Patent ID: 8308355

Claim:
An electronic thermometer comprising: a controlling base disposed within a housing that retains controlling electronics programmed to at least calculate a sensed temperature; a probe assembly comprising a heat-conducting probe removably attached to the controlling base to communicate electrically with the controlling electronics; and an electronic memory associated with the probe assembly programmed to store and use at least one piece of probe-specific service information, wherein the at least one piece of probe-specific service information comprises the usage count of the probe and at least one of probe warranty information and error codes for malfunctions related to said probe, said thermometer further comprising a counter for generating the probe usage count, the counter being electrically coupled to the electronic memory for storing the usage count and the thermometer being configured to provide an indication that at least one of a replacement heat-conducting probe and an entire replacement probe assembly should be replaced, said indication being displayed to the user when the usage count of the probe reaches a predetermined number wherein the heat-conducting probe must first be detached from said controlling base for at least a predetermined time in order for said counter to trigger a usage count.