IPC Definitions - January 01, 2012
A61G - Definition
This subclass covers:
Specially adapted vehicles (e.g., ambulances), handling apparatus (e.g., wheelchair lifts), or methods or devices (e.g., stretchers) for moving patients or disabled persons who are passive participants in their relocation (e.g., the persons are handled in a manner similar to loads).
Specially adapted structures (e.g., hospital or treatment rooms for medical purposes, baby incubators) or devices (e.g., bedpans, hospital beds, trapeze or pull-up bars) used
Specially adapted supporting surfaces for sustaining patients in a recumbent or seated position during recovery, surgery, dental work, or similar types of medical treatment.
Auxiliary appliances (e.g., trolleys for medicine) or accessories (e.g., prescription list) specially adapted for use with the other invention information covered by this subclass.
Relationship between large subject matter areas
A61G does not cover apparatus or methods that are directly used on an individual's body to perform medical care and therapy or to alter it after death. The types of medical care, therapy, and body alterations not covered by A61G consist of:
Subclasses A01NA61B, A61CA61F, A61HA61K, A61MA61N, and F23G provide appropriately for apparatus or methods for medical care, therapy, or body alterations of these types. The specific classifications that are of interest for search purposes are specified in the references of A61G or its groups.
However, A61G does provide for specific structural modifications that merely facilitate the use of apparatus or methods of these types for medical care or therapy when in combination with subject matter that is otherwise appropriate for this subclass (e.g., special supports for patients with burns).
A61G also provides for life supporting or sustaining devices that control the local environment during treatment or recovery of patients (e.g., baby incubators).
A61G covers personal conveyances and "vehicle-like" conveyances (e.g., wheelchairs, stretchers) that are explicitly designed for use by only a single patient or disabled person and intended to normally travel relatively short distances along the ground or similar support surface (e.g., hallway).
The subclass for a specific type of standard roadway vehicle (i.e., vehicles designed and intended for general thoroughfare usage over long distances, such as B62K for cycles) covers their vehicles that have been specially adapted for use by a disabled operator.
The subclass for a specific type of "special-utility" vehicle (i.e., vehicles that have another primary purpose other than transport, such as riding lawn mowers or forklifts) covers their vehicles that have been specially adapted for use by a disabled operator.
References relevant to classification in this subclass
This subclass does not cover:
Devices per se for enabling disabled persons to operate an apparatus or device not forming part of the body | A61F 4/00 |
Restraining devices for the body or for body parts and restraining shirts that are used for non-surgical treatment of patients' bones or joints | A61F 5/37 |
Equipment for beds, treatment tables, floor frames or the like for extending or stretching | A61F 5/045 |
Appliances for aiding invalids to walk about | A61H 3/00 |
Bathing devices for special therapeutic or hygienic purposes | A61H 33/00 |
For bicycles specially adapted for disabled riders | B62K 3/16 |
Inclined lifts associated with stairways for transporting disabled persons or wheelchairs | B66B 9/08 |
Illumination of operating tables | F21L, F21S, F21V |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
For preserving of the dead bodies of humans, animals, or the parts thereof | A01N 1/00 |
For sanitary equipment not otherwise provided for | A47K |
For body washing or cleaning implements | A47K 7/00 |
For sanitary closets or urinals without flushing and chamber pots | A47K 11/00 |
For appliances for supporting or fettering animals during operations | A61D 3/00 |
For vehicles adapted to transport meat | B60P 3/05 |
For vehicles adapted to transport refrigerated goods | B60P 3/20 |
In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
Disabled person | a human being that is unable to do a basic physical task (e.g., walking) due to a physical or mental impairment/condition. |
Funeral device | apparatus associated with (e.g., coffin) or for performing (e.g., casket lowering device) activities connected with the burial, cremation, entombment, or other methods of honoring or disposing of (e.g., freeze drying) the remains of the body of a deceased individual. |
Patient | a human being awaiting or undergoing any form of (a) medical care (e.g., testing) or treatment by medical staff (e.g., doctors, dentists, midwifes, chiropractors) or (b) physical tending (e.g., feeding) by caretakers (e.g., hospice or nursing home staff) due to impairment. |
Personal conveyance | a vehicle-like device (e.g., wheelchairs) that is: not specifically adapted for traveling significant distances (e.g., between cities) along thoroughfares (e.g., railways, roads, sidewalks) with normal traffic (e.g., trucks), explicitly designed (i.e., not merely adaptations of a standard production vehicle) for carrying, and intended to be limited to use by, a single patient or disabled person at any given time, and potentially capable of having either its movement controlled or powered by the patient or disabled person carried by it. |