Automatic packager for pharmaceuticals and method of operating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12070437-B2
Application number	US-201917045217-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2019
Priority date	Apr 4, 2018
Publication date	Aug 27, 2024
Grant date	Aug 27, 2024

Abstract

Automatic packager for pharmaceuticals and method of operating the same. The method includes receiving a prescription to be filled by a pharmacy management system and identifying one or more bulk containers that contain medications to fill the prescription. The method also includes counting, using a pre-counter, medications from the one or more bulk containers to fill the prescription and depositing the counted medications in one or more cartridges. The method also includes placing the one or more cartridges including the counted medications at an automatic packager and dispensing the medications in the one or more cartridges. The method also includes packaging medications dispensed from the one or more cartridges into packages and verifying whether the medications are correctly packaged.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for filling a prescription in a pharmacy, the method comprising:
receiving, at an electronic processor of a pharmacy management system, a prescription to be filled by the pharmacy management system;
identifying, at a pre-counter, a plurality of bulk containers that contain types of medications listed on the prescription;
counting, using the pre-counter, medications from the plurality of bulk containers;
depositing the counted medications in a plurality of cartridges such that each type of medications is deposited in a separate one of the plurality of cartridges;
placing the plurality of cartridges including the counted medications at the automatic packager;
dispensing, using the automatic packager, the medications from the plurality of cartridges;
packaging, using a packaging unit of the automatic packager, medications dispensed from the plurality of cartridges into packages; and
verifying, using the automatic packager, whether the medications are correctly packaged in the packages.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating, using the electronic processor, an information sheet for filling the prescription, the information sheet listing the types of medications needed to fill the prescription.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
capturing, at the pre-counter, an image of a type of medication from the plurality of types of medication for verification;
determining, using the pre-counter, one or more characteristics of the type of medication based on image processing of the image; and
transmitting, using the pre-counter, the one or more characteristics of the type of medication to the automatic packager, wherein the automatic packager verifies correct medications are packaged by the packaging unit based on the one or more characteristics of the type of medication received from the pre-counter.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
singulating, using the automatic packager, the medications in the plurality of cartridges such that each medication in a plurality of medications in a cartridge of the plurality of cartridges is individually dispensed from the cartridge to a packaging unit of the automatic packager;
capturing a first image of the medications during singulation of the medications;
verifying, using the automatic packager, that a type of medication detected based on image processing of the first image matches a type of medication of the plurality of medications; and
capturing a second image of the medications during packaging of the medications dispensed from the plurality of cartridges into packages, wherein verifying whether the medications are correctly packaged is based on the second image.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating the plurality of cartridges with the types of medications listed on the prescription such that each cartridge of the plurality of cartridges is assigned to one type of the types of medications.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising scanning, using the pre-counter, the plurality of bulk containers identified at the pre-counter.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, using the pre-counter whether a count of the medications on the pre-counter matches a number of the medications listed on the prescription; and
prompting, using the pre-counter, to add or remove medications from the pre-counter when the count of the medications does not match the number of the medications.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an expected type of medication to be counted using the pre-counter; and
prompting, using the pre-counter, to remove medications from the pre-counter when a type of medication on the pre-counter does not match the expected type of medication.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automatic packager is a strip packager.

10. A method for filling a prescription in a pharmacy, the method comprising:
receiving, at an electronic processor of a pharmacy management system, a prescription to be filled by the pharmacy management system;
identifying, at a pre-counter, a bulk container that contains a type of medication listed on the prescription;
counting, using the pre-counter, medications from the bulk container when the medications are deposited on a counting tray of the pre-counter;
determining, using the pre-counter, whether a number of the medications on the counting tray matches a number listed on the prescription for the type of medication;
prompting, using the pre-counter, to add or remove pills from the counting tray when the number of medications does not match the number listed on the prescription for the type of medication;
depositing the counted medications in a cartridge;
moving cartridge including the counted medications from the pre-counter to an automatic packager;
verifying, using the automatic packager, each medication as the medication is dispensed from the cartridge; and
packaging, using a packaging unit of the automatic packager, medications dispensed from the cartridge into packages.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising verifying, using the automatic packager, whether the medications are correctly packaged.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
capturing, at the pre-counter, an image of the medications for verification;
determining, using the pre-counter, one or more characteristics of the medications listed on the prescription based on image processing of the image; and
transmitting, using the pre-counter, the one or more characteristics of the medications to the automatic packager, wherein the automatic packager verifies correct medications are packaged by the packaging unit based on the one or more characteristics of the medications received from the pre-counter.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising associating, using the pre-counter, the cartridge with the type of medication.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the cartridge is a first cartridge, the method further comprising:
displaying identification information of the first cartridge on a display of the pre-counter;
scanning a second cartridge not associated with type of medication when the identification information of the first cartridge is displayed; and
inhibiting transfer of medications from the pre-counter to the second cartridge in response to scanning the second cartridge.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the automatic packager is a separate device from the pre-counter such that the medications are manually transferred between the pre-counter and the automatic packager.

16. A method for filling a prescription in a pharmacy, the method comprising:
receiving, at an electronic processor of a pharmacy management system, a prescription to be filled by the pharmacy management system;
identifying, at a pre-counter, a bulk container that contains a type of medication listed on the prescription;
counting, using the pre-counter, medications from the bulk container;
packaging, using a packaging unit of an automatic packager, medications counted at the pre-counter, the automatic packager being a separate device from the pre-counter such that the medications are manually transferred between the pre-counter and the automatic packager;
capturing one or more images of the medications counted at the pre-counter; and
verifying, using the automatic packager, whether the medications are correctly packaged based on the one or more images of the medications.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein counting medications includes prompting a user to add or remov

Assignees

• Rxsafe Llc

Inventors

• Holmes William K

Classifications

• B65B57/145

  for fluent material · CPC title

• B65B35/12

  by gravity · CPC title

• B65B9/02 Primary

  Enclosing successive articles, or quantities of material between opposed webs · CPC title

• A61J7/02

  Pill counting devices · CPC title

• A61J7/0069

  Trays for holding or distributing medicines (display trays A47F3/14; serving trays A47G23/06) · CPC title