Medical cabinet communication system and methods

Inventors

Wicks, Nathan John • LEITERMANN, RICHARD EUGENE • Saghbini, Jean-Claude Jacques • Rohrberg, Lars

Assignees

WaveMark Inc

Abstract

Described is an RFID-enabled medical item storage, organization, and/or tracking device, such as a cabinet or shelf, that includes a limited-range wireless network communication capability, such as low-energy Bluetooth or Zigbee, to communicate with nearby cabinets, shelves or mobile devices, any of which may serve as a communication aggregator to coordinate the communication of multiple cabinets, shelves and other devices with an inventory management system or other back-end computer system or other device via back haul wireless or wired networks (e.g., the Internet).

Core Innovation

A storage cabinet includes a shelf configured to support an item within the cabinet and uses RFID-enabled item information in combination with communication devices. The cabinet communicates with an inventory management system via a first communication channel using a first communication device, and in parallel transmits a beacon signal using a second communication device through a short-range wireless network channel.

The short-range wireless beaconing supports local and peer communication and pairing, including two-way pairing between nearby cabinets, shelves, and mobile devices. The beaconing and signals sent to mobile devices are based on information received from the inventory management system and/or information read from RFID tags associated with the cabinet or supported items.

The mobile-facing communication conveys status and diagnostics, including backup power and operational status, and inventory or tag-related information such as serial numbers and expired or recalled product notifications. In some embodiments described for smart shelves, the cabinet or shelf includes local intelligence, and a communication aggregator coordinates multiple shelves.

Proximity discovery with a mobile device is driven by wireless beacon signal strength, and the cabinet or shelf provides visual indications using multi-color LED indicators based on inventory or alert status and/or offline or diagnostic conditions.

Claims Coverage

Independent claims clm-00001 and clm-00009 define two main inventive setups, both centered on a storage cabinet with a shelf and multiple communication devices. Across these independent claims, the inventive features include inventory-management communication via a first channel and short-range wireless beaconing or mobile communication via a second channel, with optional RFID-based information support in dependent claim refinements.

The independent claims cover a storage cabinet architecture that couples inventory management connectivity over a first communication channel with short-range wireless signaling for local discovery and mobile interaction via a second communication channel. The core claim structure supports beacon signaling or mobile device communication while enabling dependent refinements that incorporate RFID tag or reader information and mobile or visual output based on received or read information.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications