US Patent Issued to Covidien on May 12 for "Inventory systems and methods for detecting and counting potentially retained surgical items" (Colorado Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,626,809, issued on May 12, was assigned to Covidien LP (Mansfield, Mass.).

"Inventory systems and methods for detecting and counting potentially retained surgical items" was invented by Aaron G. Mattmiller (Berthoud, Colo.), Joel R. Helgerson (Erie, Colo.) and Edward L. Brannan (Erie, Colo.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An inventory system configured for detecting and counting potentially retained surgical items within a body of a patient includes a dual detection tag, a signal generator, and an antenna operably coupled to the signal generator. The dual detection tag includes a beacon tag configured to transmit a first return signal at a...