Medical cabinet communication system and methods

• US 10,115,073 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2017
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wavemark, Inc. (Cardinal Health, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wavemark, Inc. (Cardinal Health, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wicks, Nathan John, Leitermann, Richard Eugene, Saghbini, Jean-Claude Jacques, Rohrberg, Lars
• Primary Examiner(s): Frech, Karl D
• Application Number:
  US15/455,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20170262797A1
• Time in Patent Office: 600 Days
• Field of Search: 235385, 235383, 235380
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 2010/025 using stock management systems
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 5/0043 Show shelves shelves in general A47B96/02; brackets or similar shelf-supporting means A47B96/06; advertising or price indication G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10297 arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/22 Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Described is an RFID-enabled medical item storage, organization, and/or tracking device, such as a cabinet or shelf, that includes a limited-range wireless network communication capability, such as low-energy Bluetooth or Zigbee, to communicate with nearby cabinets, shelves or mobile devices, any of which may serve as a communication aggregator to coordinate the communication of multiple cabinets, shelves and other devices with an inventory management system or other back-end computer system or other device via back haul wireless or wired networks (e.g., the Internet).

Claims

1. A storage cabinet, comprising:

at least one shelf that holds items and divides an interior of the cabinet;

a first communication channel through which the cabinet communicates with an inventory management system;

a second communication channel through which the cabinet communicates with a nearby cabinet, wherein the second communication channel is a short-range wireless network channel; and

a transceiver device that establishes and transmits a signal of the second communication channel.

2. The storage cabinet of claim 1, wherein the transceiver device transmits a one-way signal.

3. The storage cabinet of claim 1, wherein the second communication channel includes Bluetooth, Bluetooth low-energy (BTLE), or Zigbee.

4. The storage cabinet of claim 1, wherein the items are medical items.

5. The storage cabinet of claim 1, wherein the first communication channel includes a local area network (LAN) or Wi-Fi.

6. The storage cabinet of claim 1, wherein the transceiver device is disposed on at least one of the shelves.

7. The storage cabinet of claim 1, wherein the transceiver device is disposed on each of the shelves.

8. The storage cabinet of claim 1, wherein the transceiver device is disposed at a front portion of the at least one shelf.

9. The storage cabinet of claim 1, wherein the signal of the second communication channel comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

an identification number of at least one of the items;

information about a characteristic of at least one of the items;

a status of the cabinet; and

information about a service need of the cabinet.

10. The storage cabinet of claim 1, wherein at least one of the items is associated with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and the storage cabinet includes at least one RFID reader configured to read the RFID tag.

11. A method for a first storage cabinet to communicate with a nearby second storage cabinet in an absence of a wired or Wi-Fi network connection in the first cabinet, the method comprising:

transmitting a signal from a first storage cabinet to a second storage cabinet using a short-range wireless network channel;

receiving the signal via a two-way radio on the second storage cabinet;

pairing the second storage cabinet to the first storage cabinet; and

communicating over a wired or Wi-Fi network, from the second storage cabinet, information associated with the first storage cabinet obtained from the signal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information associated with the first storage cabinet includes a status of the first storage cabinet.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the short-range wireless network channel includes Bluetooth, Bluetooth low-energy (BTLE), or Zigbee.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the second cabinet is located within substantially 100 feet of the first cabinet.

15. A storage system, comprising:

a first storage cabinet, including;

at least one shelf that holds items and divides an interior of the first cabinet;

a first communication channel through which the first cabinet communicates with an inventory management system;

a second communication channel through which the first cabinet communicates with a transceiver of a second cabinet, wherein the second communication channel is a short-range wireless network channel; and

a transceiver of the first cabinet that establishes and transmits a signal of the second communication channel; and

the second storage cabinet, including;

at least one shelf that holds items and divides an interior of the second cabinet;

a first communication channel through which the second cabinet communicates with the inventory management system;

the second communication channel through which the second cabinet communicates with the transceiver device of the first cabinet; and

the transceiver device of the second cabinet that establishes and transmits a signal of the second communication channel,

wherein the first and second cabinets are positioned within substantially 100 feet of each other.

16. A storage cabinet, comprising:

at least one shelf that holds items and divides an interior of the cabinet;

a first communication channel through which the cabinet communications with an inventory management system; and

a second communication channel through which the cabinet communicates with the inventory management system via a nearby transceiver, wherein the second communication channel is a short-range wireless network channel.

17. The storage cabinet of claim 16, wherein the nearby transceiver is associated with a handheld mobile device.

18. The storage cabinet of claim 16, wherein the items are medical items.

19. The storage cabinet of claim 16, wherein the short-range wireless network channel includes Bluetooth, Bluetooth low-energy (BTLE), or Zigbee.

20. The storage cabinet of claim 16, wherein the cabinet transmits an alert via the communication channel, the alert comprising at least one of the group consisting of:

an identification number of at least one of the items;

information about a characteristic of at least one of the items;

a status of the cabinet; and

information about a service need of the cabinet.