Patent ID: 7600280

Claim:
A patient table, comprising a patient support; a table foot under said patient support and integral to the patient table; and a boarding device arranged on the table foot, the boarding device having at least one extendable and retractable and/or foldable step for supporting a patient to get on the patient table; a power-operated drive for extending and retracting and/or folding the at least one step responsive to positioning of a patient on the patient support and/or operation of an examination device; at least one patient support sensor for controlling the retracting or folding based upon a position of the patient on the patient table detected by the patient support sensor; at least one load sensor for controlling the retracting or folding based upon a step load detected by the load sensor; and at least one space sensor on the patient table for controlling the retracting or folding based upon a free space in an intermediate area between the at least one step and the patient support, or in an area of movement related to the at least one step; wherein upon being extended and/or unfolded, the at least one step retracts and/or folds when a patient is sensed by the patient support sensor after load on the at least one load sensor is removed and the intermediate area or in the area of movement is free as sensed by the at least one space sensor.