Liquid scanning system and method for IV drug verification and identification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10234404-B2
Application number	US-201415128027-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2014
Priority date	Mar 21, 2014
Publication date	Mar 19, 2019
Grant date	Mar 19, 2019

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for interrogating a liquid in a container. The liquid sample, such as drugs in a liquid base, is identified based on a radio frequency and/or ultrasonic measurement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
applying a radio-frequency (RF) signal to a liquid;
monitoring for an RF response signal comprising at least one of a reflected RF signal and a coupled RF signal in response to the applying of the RF signal to the liquid;
analyzing the RF response signal to determine an RF signal measurement in one of a frequency domain and a time domain;
comparing the RF signal measurement with one or more baseline RF signal measurements;
applying an ultrasonic signal to the liquid;
monitoring for an ultrasonic response signal in response to the applying of the ultrasonic signal to the liquid;
analyzing the ultrasonic response signal to determine an ultrasonic measurement;
comparing the ultrasonic measurement with one or more baseline ultrasonic measurements; and
determining an identity of the liquid or predicting an identity of the liquid based on the comparison of the RF signal measurement with the one or more baseline RF signal measurements and further based on the comparison of the ultrasonic measurement with the one or more baseline ultrasonic measurements.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating a temperature compensation factor based on a temperature of the liquid sample;
applying the temperature compensation factor to one of: the one or more baseline RF signal measurements and the one or more baseline ultrasonic measurements prior to one of the comparing of the RF signal measurement with the one or more baseline RF signal measurements and the comparing of the ultrasonic measurement with the one or more baseline ultrasonic measurements.

3. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein the applying the ultrasonic signal to the liquid comprises producing one or more pulse echoes;
wherein the monitoring for the ultrasonic response signal comprises:
receiving the one or more pulse echoes;
generating an electrical signal representative of the one or more pulse echoes; and
analyzing the electrical signal to determine the ultrasonic measurement, wherein the ultrasonic measurement comprises one of an ultrasonic velocity of the liquid and an attenuation of the one or more pulse echoes caused by the liquid; and

wherein the comparing the ultrasonic measurement with the one or more baseline ultrasonic measurements comprises one of comparing the ultrasonic velocity of the liquid with one or more baseline ultrasonic velocities and comparing the attenuation of the one or more pulse echoes caused by the liquid with one or more baseline attenuations.

4. The method of claim 3 ,
wherein the generating the electrical signal representative of the one or more pulse echoes comprises:
generating an analog signal representative of the one or more pulse echoes; and
digitizing the analog signal to generate a representative digital signal; and

wherein the analyzing the electrical signal to determine the ultrasonic measurement comprises analyzing the representative digital signal to determine the ultrasonic velocity of the liquid and the attenuation of the one or more pulse echoes caused by the liquid.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
applying a pressure to a container comprising the liquid;
measuring the pressure applied to the container; and
adjusting an amount of the pressure applied to the container until the pressure applied to the container is equal to a baseline pressure.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising determining a path length distance of a container comprising the liquid, wherein the analyzing of the ultrasonic response signal is based on the determined path length distance.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the RF signal measurement comprises one of one or more S-parameters, a center frequency, a level of impedance match, a current, a voltage drop, the RF signal measurement in a time domain, the RF signal measurement in a frequency domain, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) ratio of two or more RF signal measurements, an FFT difference of two or more RF signal measurements, the RF signal measurement to which a time domain algorithm has been applied and two or more RF signal measurements to which a Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression has been applied.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the RF signal measurement comprises one of: a real value, an imaginary value, a complex value, a magnitude, or a phase.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the monitoring for the ultrasonic response signal comprises monitoring for the ultrasonic response signal according to a time delay, wherein the time delay defines a period of time between applying the ultrasonic signal and a reception of the ultrasonic response signal.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying the ultrasonic signal to the liquid is at an ultrasonic transmitter, and the monitoring for the ultrasonic response signal in response to the applying the ultrasonic signal to the liquid is at an ultrasonic receiver.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising coupling the ultrasonic transmitter to a side of a container comprising the liquid and the ultrasonic receiver to another side of the container.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying a pressure to a container comprising the liquid;
measuring the pressure applied to the container; and
adjusting an amount of the pressure applied to the container until the pressure applied to the container is equal to a baseline pressure.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a high-voltage pulse;
generating the ultrasonic signal based on the high-voltage pulse, wherein the applying the ultrasonic signal to the liquid comprises producing one or more pulse echoes; and
wherein the monitoring for the ultrasonic response signal comprises monitoring for the ultrasonic response signal according to a time delay, wherein the time delay defines a period of time between applying the ultrasonic signal and reception of the ultrasonic response signal.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a path length distance of a container comprising the liquid; and
wherein the analyzing the ultrasonic response signal is based on the determined path length distance.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying the RF signal to the liquid comprises applying an RF signal between 100 Megahertz (MHz) and 15 Gigahertz (GHz) to the liquid.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying the RF signal to the liquid comprises applying an RF signal to the liquid according to a frequency sweep with a varying frequency between 100 Megahertz (MHz) and 15 Gigahertz (GHz).

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying the RF signal to the liquid comprises introducing the RF signal to the liquid by one of one or more wide band antennas, one or more narrow band antennas, a coaxial probe, a conductive pattern and a diode grid array.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring for the RF response signal comprises monitoring for the RF response signal by one of one or more wide band antennas, one or more narrow band antennas, a coaxial probe, a conductive pattern, and a diode grid array.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applying the ultrasonic signal to the liquid and the monitoring for the ultrasonic response signal in response to the applying of the ultrasonic signal to the liquid is at an ultrasonic sensor.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring for the ultrasonic response signal comprises monitoring for the ultrasonic response signal according to a time delay, wherein the time delay

Assignees

• Battelle Memorial Institute

Inventors

• Pirkle Wesley C
• Shoaf Richard L
• Welsh Raphael J

Classifications

• G01N29/4436

  with a reference signal (amplitude comparison G01N29/48) · CPC title

• G01N29/326

  compensating for temperature variations · CPC title

• G01N29/28

  providing acoustic coupling {, e.g. water (impedance matching G10K11/02)} · CPC title

• G01N29/032

  by measuring attenuation of acoustic waves · CPC title

• G01N22/00 Primary

  Investigating or analysing materials by the use of microwaves or radio waves, i.e. electromagnetic waves with a wavelength of one millimetre or more (G01N3/00 - G01N17/00, G01N24/00 take precedence) · CPC title