Intelligent Refrigerator for Storing Pharmaceutical Product Containers
First Claim
1. A refrigerator for storing pharmaceutical product containers, comprising:
- a cold storage compartment;
a product identifier which will determine a unique identifier produced by a pharmaceutical product container located in the cold storage compartment, the product identifier having a read zone;
a local database;
an interface to a pharmaceutical product database comprising a set of details associated with the unique identifier;
an event monitor, coupled to the product identifier, which will generate an added item event code in response to introducing the pharmaceutical product container into the read zone; and
an event manager which, in response to receiving the added item event code, willi) if the set of details associated with the unique identifier already exists in the local database, then record the time the pharmaceutical product container was introduced to the read zone,ii) else, copy the set of details associated with the unique identifier from the pharmaceutical product database to the local database via the interface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Intelligent refrigerator system for storing pharmaceutical product containers, such as vials, ampules, syringes, bottles, medication tubes, blister packs and cartons, at the point of dispensing. Embodiments of the invention use product identification technology, such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and readers, to uniquely identify containers as they are added to or removed from the cold storage compartment of the refrigerator, and automatically retrieve from a local or remote database a variety of details associated with the containers and their contents, such as manufacturing data, expiration dates, time out of refrigeration, inventory levels, safety information, usage statistics, known contraindications and warnings, etc. If the details indicate that there is a problem with a particular pharmaceutical (e.g., that it is counterfeit, expired, suspect, spoiled, recalled or almost depleted), then a message or warning is automatically delivered to a human operator via an attached output device, such as a display screen, speaker or printer. Embodiments of the invention may also be configured to monitor and report temperature faults, power failures and other anomalies associated with the refrigerator or cold storage compartment.
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Citations
75 Claims
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1. A refrigerator for storing pharmaceutical product containers, comprising:
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a cold storage compartment; a product identifier which will determine a unique identifier produced by a pharmaceutical product container located in the cold storage compartment, the product identifier having a read zone; a local database; an interface to a pharmaceutical product database comprising a set of details associated with the unique identifier; an event monitor, coupled to the product identifier, which will generate an added item event code in response to introducing the pharmaceutical product container into the read zone; and an event manager which, in response to receiving the added item event code, will i) if the set of details associated with the unique identifier already exists in the local database, then record the time the pharmaceutical product container was introduced to the read zone, ii) else, copy the set of details associated with the unique identifier from the pharmaceutical product database to the local database via the interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A refrigerator for storing pharmaceutical product containers, comprising:
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a cold storage compartment; a product identifier which will acquire a unique identifier produced by a pharmaceutical product container if the pharmaceutical product container is placed into the cold storage compartment; a local database; an interface to a pharmaceutical product database comprising a set of details associated with the unique identifier; and a processor, coupled to the product identifier and the network interface, which will copy the set of details associated with the unique identifier from the pharmaceutical product database to the local database in response to the pharmaceutical product container being placed into the cold storage compartment for a first time. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A refrigerator for storing pharmaceutical product containers, comprising:
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a cold storage compartment; an interface to a data communications network; an RFID reader configured to read a radio frequency identification signal emitted by a transponder affixed to a pharmaceutical product container containing a pharmaceutical product; and a processor, coupled to the RFID reader, that identifies an event associated with the pharmaceutical product container based on the presence or absence of the radio frequency identification signal, and in response to the event, generates a message concerning the pharmaceutical product container. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50)
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48. A refrigerator for storing pharmaceutical product containers, comprising:
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a cold storage compartment; means for distributing messages to a human operator; an RFID reader configured to acquire a unique identifier from a radio frequency identification signal emitted by a transponder affixed to a pharmaceutical product container for a pharmaceutical product; a database comprising a detail associated with the unique identifier; and an event processor, coupled to the RFID reader, that identifies an event associated with the pharmaceutical product container based on the presence or absence of the radio frequency identification signal, and in response to the event, retrieves the detail from the database and distributes a message concerning the pharmaceutical product container to the human operator via the distributing means. - View Dependent Claims (49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63. A pharmaceutical product inventory management system, comprising:
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a refrigerator having a cold storage compartment, a product identifier that reads a self-identifying signal produced by a pharmaceutical product container, and an event monitor that detects and identifies an event and a unique identifier associated with the pharmaceutical product container based on the presence or absence of the self-identifying signal; a pharmaceutical product database comprising a set of details associated with the pharmaceutical product container; a network interface linking the refrigerator to the pharmaceutical product database; and an event manager, communicatively coupled to the event monitor and the pharmaceutical product database, that retrieves the set of details from the pharmaceutical product database based on the unique identifier and distributes a message concerning the pharmaceutical product container and the event to a human operator. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75)
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Specification