Patent ID: 11923059
Assignee: MEPS REAL-TIME, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A medical storage container supply system for reading an identification device that is attached to a medical storage container and for reading identification devices attached to medical articles located in the medical storage container to manage the inventory of the storage container, each of the identification devices being responsive to electromagnetic (EM) energy to provide identification data, the system comprising:
an enclosure having an internal storage area, the enclosure further having electrically conductive walls that surround the internal storage area and a storage container in which medical articles are located, each medical article having an associated identification device;
a probe disposed within the enclosure, the probe configured to inject EM energy into the enclosure;
a medical storage container having an identification device identifying the medical storage container, the storage container being located within the internal storage area of the enclosure and containing medical articles, each of which having an associated identification device identifying that medical article, the identification devices being responsive to EM energy to provide identification data;
wherein the probe is further configured to receive identification data provided by identification devices of the medical storage container and the medical articles stored in the medical storage container when they are located in the enclosure;
an electronic required inventory list having a required inventory of medical articles to be located in the medical storage container;
a non-volatile memory on which is stored the electronic required inventory list of the medical storage container; and
a processor programmed to receive the identification data provided by the identification device of the medical storage container, to access the non-volatile memory to locate the electronic required inventory list of the identified medical storage container, to receive identification data provided by the identification devices of the medical articles located in the storage container in the enclosure, and to compare the received identifications of medical articles to the required inventory list of required medical articles for the medical storage container to determine from the comparison at least one of whether there are missing medical articles not in the medical storage container that are on the required inventory list, and whether there are extra medical articles in the medical storage container but not on the required inventory list; and
wherein if the identification data of the medical storage container is not found in the database on the non-volatile memory, the processor is programmed to provide an alarm.