IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
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국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
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출원번호 |
US-0606688
(2009-10-27)
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등록번호 |
US-8264342
(2012-09-11)
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발명자
/ 주소 |
- Blair, William A.
- Barnes, Bruce E.
- Poirier, David A.
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출원인 / 주소 |
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대리인 / 주소 |
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인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
5 인용 특허 :
181 |
초록
▼
The presence or absence of objects (e.g., medical implements, medical supplies) tagged with transponders may be determined in an environment in which medical procedures (e.g., surgery) are performed via an interrogation and detection system which includes a controller and a plurality of antennas pos
The presence or absence of objects (e.g., medical implements, medical supplies) tagged with transponders may be determined in an environment in which medical procedures (e.g., surgery) are performed via an interrogation and detection system which includes a controller and a plurality of antennas positioned along a patient support structure. The antennas may, for example, be positioned along an operating table, bed, a mattress or pad or a sheet and may be radiolucent. Respective antennas may successively be activated to transmit interrogation signals. Multiple antennas may be monitored for responses from transponders to the interrogation signals. For example, all antennas other than the antenna that transmitted the most recent interrogation signal may be monitored.
대표청구항
▼
1. An apparatus to detect transponder tagged objects which are used in performing medical procedures, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of antennas, at least some of the antennas spaced at intervals along at least a portion of a length of a patient support structure that is sized to support a pa
1. An apparatus to detect transponder tagged objects which are used in performing medical procedures, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of antennas, at least some of the antennas spaced at intervals along at least a portion of a length of a patient support structure that is sized to support a patient; anda control system communicatively coupled to the antennas and configured to successively transmit an interrogation signal via respective ones of at least two of the antennas and to monitor at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signal in a period following the transmission of the interrogation signal and preceding a transmission of another interrogation signal,wherein the control system is configured to successively transmit an interrogation signal from all of the antennas in the plurality of antennas, one at a time, and to monitor all of the antennas in the plurality of antennas for a response to each of the interrogation signal except the antenna from which a most recent interrogation signal was transmitted. 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of antennas includes at least three antennas and each of the antennas includes a respective antenna coils, a portion of a projected area of each successive one of the antenna coils along the portion of the length of the patient support structure overlapping a portion of a projected area of at least one neighboring one of the antenna coils. 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of antennas includes at least six antennas. 4. An apparatus to detect transponder tagged objects which are used in performing medical procedures, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of antennas, at least some of the antennas spaced at intervals along at least a portion of a length of a patient support structure that is sized to support a patient; anda control system communicatively coupled to the antennas and configured to successively transmit an interrogation signal via respective ones of at least two of the antennas and to monitor at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signal in a period following the transmission of the interrogation signal and preceding a transmission of another interrogation signal,wherein the control system is configured to monitor a level of noise, successively transmit an interrogation signal from each of the antennas, one at a time and to monitor all of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signal, determine which of the antennas receives a strongest one of the responses to the interrogation signal, determine a noise estimation based on the monitored level of noise, and subtract the noise estimation from the strongest one of the responses to distinguish a signal portion of the response signal from a noise portion of the response signal. 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the control system is configured to successively transmit an interrogation signal from all of the antennas in the plurality of antennas, one at a time, and to monitor all of the antennas in the plurality of antennas for a response to each of the interrogation signals. 6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the control system is configured to determine the noise estimation as an average based on the monitored level of noise on all antennas except the antenna that received the strongest one of the responses to the interrogation signals. 7. An apparatus to detect transponder tagged objects which are used in performing medical procedures, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of antennas, at least some of the antennas spaced at intervals along at least a portion of a length of a patient support structure that is sized to support a patient; anda control system communicatively coupled to the antennas and configured to successively transmit an interrogation signal via respective one of a least two of the antennas and to monitor at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signal in a period following the transmission of the interrogation signal and presiding a transmission of another interrogation signal,wherein the control system is configured to perform a cycle of transponder detection and to measure a level of ambient noise detected via a plurality of antennas during a noise detection portion of the cycle, the noise detection portion temporally spaced from any preceding interrogation portions of the cycle such that transponders, if any, are not responding to any electromagnetic interrogation signals transmitted during any preceding interrogation portions of the cycle; determine a set of noise cancellation factors for each of a number of antenna channels; determine a sample averaging time for sampling noise based on the measured level of ambient noise; determine a sample averaging time for sampling responses to interrogation signals based on the measured level of ambient noise; average noise corrected samples of noise sampled for the determined noise sample averaging time during the noise detection portion of the cycle; transmit a number of electromagnetic interrogation signals via one of the antennas during an interrogation portion of the cycle that follows the noise detection portion; average noise corrected samples of responses sampled for the determined signal averaging time during the interrogation portion of the cycle in a period while no electromagnetic interrogation signals are being transmitted by any of the antennas, the period spaced temporally sufficiently closely to the transmission of the electromagnetic interrogation signals that the transponders, if any, are still responding to the electromagnetic interrogation signals; and compare averaged noise corrected samples of responses to the interrogation signals to at least one transponder detection threshold. 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the control system is further configured to iterate through each of the antennas if averaged noise corrected samples of responses to interrogation signals does not satisfy the at least one transponder detection threshold. 9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein th control system is further configured to provide a notification of detection of a transponder if the average noise corrected samples of responses to interrogation signals satisfies the at least one transponder detection threshold an Nth time, where N is greater than 1. 10. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the control system is further configured to compare at least one noise level measured from before a first interrogation portion of the cycle to a noise level measured after the first interrogation portion of the cycle; and increase the sample averaging time for sampling responses to interrogation signals if a result of the comparison indicates a variation in excess of a variation threshold. 11. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the control system is further configured to determine the set of noise cancellation factors for each of the number of antennas channels by, for each respective antenna channel averaging the measured levels of ambient noise received on all the antenna channels other than the respective antenna channel for which the noise cancellation factor is being determined. 12. An apparatus to detect transponder tagged objects which are used in performing medical procedures, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of antennas, at least some of the antennas spaced at intervals along at least a portion of a length of a patient support structure that is sized to support a patient; anda control system communicatively coupled to the antennas and configured to successively transmit an interrogation signal via respective ones of at least two of the antennas and to monitor at lest the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signal in a period following the transmission of the interrogations signal and preceding a transmission of another interrogation signal,wherein the antennas are radiolucent, and further comprisingthe patient support structure selected from the group consisting of; an operating table, a patient bed, a mattress, a pad and a sheet. 13. A method to detect transponder tagged objects which are used during medical procedures, the method comprising: for each of at least three antennas spaced at intervals along at least a portion of a length of a patient support structure,successively transmitting a number of interrogation signals via respective ones of the antennas; andmonitoring at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signals in a period following the transmission of the interrogation signal and before transmitting another number of interrogation signals via a next one of the antennas,wherein successively transmitting a number of interrogation signals via respective ones of the antennas includes transmitting the interrogation signals from all of the antennas in the plurality of antennas, one at a time, and wherein monitoring at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signals includes monitoring all of the antennas except the antenna from which a most recent interrogation signal was transmitted for a response to the most recent interrogation signal. 14. A method to detect transponder tagged objects which are used during medical procedures, the method comprising: for each of at least three antennas spaced at intervals along at least a portion of a length of a patient support structure,successively transmitting a number of interrogation signals via respective ones of the antennas;monitoring at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signals in a period following the transmission of the interrogation signal and before transmitting another number of interrogation signal via a next one of the antennas;measuring a level of ambient noise detected via a plurality of the antennas during a noise detection portion of a cycle, the noise detection portion temporally spaced from any preceding interrogation portions of the cycle such that transponders, if any, are not responding to any electromagnetic interrogation signals transmitted during any preceding interrogation portions of the cycle;determining a set of noise cancellation factors for each of a number of antenna channels;determining a sample averaging time for sampling noise based on the measured level of ambient noise;determining a sample averaging time for sampling responses to interrogation signals based on the measured level of ambient noise;averaging noise corrected samples of noise sampled for the determined noise sample averaging time during the noise detection portion of the cycle; andwherein successively transmitting a number of interrogation signals via respective ones of the antennas includes transmitting the number of electromagnetic interrogation signals via one of the antennas during an interrogation portion of the cycle that follows the noise detection portion; andmonitoring at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signals in a period following transmission of the interrogation signal includes averaging noise corrected samples of responses sampled for the determined signal averaging time during the interrogation portion of the cycle in a period while no electromagnetic interrogation signals are being transmitted by any of the antennas, the period spaced temporally sufficiently closely to the transmission of the electromagnetic interrogation signals that the transponders, if any, are still responding to the electromagnetic interrogation signals. 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: comparing averaged noise corrected samples of responses to the interrogation signals to at least one transponder detection threshold; anditerating through each of the antennas if averaged noise corrected samples of responses to interrogation signals does not satisfy the at least one transponder detection threshold. 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: providing a notification of detection of a transponder if the averaged noise corrected samples of responses to interrogation signals satisfies the at least one transponder detection threshold an Nth time, where N is greater than 1. 17. The method of claim 14, further comprising: comparing at least one noise level measured from before a first interrogation portion of the cycle to a noise level measured after the first interrogation portion of the cycle; andincreasing the sample averaging time for sampling responses to interrogation signals if a result of the comparison indicates a variation in excess of a variation threshold. 18. The method of claim 14 wherein determining the set of noise cancellation factors for each of the number of antenna channels includes, for each respective antenna channel averaging the measured levels of ambient noise received on all the antenna channels other than the respective antenna channel for which the noise cancellation factor is being determined. 19. A method to detect transponder tagged objects which are used during medical procedures, the method comprising: for each of at least three antennas spaced at intervals along at least a portion of a length of a patient support structure,successive transmitting a number of interrogation signals via respective ones of the antennas; andmonitoring at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signals in a period following the transmission of the interrogation signal and before transmitting another number of interrogation signals via a next one of the antennas,wherein the successively transmitting a number of interrogation signals includes successively transmitting the interrogation signals at a number of different frequencies at a number of different times. 20. The method of claim 19 wherein successively transmitting a number of interrogation signals via respective ones of the antennas includes transmitting the interrogation signals from all of the antennas, one at a time, and wherein monitoring at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signals includes monitoring all of the antennas in the plurality of antennas for a response to each of the interrogation signals. 21. An apparatus to detect transponder tagged objects which are used in performing medical procedures the apparatus comprising: a patient support structure that is sized to support a patient; andat least three antennas positioned along at least a portion of a length of the patient support structure, each of the antennas positioned along the length of the patient support structure radiolucent to X-ray frequency electromagnetic energy and each of the antennas having a respective range, the ranges of the antennas in each neighboring pair of antennas at least partially overlapping,wherein the patient support structure has at least one X-ray film receiving receptacle and the antennas are positioned between a patient support surface of the patient support structure and the at least one X-ray film receiving receptacle. 22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the patient support structure is elongated having a longitudinal axis and the antennas are coil antennas, at least some of the coil antennas arranged successively along the longitudinal axis. 23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein a portion of each successive one of the antenna coils is arranged successively along the longitudinal axis of the surgical table with a projected area that overlaps a portion of a projected area of at least one neighboring one of the antenna coils. 24. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the antennas each comprise a respective stripe-line aluminum coil having a number of windings, each stripe-line aluminum coil has a thickness that is not greater than 200 microns. 25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein each stripe-line aluminum coil has a thickness that is not greater than 100 microns. 26. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the antennas are carried by the patient support structure on, in or under a patient support surface, and further comprising at least one pad that overlies at least one of the antennas. 27. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a control system communicatively coupled to the antennas and configured to successively transmit an interrogation signal via respective ones of the antennas and to monitor at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signal in a period following the transmission of the interrogation signal and preceding a transmission of another interrogation signal. 28. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising a pedestal that supports the patient support structure, wherein the control system is at least partially housed in the pedestal. 29. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising at least one antenna port carried by the patient support structure, the at least one antenna port communicatively coupled to at least one of the antennas and communicatively coupleable to the control system. 30. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising at least one visual indicator carried by the patient support structure, the at least one visual indicator communicatively coupled to the control system and operable thereby to produce visual indications indicative of responses to the interrogation signals; andat least one user switch carried by the patient support structure, the at least one switch communicatively coupled to the control system and operable thereby to control at least one aspect of an operation of the control system. 31. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the patient support structure is at least one of a pad or a mattress that carries the antennas on at least one of an exterior or an interior thereof, and the at least one of the pad or the mattress including at least one communications interface to provide selectively decoupleable communicative coupling with at least some of the antennas. 32. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the at least one of the pad or the mattress has a compliant inner portion and an outer cover that at least partially surrounds the compliant inner portion and which is impervious to bodily fluids, the compliant inner portion and the outer cover comprising radiolucent materials that can withstand multiple sterilization cycles. 33. An apparatus to detect transponder tagged objects which are used in performing medical procedures, the apparatus comprising: a patient support structure that is sized to support a patient; andat least three antennas positioned along at least a portion of a length of the patient support structure, each of the antennas positioned along the length of the patient support structure radiolucent to X-ray frequency electromagnetic energy, and each of the antennas having a respective range, the ranges of the antennas in each neighboring pair of antennas at least partially overlapping,wherein the patient support structure is a sheet that carries the antennas on at least one of an exterior or an interior thereof, the sheet including at least one communications interface that provides communicative coupling with at least some of the antennas. 34. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising: a number of sensors carried by the patient support structure, the sensors responsive to a respective force exerted by a respective portion of the patient. 35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein each of the sensors is communicatively coupled to provide a signal indicative of the respective force exerted by the respective portion of the patient. 36. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising: a gel carried by the patient support structure at least at a number of locations that correspond to a number of defined locations of the patient when the patient is supported by the patient support structure. 37. A system comprising: a transponder tag coupled to a medical supply item, the transponder tag configured to wirelessly receive electromagnetic energy in the form of a number of interrogation signals and to emit a response to the interrogation signal by radiating electromagnetic energy;an array of antennas located in a medical procedure environment in which medical procedures are performed; anda controller communicatively coupled to the array of antennas and configured to perform a transponder detection cycle that includes a number of noise detection portions and a number of interrogation portions temporally spaced from the noise detection portions, during which the controller: monitors at least two of the antennas of the array of antennas for an ambient noise in the medical procedure environment during the noise detection portions of the transponder detection cycle, the noise detection portions spaced sufficiently from the interrogation portions that the transponder is not emitting a response detectable by the controller to any previous interrogation signals;emits a number of interrogation signals from each of at least two of the antennas of the array of antennas, successively, during a number of transmission periods of the interrogation portions of the transponder detection cycle; andmonitors at least two antennas for any responses to the interrogation signals during a number of detection periods of the interrogation portions of the transponder detection cycle, the detection periods following respective ones of the transmission periods sufficiently closely in time that the transponder is still emitting a response to the interrogation signals by all of the antennas in the array except the one that emitted the most recent signal. 38. The system of claim 37 wherein the controller monitors at least two antennas for any responses to the interrogation signals during a number of detection periods of the interrogation portions of the transponder detection cycle by monitoring all antennas of the antenna array. 39. The system of claim 37 wherein the controller monitors at least two antennas for any responses to the interrogation signals during a number of detection periods of the interrogation portions of the transponder detection cycle by monitoring all antennas of the antenna array except the antenna that emitted a most recent one of the interrogation signals. 40. The system of claim 37 wherein the controller is further configured to determine a respective noise estimation for each antenna and to compensate any responses received via the antenna using the respective noise estimation. 41. The system of claim 37 wherein the controller is further configured to determine a respective noise estimation for each antenna based on noise monitored on a number of the antennas of the antenna array other than the antenna for which the noise estimation is being determined and to compensate any responses received via one of the antennas using the respective noise estimation for the antenna. 42. The system of claim 37 wherein the antennas of the antenna array are physically coupled to a light fixture positioned above a patient support structure. 43. The system of claim 37 wherein the antennas of the antenna array are physically coupled to the patient support structure. 44. The system of claim 37 wherein the antennas of the antenna array are physically coupled to a curtain adjacent to the patient support structure. 45. The system of claim 37, further comprising: a hand held wand antenna communicatively coupled to the controller to emit an number of interrogation signals and to monitor for a number of responses to interrogation signals.
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