Systems and methods for processing surgical instrument tray shipping totes

• US 20060145856A1
• Filed: 02/15/2006
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: SDGI Holdings Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Nycz, Jeffrey H., Varner, Robert, Tethrake, Steven M., Chun, Chad
• Granted Patent: US 7,492,257 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00

Abstract

Systems and methods for processing surgical instrument tray shipping totes. A control system is adapted to control a bar code reader module, an RFID module, a database module and an interface module. The control system provides functionality adapted to process incoming and outgoing surgical instrument shipping totes containing one or more RFID-enabled surgical instrument trays. A database, ERP system or other system in communication with the control system alerts the operator of the status of an incoming tote and/or trays contained in the tote to increase processing efficiency and speed.

Claims

1. A surgical instrument tray shipping tote tracking system comprising:

a dual purpose bar code scanner and RFID reader/writer device; and

a series of computer readable instructions stored in the dual purpose device adapted to cause the device to;

activate a bar code scanner to obtain bar code data from a bar coded label affixed to a surgical instrument shipping tote;

activate an RFID reader to obtain identification information from one or more surgical instrument trays in the shipping tote;

query a database containing status information using at least one of the bar code data and identification information; and

activate an indicator based on the results of querying the database.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein querying a database comprises querying an ERP system software system to determine if any surgical instrument tray in the tote requires special handling.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein querying the database comprises determining whether any surgical instruments trays are missing from the tote or any unexpected trays are present.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the series of computer readable instructions further comprises instructions for storing the bar code data and corresponding identification information in the database.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the series of computer readable instructions further comprises instructions for initializing a surgical instrument tray.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein instructions for initializing a surgical instrument tray comprise instructions for receiving a data input and instructions for storing the data input in association with an ID number of the tray.

7. The system according to claim 5, wherein instructions for initializing a surgical instrument tray comprise instructions for initializing a surgical instrument tray comprise instructions for transmitting an RF signal containing the data input to an RFID tag associated with the surgical instrument tray.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the instructions for initializing a surgical instrument tray further comprises instructions for activating an RF reader to transmit a read signal to read the data input from the RFID tag.

9. The system according to claim 6, wherein instructions for receiving a data input comprise instructions for receiving a manual data input as the data input.

10. The system according to claim 6, wherein instructions for receiving a data input comprise instructions for activating a bar code scanner and receiving an input from the bar code scanner as the data input.

11. A computer readable storage medium containing computer readable instructions stored therein for operating a surgical instrument tray shipping tote inventory management system, the instructions comprising:

instructions for activating a bar code reader and for receiving a first input from the bar code reader, the first input originating from a shipping tote air bill label associated with the shipping tote;

instructions for activating an RFID reader and for receiving at least one second input from the RFID reader, the at least one second input originating from an RFID transponder tag corresponding to a surgical instrument tray in the shipping tote;

instructions for querying a status database using at least one of the first input and second input; and

instructions for activating a status indicator.

12. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the instructions for querying a status database comprise instructions for querying an ERP system, instructions for storing the at least one second input in association with the first input in the ERP system, and instructions for determining a status of at least one surgical instrument tray in the shipping tote.

13. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the instructions for querying a status database further comprise instructions for determining if any surgical instrument tray in the tote requires special handling.

14. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the instructions for querying a status database further comprise instructions for determining whether any surgical instruments trays are missing from the tote or any unexpected trays are present.

15. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the instructions for querying a status database further comprise instructions for storing the first and second data inputs in the database.

16. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 11, further comprising instructions for initializing a surgical instrument tray.

17. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein instructions for initializing a surgical instrument tray comprise instructions for receiving a data input and instructions for storing the data input in association with an ID number of the tray.

18. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein instructions for initializing a surgical instrument tray comprise instructions for transmitting an RF signal containing the data input to an RFID tag associated with the surgical instrument tray.

19. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein instructions for receiving a data input comprises instructions for receiving a manual data input as the data input.

20. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein instructions for receiving a data input comprises instructions for activating a bar code scanner and receiving an input from the bar code scanner as the data input.

21. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the instructions for initializing a surgical instrument tray further comprise instructions for activating an RF reader to transmit a read signal to read the data input from the RFID tag.

22. A control system for a surgical instrument tray shipping tote processing system comprising:

a bar code scanner module adapted to activate a bar code scanner and receive a bar coded input indicative a surgical instrument shipping tote air bill label;

an RFID module adapted to activate an RFID reader and receive identification information from one or more RF enabled surgical instrument trays in the shipping tote;

a status module adapted to query a status database using at least of the bar coded input and the identification information to determine a status associated with the tote; and

an indicator module adapted to activate one of a plurality of indicators based on the determined status.