Patent ID: 8145546
Filing Date: 2012-03-27
Classification: G06Q,G16H

Abstract:
1. A refrigeration unit for medical items, said refrigeration unit comprising: a refrigerated storage chamber in which medical items are held; at least one door mounted on said chamber, said door being moveable between a closed condition in which said chamber is sealed and an open condition where said medical items are openly accessible to users; a card reader to read an access card issued to an authorized user; a sensor associated with said storage chamber for automatically sensing removal of each item from said storage chamber and for generating first item identification data for each removed item; a scanner external of said storage chamber for subsequently reading data recorded on each item after the item has been removed from said storage chamber and for generating second item identification data; a processor configured to communicate with said card reader, sensor and scanner, said processor configured to compare the first item identification data generated by the sensor for each removed item and the second item identification data read by the scanner from the same removed item to detect coincidence, said processor configured to generate a transaction upon coincidence of said first item identification data and said second item identification data; and a communications interface to transmit said transaction to a remote computing site.