Smart instrument tray RFID reader

• US 7,362,228 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2005
• Issued: 04/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Nycz, Jeffrey H., Tethrake, Steven M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Benjamin C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Previl; Daniel
• Application Number:
  US11/116,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20060244593A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/568.1, 340/572.8, 340/539.1, 340/539.12, 340/539.11, 340/517, 340/521, 206/363, 206/370, 206/364, 206/365, 211/88.01, 211/85.13, 128/852, 128/846
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 50/33 Trays
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/98 using electromagnetic means, e.g. transponders
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/44 for the spine, e.g. vertebrae, spinal discs
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/4425 made of articulated components
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/4657 Measuring instruments used for implanting artificial joints for surgical instruments A61B90/06
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/443 having two transversal endplates and at least one intermediate component
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/4666 for measuring force, pressure or mechanical tension
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/2291 Linear or rotary variable differential transformers (LVDTs/RVDTs) having a single primary coil and two secondary coils

Abstract

A radio frequency identification (RFID) workstation reader for RFID-enabled surgical instruments and surgical instrument trays and a method of using a RFID workstation reader to read RFID-enabled surgical instruments and surgical instrument trays is disclosed. The method, apparatus, and system enable individual instruments or a surgical instrument tray containing several surgical instruments to be quickly and efficiently inventoried and tracked. An instrument or instrument tray is placed on the workstation reader. An RF field generated by a plurality of antennae, causes RFID tags embedded in or attached to the instrument or instrument tray to emit a signal containing item specific identification information stored in the tags. The information is received by a control circuit and passed to a computer for data analysis. A status LED is illuminated on the workstation reader based on the results of the data analysis. The method, apparatus, and system can track, inspect, and verify inbound and outbound surgical instrument kits, and help to assess the surgical instruments'"'"' and trays'"'"' duty life cycle usage.

Claims

1. An apparatus for identifying surgical instruments comprising:

a surgical instrument tray for accommodating one or more surgical instruments;

an RF transceiver unit, including a controller and one or more RF antenna transceivers, for projecting an RF field onto at least one surface of the surgical instrument tray to activate an RFID transponder tag associated with a surgical instrument and to receive a signal emitted by the RFID transponder tag, said RF transceiver unit integral to said surgical instrument tray;

an activation switch located on at least one surface of the surgical instrument tray;

a data processor electrically coupled to the RF transceiver unit, operable to compare the signal emitted by the RFID transponder tag with a value stored in memory;

a visual indicator located at least one surface of the surgical instrument tray operable to give a visual indication of a current state of the surgical instrument tray based on the comparison; and

a power supply electrically connected to said RF transceiver unit, said activation switch, said data processor, and said visual indicator.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the activation switch is selected from the group consisting of a physical switch and a wireless receiver operable to receive an external activation command.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the emitted signal comprises identification information for the surgical instrument to which the transponder tag corresponds.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the value stored in memory comprises identification information for one or more surgical instruments that should be associated with that tray.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the visual indicator comprises an LED panel with at least two different LED'"'"'s, each LED operable to indicate a different result of said comparison.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data processor is further operable to generate a report stored in memory indicative of the results of said comparison.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply comprises a battery.

8. A method of performing an inventory function with an RF enabled surgical instrument tray comprising:

activating the RF enabled surgical instrument tray;

projecting an RF field at one or more surgical instruments of said instrument tray to active an RFID tag associated with each of the one or more surgical instruments;

receiving a signal containing identification information from each RFID tag;

comparing said identification information against previously stored data; and

providing a visual indication of the results of said comparison.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the identification information comprises information selected from the group consisting of an identification name, an identification number, a manufacture name, a manufacture date, a date of first use, and a date of last update.

10. The method according to claim 9, the step of comparing further comprising comparing the identification information against stored identification information of surgical instruments that should correspond with the surgical instrument tray.

11. The method according to claim 10, the step of providing a visual indication further comprising illuminating a green LED if said received information matches said stored information and illuminating a red LED if said received information does not match said stored information.

12. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions therein for causing a computer processor to perform functions related to inventorying surgical instruments for use in an RFID enabled surgical instrument tray, the storage medium comprising:

instructions for generating an RF field with one or more RF antenna transceivers to activate an RF transponder tag associated with each of one or more surgical instruments;

instructions for receiving a signal emitted by each of the RF transponder tags containing identification information relating to items that the tags correspond to;

instructions for comparing said identification information to information stored in a memory of said surgical instrument tray to determine if said identification information matches said stored information; and

instructions for generating a visual indication of whether the identification information matches the stored information.

13. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 12, the identification information comprising information selected from the group consisting of an identification name, an identification number, a manufacture name, a manufacture date, a date of first use, and a date of last update.

14. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 12, the instructions for comparing said identification information to information stored in a database comprising instructions for comparing identification information of items on the surgical instrument tray with identification information of items that are known to correspond with that surgical instrument tray.

15. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 12, the instructions for generating a visual indication of whether said identification information matches said stored information further comprising instructions for illuminating one of a green LED and a red LED.

16. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 12, further comprising instructions for generating a report to be stored in memory when the identification information does not match the stored information.

17. The computer readable storage medium according to claim 12, further comprising instructions for writing new information to each of the transponder tags, the information including a date of current processing.