Patent ID: 7307245

Claim:
A temperature control system for thermally treating medical items to desired temperatures comprising: a temperature control unit including: a unit housing; a thermal treatment unit disposed within said housing to thermally treat at least one medical item; a controller to facilitate entry of a desired temperature and to control a thermal output of said thermal treatment unit to thermally treat said at least one medical item to said entered desired temperature; and a usage control unit to confine operational usage of said temperature control unit by a user for thermally treating said at least one medical item to be within an authorized use interval for said user defined by usage parameters associated with said user, wherein said usage control unit disables operation of said temperature control unit by said user for thermally treating said at least one medical item outside said authorized use interval associated with said user and said usage parameters include at least one of a time interval for said operational usage of said temperature control unit to thermally treat said at least one medical item, a quantity of thermal cycles, a quantity of medical items to thermally treat, and a duration a medical item remains within said system.