Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9715817B2/en
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 00:27:55+00:00

Document:
2013-05-02 First worldwide family litigation filed litigation Critical https://patents.darts-ip.com/?family=32111004&utm_source=google_patent&utm_medium=platform_link&utm_campaign=public_patent_search&patent=US9715817(B2) "Global patent litigation dataset” by Darts-ip is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/302,821, filed Jun. 12, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,396,638, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/049,308, filed Oct. 9, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,349,267, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/734,328, filed Jan. 4, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,598,996, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/901,891, filed Oct. 11, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,368,544, which is continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/185,556, filed Aug. 4, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,812,730, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/339,378, filed Jan. 25, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,408,470, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/698,652, filed Oct. 31, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,816, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/699,796, filed Oct. 30, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,818, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/162,537, filed Oct. 29, 1999, and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/169,315, filed Dec. 7, 1999, and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/223,365, filed Aug. 7, 2000; and all of the foregoing patents and patent applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Systems to promote hygiene have been used in the healthcare industries as well as the food processing and preparation industries. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,125,482, 6,038,331, 5,966,573, 5,952,924, 5,954,069, 5,945,910, 5,939,974, 5,900,801, 5,812,059, 5,793,653, 5,781,942, 5,610,589, 5,202,666, and 5,199,118.
Additional details concerning the structure and function of a suitable system for locating and tracking persons and which may be utilized to support various other features of the present invention are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,412, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Another location and tracking system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,344,794 which is hereby incorporated by reference. Additional location and tracking systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,275,385; 4,601,064; Re 35,035; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,633,742; 5,745,272; 5,818,617; 5,119,104; 5,387,993; 5,548,637; 5,572,195; 5,291,399; 5,455,851; 5,465,082; 5,515,426; 5,594,786; 5,689,229; 5,822,418; 5,822,544; 5,699,038 and 5,838,223.
Caregiver 110 continues on to nurse station 146, position (P). Since caregiver 110 is in a nurse contact zone at position (P), the hygiene monitoring system 100 initiates execution of the first handwashing logic. The previous position (0) of caregiver 110 does not have a handwashing compliance signal recorded. However, position (O), a hallway, is not a contamination zone. After determining that the maximum time permitted between handwashings has not been exceeded, the twice previous caregiver location, position (N) in patient room 148 d near bed 150 d is evaluated. Position (N) does not have a handwashing compliance signal recorded. However position (N) is a contamination zone. Therefore, a non-compliance data record is recorded at block 140.
a plurality of second sensors operable to sense hand washes by the person, the computer receiving handwashing information regarding the hand washes, wherein the computer is operable to keep track of periods of time the person spends in each location of the facility monitored by the plurality of first sensors, wherein the computer determines hand washing compliance by correlating hand washes with an amount of time within which the person enters or exits each location, wherein the computer is further operable to update status information associated with the person to indicate that the person is compliant if the computer determines that the period of time the person has remained in a current location after handwashing is less than an exit time associated with the current location.
2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of alert indicators, at least some of the plurality of alert indicators being located in proximity to a respective second sensor of the plurality of second sensors.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein each alert indicator is configured to display text messages relating to handwashing compliance of the person.
4. The system of claim 2, wherein each alert indicator is configured to display a visual indicator relating to a handwashing policy of the facility.
5. The system of claim 2, wherein at least some of the plurality of alert indicators are coupled to a respective patient bed of a plurality of patient beds.
6. The system of claim 2, wherein at least some of the plurality of alert indicators are located on a wall of a respective room.
7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a badge worn by the person, the badge being operable to communicate with each sensor of the plurality of first sensors.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the badge includes a first receiver to receive wireless signals.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first receiver receives wireless signals of a type different than those that are transmitted by the badge.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the badge transmits radio frequency (RF) signals and/or infrared (IR) signals.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein each sensor of the second plurality of sensors is associated with a respective sink.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein each sensor of the second plurality of sensors is associated with a respective faucet.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein each sensor of the second plurality of sensors is associated with a respective dispenser.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the respective dispensers comprises a towelette dispenser.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the respective dispensers comprises an alcohol dispenser.
16. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the respective dispensers dispenses a hand sanitizer substance.
a plurality of second sensors operable to sense hand washes by the person, the computer receiving handwashing information regarding the hand washes, wherein the computer is operable to keep track of periods of time the person spends in each location of the facility monitored by the plurality of first sensors, wherein the computer determines hand washing compliance by correlating hand washes with an amount of time within which the person enters or exits each location, wherein the computer is further operable to update status information associated with the person to indicate that the person is compliant if the computer determines that the period of time the person has remained in a current location after handwashing is greater than an exit time associated with the current location but is less than an exposure time associated with the current location.
a plurality of second sensors operable to sense hand washes by the person, the computer receiving handwashing information regarding the hand washes, wherein the computer is operable to keep track of periods of time the person spends in each location of the facility monitored by the plurality of first sensors, wherein the computer determines hand washing compliance by correlating hand washes with an amount of time within which the person enters or exits each location, wherein the computer is further operable to update status information associated with the person to indicate that the person is compliant if the computer determines that the period of time the person has remained in a current location after handwashing is less than an exit time associated with the current location but is greater than an exposure time associated with the current location.
a plurality of second sensors operable to sense hand washes by the person, the computer receiving handwashing information regarding the hand washes, wherein the computer is operable to keep track of periods of time the person spends in each location of the facility monitored by the plurality of first sensors, wherein the computer determines hand washing compliance by correlating hand washes with an amount of time within which the person enters or exits each location, wherein the computer is further operable to update status information associated with the person to indicate that the person is not compliant if the computer determines that the period of time the person has remained in a current location after handwashing is greater than an exit time associated with the current location and is greater than an exposure time associated with the current location.
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