Systems and methods for locating hospital assets
First Claim
1. A communicator comprising:
- a circuit, a microphone, and a speaker that cooperate to communicate using VoIP;
an active radio-frequency ID responder that utilizes an ultrawide band frequency; and
a display screen comprising an asset mapper.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A VoIP communicator utilizes an ultrawide band frequency, sufficient to determine a location of the communicator to within 1 meter, 0.1 meters, or less. The communicator preferably includes a display screen that displays a rich colored asset map. Several novel software functionalities are contemplated, including: (a) reporting the location of the responder as being within one of a plurality of business locations; (b) using scalar vector graphics to display the locations with varying degrees of detail; (c) displaying replay of movements of the assets; (d) displaying utilization profiles of the assets; and (e) coordinating the locations of the at least some of the assets data from a global satellite positioning system (GPS). It is still further contemplated that the inventive system can consolidates output from different types of nominally incompatible equipment.
-
Citations
25 Claims
-
1. A communicator comprising:
-
a circuit, a microphone, and a speaker that cooperate to communicate using VoIP; an active radio-frequency ID responder that utilizes an ultrawide band frequency; and a display screen comprising an asset mapper. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A system comprising:
-
a portable communicator that includes a circuit, a microphone, and a speaker that cooperate to communicate using VOIP, and an active radio-frequency responder; and a processor that cooperates with the responder to determine a location of the responder to within 1 meter. - View Dependent Claims (6)
-
-
7. A method of identifying a location of an asset to a user, comprising:
-
the user speaking an identifier of the asset into a communicator; a computer system using the identifier to select the asset from among a plurality of assets within a class, and automatically determining the location of the asset to within 10 meters; and displaying information regarding the location of the asset on the communicator. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A system comprising:
-
a plurality of portable communicators, each of which includes a circuit, a microphone, and a speaker that cooperate to communicate voice content; a plurality of assets, each of which is tagged with an active radio-frequency ID responder; and a processor that cooperates with the communicators and the responders to determine locations of the responders to within 1 meter. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
Specification