Abstract:
A system and method for automatic animal medicine inventory control utilizes a device such as a personal computer to track animal medicine arriving into a medicine stockpile, then continually update the medicine stockpile information as medicine is used during animal injection processes. As medicine stockpile levels reach a predetermined lower limit, an order for more medicine is automatically generated by an order driver driven by the personal computer.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to systems and methods for automatically tracking depletion of stockpiled animal medicines and automatically re-ordering medicines when stockpile levels fall below predetermined limits.  
         BACKGROUND INFORMATION  
         [0002]    Among the many reasons for lack of profitability among producers of food animals, operational inefficiency ranks high. Cattlemen highly skilled and knowledgeable in some aspects of food animal production are notoriously challenged in areas relating to running their operations as businesses.  
           [0003]    In an effort to minimize these inefficiencies, numerous advances have been made in tools available to cattlemen to assist them in efficient operations. For instance, automatic marking syringes such at the VAC-MARC®, an embodiment of which is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,494 to Hogan, offered for sale by the VAC-PAC Corporation of Marietta, Ga. (1-800-793-1671), allow cattlemen to automatically inject an animal with a medicine while marking the animal in a location proximal to the point of injection, thereby correcting many inefficiencies and errors in the animal injection process. Additionally, allowed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/803,820 to Hogan et al. entitled System and Method for Quality Assurance in Animal Medicine Delivery teaches a system for color coding medicine containers to facilitate ease of distinction between families of medicines, thereby making a cattleman&#39;s efforts to identify and use a certain type of medicine more efficient. Finally, pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/477,262 to Hogan entitled System and Method for Automatically Recording Animal Vaccination Information provides an automatic system for verifiably recording and associating both an identity of an individual animal and information relating to medicines given the animal. The aforementioned U.S. Patent and pending applications are hereby specifically incorporated by reference herein.  
           [0004]    One area of food animal production, however, retains the inefficiencies of years past. More specifically, cattlemen today evaluate their need for—and place orders to replenish—their animal medicine stockpiles in the same basic manner they always have. Essentially, a cattleman will physically inspect the refrigerator or other storage area for animal medicines, and when he notices that a particular medicine is in short supply, he will place an order. Today&#39;s almost all animal pharmaceutical companies accommodate on-line ordering as well as fax and telephone orders, but there is not yet any viable alternative to the physical inspection of the stockpile by the cattleman. If a cattleman gets too busy to order, or if he mistakenly thinks he has more of a particular medicine than he actually has, he could be left in a position of missing or delaying an important regimen.  
           [0005]    Accordingly, there is a need for a system for animal medicine accountability whereby amounts of animal medicine used are automatically subtracted from a previously recorded amount of stockpiled medicine, resulting in a real-time, accurate indication of how much of any particular medicine in on-hand in a local stockpile.  
           [0006]    There is a further need for a system for determining, in conjunction with the previously stated need, when the on-hand amount of medicine falls below a predetermined limit, thereby triggering an automatic re-order of the medicine.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    The present invention relates to a novel system for automatic animal medicine inventory control.  
           [0008]    An embodiment of the present invention includes a recorder for recording to a database of a computer the arrival of a supply quantity of an animal medicine into an animal injection environment. Once a supply quantity of a medicine in received into a cattleman&#39;s medicine stockpile, an intelligent syringe for simultaneously injecting an animal with an injection quantity of the animal medicine and then transmitting, responsive to actuation of the transmitting syringe, an information signal containing information relating to the actuation of the transmitting syringe, the resulting injection of the animal is accomplished and the amount injected upon actuation.  
           [0009]    A receiver is positioned proximal to the injection arena for receiving the information signal from the intelligent syringe. After receipt, the receiver forwards the information to a database within a personal computer, where the information is stored.  
           [0010]    A comparator in the personal computer automatically compares the cumulated injection quantities of the animal medicine injected by the intelligent syringe to the supply quantity of the animal medicine remaining in the medicine stockpile. If the amount of medicine remaining in the stockpile falls below a predetermined threshold, an order driver automatically transmits an order to a supplier of the medicine.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of the present invention in an exemplary operating environment.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary embodiment of an intelligent syringe in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a flow diagram detailing exemplary steps in performing the method of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0014]    Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of the present invention in an exemplary operating environment.  
         [0015]    More specifically, the Inventory Control System  5  (hereinafter referred to as the “System”) features logistical and procedural devices by which a cattleman  10  can operate out of a farm office  20  and an injection area  30  to deliver injections to a food animal  40  via a transmitting syringe such as an intelligent syringe  50 , automatically record information relating to the injections, then automatically transmit the information to a medicine supplier  60  via a transmission medium  70 .  
         [0016]    In operation, the cattleman  10  begins operation of the System  5  by entering identification data such as personal identification information into a personal computer (“PC”)  25  in his farm office  20 . Additionally, the cattleman  10  enters into the PC  25  information relating to a supply quantity of medicine received into the cattleman&#39;s medicine stockpile from a medicine supplier  60 . There are a variety of methods for entering the identity and quantities of medicine into a database of the PC  25 , but a recorder such as a conventional barcode scanner  26  is the preferred mechanism because of its ease of use and virtual elimination of transcription errors. The effective implementation of such a barcode scanner  26  depends, of course on the medicines received into the stockpile being labeled with a barcode containing information such as the identity and the quantity of the medicine, etc. Once information regarding a particular stockpiled medicine has been entered into the database of the PC  25 , the cattleman  10  is ready to begin the process of delivering individual doses of the medicine to the animal  40 .  
         [0017]    In preparation for an injection session, the cattleman  10  obtains a quantity of the medicine from his stockpile and identifies the medicine to the PC  25  as that which will be delivered to the animal  40 . There are a variety of ways in which a particular medicine may be identified to the PC  25 . The cattleman  10  may manually input into the PC  25  the identity of the medicine. Preferable to this, however is the use of a bar-code scanner proximal (or integral) to the intelligent syringe  50 . In such a preferred embodiment, each session quantity—a quantity of a medicine sufficient to provide anywhere from 25 to 100 individual doses—is individually coded with information such as a medicine code identifying the medicine and a quantity code. As the session quantity is connected to the intelligent syringe, a barcode reader reads the medicine and quantity codes and makes the information available to a computer such as PC  25  for purposes such as those identified herein. In any event, after the medicine is identified to PC  25 , the cattleman  10  continues to prepare to deliver injections to the animal  40  in accordance with the inventive concepts of the present invention.  
         [0018]    Further preparation for an injection session includes preparation of a syringe such as an intelligent syringe  50 . The intelligent syringe  50 , described with greater specificity during the later description of FIG. 2, is a syringe having the ability to substantially simultaneously deliver an injection to the animal  40  and transmit information relating to the type and quantity of medicine delivered to a database such as that in PC  25 . In one embodiment of the invention, the intelligent syringe is also able to deliver a marking ink spot to the animal  40 .  
         [0019]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the intelligent syringe  50  is connected to a medicine reservoir  52  containing a quantity of medicine such as a session quantity of medicine via a medicine conduit  54 . It is foreseen that many medical administrations will be of such a small amount, by volume, that the cattleman  10  can retain the medicine reservoir  52  on an arm, leg, in a backpack-type retention device, or even in the intelligent syringe  50 , itself, for ease of mobility about the injection arena  30 . In the embodiment in which a medicine reservoir  52  is used, the medicine conduit  54  is a flexible, tubular member securely interconnected between the intelligent syringe  50  and the medicine reservoir  52 . As is well known to those skilled in the administration of medicines to animals, all medicine delivery components must comport with relevant health and safety regulations, especially in view of the highly toxic nature of many such medicines.  
         [0020]    In preparation for commencement of animal injections, the cattleman  10  may also place a personal data device (“PDD”)  56  on his person for recording—manually or, preferably automatically—injection information as will be described momentarily.  
         [0021]    Now that the System  5  is activated for use, and the necessary medicine delivery components  50 ,  52  and  54  are in place, an animal  40  is moved into the injection arena  30 .  
         [0022]    When the cattleman  10  delivers a medicine injection to the animal  40  via the intelligent syringe  50 , the intelligent syringe  50  determines the amount of medicine delivered in a manner described further in reference to FIG. 2. Importantly, this injection information is delivered to the PC  25  for comparison to information such as medicine stockpile information, also maintained in the database of the PC  25 .  
         [0023]    Upon actuation of the intelligent syringe  50  to deliver medicine to the animal  40 , the injection information may be automatically conveyed to the PC  25  through any variety of well-known mechanisms. One such mechanism is a transmitter located in the intelligent syringe  50 . The transmitter, upon actuation of the syringe  50 , transmits an injection signal  58  containing injection information either to a proximally located receiver  66  or to a personal data device (“PDD”)  56 . It is also contemplated that the transmission of the injection signal  58  may occur via a conventional signal cable, though wireless transmission is far preferable.  
         [0024]    If the injection signal  58  is received by the receiver  66 , it is then relayed via communications link  68  to the PC  25 . If the injection signal  58  is received by the PDD  56 , the PDD  56  either transmits the information to the PC  25  via internet or other wireless connection, or periodically downloads the information to the PC  25  upon mating the PDD  56  to a so-called “hotsync cradle” or other physical connection through which information stored in the PDD  56  can be conveyed to the PC  25 .  
         [0025]    Once the injection information is received by the PC  25 , a comparator such as any well known comparator software module makes the simple comparison between the quantity of medicine delivered to the animal  40  and the amount of medicine remaining in the medicine stockpile. Predetermined lower limits of acceptable medicine stock in the medicine stockpile have been set by the cattleman  10  or his agent, and when the level of medicine remaining in the medicine stockpile falls below that predetermined lower limit, an order driver automatically initiates an order for more medicine to replenish the medicine stockpile.  
         [0026]    The order driver generates an order for more medicine that includes the type of medicine needed, preferred quantities—both session and overall—of the medicine, the identity of the purchaser and, likely, payment and delivery information. The information may be transmitted via the internet, via facsimile over the publicly switched telephone network, or an order card or purchase order may be generated for transmission via overland routes by carriers such as the US Post Office, FedEx, UPS, etc.  
         [0027]    When the automatically placed order has been filled and arrives back at the farm office  20 , it is entered into the database of the PC  25 . The stockpile information maintained therein is then updated and the system  5  continues the stated process.  
         [0028]    Referring now to FIG. 2, an exemplary embodiment of an intelligent syringe  50  in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown. More particularly, the intelligent syringe  50  of the preferred embodiment comprises, generally, a syringe handle  104  operatively connected to an intelligent syringe  150  and an ink dispenser  170 . The syringe handle  104  comprises a first syringe handle  110  pivotally connected to a second syringe handle  130 . The first syringe handle  110  is elongated, having a first end  111  and a second end  113 . An ink dispenser interface  117  is located generally adjacent to the socket  115  on the handle  110 . The handle  110  has a pivot hole in its second end  113 .  
         [0029]    The second syringe handle  130  of the intelligent syringe  50  is also elongated and has a first end  131  and a second end  133 . The first end  131  of the second syringe handle  130  may securely receive a hook  190  for storage of the marking syringe  105  between uses. The second syringe handle  130  is configured to function as a finger grip for the user. The second end  133  of the second syringe handle  130  is sized to slidably straddle the second end  113  of the first handle  110  and has a pivot hole through its thickness. The second handle  130  includes an integral intelligent syringe collar  132  and an integral ink dispenser collar  134 .  
         [0030]    During assembly, the second end  133  of the second syringe handle  130  is positioned over the second end  113  of the first syringe handle  110  such that the pivot holes in the ends  113 ,  133  are axially aligned. Thereafter, a pivot pin  120  is inserted through the aligned holes and appropriately secured therein in any number of ways, including deforming distal ends of the pivot pin  120  so that the diameter of the pivot pin  120  is larger at the points of deformation than the diameter of the pivot pin receiving holes, thereby preventing withdrawal of the pivot pin  120  through the pivot receiving holes. After the pivot pin  120  is properly positioned and secured, the second syringe handle  130  rotates about the axis of the pivot pin  120  in a plane defined by the second syringe handle  130  and the first syringe handle  110 . In use, the first and second handles  110 ,  130  are initially in a spread position. The user can then grip the first and second handles  110 ,  130  and squeeze them into a closed position as the handles  110 ,  130  pivot about the pin  120 .  
         [0031]    The intelligent syringe  150  is mounted between the handles  110 ,  130  by means of the collar  132  on the second syringe handle  130  and the socket  115  on the first syringe handle  110 . The intelligent syringe  150  comprises an intelligent syringe head  152  with a ball  153 , an extendible intelligent syringe shaft  151 , an intelligent syringe biasing spring  168 , an intelligent syringe plunger  160 , an intelligent syringe dosage chamber  161 , an intelligent syringe needle fastener  162 , and a needle  164 . In order to connect the syringe  150  to the handle  104 , the dosage chamber  161  is threaded into the handle collar  132  of the handle  130 , and the intelligent syringe head  152  is connected to the handle  110  by engaging the ball  153  of the head  152  into the socket  115  of the handle  110  in a well known manner.  
         [0032]    The head  152  is hollow and further comprises an intelligent syringe nipple  156  and an intelligent syringe stop flange  158 . The intelligent syringe nipple  156  may be integral to the hollow intelligent syringe head  152  and is sized to securely receive a syringe vaccine hose (not shown). Vaccine is delivered to the hollow interior cavity of the head  152  via the vaccine hose which is connected to a vaccine source (not shown). The intelligent syringe stop flange  158  extends laterally about the periphery of the intelligent syringe head  152 .  
         [0033]    The extendible intelligent syringe shaft  151  interconnects the syringe head  152  and the plunger  160 . The shaft  151  has an interior axial conduit (not shown) which communicates at one end with the interior cavity of the head  152  and at the other end with an interior axial conduit (not shown) through the plunger  160 . The syringe shaft  151  extends through an intelligent syringe collar  132  of the second syringe handle  130  and into the vaccine dosage chamber  161 . In order to vary the amount of the dosage, the shaft  151  has a vaccine dosage adjust valve  166 . The dosage adjust valve  166  comprises a collar that engages the plunger  160  on one end and is threaded onto the syringe shaft  151 .  
         [0034]    The intelligent syringe plunger  160  slides within the vaccine dosage chamber  161 . An O-ring  163  creates a liquid tight seal between the periphery of the plunger  160  and the interior wall of the dosage chamber  161 . The plunger  160  has a check valve (not shown) within its interior axial conduit that allows liquid to pass only in the direction toward the needle end of the syringe  150 .  
         [0035]    The vaccine dosage chamber  161  is formed of a translucent or transparent material and is secured at its first end to the intelligent syringe collar  132 . The vaccine dosage chamber  161  may be scored with incremental graduations to assist a user in dosage measurements. At its second end, the vaccine dosage chamber  161  removably receives an intelligent syringe needle fastener  162 . The intelligent syringe needle fastener  162  is fitted to capture a needle  164 . A check valve (not shown) is fitted within the needle fastener  162  to allow liquid flow only out of the needle  164 .  
         [0036]    An intelligent syringe biasing spring  168  is disposed around the intelligent syringe shaft  151  between the intelligent syringe stop flange  158  and the vaccine dosage adjust valve  166 . The biasing spring  168  is a compression spring which serves to return the syringe handles  110 ,  130  to their initial spread position after being squeezed closed by the user.  
         [0037]    When the handles  110 ,  130  are squeezed together, the plunger  160  moves within the dosage chamber  161 . The movement of the plunger  160  closes the check valve within the plunger  160  to force vaccine in the dosage chamber  161  through the check valve within the needle fastener  162  and out through the needle  164 . When the handles  110 ,  130  are released by the user, the check valve within the needle fastener  162  closes to preclude fluid or air being drawn into the dosage chamber  161  through the needle  164 . Simultaneously, the check valve within the plunger  160  opens to that vaccine is drawn into the dosage chamber  161  through the nipple  156 , the hollow head  152 , the conduit within the shaft  151 , and the conduit within the plunger  160 . By turning the dosage adjust valve  166 , the length of the shaft  151  is changed. Changing the length of the shaft  151  changes the length of the plunger stroke, and the amount of medicine delivered through the needle  164  is correspondingly changed.  
         [0038]    The ink dispenser  170  comprises a self contained storage unit  189 . The self contained storage unit  189  may take any number of forms well known to those skilled in the art of marking substance apparatus, including, but not limited to, a canister, ajar, a tube, or the like. Further, the specific form of self contained storage unit  189  is dependent upon the type of ink being utilized. For instance, a pressurized canister maybe used to store ink, which is suspended in, or in the form of, a compressed gas. Alternatively, a structure such as that used to store household caulk may be used to store liquid ink.  
         [0039]    To support and retain the self contained storage unit  189 , the second handle  130  may further comprise an integral retention cage  144  extending from the ink dispenser collar  134 . The retention cage  144  may take any number of forms well known to those skilled in the art of mechanical design. It will be appreciated that the form of the retention cage  144  is dependent upon the physical characteristics of the self contained storage unit  189  being used.  
         [0040]    The self contained storage unit  189  may comprise a pressurized canister  191 , the ink dispenser interface  117  having a contact point  118 , a retention cage  144  having a body  145 , a valve actuator  146 , a tip opening  147 , and a can detent  148 . The pressurized canister  191  may contain ink in the form of an aerosol, a non-aerosol compressed gas, or the like. The pressurized canister may be mounted to the second handle  130  my means of the collar  134  and the retention cage  144 . The pressurized canister  191  comprises a canister body  192  having a bottom surface  193 , a valve trigger (not shown), and an ink discharge orifice  182 . In order to install the pressurized canister  191  into the handle  104 , the canister body is inserted into the handle collar  134  of the second syringe handle  130  and maneuvered into the retention cage  144  until the can detent  148  makes contact with the bottom surface  193  of the canister  191 , thereby securely capturing the pressurized canister  191  within the retention cage  144 .  
         [0041]    After secure capture of the pressurized canister  191  within the retention cage  144 , the ink discharge orifice  182  extends through the tip opening  147 , and the valve trigger is positioned in contact with, or adjacent to, the valve actuator  146 . When fully inserted, the retention cage  144  assures that the bottom of the pressurized canister  191  is aligned with the radial path of rotation of the ink dispenser contact point  118  on the second syringe handle  130 , as defined by rotation of the second handle  130  about the pin  120 .  
         [0042]    Central to the preferred functionality of the system  5  is the transmitter circuitry integral to the intelligent syringe  50 . In an exemplary embodiment, the transmitter circuitry comprises a transmit trigger  184 , a transmitter  186 , a power source  188 , and a flow sensor  189 . As depicted in FIG. 2, the transmit trigger  184  may be positioned within the handle  110  proximal to the ink dispenser contact point  117 . The transmit trigger  184  supports a transmit sensor  185  positioned such that actuation of the intelligent syringe  50  by squeezing handles  110 ,  130  places the transmit sensor  185  in contact with the pressurized canister  191 . The transmit trigger  184 , powered by a power source  188  such as a battery, detects contact between the transmit sensor  185  and the pressurized canister  191  and relays an appropriate signal to the transmitter  186 . As previously described with reference to FIG. 1, the specific characteristics of the transmitter  186  will vary depending on the particular embodiment of the present invention being practiced, but in all cases, the transmitter is of sufficient signal strength and signal complexity to transmit, at a minimum, the injection information to a receiver.  
         [0043]    After the signal is sent from the transmit trigger  184  to the transmitter  186 , any detected flow of medicine through the syringe  150  is reported to the transmitter  186  for inclusion in the injection information to be transmitted to a receiver such as receiver  66  or PDD  56 . Depending on the configuration and capabilities of the transmitter  186 , a processor for accomplishing this information manipulation may be integrally incorporated therein, or the processor may reside separately within or proximal to the intelligent syringe  50 .  
         [0044]    Turning now to FIG. 3, a flow diagram detailing exemplary steps in performing an embodiment of the method of the present invention is shown. The method begins at step  200  and, at step  210  a quantity of medicine arrives at the farm office  20  from a medicine suppler  60 . At step  220 , the type, quantity and other important details relating to the medicine are entered into a database interconnected or integral to a PC  25 , preferably via receiver  26 .  
         [0045]    The intelligent syringe  50  is activated at step  230  and a session quantity of medicine is identified for injection into at least one animal. Thereafter, at step  240 , an injection is made into the animal  40 . The intelligent syringe  50  identifies at least the occurrence of the injection and the amount of medicine that flowed through the syringe  150  during the injection. The transmitter  186  transmits injection information containing information such as the amount and type of medicine to the database of the PC  25 , where it is recorded at step  250 .  
         [0046]    A comparator with access to the initially recorded (and possibly subsequently updated) medicine stockpile information and incoming transmissions from the intelligent syringe  50  regarding the quantities of medicine injected into the animal performs a comparison at step  260 . If, notwithstanding the injections, the amount of a stockpiled medicine exceeds a predetermined acceptable lower limit, there is no additional activity by the PC  25 , and the injections continue as shown in decision block  270 . When, however, the amount of a particular stockpiled medicine falls below the predetermined acceptable limit, a source for the medicine is identified at step  280  and, at step  290  an order for additional medicine to supplement the stockpile is automatically transmitted, preferably by either the internet or facsimile. The process ends at step  300 .  
         [0047]    It will be understood and appreciated that the spirit and scope of the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments referenced and discussed herein, but to the claims appended hereto.