Portable RFID tagged carrier for sterile implants and biological products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9307756-B2
Application number	US-201113281588-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 26, 2011
Priority date	Oct 26, 2011
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

Intelligent portable carrier device for supporting movement in product tracking and monitoring of regulated products, such as tissue and biologics. Embodiments of the invention use product identification technology, such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and readers, to uniquely identify the regulated products as they are added to or removed from the intelligent portable carrier device. Embodiments of the invention may also be configured to monitor and report temperature and other environmental conditions associated with the intelligent portable carrier device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An intelligent portable carrier device comprising a housing including a lid-closure mechanism, a storage compartment, a battery compartment and a processor compartment, the housing being constructed of an RF absorptive material and configured such that any RF emitted energy within the housing does not emit outside the housing, the storage compartment comprising a plurality of regulated products disposed therein, the regulated products each comprising a read-write radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag coupled thereto, the read-write RFID tags each comprising a biosensor configured to detect a condition of the storage compartment, the device comprising a RF reader in the processor compartment configured to collect, decode and pass on information relating to the condition of the storage compartment based upon signals from the tags and to detect whether each of the regulated products is currently in the storage compartment or has been added to or removed from the storage compartment based upon signals from the tags.

2. The intelligent portable carrier device of claim 1 , wherein the read-write RFID tags are active RFID tags that are coupled to the regulated products before the regulated products are placed inside the carrier device.

3. The intelligent portable carrier device of claim 1 , further comprising a global positioning receiver module for receiving signals from a global positioning system (GPS) and determining a location of said intelligent portable carrier device.

4. The intelligent portable carrier device of claim 1 , wherein the read-write RFID tags each include a RFID transponder that communicates with the reader and the device further comprises:
a plurality of antennas interfaced with the reader configured to communicate radio frequency (RF) signals with the RFID transponders; and
at least one processor in communication with the reader, configured for:
i. generating event-identifying codes in response to detecting the presence or absence of an RFID tagged regulated product within the device; and
ii. generating condition related event codes in response to changes in the condition of the storage compartment.

5. The intelligent portable carrier device of claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises an insulative material configured to maintain a relatively standard temperature within the housing relative to an atmospheric environment.

6. The intelligent portable carrier device of claim 1 , wherein the read-write RFID tags are each configured to update prior information or add new information related to an environmental condition within the housing.

7. The intelligent portable carrier device of claim 1 , wherein the biosensors are configured to measure and record a temperature within the housing, the read-write RFID tags each being configured to update prior information or add new information related the recorded temperature such that the recorded temperature can be determined by a RFID reader.

8. The intelligent portable carrier device of claim 1 , wherein the condition is temperature and the RF absorptive material is carbon fiber.

9. The intelligent portable carrier device of claim 1 , wherein the regulated products are selected from a group consisting of sterile implants and biologics.

10. A method for providing improved product tracking and monitoring of regulated products, the method comprising:
providing an intelligent portable carrier device comprising a housing having storage compartment, a battery compartment, a processor compartment and a lid-closure mechanism, the housing being constructed of an RF absorptive material and configured such that any RF emitted energy within the housing does not emit outside the housing;
affixing a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag to at least one regulated product initialized with at least a product ID code unique to the product type and a serial number unique to the at least one specific regulated product, the RFID tag comprising a biosensor configured to detect a condition of the storage compartment;
placing the at least one tagged regulated product into the storage compartment;
scanning the RFID tag with a scanning device comprising a RFID reader to determine the product ID code and serial number, the scanning device being configured to determine the condition of the storage component based upon signals from the RFID tag and to detect whether the at least one regulated product is currently in the storage compartment or has been added to or removed from the storage compartment based upon signals from the RFID tag;
receiving the scanned data from said scanner into a local processor, the processor positioned in the processor compartment;
transmitting said scanned data from said local processor through an electronic data network to a tracking server;
creating a data record on said tracking server to contain said scanned data;
providing a power fail circuit configured to detect a power failure condition of the device; and
generating a power failure event code if the power fail circuit detects a power failure condition.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of scanning the RFID tag with a scanning device to determine the product ID code and serial number is performed periodically.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the RFID continuously monitors the condition of the storage compartment.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the condition of the storage compartment is temperature.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising a step of generating an event-identifying code in response to detecting that a tagged regulated product has been added to or removed from a compartment of the intelligent portable carrier device which houses the regulated products.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising storing the event-identifying code in an internal memory associated with a processor of the intelligent portable carrier device.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising a step of generating an environmental condition change related code in response to a change in the condition of the storage compartment.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of transmitting said scanned data from said local processor through an electronic data network to a tracking server comprises wirelessly transmitting said scanned data to a server of an existing back-end inventory tracking system via a transceiver of the intelligent portable carrier device.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving signals from a global positioning system and determining a location of the intelligent portable carrier device from the received signals.

19. The method of claim 10 , wherein generating the power failure event code comprises determining a starting time of the power failure condition and then storing the power failure event code and the starting time of the power failure condition.

20. An intelligent portable carrier device comprising a housing including a lid-closure mechanism, a storage compartment, a battery compartment and a processor compartment, the housing being constructed carbon fiber and is configured such that any RF emitted energy within the housing does not emit outside the housing, the storage compartment comprising a plurality of regulated products disposed therein, the regulated products being selected from a group consisting of sterile implants and biologics, the regulated products each comprising a read-write radio-frequency identification tag coupled thereto, the tags each comprising a biosensor configured to detect a temper

Assignees

• Clement Wesley J
• Tethrake Steven M
• Warsaw Orthopedic Inc

Inventors

• Clement Wesley J
• Tethrake Steven M

Classifications

• G16H40/20

  for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms · CPC title

• A61B10/0096

  Casings for storing test samples (A61B10/0038, A61B10/0045 take precedence; preservation of living parts of the human or animal body A01N1/10; containers for retaining a material to be analysed B01L3/50; containers for enzymology or microbiology C12M1/16; swab-sampler being part of enzymology or microbiology container C12M1/30) · CPC title

• G06Q10/08

  Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management · CPC title

• B01L2200/147

  Employing temperature sensors · CPC title

• B01L3/545

  for laboratory containers · CPC title