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US 11,826,182 B2Granted
Medical supplies cabinet
AssigneeXoria Limited
InventorsStephen Ian Mann, Peter James Montgomery, Matthew Claridge, James Wellacott
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A medical supplies cabinet is disclosed. The cabinet comprises a housing presenting a medical supplies storage zone at where there is provided at least one medical supplies receptacle. The receptacle(s) is/are of a shape and configuration to be able to at least partly receive and hold at least one medical item. A sensor is associated with the receptacle(s). The sensor is configured to generate a signal indicative of the presence and/or absence, or removal of the medical item in/from the receptacle.
Claims20
A medical supplies cabinet comprising:
- a housing presenting a medical supplies storage zone where there is provided a plurality of medical supplies receptacles, each receptacle being of a shape and configuration to be able to at least partly receive and hold at least one medical item, and
- one or more sensors associated with the receptacles, the one or more sensors configured to generate signal(s) indicative of the presence and/or absence or removal of the medical item(s) in/from respective receptacles,
- wherein the medical items comprise at least two different kinds with which differently configured RFID tags are associated, and
- wherein at least one RFID tag reader connected to a plurality of RFID antennas is provided for at least one of the receptacles, the at least one RFID tag reader being among the one or more sensors and arranged and configured to read the RFID tags through the RFID antennas and determine at least one of the following:
- (a) if a correct medical item is located at its respective receptacle,
- (b) orientation of the medical item(s) when in the respective receptacle, and
- (c) information carried by the RFID tags,
- wherein a capacitive sensor comprising a pair of sensing elements is provided for at least one of the receptacles, the capacitive sensor being one of the one or more sensors and configured to generate a signal indicative of one or more of the presence, addition, or removal of the medical item(s) within/from the respective receptacle,
- wherein one or more of the receptacles are package-receiving receptacles each configured to receive a package having at least one of the RFID tags and including a plurality of one kind of the medical items such that the medical items are able to be individually removed from and/or added to the package, and
- wherein at least one of the package-receiving receptacles has one of the RFID tag readers and one of the capacitive sensors associated with it such that the RFID tag reader is configured to determine one or more of:
- (a) if a correct package is located at its respective package-receiving receptacle, and
- (b) orientation of the package within the respective package-receiving receptacle,
- and the signal generated by the capacitive sensor is indicative of a number of medical items within, removed from, or added to the package.
10 more elements
A medical supplies system that comprises:
- a plurality of medical items of at least two different kinds and with which differently configured RFID tags are associated, some kinds of the medical items being contained within packages such that the medical items are able to be individually removed from and/or added to the package, each package bearing at least one of the RFID tags;
- and
- a cabinet comprising:
- a housing presenting a medical supplies storage zone where there is provided a plurality of medical supplies receptacles, each receptacle being of a shape and configuration to be able to at least partly receive and hold at least one of the medical items, and
- at least one RFID tag reader connected to a plurality of RFID antennas and associated with at least one of the receptacles, the RFID tag reader being arranged and configured to read the RFID tags through the RFID antennas and determine at least one of the following:
- if a correct medical item is located at its respective receptacle,
- orientation of the medical item(s) when in the respective receptacle, and
- information carried by the RFID tags,
- wherein a capacitive sensor comprising a pair of sensing elements is provided for at least one of the receptacles, the capacitive sensor being configured to generate a signal indicative of the presence, addition, or removal of the medical item(s) within/from the respective receptacle,
- wherein one or more of the receptacles are package-receiving receptacles each configured to respectively receive one of the packages, and
- wherein at least one of the package-receiving receptacles has one of the RFID tag readers and one of the capacitive sensors associated with it such that the RFID tag reader is configured to determine one or more of:
- (a) if a correct package is located at its respective package-receiving receptacle, and
- (b) orientation of the respective package within the respective package-receiving receptacle,
- and the signal generated by the capacitive sensor is indicative of a number of medical items within, removed from, or added to the respective package.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.