PHARMACY SUPPLY TRACKING SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A method for tracking a prescription supply container within a defined area having a plurality of physically spaced apart locations, said method including the following steps:
- positioning a first tag reader near a first station in the defined area, said first tag reader in communication with a computer system and able to automatically detect the presence of a machine readable wireless tag when said tag is moved by hand to a position in close proximity to the first tag reader and send a first signal to said computer system;
tagging the prescription supply container with the machine readable wireless tag;
the computer system associating the tag with identifying information related to the material received within the prescription supply container;
manually moving the prescription supply container to an area in close proximity to said first tag reader;
the computer system detecting the presence of the prescription supply container at the first station by automatically sensing the machine readable remote tag attached to the supply container; and
,the computer system automatically recording the location of the prescription supply container at said first station.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A pharmacy supply container tracking system that automatically detects and tracks a pharmacy supply container within a defined area is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment the system also detects and tracks prescription orders of customers, and automatically verifies that the correct pharmacy supply is used to fill a particular prescription order. One disclosed system includes using machine-readable wireless tags, such as Radio-Frequency Identification (“RFID”) tags, and their related readers to locate objects through electromagnetic interrogation of a spatial region to determine the presence of an object within that special region.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for tracking a prescription supply container within a defined area having a plurality of physically spaced apart locations, said method including the following steps:
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positioning a first tag reader near a first station in the defined area, said first tag reader in communication with a computer system and able to automatically detect the presence of a machine readable wireless tag when said tag is moved by hand to a position in close proximity to the first tag reader and send a first signal to said computer system; tagging the prescription supply container with the machine readable wireless tag; the computer system associating the tag with identifying information related to the material received within the prescription supply container; manually moving the prescription supply container to an area in close proximity to said first tag reader; the computer system detecting the presence of the prescription supply container at the first station by automatically sensing the machine readable remote tag attached to the supply container; and
,the computer system automatically recording the location of the prescription supply container at said first station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification