Medicament verification in an automatic dispening system
US5713487A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 11, 1996 |
| Grant date | Feb 3, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 11, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG07F17/0092
- WIPO fieldControl
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A system for dispensing medicaments such as pills and capsules includes a plurality of medicament dispensing cells, a manipulator arm for moving to a cell and receiving medicament dispensed therefrom into a vial, and a controller for controlling the operation of the manipulator arm. In one embodiment of the invention, each cell includes indicia thereon such as a bar code indicating the medicament contained therein and the system includes an indicia reader such as a bar code reader attached to the manipulator arm. When the system receives dispensing instructions such as a prescription to be filled, the controller moves the manipulator arm to a selected cell location of a cell having the medicament to be dispensed, as indicated by cell data included in the controller memory. The indicia reader reads the indicia on the cell at the selected location and the controller determines whether the medicament indicated by the indicia matches the medicament of the prescription. If there is a match, the medicament is deemed verified and dispensing proceeds. If there is no match, the controller prevents dispensing of medicament from the selected cell.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.