Multi-tag identification devices, variable-power standoff readers for same, and related systems

#The present invention generally relates to standoff identification systems. In particular, the present invention is directed to multi-tag identification devices, variable-power standoff readers for same, and related systems.

#Proper sanitation of workers in a variety of fields is important for inhibiting the spread of diseases, infections, germs, bacteria, etc. For example, in the health care field, the World Health Organization (WHO) opened its recent “Guidelines to Hand Hygiene in Health Care” (2009, ISBN 978 92 4 159790 6) with the statement “Health care acquired infections (HCAI) are a major problem for patient safety and its surveillance, and prevention must be a first priority for settings and institutions committed to making health care safer.” In the U.S. health care system alone there are an estimated nearly two million incidents where health care patients acquire infectious diseases from being in a health care facility. These infections, sometimes referred to a “nosocomial infections,” are unrelated to the patients' reasons for being admitted to their respective facilities. These infections are also labeled “HCAI” (or “HAI” when “healthcare” is written as one word, which is sometimes the case). Around 100,000 of the infected patients in the U.S. die from their HCAIs annually (about 273 people per day). This is greater than the number of people that die from automobile accidents, breast cancer, and AIDS combined. Another field where proper worker sanitization is important is the food service industry, where a single unsanitary worker, food-preparation tool, etc., can sicken many people that ingest food tainted as a result of improper sanitization. Still another field where proper sanitization of workers and their tools in the sanitization/janitorial field where the workers are responsible for sanitizing a variety of facilities, such as health care facilities (human and animal), food service facilities, restroom facilities, and virtually any other facility where infectious matter can be picked up by a human or animal by transmission from an unsanitized or improperly sanitized surface, object, etc., within the corresponding facility.

#In one implementation, the present disclosure is directed to an identification device for identifying a target. The device includes a plurality of linked tags containing identification information identifying the target, each tag: designed and configured to be readable by a standoff reading device; and containing linking information that allows the standoff reading device to associate the plurality of linking tags with one another; and a support structure designed and configured to locate the identification device proximate the target, wherein the plurality of linking tags are supported by the support structure.

#For the purpose of illustrating the invention, the drawings show aspects of one or more embodiments of the invention. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings, wherein:

#FIG. 1 is a plan view of an exemplary deployment of a sanitization protocol monitoring/compliance system of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a schematic/block diagram of a unitary station embodying a sanitization verification system that can be used in a sanitization protocol monitoring/compliance system deployment of the present invention, such as the deployment of FIG. 1;

#The present invention encompasses many aspects, features, and embodiments that can be instantiated in any of a variety of ways, such as systems, apparatuses, methods, and software. A number of these aspects, features, and embodiments are illustrated below. However, because of the fair amount of complexity attendant to actual instantiations of the present invention, the aspects, features, and embodiments are presented below in a way that, while providing specific examples, also convey the general and overarching aspects and features that those skilled in the art can use to create other instantiations that fall within the scope of the present invention and the appended claims. It should be understood that neither the examples provided nor the order of presentation of various aspects, features, components, and embodiments, should necessarily infer order of importance or inventive scope.

#In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a method of monitoring compliance of one or more monitored persons (e.g., health care workers, food service workers, sanitization/janitorial workers, etc.) with a pre-established sanitization protocol (e.g., a hand-sanitization protocol, a tool-sanitizing protocol, etc.) for one or more sanitization-protocol targets (e.g., a health care patient, a food-preparation area, health care facility/appurtenance, etc.). An important feature for some of the embodiments is the presence of one or more sanitization verification systems (embodied, e.g., in unitary sanitization verification stations) that provide means for at least testing for the performance of a sanitizing event by a monitored person and, in some cases, actually determining the effectiveness of the sanitization event, before authorizing a monitoring session, i.e., a time period where the monitored person is inferred or assumed to be in a sanitized state and, therefore, authorized to have a sanitized encounter with a sanitization-protocol target. Data collected from the testing performed at the one or more sanitization verification systems can be used in a variety of ways, such as in generating reports that track sanitation compliance of the monitored persons, to notify the monitored person and/or others of the effectiveness of the sanitization, to control the monitored person's actions subsequent to the sanitization event, and any logical combination of these, among other things. These and other benefits of performing verification/effectiveness testing on sanitizing events are described below in connection with detailed examples.

#It is noted that while the various aspects, features, and embodiments of the present invention can be applied to a variety of fields, such as the health care field, food service field, and sanitization/janitorial field, for convenience the focus of the following examples is on the health care field. To make these examples more readable, the terms “monitored health care worker” (“MW” for short), “hand-sanitization protocol,” and “monitored patient” (“MP” for short), and the like, are used in lieu of the more general terms “monitored persons,” “pre-established sanitization protocol,” and “monitored sanitization-protocol target,” and the like. However, the generalities should not be lost merely because of the nature of the examples.