Patent ID: 7971300

Claim:
A patient support surface comprising: a cover defining an interior region; a plurality of inflatable zones located in the interior region; a plurality of air control nodes located in a non-inflatable portion of the interior region adjacent each of the inflatable zones, each node being associated with a zone, each node including an air supply pneumatically coupled to one of the zones, a power supply which powers the air supply, a processor operable to execute programming logic configured to control air flow between the air supply and the zone, and a network interface configured to receive data or control signals directly from one or more other air control nodes; and control circuitry configured to enable communication between any of the air control nodes and an external bed network relating to a condition of a bed frame, wherein each control node communicates data indicating a condition of the associated inflatable zone to the bed network to enable the bed frame to respond to the condition of the inflatable zone.