System and method to monitor inventory of storage container
First Claim
1. A medical storage container monitoring system for reading a data carrier that is attached to a medical storage container and a data carrier attached to a medical article located in the storage container to manage the inventory of the storage container, the data carriers being responsive to electromagnetic (“
- EM”
) energy of a frequency f1 in response to which the data carriers provide identification data, the system comprising;
an enclosure having an internal storage area, the enclosure further having walls that surround the internal storage area and any medical storage container and medical article in the storage container with associated data carriers placed thereon, the walls configured to establish an obstacle to passage of external EM energy into the enclosure and an obstacle to passage of EM energy out of the enclosure, the enclosure having a natural frequency of resonance f2 which is different from a frequency f1 and to which data carriers that are responsive to frequency f1 are not operationally responsive;
an injection device disposed within the enclosure, the injection device configured to inject electromagnetic energy of a frequency f1 into the enclosure, wherein the position of the injection device in relation to the walls of the enclosure is selected so that reflected EM energy of frequency f1 within the enclosure is in phase at the injection device position to thereby create a forced resonance within the enclosure to obtain a standing wave of constructive interference of power transfer of EM energy at frequency f1 into the enclosure;
an active impedance matching circuit coupled to the injection device and configured to actively more closely match impedance of the injection device to impedance of the enclosure at frequency f1;
a medical storage container having a data carrier identifying the container, the container being located within the internal storage area of the enclosure and containing a medical article with an associated data carrier identifying that medical article, both data carriers being responsive to EM energy at frequency f1 but not operationally responsive to frequency f2;
a receiving antenna disposed within the enclosure and configured to receive the identification data provided by the data carriers;
a predetermined required inventory list of medical articles for the storage container including details of the medical articles on the inventory list;
a non-volatile memory on which is stored the predetermined required inventory list of the storage container including details of the medical articles on the inventory list;
a processor programmed to receive the identification data of the storage container and the identification data of the medical article in the storage container, locate the predetermined required storage container inventory list in the memory through the identification of the storage container, locate the details of the medical article identified in the storage container in the memory through the identification data of the medical article, and compare the details of the medical article against the required inventory list of the storage container to determine if all required medical articles are present in the medical storage container and if any are missing from the medical storage container.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for monitoring the inventory of a medical storage container that has a required inventory of medical articles. An enclosure is used to isolate, scan, and take an inventory of a tray or other container of medical articles each of which has an RFID tag. The enclosure having a size smaller than the size needed for a resonant frequency at the RFID frequency of operation of the tags. An injection device is used to create a robust electromagnetic field standing wave of constructive interference in the enclosure and a program compares the scanned present inventory of the tray to the required inventory database and indicates any differences. Expired and recalled articles are identified.
68 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A medical storage container monitoring system for reading a data carrier that is attached to a medical storage container and a data carrier attached to a medical article located in the storage container to manage the inventory of the storage container, the data carriers being responsive to electromagnetic (“
- EM”
) energy of a frequency f1 in response to which the data carriers provide identification data, the system comprising;an enclosure having an internal storage area, the enclosure further having walls that surround the internal storage area and any medical storage container and medical article in the storage container with associated data carriers placed thereon, the walls configured to establish an obstacle to passage of external EM energy into the enclosure and an obstacle to passage of EM energy out of the enclosure, the enclosure having a natural frequency of resonance f2 which is different from a frequency f1 and to which data carriers that are responsive to frequency f1 are not operationally responsive; an injection device disposed within the enclosure, the injection device configured to inject electromagnetic energy of a frequency f1 into the enclosure, wherein the position of the injection device in relation to the walls of the enclosure is selected so that reflected EM energy of frequency f1 within the enclosure is in phase at the injection device position to thereby create a forced resonance within the enclosure to obtain a standing wave of constructive interference of power transfer of EM energy at frequency f1 into the enclosure; an active impedance matching circuit coupled to the injection device and configured to actively more closely match impedance of the injection device to impedance of the enclosure at frequency f1; a medical storage container having a data carrier identifying the container, the container being located within the internal storage area of the enclosure and containing a medical article with an associated data carrier identifying that medical article, both data carriers being responsive to EM energy at frequency f1 but not operationally responsive to frequency f2; a receiving antenna disposed within the enclosure and configured to receive the identification data provided by the data carriers; a predetermined required inventory list of medical articles for the storage container including details of the medical articles on the inventory list; a non-volatile memory on which is stored the predetermined required inventory list of the storage container including details of the medical articles on the inventory list; a processor programmed to receive the identification data of the storage container and the identification data of the medical article in the storage container, locate the predetermined required storage container inventory list in the memory through the identification of the storage container, locate the details of the medical article identified in the storage container in the memory through the identification data of the medical article, and compare the details of the medical article against the required inventory list of the storage container to determine if all required medical articles are present in the medical storage container and if any are missing from the medical storage container. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
- EM”
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14. A method of monitoring a medical storage container by reading a data carrier that is attached to the medical storage container and a data carrier attached to a medical article located in the storage container to manage the inventory of the storage container, the data carriers having a specified operation frequency f1 in response to which the data carriers provide identification data, the medical storage container and medical article being located within an internal storage area of a enclosure, the enclosure further having walls that surround the internal storage area and any medical container and medical article with associated data carriers placed therein, the walls configured to create an obstacle to passage of external electromagnetic (“
- EM”
) energy into the enclosure and an obstacle to passage of EM energy out of the enclosure, the enclosure having a natural frequency of resonance f2 which is a frequency other than the specified operation frequency f1 of the data carriers, the method comprising;positioning a medical storage container within the internal storage area of the enclosure, the medical storage container having a data carrier identifying the medical storage container, the medical storage container containing a medical article with an associated data carrier identifying that medical article, both the medical storage container'"'"'s and the medical article'"'"'s data carriers being responsive to EM energy at frequency f1 but not operationally responsive to frequency f2; injecting EM energy of a frequency f1 into the enclosure from a location within the enclosure, the injecting location being selected in relation to the walls so that reflected energy of frequency f1 within the enclosure is in phase at the location of injection to thereby create a forced resonance within the enclosure to obtain a standing wave of constructive interference of power transfer of EM energy at frequency f1 into the enclosure; actively matching an impedance associated with injecting the EM energy into the enclosure to more closely match an impedance of the enclosure at frequency f1; receiving identification data provided by a data carrier associated with a medical storage container located within the internal storage area of the enclosure and identification data provided by a data carrier associated with a medical article located within the medical storage container by means of an antenna disposed within the enclosure; storing a predetermined required inventory list of the storage container on a non-volatile memory including details of the medical articles on the inventory list; receiving the identification data of the storage container and the identification data of the article in the storage container by a processor, locating the storage container predetermined required inventory list in the memory by the processor through the identification of the storage container, locating the details of the medical article in the storage container by the processor in the memory through the identification data of the medical article, and comparing the details of the medical article against that inventory list of the storage container to determine if all required medical articles are present and if any are missing from the medical storage container. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
- EM”
Specification