Patent ID: 7656299

Claim:
Bed patient monitoring apparatus, comprising: a plurality of discrete pressure sensors for installation at multiple locations along the length and width of a bed proximate areas occupied by the torso, hips and leg portions of a patient reclining on the bed for detecting the presence thereon and absence thereof of the patient's anatomy; a first defined set of sensor state combinations indicating the presence of a patient in a central portion of the bed; a second defined set of sensor state combinations indicating that the patient is in a location on the bed wherein the patient is approaching exiting the bed at the side of the bed; a third defined set of sensor state combinations indicating that the patient is in a location on the bed wherein the patient is approaching exiting near the foot of the bed; a fourth defined set of sensor state combinations indicating the absence of the patient from the bed, said fourth defined set of sensor state combinations differing from said second and third defined sets of sensor state combinations; a signal processor in communication with the sensors for receiving electrical signals from the sensors indicative of the sensor states and for determining whether the sensor states are in said first, second, third or fourth set of sensor state combinations; and an alarm processor in communication with the signal processor configured to produce one or more alarm indications when the alarm processor determines that the sensor states have remained within said second or third set of sensor state combinations for a continuous, predetermined minimum period of time and when the alarm processor determines that the sensor states have remained within said fourth set of sensor state combinations for a continuous predetermined minimum period of time, the second and third sets of sensor state combinations having a different predetermined minimum period of time than the fourth set of sensor state combinations.