Patient support apparatus systems with television detection
A headwall unit is mounted a headwall of a hospital room and acts as a communication conduit between a bed (or other patient support apparatus) and a conventional communications outlet built into the headwall of the hospital room. The communications outlet is communicatively coupled to a standard nurse call system and an in-room television. The headwall unit is adapted to wirelessly forward audio signals from a remotely positioned nurse to the bed, and to receive wireless audio signals corresponding to a patient's voice from the bed and to forward the received audio signals to the communications outlet. The headwall unit is further adapted to detect infrared communications from both the bed and a television remote control. Communications from the television remote control are automatically analyzed by the headwall unit to determine the type of television in the room and the correct signals to use for controlling the television.
1. A headwall unit adapted to be mounted to a headwall of a room in a healthcare facility, the headwall unit comprising:
an outlet interface adapted to electrically couple to a wall outlet mounted in the headwall, the outlet interface including a set of pins adapted to electrically couple to a plurality of conductors defined in the wall outlet when the outlet interface is coupled to the wall outlet, and the set of pins including a television control pin adapted to electrically couple to a television control conductor defined in the wall outlet;
a first infrared transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a second infrared transceiver positioned onboard a patient support apparatus when the patient support apparatus is positioned adjacent to the headwall unit; and
a controller adapted to analyze signals detected by the first infrared transceiver to determine if the signals were emitted by a television remote control, and, if so, to determine a type of television that the television remote control is adapted to control, and to forward a television control message to the television control pin in response to receipt of a television command from the patient support apparatus.
2. The headwall unit of claim 1 wherein the controller is further adapted to determine the type of television that the television remote control is adapted to control by analyzing a header within a packet sent by the television remote control.
3. The headwall unit of claim 1 further comprising a first RF transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a second RF transceiver positioned onboard the patient support apparatus.
4. The headwall unit of claim 3 wherein the first RF transceiver is adapted to receive the television command from the patient support apparatus.
5. The headwall unit of claim 1 wherein the type of television includes a brand of the television.
6. The headwall unit of claim 1 wherein the controller is adapted to change the television control message based on the type of television and based on the television command received from the patient support apparatus.
7. The headwall unit of claim 6 wherein the television command is one of a channel changing command, a volume changing command, a closed-captioning command, or a power command.
8. The headwall unit of claim 1 wherein the first infrared transceiver is further adapted to transmit a unique identifier to the patient support apparatus, and wherein the unique identifier differentiates the headwall unit from other headwall units positioned within the healthcare facility.
9. The headwall unit of claim 3 wherein the controller is further adapted to receive an exit detection signal from the patient support apparatus via the first RF transceiver and to change a voltage on a particular pin of the set of pins in response to receipt of the exit detection signal.
10. A headwall unit adapted to be mounted to a headwall of a room in a healthcare facility, the headwall unit comprising:
an outlet interface adapted to electrically couple to a wall outlet mounted in the headwall, the outlet interface including a set of pins adapted to electrically couple to a plurality of conductors defined in the wall outlet when the outlet interface is coupled to the wall outlet, and the set of pins including a television control pin adapted to electrically couple to a television control conductor defined in the wall outlet;
a first RF transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a second RF transceiver positioned onboard a patient support apparatus positioned adjacent to the headwall unit;
an infrared receiver adapted to receive signals from a television remote control; and
a controller adapted to determine a type of television the television remote control is adapted to control based on an analysis of the signals, to generate a television control message based on the type of television, and to forward the television control message to the television control pin in response to receipt of a television command from the patient support apparatus.
11. The headwall unit of claim 10 wherein the controller is further adapted to receive an exit detection signal from the patient support apparatus via the first RF transceiver and to change a voltage on a particular pin of the set of pins in response to receipt of the exit detection signal.
12. The headwall unit of claim 10 wherein the set of pins includes an audio pin and the controller is adapted to receive a plurality of audio signals from the television via the audio pin, and wherein the controller is further adapted to transmit the audio signals to the patient support apparatus via the first RF transceiver.
13. The headwall unit of claim 10 wherein the controller is further adapted to determine the type of television that the television remote control is adapted to control by analyzing a header within a packet sent by the television remote control.
14. The headwall unit of claim 10 wherein the first RF transceiver is adapted to receive the television command from the patient support apparatus.
15. The headwall unit of claim 10 wherein the type of television includes a brand of the television.
16. The headwall unit of claim 1 wherein the controller is adapted to change the television control message based on the television command received from the patient support apparatus.
17. The headwall unit of claim 16 wherein the television command is one of a channel changing command, a volume changing command, a closed-captioning command, or a power command.
18. The headwall unit of claim 10 wherein the infrared receiver is part of an infrared transceiver, and the infrared transceiver is adapted to transmit a unique identifier to the patient support apparatus, the unique identifier differentiating the headwall unit from other headwall units positioned within the healthcare facility.