Patent ID: 7293308

Claim:
A docking assembly for docking a movable subject couch with an imaging apparatus, the docking assembly including: couch alignment surfaces that mate with corresponding imaging apparatus alignment surfaces of a connecting region of the imaging apparatus to define a docked position of the movable subject couch with respect to the imaging apparatus; a docking sensor that detects the movable subject couch approaching the docked position; a latch that mates with the connecting region of the imaging apparatus; and an actuator that cooperates with the latch to bias the movable subject couch into the docked position in response to the docking sensor detecting that the couch has approached the docking position, the actuator including an electric motor and a mechanical energy storage element interposed between the motor and the latch, the mechanical energy storage element cooperating with the latch to bias the movable subject couch into the docked position when the motor is not delivering mechanical energy.