Associating An Information Reader And A Medical Device

What is this patent about?

’058 is related to the field of medical device management, specifically addressing the problem of associating information readers (like barcode scanners or RFID readers) with medical devices in a flexible and reliable manner. The background highlights the limitations of permanently associating a scanner with a single device, hindering resource sharing and adaptability in dynamic medical environments. Existing floating barcode systems lack the capability to direct subsequent scans to a particular device, and direct communication between scanners and devices may be limited.

The underlying idea behind ’058 is to use a device agent as an intermediary to facilitate the association between an information reader and a medical device. The agent accesses association information, which includes device identification and routing instructions. This association information can be encoded in a barcode or RFID tag, either physically attached to the medical device or dynamically displayed on a screen. Once associated, the agent routes subsequent information obtained by the reader to the appropriate medical device.

The claims of ’058 focus on an infusion pump with a display, a wireless module, a processor, and memory. The memory stores program code that, when executed, causes the pump to render a barcode on its display. This barcode, when scanned, allows the pump to receive infusion information (parameters, name, order ID) after both the pump's barcode and the infusion's barcode are scanned. The pump then operates based on this received information to administer the infusion.

In practice, a nurse could use a barcode scanner to scan the barcode displayed on the infusion pump. This action associates the scanner with that specific pump through the device agent. Subsequently, when the nurse scans the barcode on a medication bag, the scanned information is automatically routed to the associated infusion pump, ensuring the correct medication and dosage are administered to the patient. The system can also store information obtained *before* the association and route it to the device once the association is established.

This approach differs from prior solutions by providing a dynamic and flexible association mechanism. Instead of a fixed scanner-device pairing, the system allows for on-demand association and disassociation. The use of a device agent enables intelligent routing and preprocessing of scanned data, such as mapping drug entry IDs to drug names. Furthermore, the system incorporates safety features like user confirmation of associations and automatic disassociation based on time, distance, or workflow completion, reducing the risk of errors.