Medical waste sorting system with sensing capabilities
AssigneeVesta Medical, LLC
InventorsScott Mallett, Randall Danta, Peter Regla, Alan Corey, Alan Davidner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for disposing of medical waste is generally configured to sort waste items into a plurality of disposable containers according to applicable rules and regulations governing the handling and/or disposal of such items. In some embodiments, a system comprises sorting stations, each of which houses a number of disposable containers. Each station can identify an item of waste, determine the most appropriate container for the item, and facilitate disposal of the item in the appropriate container.
Claims23
A waste system comprising:
- a plurality of container compartments;
- a plurality of containers coupled to the container compartments;
- a waste identification device, wherein the waste identification device is operable to identify different types of waste items;
- a means for processing the information received by the waste identification device and determining a waste category for the waste item;
- and
- an input device operable to receive information regarding the container coupled to the container compartment so as to associate each container with at least one waste category,
- wherein the system is configured to determine the container into which the waste item should be deposited based on the waste category associated with each container.
A waste system comprising:
- a plurality of container compartments;
- a plurality of container readers;
- a waste identification device, wherein the waste identification device determines different types of waste;
- and
- a plurality of containers coupled to the container compartments, wherein at least one container comprises an identification key,
- wherein at least one identification key is associated with at least one waste category such that the identification key is configured to indicate to at least one of the category of waste to be deposited into the container,
- wherein the container readers are configured to read the identification keys of containers positioned in the container compartments,
- wherein the station is configured to determine the container into which waste should be deposited based on the waste category associated with the identification key, and
- wherein the identification key readable by an optical sensor.
A waste system comprising:
- a plurality of container compartments;
- a plurality of container readers;
- a waste identification device, wherein the waste identification device determines different types of waste;
- and
- a plurality of containers positioned in or coupled to the container compartments, wherein at least one container comprises an identification key,
- wherein at least one identification key is associated with at least one waste category such that the identification key is configured to indicate to at least one of the category of waste to be deposited into the container,
- wherein the container readers are configured to read the identification keys of containers positioned in the container compartments,
- wherein the station is configured to determine the container into which waste should be deposited based on the waste category associated with the identification key, and
- wherein the identification key is readable by a magnetic sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.