Patent ID: 7349856

Claim:
A method for selectively enabling or blocking usage of a medical implement selected from the group consisting of medical equipment and a system option in said medical equipment, comprising the steps of: for a customer of a vendor of said medical implement, said customer having a facility at which said medical implement is located, storing a compilation at a computer of said vendor which designates a usage level of said customer indicting whether said customer is permitted to use said medical implement and whether said customer is restricted to use said medical implement only to an extent that is less than unrestricted, complete use of said medical implement; when said customer desires to use said medical implement, establishing communication between a computer of said medical implement and said computer of said vendor and communicating usage data from said computer of said medical implement to said computer of said vendor; based on said usage data, reviewing said compilation at said computer of said vendor to determine whether said customer is authorized to use said medical implement; additionally reviewing, dependent on said compilation at said computer of said vendor, whether said customer has an economic relationship with said vendor consistent with said usage level for use of said medical implement; and automatically enabling said use of said medical implement by said customer according to said usage level by communicating enabling data from said computer of said vendor to said computer of said medical implement when, based on said review, said authorization and said economic relationship exist, and automatically communicating blocking data from said computer of said vendor to said computer of said medical implement that automatically blocks usage of said medical implement by said customer if, based on said review, either of said authorization or said economic status does not exist.