Wirelessly tracking articles and containers thereof

• US 10,210,954 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2017
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meps Real-Time, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Meps Real-Time, Inc.
• Inventors: Caputo, Jimmy C., Hussain, Shariq, Shamblin, Jeffrey, Williams, Jr., James P., Elizondo, II, Paul M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sherwin, Ryan
• Application Number:
  US15/838,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20180114599A1
• Time in Patent Office: 435 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10168 the powering being adversely affected by environmental influences, e.g. unwanted energy loss in the interrogation signal due to metallic or capacitive objects in the proximity of the interrogation device or in the proximity of the interrogated record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10178 including auxiliary means for focusing, repeating or boosting the electromagnetic interrogation field comparable booster antennas integrated on the record carrier itself G06K19/07794
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10316 using at least one antenna particularly designed for interrogating the wireless record carriers antennas in general H01Q1/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10356 using a plurality of antennas, e.g. configurations including means to resolve interference between the plurality of antennas
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10415 the interrogation device being fixed in its position, such as an access control device for reading wireless access cards, or a wireless ATM banking machines in general G07F19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/22 Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/00 ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data for medical reports G16H15/00; for therapies or health-improving plans G16H20/00; for the handling or processing of medical images G16H30/00
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/00 ICT specially adapted for therapies or health-improving plans, e.g. for handling prescriptions, for steering therapy or for monitoring patient compliance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/22 by structural association with other equipment or articles
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2216 used in interrogator/reader equipment

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring the inventory of a medical storage container such as a tray that has a required inventory of medical articles. An enclosure is used to isolate, scan, and take an inventory of the tray or other container of medical articles. The tray and each of the medical articles in the tray has an RFID tag. The enclosure having a size smaller than the size needed for a resonant frequency at the RFID frequency of operation of the tags. A probe is used to create a robust electromagnetic field standing wave of constructive interference in the enclosure and a program compares the scanned present inventory of the tray to the required inventory database and indicates any differences. Expired and recalled articles and substitutes for recalled articles are identified.

Claims

1. A medical storage container monitoring system for reading a data carrier that is attached to a medical storage container and a data carrier attached to a medical article located in the storage container to manage the inventory of the storage container, the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article being responsive to electromagnetic (“

EM”

) energy of respective operational frequencies in response to which the data carriers provide respective identification data, the system comprising;

an enclosure having an internal storage area, the enclosure further having walls that surround the internal storage area and any medical storage container and medical article with associated data carriers placed therein, the walls configured to establish an obstacle to passage of external EM energy into the enclosure and an obstacle to passage of EM energy out of the enclosure, the enclosure having a natural frequency of resonance f2 to which the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article are not operationally responsive;

a probe disposed within the enclosure, the probe configured to inject electromagnetic energy of frequencies to which the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article are operationally responsive, wherein the position of the probe in relation to the walls of the enclosure is selected so that reflected EM energy of the frequencies of the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article within the enclosure is in phase at the probe position to thereby create a forced resonance within the enclosure to obtain a standing wave of constructive interference of power transfer of EM energy at the frequencies of the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article into the enclosure;

a predetermined required inventory list of medical articles for the storage container including details of the medical articles on the inventory list;

a non-volatile memory on which is stored the predetermined required inventory list of the storage container including details of the medical articles on the inventory list; and

a processor programmed to receive the identification data of the storage container and the identification data of the medical article in the storage container, locate the predetermined required storage container inventory list in the memory through the identification of the storage container, locate the details of the medical article identified in the storage container in the memory through the identification data of the medical article, and compare the details of the medical article against the required inventory list of the storage container to determine if all required medical articles are present and if any are missing from the medical storage container.

2. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the processor is also configured to determine if the article in the medical storage container is expired through locating the details of the medical article, including its expiration date, from the memory, comparing that expiration date to the present date, and providing a notice of expiration if the two dates match or if the expiration date of the medical article preceded the present date.

3. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 wherein the memory includes a database in which the details of recalled articles are contained;

and

the processor further being programmed to compare the details of the medical articles in the medical storage container to the recalled article database on the memory, and if the comparison shows that a medical article is recalled, to provide an indication of such recall status.

4. The medical container monitoring system of claim 3 wherein if the comparison shows that a medical article is recalled, the processor is further programmed to access a database showing if a substitute medical article exists for the recalled medical article.

5. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 wherein:

the processor is further programmed to determine from comparing the details of the medical storage container and the medical articles to the required inventory list if there are any extra medical articles in the medical storage container that are not included in the required inventory list of the medical storage container; and

if extra medical articles are detected, the processor is further programmed to provide an alarm whereby the extra medical articles may be removed from the medical storage container.

6. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 wherein if a determination made by the processor that there are missing medical articles from the medical storage container, the processor is further programmed to control a display to display a list of the missing medical articles.

7. The medical container monitoring system of claim 6 wherein the processor is further programmed to control the display to display graphical images of the missing medical articles.

8. The medical container monitoring system of claim 6 wherein:

the memory also comprises a database of diagrams showing the locations where medical articles are to be located in the medical storage container;

the processor is further programmed such that if the processor determines that medical articles are missing, the processor accesses the database of diagrams of the locations of medical articles in each medical storage container; and

controls the display to display a diagram of the location in the medical storage container in which the missing medical articles should be placed.

9. The medical container monitoring system of claim 6 wherein the processor is further programmed to control the display to display a diagram of the medical storage container and the locations of the missing medical articles in the medical storage container highlighted in the diagram.

10. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 wherein:

the memory further includes a database containing a list of the medical articles for a medical storage container;

the processor is further programmed so that when the processor receives the identification data of the medical storage container and the identification data of the medical article in the medical storage container, the processor accesses the memory and the list database and controls the display to display the list on the display with marks on the list indicating what medical articles were found to be present in the medical storage container.

11. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 wherein:

the memory also comprises expiration dates associated with medical articles; and

wherein the processor is further programmed to control the display to display an expiration indicator of a medical article in the medical storage container, the expiration indicator comprising a countdown of the number of days left until expiration of a medical article.

12. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 wherein:

the processor is further programmed to control the display to display multiple windows of data about the contents of the medical storage container wherein each window displays different information regarding the contents of the medical storage container, including at least one of;

a window for missing medical articles;

a window for expired medical articles;

a window for incorrect or additional medical articles not part of the storage container'"'"'s required inventory list;

a window for a required inventory list;

a window for recalled medical articles; and

a window for aggregated information.

13. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 wherein:

the processor is further programmed to control the display to display a screen asking for a time period of expiration including a drop-down list of selectable expiration periods; and

wherein upon receiving a selection of an expiration period, the processor is programmed to search for and list for the selected period all medical items expiring in the selected time period;

whereby any medical items listed as expired may be found in the medical storage container and replaced.

14. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 wherein if the identification data of the medical storage container is not found in the database on the memory, the processor is programmed to provide an alarm.

15. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 further comprising a passive impedance matching circuit coupled to the probe and configured to passively more closely match impedance of the probe to impedance of the enclosure at the operational frequencies of the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article.

16. The medical container monitoring system of claim 1 further comprising an active impedance matching circuit coupled to the probe and configured to actively more closely match impedance of the probe to impedance of the enclosure at the operational frequencies of the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article.

17. A method of monitoring a medical storage container by reading a data carrier that is attached to the medical storage container and a data carrier attached to a medical article located in the medical storage container to manage the inventory of the storage container, the data carriers being responsive to respective operational electromagnetic (“

EM”

) energy frequencies in response to which the data carriers provide respective identification data, the medical storage container and medical article being located within an internal storage area of an enclosure, the enclosure further having walls that surround the internal storage area and any medical storage container and medical article stored therein with associated data carriers placed thereon, the walls configured to create an obstacle to passage of external EM energy into the enclosure and an obstacle to passage of EM energy out of the enclosure, the enclosure having a natural frequency of resonance f2 to which the data carriers are not operationally responsive, the method comprising;

positioning a medical storage container within the internal storage area of the enclosure, the medical storage container having a data carrier identifying the medical storage container, the medical storage container containing a medical article with an associated data carrier identifying that medical article, both the medical storage container'"'"'s and the medical article'"'"'s data carriers not being operationally responsive to EM energy at frequency f2;

injecting EM energy to which the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article are operationally responsive into the enclosure from a location within the enclosure, the injecting location being selected in relation to the walls so that reflected energy of the injected EM energy within the enclosure is in phase at the location of injection to thereby create a forced resonance within the enclosure to obtain a standing wave of constructive interference of power transfer of the EM energy injected into the enclosure;

receiving identification data provided by the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article located within the internal storage area;

storing a predetermined required inventory list of the storage container on a non-volatile memory including details of the medical articles on the inventory list; and

receiving the identification data of the medical storage container and the identification data of the medical article in the medical storage container by a processor, locating the medical storage container predetermined required inventory list in the memory by the processor through the identification of the medical storage container, locating the details of the medical article in the medical storage container by the processor in the memory through the identification data of the medical article, and comparing the details of the medical article against that inventory list of the medical storage container to determine if all required medical articles are present and if any are missing from the medical storage container.

18. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 further comprising determining by the processor if the article in the storage container is expired through locating the details of the medical article, including its expiration date, from the memory, comparing that expiration date to the present date, and providing a notice of expiration if the two dates match or if the expiration date of the medical article preceded the present date.

19. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 further comprising comparing the details of a medical article in the storage container to a recalled article database on the memory, and if the comparison shows that the medical article is recalled, providing an indication of such recall status about the medical article on a visual display.

20. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 19 wherein if the step of comparing details of a medical article shows that the medical article is recalled, then accessing a database showing if a substitute medical article exists for the recalled medical article.

21. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 further comprising:

determining from comparing the details of the medical storage container and the medical articles to the required inventory list if there are any extra medical articles in the medical storage container that are not included in the required inventory list of the medical storage container; and

if extra medical articles are detected, providing an alarm whereby the extra articles may be removed from the medical storage container.

22. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 wherein if it is determined that there are missing medical articles from the medical storage container, then controlling a display to display a list of the missing medical articles.

23. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 22 further comprising controlling the display to display graphical images of the missing medical articles.

24. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 22 further comprising displaying a diagram of the medical storage container and the locations of missing medical articles in the medical storage container highlighted in the diagram.

25. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 wherein if it is determined that medical articles are missing from the medical storage container, then displaying a diagram of the location in the medical storage container in which the missing medical articles should be placed.

26. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 wherein when identification data of the medical storage container and the identification data of the medical article in the medical storage container are received, displaying a list with marks on the list indicating what medical articles were found to be present in the medical storage container.

27. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 further comprising displaying an expiration indicator of a medical article in the medical storage container, the expiration indicator comprising a countdown of the number of days left until expiration of a medical article.

28. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 further comprising displaying multiple windows of data about the contents of the medical storage container wherein each window displays different information regarding the contents of the medical storage container, including at least one of:

a window for missing medical articles;

a window for expired medical articles;

a window for incorrect or additional medical articles not part of the medical storage container'"'"'s required inventory list;

a window for a required inventory list;

a window for recalled medical articles; and

a window for aggregated information.

29. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 further comprising:

displaying a screen asking for a time period of expiration including a drop-down list of selectable expiration periods; and

upon receiving a selection of an expiration period, searching for and listing for the selected period all medical items expiring in the selected time period;

whereby any medical items listed as expired may be found in the medical storage container and replaced.

30. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 wherein if the identification data of the medical storage container is not found in the database on the memory, providing an alarm.

31. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 further comprising the step of passively matching an impedance associated with injecting the EM energy into the enclosure to more closely match an impedance of the enclosure at the operational frequencies of the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article.

32. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 17 further comprising the step of actively matching an impedance associated with injecting the EM energy into the enclosure to more closely match an impedance of the enclosure at the operational frequencies of the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article.

33. A medical storage container monitoring system for reading a data carrier that is attached to a medical storage container and a data carrier attached to a medical article located in the storage container to manage the inventory of the storage container, the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article being responsive to electromagnetic (“

EM”

) energy of respective operational frequencies in response to which the data carriers provide respective identification data, the system comprising;

an enclosure having an internal storage area, the enclosure further having walls that surround the internal storage area and any medical storage container and medical article with associated data carriers placed therein, the walls configured to establish an obstacle to passage of external EM energy into the enclosure and an obstacle to passage of EM energy out of the enclosure, the enclosure having a natural frequency of resonance f2 to which the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article are not operationally responsive;

a probe disposed within the enclosure, the probe configured to inject electromagnetic energy of frequencies to which the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article are operationally responsive, wherein the position of the probe in relation to the walls of the enclosure is selected so that reflected EM energy of the frequencies of the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article within the enclosure is in phase at the probe position to thereby create a forced resonance within the enclosure to obtain a standing wave of constructive interference of power transfer of EM energy at the frequencies of the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article into the enclosure;

a predetermined required inventory list of medical articles for the storage container including details of the medical articles on the inventory list;

a non-volatile memory on which is stored the predetermined required inventory list of the storage container including details of the medical articles on the inventory list, the memory including a database in which the details of recalled articles are contained; and

a processor programmed to receive the identification data of the storage container and the identification data of the medical article in the storage container, locate the predetermined required storage container inventory list in the memory through the identification of the storage container, locate the details of the medical article identified in the storage container in the memory through the identification data of the medical article, and compare the details of the medical article against the required inventory list of the storage container to determine if all required medical articles are present and if any are missing from the medical storage container, wherein if a determination made by the processor that there are missing medical articles from the medical storage container, the processor is further programmed to control a display to display a list of the missing medical articles; and

the processor also configured to determine if the article in the medical storage container is expired through locating the details of the medical article, including its expiration date, from the memory, comparing that expiration date to the present date, and providing a notice of expiration if the two dates match or if the expiration date of the medical article preceded the present date, the processor also configured to compare the details of the medical articles in the medical storage container to the recalled article database on the memory, and if the comparison shows that a medical article is recalled, to provide an indication of such recall status, the processor also configured to access a database showing if a substitute medical article exists for the recalled medical article.

34. The medical container monitoring system of claim 33 wherein:

the processor is further programmed to control the display to display a screen asking for a time period of expiration including a drop-down list of selectable expiration periods; and

wherein upon receiving a selection of an expiration period, the processor is programmed to search for and list for the selected period all medical items expiring in the selected time period;

whereby any medical items listed as expired may be found in the medical storage container and replaced.

35. A method of monitoring a medical storage container by reading a data carrier that is attached to the medical storage container and a data carrier attached to a medical article located in the medical storage container to manage the inventory of the storage container, the data carriers being responsive to respective operational electromagnetic (“

EM”

) energy frequencies in response to which the data carriers provide respective identification data, the medical storage container and medical article being located within an internal storage area of an enclosure, the enclosure further having walls that surround the internal storage area and any medical storage container and medical article stored therein with associated data carriers placed thereon, the walls configured to create an obstacle to passage of external EM energy into the enclosure and an obstacle to passage of EM energy out of the enclosure, the enclosure having a natural frequency of resonance f2 to which the data carriers are not operationally responsive, the method comprising;

positioning a medical storage container within the internal storage area of the enclosure, the medical storage container having a data carrier identifying the medical storage container, the medical storage container containing a medical article with an associated data carrier identifying that medical article, both the medical storage container'"'"'s and the medical article'"'"'s data carriers not being operationally responsive to EM energy at frequency f2;

injecting EM energy to which the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article are operationally responsive into the enclosure from a location within the enclosure, the injecting location being selected in relation to the walls so that reflected energy of the injected EM energy within the enclosure is in phase at the location of injection to thereby create a forced resonance within the enclosure to obtain a standing wave of constructive interference of power transfer of the EM energy injected into the enclosure;

receiving identification data provided by the data carriers of the medical storage container and the medical article located within the internal storage area;

storing a predetermined required inventory list of the storage container on a non-volatile memory including details of the medical articles on the inventory list;

receiving the identification data of the medical storage container and the identification data of the medical article in the medical storage container by a processor, locating the medical storage container predetermined required inventory list in the memory by the processor through the identification of the medical storage container, locating the details of the medical article in the medical storage container by the processor in the memory through the identification data of the medical article, and comparing the details of the medical article against that inventory list of the medical storage container to determine if all required medical articles are present and if any are missing from the medical storage container, wherein if it is determined that there are missing medical articles from the medical storage container, then controlling a display to display a list of the missing medical articles;

determining by the processor if the article in the storage container is expired through locating the details of the medical article, including its expiration date, from the memory, comparing that expiration date to the present date, and providing a notice of expiration if the two dates match or if the expiration date of the medical article preceded the present date; and

comparing the details of a medical article in the storage container to a recalled article database on the memory, and if the comparison shows that the medical article is recalled, indicating such recall status about the medical article on a visual display, and further, accessing a database showing if a substitute medical article exists for the recalled medical article.

36. The method of monitoring a medical container of claim 35 further comprising:

displaying a screen asking for a time period of expiration including a drop-down list of selectable expiration periods; and

upon receiving a selection of an expiration period, searching for and listing for the selected period all medical items expiring in the selected time period;

whereby any medical items listed as expired may be found in the medical storage container and replaced.