Inventory tracking and control system

1. A system for tracking medical articles, each of which has an identification tag attached to it, wherein each identification tag is configured to provide identification data in response to receiving electromagnetic (EM) energy having a predetermined operation frequency, the system comprising:

an enclosure in which medical articles with their respective attached identification tags are stored, wherein surfaces of the enclosure surrounding the stored medical articles are electrically conductive; and

a first probe inductively coupled to the enclosure, the first probe configured to inject electromagnetic (EM) energy into the enclosure at the predetermined operation frequency to establish a transverse magnetic (TM) mode in the enclosure;

whereby, the injected energy at the predetermined operation frequency activates the identification tags on the medical articles located within the enclosure to provide their respective identification data.

2. The tracking system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of injection probes, each injection probe being inductively coupled to the enclosure, each of the injection probes configured to inject electromagnetic (EM) energy into the enclosure at the predetermined operation frequency to establish a transverse magnetic (TM) mode in the enclosure, the positions of the injection probes in the enclosure selected such that the injection probes are sequentially activated to inject their respective EM energy into the enclosure to provide a composite EM field within the enclosure to activate identification tags on articles located within the enclosure.

3. The tracking system of claim 1 further comprising a second injection probe capacitively coupled to the enclosure, the second injection probe configured to inject electromagnetic (EM) energy into the enclosure at the predetermined operation frequency to establish a transverse electric (TE) mode in the enclosure to activate identification tags on articles located within the enclosure.

4. The tracking system of claim 1 further comprising:

a non-transitory memory on which is stored a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is attached, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

a communication unit configured to transmit data; and

a processor connected to the non-transitory memory and to the communication unit, the processor programmed to receive the identification data from activated identification tags, access the non-transitory memory and compare the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached including a patient name, the processor further programmed to control the communication unit to transmit medical article data to notify a finance department that a medical article has been identified for use by a particular patient.

5. The tracking system of claim 1 further comprising:

a non-transitory memory on which is stored a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is attached, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

a communication unit configured to transmit data; and

a processor connected to the non-transitory memory and to the communication unit, the processor programmed to receive the identification data from activated identification tags, access the non-transitory memory and compare the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached, the processor further programmed to control the communication unit to transmit medical article data to notify a pharmacy that a medical article has been removed from the enclosure.

6. The tracking system of claim 1 further comprising:

a non-transitory memory on which is stored a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is attached, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

a communication unit configured to transmit data; and

a processor connected to the non-transitory memory and to the communication unit, the processor programmed to receive the identification data from activated identification tags, access the non-transitory memory and compare the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached including a patient name, the processor further programmed to control the communication unit to transmit medical article data to provide the medical article identification and the patient identification for the purpose of updating a patient's medication administration record.

7. The tracking system of claim 1 further comprising:

a non-transitory memory on which is stored a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is attached, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

a communication unit configured to transmit data; and

a processor connected to the non-transitory memory and the communication unit, the processor programmed to receive the identification data from activated identification tags, access the non-transitory memory and compare the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached, the processor further programmed to control the communication unit to transmit medical article data including a count of medical articles in the enclosure.

8. A system for tracking medical articles each of which has an identification tag associated with it, wherein each identification tag is configured to transmit identification data in response to receiving electromagnetic energy (EM) having a predetermined operation frequency, the system comprising:

an enclosure in which medical articles with their respective associated identification tags are stored, wherein surfaces of the enclosure surrounding the stored medical articles are electrically conductive; and

a first probe capacitively coupled to the enclosure, the first probe configured to inject electromagnetic (EM) energy into the enclosure at the predetermined operation frequency to establish a transverse electric (TE) mode in the enclosure;

whereby, the injected energy at the predetermined operation frequency activates the identification tags within the enclosure to transmit their respective identification data.

9. The tracking system of claim 8 further comprising a plurality of injection probes, each injection probe being capacitively coupled to the enclosure, each of the probes configured to inject electromagnetic (EM) energy into the enclosure at the predetermined operation frequency to establish a transverse electric (TE) mode in the enclosure, the position of the probes in the enclosure selected such that the probes are sequentially activated to inject their respective EM energy into the enclosure to provide a composite EM field within the enclosure.

10. The tracking system of claim 8 further comprising:

a non-transitory memory in which is stored a data base that associates the identification data of each of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each of the identification tags is associated, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

a communication unit configured to transmit data; and

a processor connected to the non-transitory memory and to the communication unit, the processor programmed to receive the identification data from activated identification tags, access the non-transitory memory and compare the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are associated including a patient name, the processor further programmed to control the communication unit to transmit medical article data to notify a finance department that a medical article has been identified for use by a particular patient.

11. The tracking system of claim 8 further comprising:

a non-transitory memory in which is stored a data base that associates the identification data of each of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each of the identification tags is associated, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

a communication unit configured to transmit data; and

a processor connected to the non-transitory memory and to the communication unit, the processor programmed to receive the identification data from activated identification tags, access the non-transitory memory and compare the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached, the processor further programmed to control the communication unit to transmit medical article data to notify a pharmacy that a medical article has been removed from the enclosure.

12. The tracking system of claim 8 further comprising:

a non-transitory memory on which is stored a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is associated, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

a communication unit configured to transmit data; and

a processor connected to the non-transitory memory and to the communication unit, the processor programmed to receive the identification data from activated identification tags, access the non-transitory memory and compare the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached including a patient name, the processor further programmed to control the communication unit to transmit medical article data to provide the medical article identification and the patient identification for the purpose of updating a patient's medication administration record.

13. The tracking system of claim 8 further comprising:

a non-transitory memory on which is stored a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is associated, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

a communication unit configured to transmit data; and

a processor connected to the non-transitory memory and the communication unit, the processor programmed to receive the identification data from activated identification tags, access the non-transitory memory and compare the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached, the processor further programmed to control the communication unit to transmit medical article data including a count of medical articles in the enclosure.

14. A method for tracking medical articles, each of which has an identification tag attached, wherein each identification tag is configured to transmit identification data in response to receiving electromagnetic energy (EM) having a predetermined operation frequency, the method comprising:

storing medical articles with their respective attached identification tags in an enclosure in which surfaces of the enclosure surrounding the stored medical articles are electrically conductive; and

injecting electromagnetic (EM) energy into the enclosure at the predetermined operation frequency with a first probe magnetically coupled to the enclosure, the first probe configured to establish a transverse magnetic (TM) mode in the enclosure;

whereby, the injected energy activates the identification tags within the enclosure to transmit their respective identification data.

15. The tracking method of claim 14 further comprising injecting electromagnetic (EM) energy into the enclosure by a plurality of injection probes, each injection probe being magnetically coupled to the enclosure, each of the injection probes configured to inject electromagnetic (EM) energy into the enclosure at the predetermined operation frequency to establish a transverse magnetic (TM) mode in the enclosure, the position of the probes selected such that the probes are controlled to sequentially inject their respective EM energy into the enclosure to provide a composite EM field within the enclosure.

16. The tracking method of claim 14 further comprising:

storing a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is associated in a non-transitory memory, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

transmitting data with a communication unit;

receiving the identification data from activated identification tags, accessing the non-transitory memory, and comparing the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are associated including a patient name; and

controlling the communication unit to transmit medical article data to notify a finance department that a medical article has been identified for use by a particular patient.

17. The tracking method of claim 14 further comprising:

storing a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is associated in a non-transitory memory, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

transmitting data with a communication unit;

receiving the identification data from activated identification tags, accessing the non-transitory memory, and comparing the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached; and

controlling the communication unit to transmit medical article data to notify a pharmacy that a medical article has been removed from the enclosure.

18. The tracking method of claim 14 further comprising:

storing a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is associated in a non-transitory memory, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

transmitting data with a communication unit;

receiving the identification data from activated identification tags, accessing the non-transitory memory, and comparing the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached including a patient name; and

controlling the communication unit to transmit medical article data to provide the medical article identification and the patient identification for the purpose of updating a patient's medication administration record.

19. The tracking method of claim 14 further comprising:

storing a data base that associates the identification data of the identification tags with data about the medical article to which each identification tag is associated in a non-transitory memory, such medical article data including at least one of: type of medication, size of dose, name of the medication, patient, and expiration date;

transmitting data with a communication unit;

receiving the identification data from activated identification tags, accessing the non-transitory memory, and comparing the received identification data to the data base to locate therein associated data about the medical articles to which the activated identification tags are attached; and

controlling the communication unit to transmit medical article data including a count of medical articles in the enclosure.

20. The tracking method of claim 19 further comprising:

injecting electromagnetic (EM) energy into the enclosure at a plurality of different positions within the enclosure;

wherein the plurality of different positions in injection are selected to provide a composite EM field within the enclosure.