Appeal No. 2002-0348
Application No. 09/176,416
Representative independent claim 1 is reproduced as follows:
1. A method for auditing a drug delivery system comprising
the steps of:
providing an automated drug delivery system for dispensing a
plurality of drugs to medical care providers;
said providing step comprising placing a data source station
at each location where at least one of said drugs is to be
dispensed by a medical care provider;
inputting information about each transaction involving at
least one of said drugs into a respective data source station
whenever one of said drugs is being dispensed;
storing said inputted transactional information in a
centralized archival database forming part of said drug delivery
system; and
detecting patterns and abnormalities in distribution and
usage of selected ones of said drugs, said detecting step
comprising processing said transactional information in said
archival database using a programmed processing unit to detect
said patterns and abnormalities and generating at least one
report for a defined period of time which identifies said
detected patterns and abnormalities.
The examiner relies on the following references:
Halvorson 4,847,764 Jul. 11, 1989
DeBusk et al. [DeBusk] 5,991,728 Nov. 23, 1999
(filed Apr. 30, 1997)
Claims 1-41 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as
unpatentable over Halvorson in view of DeBusk.
Reference is made to the briefs and answer for the
respective positions of appellant and the examiner.
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