  370  or a network interface  370  without wireless circuitry may still notify the associated nurse call system that the surface  46  has been unplugged using its associated bed  22  to relay such information. In particular, the support surface  46  may inform the bed  22  via communication interfaces  348 ,  368  that the support surface  46  has been unplugged and the bed  22  may in turn send such information to the network  10  using its network interface  340 . 
     In some embodiments, after the bed  22  and/or surface  46  reaches its new location and the associated power cord is plugged back in, a caregiver signals the nurse call system to re-enable the Care Alert templates for the particular bed. Caregivers may re-enable the Care Alert templates for the particular bed  22  by making appropriate entries on either an audio station in the room, a computer at the master nurse call station, or the wireless communication device carried by the caregiver. The re-enabling of the Care Alert template may be made by voice commands entered into the wireless communication device in some embodiments. 
     Because the nurse call system receives bed ID data, the particular Care Alert template associated with the bed  22  is known by the nurse call system. Thus, unless overridden by users of the nurse call system, the association between bed, patient, and assigned caregivers is maintained by the nurse call system even if the bed is moved to a new location. If one of the assigned caregivers does not re-enable the Care Alert template within a predetermined period of time after the nurse call system determines that the bed has been plugged back in (such determination being made in any of the ways described above for determining that the bed has been unplugged), then a reminder to re-enable the Care Alert template may be initiated by the nurse call system to the wireless communication devices carried by one or more of the assigned caregivers. 
     In alternative embodiments, the nurse call system may re-enable the Care Alert templates automatically after bed  22  and/or surface  46  has been moved and then plugged back in. Alternatively or additionally, the nurse call system may initiate a communication to the wireless communication devices of one or more assigned caregivers advising that the nurse call system will re-enable the Care Alert templates within a predetermined period of time unless receiving instructions not to do so. Alternatively or additionally, the nurse call system may initiate a communication to the wireless communication devices of one or more assigned caregivers with a notification that an assigned bed is now determined to be at a new location and the one or more caregivers should communicate via appropriate measures (entries on a nurse call computer, voice commands, entries on a user interface of a wireless communication device, etc.) to re-enable the associated Care Alert templates. 
     The data received from beds  22  and/or support surface  46  by the associated nurse call system may be provided to other systems of the hospital network. In one example, beds  22  having weigh scale systems transmit patient weight to a nurse call system which, in turn, transmits the patient weight data to an electronic medical records (EMR) system which, in turn, stores the weight information in the associated patient&#39;s record. The nurse call system may convert the data from one communication protocol into another communication protocol. Thus, patient weight data received by the nurse call system may be converted by the system into the Health Level 7 (HL7) protocol for transmission to the EMR system. In some embodiments, patient weight data is transmitted to the nurse call system only in response to a query initiated by a caregiver via entries on a nurse call computer, voice commands, entries on a user interface of a wireless communication device, etc. Such a system reduces extraneous data transmissions on the network for data, such as patient weight, of the type which does not vary much with time and which may be desired by caregivers only sporadically. 
     Bed status data from beds  22  and surface status data from surfaces  46  may be routed to different computers or to different software applications on the same computer. For example, some bed status data packets may be sent by beds  22  and used by a nurse call software application and other bed status data packets may be sent by beds  22  and used by some other software application, such as a workflow software application. Each of the data packets of bed status data may include a destination address, such an Internet Protocol (IP) address, of the computer for which the particular bed status data is destined. As previously mentioned different bed status data and/or surface status data may be destined for different software applications run on the same computer, in which case the IP address included in each packet of bed status data and/or surface status data may or may not have the same IP address depending upon whether or not the software applications on the same computer have been assigned different IP addresses. Alternatively or additionally, the bed status data and/or surface status data may be routed to different software application, be they on the same computer or different computers, based on the data type. 
     In addition, each of the data packets of bed status data include bed identification data, such as a serial number of the associated bed  22  and/or an IP address and/or a MAC address of the associated bed  22 . Furthermore, if known, then each of the data packets of bed status data include location data, such as a room number or other location ID indicating the location of the associated bed  22  in the healthcare facility. In accordance with this disclosure, the IP address of each of beds  22  may be assigned in accordance with the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Likewise, each of the data packets of surface status data include surface identification data, such as a serial number of the associated surface  46  and/or an IP address and/or a MAC address of the surface  46 . Furthermore, if known, then each of the data packets of surface status data include location data, such as a room number or other location ID indicating the location of the associated surface  46  in the healthcare facility. In accordance with this disclosure, the IP address of each of surfaces  46  may be assigned in accordance with the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). 
     As mentioned above, one or more computing devices  4  may provide a surface association service that associates beds  22  and supports surfaces  46  to one another. Hospital beds  22  may support various makes and models of support surfaces  46 . As explained in more detail below, a computing device  4  may send control messages to a bed  22  based upon the surface status data for the surface  46  of the bed  22  and/or bed status data of the bed  22 . Similarly, a computing device  4  may send control messages to a support surface  46  based upon the surface status data for the surface  46  of the bed  22  and/or bed status data of the bed  22 . The surface association service supports such activities by maintaining associations between beds  22  and the support surfaces  46  placed upon the decks  47  of the beds  22 . 
     One embodiment of a surface association method implemented by a service association service of one or more computing devices  4  is shown in  FIG.  7   . As indicated at block  710 , the computing device  4  may receive bed ID data and location ID data from beds  22  of the healthcare facility and may receive surface ID data and location ID data from support surfaces  46  of the healthcare facilities. It should be appreciated that the computing device  4  may receive such data regardless of whether the bed  22  and support surface  46  are implemented in accord with the embodiment shown in  FIG.  4    or the embodiments shown in  FIG.  5    or  FIG.  6   . 
     As indicated at block  720 , the computing device may receive a request to associate a bed  22  and surface  46  with one another. In one embodiment, the computing device  4  may receive the surface association request in response to a caregiver activating one or more inputs of the user interface  50  of the bed  22  and/or the user interface  360  of the surface  46 . In some embodiments, the user interfaces  50 ,  360  may include a button, switch and/or other user input that, in response to being activated, initiates the surface association request. In another embodiment, the computing device  4  further supports beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  which were designed without surface association requests in mind and therefore do not provide a button, switch an/or other user input for initiating a surface association request. In such an embodiment, the computing device  4  may detect a surface association request based upon bed status data and/or surface status data received from the bed  22  and/or surface  46  indicating the occurrence of a predetermined sequence of actions which the computing device  4  recognizes as a surface association request. 
     For example, the predetermined sequence of actions for a surface association request may be defined as toggling the brake release on a bed  22  a threshold number (e.g. 3) or more times within a predetermined period (e.g. 2 seconds). However, it should be appreciated that the computing device  4  may define and therefore recognize just about any sequences of actions as an association request. Such actions may involve actuating the user interface  50 ,  460  and/or actuating mechanical aspects (e.g. raising/lowering siderails, toggling brakes, etc.) that do not involve the user interfaces  50 ,  360 . Generally, the computing device  4  assigns an event to be detected a sequence of actions that is unlikely to occur in the normal course of operation of the bed  22  and/or surface  46  in order to reduce the likelihood of false or inadvertent requests. However, it should also be appreciated that inadvertent requests are generally not problematic as such inadvertent requests merely result in extra processing by the computing device  4  and re-association of the bed  22  and surface  46 . 
     Moreover, the sequence of actions assigned to an event do not necessarily need to be unique. In other words, the computing device  4  may assign different events to the same sequence of actions. For example, the computing device  4  may associate the same sequence of actions to association requests, device identifications as explained below in regard to  FIG.  8   , and/or confirmations as explained below in regard to  FIG.  9   . In such cases, the computing device  4  may determine an event has occurred in response to detecting a sequence of actions associated with multiple types of events. The computing device  4 , in response to detecting the sequence of actions, may then determine the type of event based upon other information such as the context in which the sequence of actions was detected. For example, a user may unbrake and brake casters of a bed  22  in order to initiate a surface association request. The computing device may receive via a surface  46  data indicative of the unbrake and brake actions and may determine that the actions are a surface association request based upon there being no pending confirmations for the surface  46 . The computing device may then request a user to confirm a bed  22  to associated with the surface  46 . In response to the request, the user again may unbrake and brake casters of the same bed  22  in order to confirm the bed  22  as the bed to be associated with the surface  46 . The computing device may again receive via the surface  46  data indicative of the unbrake and brake actions and may determine that the actions are a confirmation since the computing device is awaiting a confirmation in regard to the surface  46 . 
     At block  730 , the computing device  4  attempts to associate beds  22  and surfaces  46  based upon the data received from each bed  22  and surface  46 . In an embodiment, the computing device  4  may determine that a bed  22 ′ and surface  46 ′ (See,  FIG.  4   ) are associated based upon bed ID data and surface ID data received from the network interface  340  of the bed  22 ′ since the computing device  4  is capable of determining that the bed ID data and surface ID data is received from a single source (e.g. bed  22 ′″). Similarly, the computing device  4  may determine that a bed  22 ′″ and surface  46 ″&#39; (See,  FIG.  6   ) are associated based upon bed ID data and surface ID data received from the network interface  370  of the surface  46 ′″ since the computing device  4  is capable of determining that the bed ID data and surface ID data is received from a single source (e.g. surface  46 ″). 
     For a bed  22 ″ and surface  46 ″ that each have a network interface (See,  FIG.  5   ), the computing device  4  may associate the bed  22 ″ and surface  46 ″ based upon the location ID data received from their network interfaces  340 ,  370 . In particular, the computing device  4  may associate the bed  22 ″ with the surface  46 ″ based upon their respective location ID data identifying the bed  22 ″ and surface  46 ″ as being in the same location. 
     In one embodiment, computing device  4  as indicated at block  730  may attempt to memorialize the determined association between the bed  22  and surface  46 . For example, the computing device  4  may update a database to reflect the determined association between the bed  22  and surface  46 . The computing device  4  in other embodiments may memorialize the determined association by updating data stored in memory of the computing device  4 , requesting another computing device  4  to store the association between the bed  22  and surface  46 , and/or storing the association in a non-volatile memory (e.g. hard drive, RAID drive, etc.) of the computing device  4 . 
     As indicated at block  740 , the computing device  4  may determine whether the attempted association was successful. The computing device  4  may be unable to associate a bed  22  and surface  46  for a number of reasons. For one, multiple beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  may be located sufficiently close to the same location transmitter  332  of the healthcare facility to result in the multiple beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  receiving the same location ID data. Thus, the computing device  4  in such circumstances may be unable to uniquely associate a single bed  22  with a single support surface  46  without further data to distinguish the multiple beds  22  and/or surfaces  46 . However, it should also be appreciated that by careful positioning of the location transmitters  332  and tuning of the transfer range between the location transmitters  332  and location receivers  342 ,  362 , the number of conflicts may be reduced to a very small number and/or practically eliminated for a given healthcare facility. As another example, the computing device  4  may experience one or more faults and/or errors such as, for example, disk read errors, network faults, database timeouts, etc. which prevent the computing device  4  from completing the requested association. 
     If the requested association was successful, the computing device  4  as indicated at  750  may provide the person requesting the association with an indication of the successful association. In one embodiment, the computing device  4  transmits a control message to the bed  22  and/or surface  46  which results in the user interface  50  of the bed  22  and/or the user interface  360  of the surface  46  to display the successful association. For example, a user interface  50 ,  360  in response to the received control message may display a textual message upon its display and/or may update the status of one or more LEDs of the user interface  50 ,  360  (e.g. turning on, turning off, blinking, and/or changing the illuminated color of one or more LEDs) to signal the success of the requested bed/surface association. Alternatively, or in addition to, the computing device  4  may send a message (e.g. audio message and/or text message) to a pager, PDA or other type of wireless communication device such as Vocera® handsets or telephone handsets that have bidirectional voice communication capability and that may have text messaging capability of a caregiver located near the bed  22  and surface  46  and/or an audio message to an audio station and/or text message of the bed station  24  near the location identified by the received location ID data. 
     Conversely, if the requested association was not successful, the computing device may provide the person requesting the association with an indication of the unsuccessful association of the bed and surface in a manner similar to block  750  as indicated at block  760 . In one embodiment, if the requested association was not successful due to multiple beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  being identified for a single association, the computing device  4  may alert a user of the computing device  4  and/or the person who requested the association of the bed  22  and the surface  46  of the conflict so that they can manually resolve the conflict. For example, the user requesting the association may simply manually enter the bed ID data and surface ID data into the computing device  4  and/or relay such data to an operator of the computing device  4  for entry into the computing device  4  or may be instructed to perform a function on the bed (e.g. raise then lower siderail, unbrake then brake casters, etc.) to indicate the bed to which a surface is to be associated. 
     A technique to resolve such conflicts in an automated manner is incorporated in the surface association method presented in  FIG.  8   . The surface association method of  FIG.  8    permits a healthcare facility to deploy fewer location transmitters  332  and perform less tuning of location transmitters  332  and location receivers  342 ,  362  since the technique resolves conflicts in an automated or semi-automated manner. 
     As shown, the computing device  4  as indicated at block  810  may receive bed ID data and location ID data from beds  22  of the healthcare facility and may receive surface ID data and location ID data from support surfaces  46  of the healthcare facilities in a manner similar to block  710  above. As indicated at block  820 , the computing device  4  may receive a request to associate a bed  22  and surface  46  with one another in a manner similar to block  720  above. 
     In response to receiving the surface association request, the computing device  4  may request that the caregiver perform a predetermined sequence of actions on the bed  22  and/or the surface  46  to identify the bed  22  and surface  46  to be associated with one another as indicated at block  830 . The identifying sequence of actions in one embodiment is selected such that the sequence of actions is unlikely to otherwise occur during normal operation of the bed  22  or surface  46  to be associated. Thus, the computing device  4  may identify a bed  22  and/or surface  46  of a surface association request based upon receipt of status data that indicates the occurrence of the identifying sequence of actions. 
     At block  830 , the computing device  4  may provide the caregiver with the request to perform the identifying actions using various mechanisms. The computing device  4  may transmit one or more control messages to a bed  22  or bed(s)  22  having the same location ID as the received surface association request in order to cause user interface(s)  50  of the bed(s)  22  to display the request. The computing device  4  may transmit one or more control messages to surface(s)  46  having the same location ID as the received surface association request in order to cause the user interface(s)  360  to display the request. As another option, the computing device  4  may send the control messages to the device (e.g. bed  22  or surface  46 ) that initiated the surface association request in order to cause the respective user interface  50 ,  360  to display the request. As yet another option, the computing device  4  may send a message (e.g. audio message and/or text message) to a pager, PDA or other type of wireless communication device such as Vocera® handsets or telephone handsets that have bidirectional voice communication capability and that may have text messaging capability of a caregiver located near the bed  22  or surface  46  that initiated the request. The computer device  4  may also send an audio message and/or text message to an audio station of a bed station  24  located near the multiple beds  22  or surface  46  that are possibly the ones that initiated the request. 
     As indicated at block  840 , the computing device  4  may detect the identifying sequence based upon whether status data received from the bed  22  and/or surface  46  indicates the performance of the identifying sequence of actions. In one embodiment, the computing device  4  determines that identifying sequence of actions were performed only if received from a bed  22  and/or a surface  46  having the same location ID data as the surface association request. As mentioned above, multiple beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  may be located sufficiently close to the same location transmitter  332  of the healthcare facility to result in multiple beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  receiving and then re-transmitting the same location ID data. Thus, the healthcare facility may have multiple beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  with the same location ID data as the surface association request. However, the computing device  4  may identify the one bed  22  and/or surface  46  to be associated based upon status data identifying the predetermined sequence of actions and such actions being associated with a bed  22  and/or surface  46  with the same location ID data. In this manner, computing device  4  may support multiple surface association requests and appropriately match beds  22  and surfaces  46  of different overlapping requests within the healthcare facility. 
     If the sequence of actions is received from an appropriate bed  22  and/or surface  46 , the computing device  4  may attempt to associate the identified bed  22  and surface  46  as indicated at block  850 . The computing device  4  at block  860  may determine whether the attempt to associated the bed  22  and surface  46  succeeded in a manner similar to block  740  above. In manner similar to block  830  above, the computing device  4  at block  870  may provide the person requesting the association with an indication of the successful association. Conversely, if the predetermined sequence of actions was not received within a predetermined period (e.g. 20 seconds) or the attempted association failed, the computing device as indicated at block  880  may provide the person requesting the association with an indication of the unsuccessful association of the bed. Again, the computing device  4  may provide the indication in a manner similar to block  830  above. 
     Another technique to resolve such conflicts in an automated manner is incorporated in the surface association method presented in  FIG.  9   . As indicated at block  910 , the computing device  4  may receive bed ID data and location ID data from beds  22  of the healthcare facility and may receive surface ID data and location ID data from support surfaces  46  of the healthcare facilities in a manner similar to block  710  above. In a manner similar to block  720  above, the computing device  4  may receive a request to associate a bed  22  and surface  46  with one another as indicated at block  920 . 
     In response to receiving the surface association request, the computing device  4  as indicated at block  930  may request that the caregiver perform a predetermined sequence of actions on the bed  22  and/or the surface  46  to confirm which bed  22  and/or surface  46  to be associated. In one embodiment, the computing device  4  in response to receiving the surface association request from the surface  46  transmits a control message to the bed or beds  22  having the same location ID as the surface  46 . Similarly, the computing device  4  in response to receiving the surface association request from a bed  22  transmits a control message to the surface or surfaces  46  having the same location ID as the bed  22 . As explained above, the healthcare facility may have multiple beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  within range of a location transmitter  332 , thus resulting in multiple beds  22  and/or surfaces  46  having the same location ID. In such a case, the computing device  4  may send the request to multiple beds  22  or surfaces  46 . 
     As indicated at block  940 , the computing device  4  may determine based upon status data received from the bed  22  and/or surface  46  whether a confirmation from a caregiver was received. In one embodiment, the caregiver performs the actions on the bed  22  or surface  46  to be associated thus identifying the one device from potentially several devices to be associated. The computing device  4  in one embodiment determines that confirming actions were performed only if received from a bed  22  and/or a surface  46  having the same location ID data as the surface association request. 
     If confirmation is received, the computing device  4  as indicated at block  950  attempts to associate the identified bed  22  and surface  46 . As indicated at block  960 , the computing device  4  determines whether the attempted association was successful. If successful, the computing device provides the person requesting the association with an indication of the successful association as indicated at block  970 . Conversely, if the predetermined sequence of actions was not received within a predetermined period (e.g. 20 seconds) or the attempt was otherwise unsuccessful, the computing device may provide the person requesting the association with an indication of the unsuccessful association of the bed as indicated at block  980 . It should be appreciated that the computing device  4  may provide the user with a successful indication or an unsuccessful indication using numerous different approaches as mentioned above in regard to blocks  750  and  760 . 
     The above surface association services may be used by a nurse call system to control the operation of a bed  22  and its associated surface  46 . In one embodiment, one or more computing devices  4 , such as those implementing a nurse call system, are operable to send command or control messages through the network infrastructure to beds  22  and surfaces  46  to control some aspect of the operation of beds  22  and surfaces  46 . The words “command” and “control” are intended to be interchangeable according to this disclosure and each is intended to have the broad meaning of both. Therefore, such computing devices  4  may be operable to receive bed status data from bed  22 , process it, and then, based on the bed status data from bed  22 , transmit a control words or messages to bed  22  and/or surface  46 . For example, if the bed status data from bed  22  indicates that a CPR release handle of the bed  22  has been pulled, then the control message to the support surface  46  associated with the bed  22  may result in the support surface  46  going into a max inflate mode to harden the air bladders in surface  46  in preparation for CPR being performed on the patient or, alternatively, the control message may result in support surface  46  completely deflating so that the patient is supported by the support deck  47  underlying the support surface  46  in preparation for CPR being performed on the patient. 
     As another example, if the bed status data from bed  22  indicates that casters of the hospital bed have been unbraked, then the command message to the associated support surface  46  may indicate that a therapy, such as lateral rotation therapy, alternating pressure therapy, percussion therapy, etc. should be stopped in preparation for the bed  22  being moved to a new location. As another example, one or more computing devices  4  may be operable to receive the surface status data from support surface  46 , process it, and then, based on the surface status data, transmit a control message to bed  22 . For example, if the surface status data indicates that lateral rotation therapy is active, then the control message to bed  22  may lock out a head section motor to prevent the head section of the bed  22  from being raised during the lateral rotation therapy. Computing device  4  may be configured to send surface status data to any other computer devices  4  coupled to network  10 . 
     While embodiments are disclosed, the description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the described embodiments, as well as other embodiments which are apparent to persons skilled in the art, are deemed to lie within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.