Method, apparatus, and computer program product for the packaging and verification of medication information
First Claim
1. An apparatus configured to package unit dose medications into containers comprising:
- a printer configured to print identifying information about a medication to a web of material;
a dispenser configured to dispense a plurality of medication unit doses of different medication types, each to a respective container;
an image capture device configured to capture an image of at least one of the printed web or a dispensed medication unit dose;
a processor configured to verify that a dispensed medication unit dose matches identifying information of the printed web; and
a joining station configured to join the printed web to a container containing the dispensed medication unit dose in response to the processor verifying that the dispensed medication unit dose matches the identifying information of the printed web;
wherein the processor is configured to determine an order of dispensing of a plurality of different types of medications, and wherein the processor is configured to separate, within the order of dispensing, medications having a similar appearance by at least one medication there between having a dissimilar appearance in the order of dispensing of the plurality of different types of medications, wherein medications of similar appearance have a combination of color, shape, size, and indicia that satisfies a similarity threshold, and wherein medications of dissimilar appearance have a combination of color, shape, size, and indicia that does not satisfy the similarity threshold.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Example embodiments of the present invention may provide an efficient method of identifying unit doses of medication, and more specifically, to dispensing, identifying, packaging, and labeling unit doses of medication for distribution. In particular, methods may include receiving medication information, causing identifying information related to the medication information to be printed to a web of material, where the identifying information is printed at regular intervals, and preparing a medication unit dose to be dispensed to a container. Methods may further include verifying that the medication unit dose corresponds to the identifying information printed to the web of material, and joining the web of material to the container in response to the dispensed unit dose corresponding to the identifying information.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. An apparatus configured to package unit dose medications into containers comprising:
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a printer configured to print identifying information about a medication to a web of material; a dispenser configured to dispense a plurality of medication unit doses of different medication types, each to a respective container; an image capture device configured to capture an image of at least one of the printed web or a dispensed medication unit dose; a processor configured to verify that a dispensed medication unit dose matches identifying information of the printed web; and a joining station configured to join the printed web to a container containing the dispensed medication unit dose in response to the processor verifying that the dispensed medication unit dose matches the identifying information of the printed web; wherein the processor is configured to determine an order of dispensing of a plurality of different types of medications, and wherein the processor is configured to separate, within the order of dispensing, medications having a similar appearance by at least one medication there between having a dissimilar appearance in the order of dispensing of the plurality of different types of medications, wherein medications of similar appearance have a combination of color, shape, size, and indicia that satisfies a similarity threshold, and wherein medications of dissimilar appearance have a combination of color, shape, size, and indicia that does not satisfy the similarity threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification