Pneumatic tube carrier routing and tracking system

摘要

A system and method provides for a pneumatic tube carrier routing and tracking system having a system control module that captures and presents tracking information associated with sending and receiving carriers. The pneumatic tube carrier tracking system comprises sending and receiving stations connected by pneumatic tubing, and which are configured to securely send carriers, with receiving users optionally being restricted from unauthorized access of carriers. The pneumatic tube carrier tracking system further comprises a color sensor to automatically route the color-coded carriers to dedicated receiving stations using color identifiers. The sending and receiving stations further have identifying tag readers configured to scan identifier tags to read carrier delivery, carrier receipt and receiving user information.

主权项

1. A pneumatic tube carrier routing system comprising:
a sending station comprising a carrier receiving bin and a color sensor configured to identify a color of a carrier; a receiving station routably connected to the sending station via pneumatic tubing; a system control module in signal communication with the sending station and the receiving station, wherein the system control module comprises a database module for storing a color identifier associated with the receiving station; wherein upon placement of the carrier in the carrier receiving bin of the sending station, the color sensor of the sending station identifies the color of the carrier and the sending station transmits a signal including a color identifier of the carrier to the system control module; wherein the system control module is configured to receive the color identifier of the carrier, match the color identifier of the carrier with the stored color identifier in order to identify the associated receiving station, and automatically route the carrier from the sending station to the receiving station through the pneumatic tubing.