US 7,362,228 B2 · Smart instrument tray RFID reader

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.

Claims17

Dependent claims

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.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Smart instrument tray RFID reader

Life of this patent

Smart instrument tray RFID reader

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17