Voice-actuated, speaker-dependent control system for hospital bed

Abstract

A voice-actuated environmental operator system of the kind which enables a user/patient to use simple voice commands to control a plurality of hospital environment room functions including operation of selected bed movement and room environment functions associated with a provided multi-function hospital bed. The operator system uses a conventional IBM PC, XT, AT or like computer which has been adapted for interfacing in a pass-through manner with the control unit of a provided hospital bed. The computer includes a voice card and associated voice recognition and training software for interpreting and translating voice input into digital information readable by a controller card for operating a plurality of bed motor and room function commands. The controller card includes a plurality of relay switch devices, each of which are dedicated to performing a specific bed movement or room function. An FCC registered data access arrangement is also provided to the controller card for telephone interface capability. In a first embodiment, data communication between the computer and the provided hospital bed's control unit is by pass-through hard wire cable interface connection between bed control unit and the DB9 and DB15 serial port connectors on the back of the computer. The DB9 and DB15 serial port connectors are desoddered off the computer's motherboard and wired directly to the controller board. A headset microphone assembly wearable by a patient user is provided to the system for transmitting voice input to said voice recognition means and receiving system command confirmation signals and telephone communications.