ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,357,412, issued on July 15, was assigned to Stryker Corp. (Portage, Mich.).
"Apparatus and methods for monitoring objects in a surgical field" was invented by Steven J. Fleck (Pittsburgh), David Szakelyhidi (Pittsburgh) and Gautam Gandhi (Clarksburg, N.J.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A system and method for performing a package status check are provided, including a scanner for use in a surgical field and having an antenna for emitting a radio frequency detection field, the scanner including control circuitry configured to determine a predetermined quantity of sponges corresponding to a complete pack of sponges; count a number of spong...