Patient couch for a medical imaging installation

A patient couch, comprising:

• a docking device configured to mechanically dock to a docking point of a medical imaging installation;
• a drive unit, including a plurality of wheels, configured to drive movement of the patient couch up to a docking position at which the docking device reaches the docking point;
• at least one sensor configured to acquire sensor signals characterizing a relative position between the medical imaging installation and the patient couch, the sensor signals including a measurement of an angle between a longitudinal axis of the patient couch and a central axis of the medical imaging installation;
• a computing unit configured to calculate, based on the sensor signals, a movement trajectory with a destination of the docking position for the patient couch;
• and
• a display device configured to display the movement trajectory, wherein
• the at least one sensor is part of a sensor unit,
• the sensor unit is configured to, during movement of the patient couch it the destination of the docking position, acquire further sensor signals identifying a current relative position between the medical imaging installation and the patient couch,
• the computing unit is configured to detect at least one of a deviation of the current relative position from the movement trajectory or a distance of the current relative position from the docking position,
• the display device is configured to display at least one of the deviation or the distance, and
• the computing unit is configured to calculate the movement trajectory such that the longitudinal axis of the patient couch and a longitudinal axis of the medical imaging installation form a maximum angle of 2° with respect to one another when the patient couch reaches the docking position.

A patient couch, comprising:

• a docking device configured to mechanically dock to a docking point of a medical imaging installation;
• a frame and a plurality of wheels configured to drive movement of the patient couch up to a docking position at which the docking device reaches the docking point;
• at least one sensor configured to acquire sensor signals characterizing a relative position between the medical imaging installation and the patient couch, the sensor signals including a measurement of an angle between a longitudinal axis of the patient couch and a central axis of the medical imaging installation;
• an electronic circuit configured to calculate, based on the sensor signals, a movement trajectory with a destination of the docking position for the patient couch;
• and
• a display configured to display the movement trajectory, wherein
• the electronic circuit is configured to calculate the movement trajectory such that the longitudinal axis of the patient couch and longitudinal axis of the medical imaging installation form a maximum angle of 2° with respect to one another when the patient couch reaches the docking position.