A positioning control system for a patient carrier comprises a camera system to acquire image information from a detection range. An analysis module configured to access the acquired image information from the detection range and compute operator-activity within the detection range from the acquired image information. The operator-activity representing a spatio-temporal pattern of activities of an operator in the detection range. From the operator activity compute a location of a target anatomy that is selected to be imaged. The location of the target anatomy that is to be imaged can be derived from the spatio-temporal activity pattern of the operator during the preparation of the patient to be examined.