Granted Patent B2

US 12,651,651 · App. 18/032,762 · Granted Jun 9, 2026

Inventor: Frederick Lenzenhuber (Tuttlingen, DE)

Assignee: Aesculap AG

G16H10/00A61B90/90G06F21/602A61B2018/00988

Abstract

Claims (50)

1 . A computer-implemented medical tracking method for secure tracking and storage of application data of a medical product, the computer-implemented medical tracking method comprising the steps of:

detecting an application of the medical product;

creating application data pertaining to the application of the medical product;

storing the application data in a dataset in a retroactively non-modifiable form, wherein the dataset uses blockchain technology;

detecting a bijective identification of the medical product;

calculating, based on the bijective identification, a first hash value;

storing a first block with the bijective identification and the first hash value in a blockchain on each computer of a computer network comprising at least three computers;

detecting the application of the medical product by a detection unit and sending an application transaction to the computer network;

checking, by a tracking module, whether an application block exists in the blockchain for the medical product;

generating, when no application block exists, an application block with the first hash value, a time stamp, the application transaction, and an application hash by a block generation module based on the application transaction, and providing the application block to the computer network to add the application block to the blockchain in the at least three computers of the computer network, respectively; and

issuing, when an application block exists, an alarm and/or blocking a functionality of the medical product.

2 . The computer-implemented medical tracking method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

storing, in the first block, a minimum durability date of the medical product; and

in addition to the step of detecting the application, comparing the time stamp to the minimum durability date, and upon exceeding the minimum durability date: issuing an alarm and/or locking a functionality of the medical product.

3 . The computer-implemented medical tracking method according to claim 1 , wherein the computer-implemented medical tracking method performs locking of the functionality of the medical product by interrupting a power supply to the medical product.

4 . The computer-implemented medical tracking method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

after issuing the alarm and/or locking the functionality of the medical product, requesting a user to perform a confirmation input via an input device and to confirm that the medical product is to be used again;

detecting the confirmation input by the user; and

generating an alarm block with a time stamp, an alarm transaction, and an alarm hash, and providing the alarm block to the computer network in order to add the alarm block to the respective blockchain in the at least three computers of the computer network and documenting a repeated application.

5 . The computer-implemented medical tracking method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

in addition to the bijective identification with a bijective serial number: storing a unique control number associated with the bijective serial number in the first block generated by a predetermined non-public algorithm as an alphanumeric code; and

upon detection of the application of the medical product: verifying the bijective serial number and the unique control number associated with the bijective serial number and determining that the medical product is counterfeit if the unique control number does not match the bijective serial number.

6 . The computer-implemented medical tracking method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

detecting a warehouse entry by detecting the unique identification of the medical product by a warehouse-entry detection device;

generating a warehouse block having a warehouse transaction and a time stamp as a warehouse entry date and a warehouse hash, and providing to the computer network to add said warehouse block to the respective blockchain in the at least three computers of the computer network to document a warehouse entry.

7 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute the computer-implemented medical tracking method according to claim 1 .

8 . A medical tracking system for secure tracking of a disposable medical product, the medical tracking system comprising:

a disposable medical product to be tracked, which has a bijective identification;

at least one detection unit adapted to detect the bijective identification of the disposable medical product and to provide the bijective identification in a computer-readable form; and

a computer network with at least three computers, on each of which a digital tracking book with a directory of information blocks relating to the disposable medical product is stored in a decentralized manner as a blockchain;

an application module adapted to send an application transaction for the disposable medical product to the computer network upon detection of the disposable medical product by the detection unit for an application;

a block generation module adapted to create, based on the application transaction and the first hash, an application block with a time stamp, the application transaction, and an application hash, and to make the application block available to the computer network in order to add the application block to the blockchains in the computers of the computer network; and

a tracking module adapted to read out the blockchain for the disposable medical product and to detect an existing application block in the blockchain and to issue an alarm and/or lock an application of the disposable medical product when an application is detected again.

9 . The medical tracking system according to claim 8 , wherein the bijective identification is engraved in the disposable medical product and the detection unit has an optical detection unit and/or the bijective identification is stored in an RFID tag of the disposable medical product and the detection unit has an RFID reader.

10 . The medical tracking system according to claim 8 , wherein the disposable medical product is a medical instrument and/or a sieve basket and/or a medical holder and/or an electrically operated medical device.

11 . The medical tracking system according to claim 8 , wherein, in addition to the bijective identification, a minimum durability date for the disposable medical product is stored in the first block, and the tracking module is adapted to compare the time stamp with the minimum durability date in response to an application of the disposable medical product and to issue an alarm and/or lock an application of the disposable medical product when the minimum durability date is exceeded.

12 . The medical tracking system according to claim 10 , wherein the disposable medical product is an electrically operated medical device, and the tracking module is adapted to interrupt an electrical power supply to the disposable medical product upon a repeated application or upon exceeding a minimum durability date of the disposable medical product to lock an application.

13 . The medical tracking system according to claim 8 , further comprising a central database with at least one database entry stored for the disposable medical product, wherein an entry hash is generated for the at least one database entry, and the entry hash is stored in the blockchain to secure the at least one database entry against manipulation via the entry hash.

14 . A device for tracking and storing application data of a medical product, the device comprising:

a detection unit configured to detect an application of the medical product, the detection unit configured to detect a bijective identification of the medical product;

a data processing unit configured to create the application data relating to the application of the medical product, the data processing unit configured to calculate a first hash value based on the bijective identification of the medical product; and

a storage unit configured to store the application data in a dataset using blockchain technology in a retroactively non-modifiable form, the storage unit configured to store a first block with the bijective identification and the first hash value in a blockchain on each computer of a computer network comprising at least three computers;

an application module configured to detect an application of the medical product by the detection unit and send an application transaction to the computer network;

a tracking module configured to check whether an application block exists in the blockchain for the medical product; and

a block generation module configured to generate, when no application block exists, an application block with the first hash value, a time stamp, the application transaction, and an application hash based on the application transaction, and to provide the application block to the computer network to add the application block to the blockchain in the at least three computers of the computer network, respectively,

the tracking module configured to issue an alarm and/or block a functionality of the medical product when an application block exists.

15 . The medical tracking system according to claim 8 , wherein at least the bijective identification of the disposable medical product and an associated first hash are stored in a first block.

16 . The medical tracking system according to claim 9 , wherein the bijective identification is a serial number and/or a QR code.

17 . The medical tracking system according to claim 13 , wherein the at least one database entry is a medical documentation of the disposable medical product.

18 . The medical tracking system according to claim 8 , wherein the application module is further adapted to add a dead-end marker to a corresponding medical product of the blockchain in addition to the application transaction when a minimum durability date is exceeded in order to reliably and quickly recognize that the corresponding medical product is no longer usable in the event of a repeated application.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (30)