Method for tracking procedures performed on personal protection equipment and actions of individuals

• US 9,665,999 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2016
• Issued: 05/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Ptasienski, Lawrence J., Anderson, Mark T., Farioli Brioschi, Luca D., Ramirez Chaidez, Luis V., Hamerly, Michael E.
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Kerri
• Assistant Examiner(s): Akhter, Sharmin
• Application Number:
  US15/237,708
• Publication Number:
  US 20170032595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 287 Days
• Field of Search: 340 31, 340 52- 57, 340 592, 340 103, 340571-5731, 3405733, 3405734
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10009 sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
• 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: G06K 7/10544 by scanning of the records by radiation in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/257 electronically G07C9/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications

Abstract

A method for tracking procedures performed on personal protection equipment (PPE) and actions of individuals includes the following steps. An article of PPE configured with a smart tag is provided to an individual prior to performance of a task. After the individual performs the task, the article of PPE is processed. Information is retrieved from the smart tag during at least one of: before, during and after processing the article of PPE. After the performance of the task, the individual'"'"'s data is read and the individual enters into a designated area.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of articles of personal protective equipment (PPE), wherein each article of the plurality of articles of PPE has a respective smart tag that includes an identifier of the respective article;

a scanner configured read each respective smart tag associated with each respective article of PPE; and

a computing device communicatively coupled to the scanner, wherein the computing device;

receives, from the scanner, a plurality of identifiers that correspond to the plurality of articles of PPE and a first timestamp that indicates when an individual wearing the plurality of PPE entered a designated area;

stores, in a database of the computing device and in association with an identifier of an individual, the first time stamp and the plurality of identifiers that correspond to the plurality of articles of PPE;

receives, from the scanner, the plurality of identifiers that correspond to the plurality of articles of PPE and a second timestamp that indicates when the individual wearing the plurality of PPE exited the designated area;

compares, a time interval that is based at least in part on the first timestamp from the database and second timestamp to a predetermined time interval associated with at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE, to determine a history of the at least one article; and

generates a notification based at least in part on the history of the at least one article.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein to compare the time interval that is based at least in part on the first timestamp from the database and second timestamp to the predetermined time interval associated with at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE, the predetermined time interval is a minimum time interval and the computing device compares the time interval to the minimum time interval.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the computing device generates the notification that indicates the individual did not perform all of a set of actions for the at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the database comprises, for a plurality of respective individuals, different pluralities of identifiers of articles of PPE that are associated with different respective identifiers of the respective individuals.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein each of the different pluralities of identifiers of articles of PPE that are associated with different respective identifiers of the respective individuals are further associated with different respective timestamps that define respective histories for the respective articles of PPE.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises a report.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein to generate the notification based at least in part on the history of the at least one article, the computing device defines in the notification at least one of cleaning the at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE, maintenance for the at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE, or updating the stock level for the at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device and from a scanner that is configured read each respective smart tag associated with each respective article of PPE, a plurality of identifiers that correspond to the plurality of articles of PPE and a first timestamp that indicates when an individual wearing the plurality of PPE entered a designated area;

storing, in a database of the computing device and in association with an identifier of an individual, the first time stamp and the plurality of identifiers that correspond to the plurality of articles of PPE;

receiving, by the computing device, the plurality of identifiers that correspond to the plurality of articles of PPE and a second timestamp that indicates when the individual wearing the plurality of PPE exited the designated area;

comparing a time interval that is based at least in part on the first timestamp from the database and second timestamp to a predetermined time interval associated with at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE, to determine a history of the at least one article; and

generating a notification based at least in part on the history of the at least one article.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the predetermined time interval is a minimum time interval, wherein comparing the time interval that is based at least in part on the first timestamp from the database and second timestamp to the predetermined time interval associated with at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE comprises comparing the time interval to the minimum time interval.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein generating the notification comprises generating the notification to indicate that the individual did not perform all of a set of actions for the at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the database comprises, for a plurality of respective individuals, different pluralities of identifiers of articles of PPE that are associated with different respective identifiers of the respective individuals.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the different pluralities of identifiers of articles of PPE that are associated with different respective identifiers of the respective individuals are further associated with different respective timestamps that define respective histories for the respective articles of PPE.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the notification comprises a report.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein generating the notification based at least in part on the history of the at least one article, further comprises defining in the notification at least one of cleaning the at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE, maintenance for the at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE, or updating the stock level for the at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE.

15. A computing device comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a memory comprising instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to;

receive, from a scanner that is configured read each respective smart tag associated with each respective article of PPE, a plurality of identifiers that correspond to the plurality of articles of PPE and a first timestamp that indicates when an individual wearing the plurality of PPE entered a designated area;

store, in a database of the computing device and in association with an identifier of an individual, the first time stamp and the plurality of identifiers that correspond to the plurality of articles of PPE;

receive the plurality of identifiers that correspond to the plurality of articles of PPE and a second timestamp that indicates when the individual wearing the plurality of PPE exited the designated area;

compare a time interval that is based at least in part on the first timestamp from the database and second timestamp to a predetermined time interval associated with at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE, to determine a history of the at least one article; and

generate a notification based at least in part on the history of the at least one article.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the predetermined time interval is a minimum time interval, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to compare the time interval to the minimum time interval.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to generate the notification that indicates the individual did not perform all of a set of actions for the at least one article of the plurality of articles of PPE.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the database comprises, for a plurality of respective individuals, different pluralities of identifiers of articles of PPE that are associated with different respective identifiers of the respective individuals.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein each of the different pluralities of identifiers of articles of PPE that are associated with different respective identifiers of the respective individuals are further associated with different respective timestamps that define respective histories for the respective articles of PPE.