BAR CODE READER FOR A MEDICAL DEVICE

• US 20150034713A1
• Filed: 07/26/2012
• Published: 02/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fresenius KABI Deutschland GmbH (Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: Fresenius KABI Deutschland GmbH (Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung)
• Inventors: Jones, Alaster, Grube, Frank
• Granted Patent: US 9,153,002 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 5/00 Methods or arrangements for verifying the correctness of markings on a record carrier; Column detection devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10 by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10792 Special measures in relation to the object to be scanned
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10861 sensing of data fields affixed to objects or articles, e.g. coded labels postal sorting B07C3/14, conveying articles B65G47/48
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records

Abstract

A bar code reader (2) for a medical device (3) is configured to be attached to a central communication device (1) to which at least one medical device (3) is attachable. The bar code reader (2) comprises a bar code scanning device (21) for scanning a bar code (4), a processing device (22) for decoding the scanned bar code (4) to obtain decoded bar code data which is contained in the scanned bar code (4), and a connection line (24) for outputting the decoded bar code data to the central communication device (1). The processing device (22) herein is operative to decode bar codes (4) of different bar code types. Furthermore, the processing device (22) is configured to map the decoded bar code data to a predefined standardized output format and to output the decoded bar code data in the predefined standardized output format via the connection line (24). Thus, a bar code reader and a method for processing a bar code scanned by a bar code reader are provided which are capable of reading and interpreting bar codes of a variety of different types and allow for outputting the data contained in a bar code in a manner such that a central communication device to which the bar code reader is attached may easily interpret the data.

Claims

1. A bar code reader (2) for a medical device (3), wherein the bar code reader (2) is configured to be attached to a central communication device (1) to which at least one medical device (3) is attachable, the bar code reader (2) comprising:

a bar code scanning device (21) for scanning a bar code (4),

a processing device (22) for decoding the scanned bar code (4) to obtain decoded bar code data which is contained in the scanned bar code (4), wherein the processing device (22) is operative to decode bar codes (4) of different bar code types, and

a connection line (24) for outputting the decoded bar code data to the central communication device (1),

characterized in that

the processing device (22) is configured to map the decoded bar code data to a predefined standardized output format and to output the decoded bar code data in the predefined standardized output format via the connection line (24).

2. The bar code reader according to claim 1, characterized in that the standardized output format is the XML format.

3. The bar code reader according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the processing device (22) maps the decoded bar code data to predefined fields of information of the standardized output format, for example, XML elements.

4. The bar code reader according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the scanned bar code (4) contains at least one of

patient identification information to identify a patient,

employee identification information to identify an operator for operating a medical device,

drug identification information for identifying a drug to be administered via a medical device, and

device identification information to identify a medical device.

5. The bar code reader according one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the scanned bar code (4) complies with the HIBC standard.

6. The bar code reader according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bar code reader (2) programmable to configure the processing device (22) to map the decoded bar code data to the predefined standardized output format.

7. The bar code reader according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the processing device (22) checks whether the scanned bar code (4) conforms to a valid bar code type.

8. The bar code reader according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the processing device (22) checks whether the scanned bar code (4) contains required information of predefined fields of information.

9. The bar code reader according to one of the preceding claims in combination with claim 3, characterized in that the processing device (22) checks whether the information of at least one field matches specific criteria like minimum and maximum number of characters and/or illegal characters.

10. The bar code reader according to claim 7, 8 or 9, characterized in that the processing device (22) produces an alert in case an error is detected.

11. The bar code reader according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that an error message is output via the connection line (24) to be displayed by the central communication device (1) or a medical device (3) attached to the central communication device (1) in case an error is detected.

12. The bar code reader according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bar code (4) is of a linear bar code type or a two-dimensional bar code type.

13. The bar code reader according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bar code type complies with the CODE128 standard, the PDF417 standard, the Data Matrix standard or the Aztec standard.

14. The bar code reader according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the connection line (24) is releasably connectable to the central communication device (1).

15. A method of processing a bar code scanned by a bar code reader (2) for a medical device (3), wherein the bar code reader (2) is configured to be attached to a central communication device (1) to which at least one medical device (3) is attachable, the method comprising the steps of:

scanning a bar code using a bar code scanning device (21) of the bar code reader (2),

decoding the scanned bar code (4) using a processing device (22) of the bar code reader (2) to obtain decoded bar code data which is contained in the scanned bar code (4), wherein the processing device (22) is operative to decode bar codes (4) of different bar code types, and

outputting the decoded bar code data to the central communication device (1) via a connection line (24) of the bar code reader (2),

characterized in that

the processing device (22) maps the decoded bar code data to a predefined standardized output format and outputs the decoded bar code data in the predefined standardized output format via the connection line (24).