Pharmaceutical tracking
First Claim
1. An apparatus for tracking unit dose medical products, each of the medical products having a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith, the apparatus comprising:
- a casing comprising a compartment for receiving one or more medical products therein;
a reader for reading the RFID tags associated with the medical products in the compartment, the reader including a plurality of RFID antennas disposed in the casing; and
a processor coupled to the reader for receiving and processing readings of the RFID tags in the compartment to identify the medical products in the compartment, and wherein the processor identifies a medical product removed from the compartment by determining a difference between readings of the RFID tags in the compartment taken before and after the medical product is removed from the compartment, and wherein the processor monitors the time period between the time a medical product is removed and the time the medical product is to be administered to a patient if the medical product is of limited stability.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A medication dispensing unit is provided for tracking medical products having a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith. The dispensing unit includes compartments for receiving medical products therein, and readers for reading the RFID tags associated with the medical products in the compartments. A processor is coupled to the readers for receiving and processing readings of the RFID tags in the compartment to identify the medical products in the compartments. The processor may identify a medical product removed from a compartment by determining a difference between readings of the RFID tags in the compartment taken before and after the medical product is removed from the compartment. The processor may verify that the medical product removed from the compartment is authorized to be removed or confirmed that an identified patient is intended to receive the medical product being removed from the compartment. A system and method for counterfeit prevention is disclose, as is specimen, blood, organ and the like, tracking.
307 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus for tracking unit dose medical products, each of the medical products having a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith, the apparatus comprising:
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a casing comprising a compartment for receiving one or more medical products therein; a reader for reading the RFID tags associated with the medical products in the compartment, the reader including a plurality of RFID antennas disposed in the casing; and a processor coupled to the reader for receiving and processing readings of the RFID tags in the compartment to identify the medical products in the compartment, and wherein the processor identifies a medical product removed from the compartment by determining a difference between readings of the RFID tags in the compartment taken before and after the medical product is removed from the compartment, and wherein the processor monitors the time period between the time a medical product is removed and the time the medical product is to be administered to a patient if the medical product is of limited stability. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An apparatus for tracking unit dose medical items, each of the medical items having a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith, the apparatus comprising:
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a casing comprising a compartment for receiving one or more medical products therein, a terminal associated with the casing at which items intended for a patient can be selected, a reader for reading the RFID tags associated with the medical products in the compartment, the reader including a plurality of RFID antennas disposed in the casing; and a processor coupled to the reader for receiving and processing readings of the RFID tags in the compartment to identify the medical products in the compartment and to verify that a unit dose item removed is authorized to be removed and the removed item is assigned to an individual patient as the item is removed, and wherein the processor monitors the time period between the time a medical product is removed and the time the medical product is to be administered to a patient if the medical product is of limited stability.
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19. An apparatus for tracking unit dose medical products, each of the medical products having a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag uniquely associated therewith, the apparatus comprising:
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a dispensing terminal for receiving one or more medical products, a reader for reading the RFID tags associated with the medical products, the reader including an RFID antenna disposed at the terminal; and a processor coupled to the reader for receiving and processing readings of the RFID tags to identify the medical products at the terminal, and wherein the processor identifies a medical product removed from the terminal by determining a difference between readings of the RFID tags at the terminal taken before and after the medical product is removed from the terminal, and wherein the processor monitors the time period between the time a medical product is removed and the time the medical product is to be administered to a patient if the medical product is of limited stability. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification