Patent ID: 8346382

Claim:
A system for storing samples, the system comprising at least one first cabinet, at least one first box, and one or more sample containers, wherein: the first cabinet comprises first cabinet control electronics and is configured to receive the first box; the first box comprises first box control electronics and is configured to receive the one or more sample containers, each sample container comprising container electronics and configured to store a sample; the first box control electronics is configured to communicate with the container electronics of each sample container received by the first box; the container electronics of each sample container is configured to communicate sample-identification information for the sample stored in the sample container to the first box control electronics; the first box control electronics is configured to communicate the sample-identification information towards the first cabinet control electronics; the first cabinet control electronics is configured to communicate the sample-identification information to a host computer for the system; each container electronics is an RFID tag having an associated tag coil; the first box has at least one reader coil associated with each sample container received by the first box; and the first box has a plurality of slots, each slot having an associated reader coil, such that, if a sample container is inserted within a slot, the associated reader coil is configured to energize the tag coil of the corresponding slot to activate the associated RFID tag.