Automated pressure relief mattress support system

A method of supporting a bed patient on a mattress comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a mattress having a plurality of elongated, flexible, air-tight compartments extending longitudinally of the mattress in side-by-side relation for support of a bed patient thereon, with left and right side adjacent pairs of said compartments directly intercommunicating;
• (b) determining an air pressure in said compartments of the mattress which minimizes patient-to-mattress interface pressure;
• (c) supporting the bed patient on the mattress in a given geographic location of use;
• and
• (d) pressurizing the compartments with air to said pressure which minimizes patient-to-mattress interface pressure.

A method of positioning the body of a bed patient in predetermined right or left side angular positions relative to the horizontal plane of a mattress construction having right and left side longitudinally extended air tube means selectively inflatable to a desired internal air pressure for support and movement of the bed patient on the mattress construction, comprising the steps of:

• (a) establishing a pre-determined uniform air pressure in all of said air tube memos with the mattress construction unoccupied by a bed patient;
• (b) placing a plurality of bed patients of varying body weight sequentially on the mattress construction while measuring the changes in air pressure in said air tube means resulting from the weight of each patient placed thereon;
• 14 (c) correlating the various changes in air pressures in said air tube means due to patient weight changes to establish a linear relationship between air pressure variations and patient body weights;
• (d) placing a plurality of bed patients of varying body weight sequentially on the mattress construction and increasing or decreasing the air pressure in left or right side air tube means to move the patient's body on the air mattress to a predetermined measured angular position relative to the horizontal plane while recording the increase in air pressure required to move the patient to said pre-determined angle;
• (e) correlating the recorded pressure increases required to move the plurality of bed patients to the pre-selected angle to determine a linear relationship between the recorded values;
• and
• (f) utilizing the information obtained from the air pressure/patient body weight relationship and the angular position/patient body weight relationship to automatically determine a pressure cut-off limit for air pressure in the right or left side air tubes during patient body movement to a selected angular position based on body weight of the patient.