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Medical storage cabinet with RFID inventory

a technology for medical storage cabinets and inventory, applied in the field of cabinets, can solve the problems of difficult interrogation of contained tags, steel or metal interference with reading rfid tags, etc., and achieve the effect of improving the accuracy of inventory coun

Active Publication Date: 2014-07-17
S&S X RAY PRODS
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a medical supply cabinet made of steel that has individual compartments with steel shelves. The cabinet has a feature to record the inventory of items using an RFID transducer. The invention improves inventory count accuracy and avoids the drawbacks of previous designs.

Problems solved by technology

As mentioned earlier, the steel or metal can interfere with reading RFID tags, and is relatively opaque to the RF waves used in RFID techniques.
In addition, the configuration of the shelves and metal cabinet doors, sides, and back acts as a Faraday cage and makes the contained tags difficult to interrogate.

Method used

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  • Medical storage cabinet with RFID inventory
  • Medical storage cabinet with RFID inventory
  • Medical storage cabinet with RFID inventory

Examples

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Embodiment Construction

[0019]With reference to the Drawing, FIGS. 1 to 4 illustrate a steel medications cabinet or medical supply cabinet 10, formed of a top 12, base 14, back 16, left and right side walls 18L and 18R, and a number of internal shelves 20 (see cross section (FIG. 2) and also FIG. 5). These components are all of steel construction, and a steel frame of the cabinet holds all the components in place. The cabinet 10 may be a floor-standing model, or may be in the form of a cart 10 with wheels, rollers or casters, so as to be able to be rolled easily into a room or nursing station. The shelves 20 together with sides 18L, 18R, and top 12 define respective internal compartments 22, and there may be a number of pull-out drawers 24 as well; in this illustrative embodiment there is a stack of four drawers 24. The compartments 22 each have a door 26 hinged at one side, and a pull handle, and may have an electrically controlled latch that can be remotely or locally unlocked for access to the respectiv...

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PUM

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Abstract

A medication and / or medical supplies storage cabinet of all-steel construction has an RFID transducer or reader with an antenna array (i.e., an antenna or series of antennas) carried on a vertical elevator at the rear of the cabinet's metal shelves and drawers. The metal shelves, sides and back of the cabinet define successive compartments in which RFID-tagged item are stored. The vertical elevator may have a drive motor, e.g., gear-motor controlled by a computer associated with the cabinet. There may be a wall or window of a suitable radiolucent material at the rear of the cabinet to permit the RFID energy to radiate between the RFID antenna array and any RFID-tagged inventory items contained in the respective compartments or drawers.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates to cabinets for storing and dispensing prescription medical items and medical and hospital supplies, which can be free standing, mounted on rollers, or built into a wall, for providing practitioners with access to the medications and other items. The invention is also concerned with a cabinet made of steel or other electrically conductive material, which may be radiopaque, and provided with a built-in RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) transducer for interrogating RFID-tagged inventory items within the cabinet, and reading the RFID responses from such items.[0002]Many medical supply items, e.g., syringes, bandages and dressings, disinfectants, catheters, and patient medications, need to be available to health practitioners in the places where the patient is located. At the same time, it is important for the hospital supply technicians and pharmacy technicians to be aware of the inventory levels of items in the supply cabinet...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): G06Q90/00
CPCG06Q90/00A61G12/001G07F17/0092G16H20/13G16H40/67
Inventor SHOENFELD, NORMAN A.
Owner S&S X RAY PRODS
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