Prescription bottle imaging system and method

• US 20080056556A1
• Filed: 02/17/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Express Scripts Strategic Development, Inc. (The Cigna Group)
• Original Assignee: Express Scripts Incorporated (The Cigna Group)
• Inventors: Youngs, Herbert A., Eller, Charles E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,995,831 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/142
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0036 Checkout procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage

Abstract

The invention is directed to a prescription imaging system for capturing, storing and displaying images of prescription bottles during the prescription fulfillment process to monitor the quality of the fulfillment process. The system includes one or more pill cameras for capturing images of pills dispensed into one or more prescription bottles and one or more label cameras for capturing images of the bottle labels. The images are stored on a storage device in a database record. The images can be used to verify that the pills in each bottle correspond with the associated prescription.

Claims

1-35. -35. (canceled)

36. An imaging system for use in a prescription fulfillment process involving the dispensing of pills into a prescription bottle having a label, the system comprising:

a. a pill camera for capturing an image of the pills in the prescription bottle;

b. a label camera for capturing an image of the label;

c. a bottle lift and rotate mechanism for lifting and rotating the bottle in front of the label camera, wherein the label camera is configured to capture the label image as the bottle rotates; and

d. a storage device in communication with the pill camera and label camera for storing the pill image and the label image in a record for an associated prescription;

whereby the pill image and the label image can be used to verify that the pills in the bottle correspond with the prescription.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the label comprises a machine readable code associated with the prescription, wherein the machine readable code is captured in the label image, the system further comprising a computer programmed to read the machine readable code of the label image and to associate the pill image and the label image with the prescription based upon the machine readable code.

38. The system of claim 36, wherein the label comprises a bar code on the label associated with the prescription, the system further comprising a bar code reader for reading the bar code on the label so that the pill image and the label image for each bottle can be associated with the prescription.

39. The system of claim 36, further comprising a computer having access to the record, wherein the computer is programmed to retrieve the label image and the pill image and display the images on a screen.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the record further comprises label data associated with the prescription, and the computer is further programmed to retrieve and display the label data.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the label data comprise data identifying a prescribed drug having an associated reference image, and wherein the computer is further programmed to retrieve and display the reference image.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the label data comprise data identifying the prescribed drug having associated drug data, and wherein the computer is further programmed to retrieve and display the drug data.

43. The system of claim 36, wherein the bottle lift and rotate mechanism comprises:

a. a vertically movable upper bearing plate having a circular cavity therein for receiving a neck portion of the bottle, such that the upper bearing plate can be lowered onto the top of the bottle and the bottle neck received into the cavity; and

b. a lower lift pusher positioned below the bottle when the bottle is below the upper bearing plate which can be raised to engage the bottom of the bottle and lift the bottle in front of the label camera such that the bottle is sandwiched between the upper plate and the lower lift pusher.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the lower lift pusher comprises a rotate mechanism for rotating the lower lift pusher after it engages and lifts the bottle such that the bottle is rotated in front of the label camera to facilitate capture of the label image.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the lower lift pusher further comprises an encoder for monitoring the rotation of the bottle.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the label image camera is a line scan camera in communication with the encoder and wherein the label image camera takes a plurality of images of portions of the label as it rotates based upon rotational information communicated by the encoder such that the label image is composed from the plurality of images.

47. An imaging system for capturing images of a prescription bottle having pills therein and a label thereon, wherein a prescription fulfillment process is performed by an automated prescription dispensing system comprising a pallet holding prescription bottles in rows and columns, the imaging system comprising:

a. a plurality of pill cameras arranged in a row for capturing an image of the pills in a row of uncapped prescription bottles having labels;

b. a plurality of label image cameras arranged in a row for capturing an image of the labels;

C. a lift and rotate mechanism comprising;

i. an upper bearing plate having a plurality of circular cavities arranged in a row to receive a row of bottles; and

ii. a plurality of lower lift pushers arranged in a row such that the plurality of lift pushers can lift the row of bottles out of the pallet such that the bottles are positioned to allow the plurality of label image cameras to capture images of the labels of the row of bottles; and

d. a storage device in communication with the pill cameras and label image cameras for storing the pill images and the label images in records for associated prescriptions;

whereby the system can simultaneously capture and store pill and label images from an entire row of bottles.

48. The system of claim 47, further comprising an indexing mechanism for indexing the pallet forward row by row such that the system can sequentially capture the label images of each row of bottles.

49. An imaging system for use with an automated prescription dispensing system for capturing images of a prescription bottle having pills therein and a label thereon, the label having a machine readable code associated with a prescription, the system comprising:

a. a pill camera for capturing an image of the pills;

b. a label image camera for capturing an image of the label;

c. a bottle lift and rotate mechanism in cooperation with the label camera for lifting and rotating the bottle to facilitate capture of the label image;

d. a storage device for storing prescription data relating to the prescription, the prescription data comprising the pill image and the label image; and

e. a computer programmed to read the machine readable code from the label image and associate the label image and pill image with the appropriate prescription.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the bottle lift and rotate mechanism comprises:

a. an upper bearing plate having a circular cavity therein for receiving a neck portion of the bottle, wherein the upper bearing plate can be lowered onto the top of the bottle and receive the bottle neck; and

b. a lower lift pusher below the bottle when the bottle is below the upper bearing plate which can be raised to engage the bottom of the bottle and lift the bottle such that the bottle is sandwiched between the upper plate and the lower lift pusher.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the lift pusher comprises a rotate mechanism for rotating the pusher after it engages the bottle and lifts the bottle so that the bottle is rotated to facilitate capture of the label image.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the rotate mechanism comprises an encoder for monitoring the rotation of the bottle.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the label image camera is a line scan camera in communication with the encoder and wherein the label image camera takes a plurality of images of portions of the label as it rotates based upon rotational information communicated by the encoder such that the label image is composed of the plurality of images.

54. The system of claim 49, wherein the automated prescription dispensing system comprises pallets holding a plurality of the prescription bottles in rows and columns, and wherein the lift and rotate mechanism lifts at least one bottle out of the pallets to facilitate image capture.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein the system comprises a plurality of label image cameras arranged in a row and a plurality of lift and rotate mechanisms which lift a row of bottles out of the pallet such that the plurality of label image cameras can capture images of the labels of the row of bottles.

56. The system of claim 55, further comprising an indexing mechanism for indexing the pallet forward row by row so that the system can sequentially capture the label images of all rows of bottles.

57. An imaging system for capturing images of prescription bottles for use with an automated prescription dispensing system comprising a pallet holding prescription bottles in rows and columns, each bottle having pills therein and a label thereon having a bar code associated with a prescription, the imaging system comprising:

a. a plurality of pill cameras arranged in a row for capturing images of the pills inside a row of bottles;

b. a plurality of line scan label cameras arranged in a row for capturing images of the labels of the row of bottles;

c. a bottle lift and rotate mechanism in cooperation with the label cameras for lifting and rotating the row of bottles to facilitate capture of the label images of the bottles, the lift and rotate mechanism comprising;

i. an upper bearing plate having a row of circular cavities therein for receiving a neck portion of each bottle, wherein the upper bearing plate can be lowered onto the top of the row of bottles and receive their bottle necks; and

ii. a plurality of lower lift pushers arranged in a row below the row of bottles when the row of bottles are below the upper bearing plate which can be raised to engage the bottom of each bottle below the upper bearing plate and lift each such bottle so that the bottles are sandwiched between the upper plate and the lower lift pushers, and wherein each pusher comprises;

1. a rotate mechanism for rotating the lower lift pusher after it engages a bottle and lifts the bottle so that the bottle is rotated to facilitate capture of its label image; and

2. an encoder in communication with one of the plurality of label cameras for monitoring the rotation of the engaged bottle and communicating information relating to the rotational speed to the label camera so that the label camera takes a plurality of images of portions of the label as the bottle rotates based upon rotational information communicated by the encoder such that the label image is composed of the plurality of images;

d. an indexing mechanism for indexing the pallet forward row by row so that the imaging system can sequentially capture the pill and label images of all rows of bottles on the pallet;

e. a computer programmed to read the bar code from the label image and associate the label image and pill image with the appropriate prescription; and

f. a storage device for storing prescription data relating to the prescription, the prescription data comprising the pill image and the label image.

58. A method for monitoring a prescription fulfillment process involving the dispensing of pills into a bottle having a label, the method comprising:

a. capturing an image of the pills after the pills are dispensed into the bottle;

b. lifting and rotating the bottle to facilitate capture of an image of the label on the bottle;

c. capturing the image of the label; and

d. storing the image of the pills and the image of the label in a record associated with the prescription.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein the label has a machine readable code thereon associated with the prescription, the method further comprising the step of reading the code and using the code to associate the pill image and label image with the prescription.

60. The method of claim 58, further comprising the step of retrieving the label image and pill image from the record and displaying the images on a screen.

61. The method of claim 60, wherein the record further comprises label data associated with the prescription, the method further comprising the step of retrieving and displaying the label data.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein the label data comprise data identifying a drug associated with a reference image, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of retrieving and displaying the reference image.

63. The method of claim 61, wherein the label data comprise data identifying a drug associated with drug data, the method further comprising retrieving and displaying the drug data.

64. The method of claim 58, further comprising the step of monitoring the speed of rotation.

65. The method of claim 64, further comprising the step of taking a plurality of images of portions of the label as it rotates based upon rotational speed and composing the label image from the plurality of images.

66. The method of claim 58, wherein the prescription fulfillment process is performed by an automated dispensing system comprising pallets holding prescription bottles in rows and columns, wherein the step of lifting and rotating the bottle comprises lifting and rotating a row of bottles such that the label images of the row of bottles can be captured.

67. The method of claim 66, further comprising the step of indexing the pallet forward row by row so that the label images of all rows of bottles on the pallet can be captured sequentially.

68. A method for monitoring a prescription fulfillment process involving the dispensing of pills into bottles, for use in an a automated prescription dispensing system comprising pallets holding bottles in rows and columns, each bottle having a label thereon having a bar code associated with a prescription, the method comprising:

a. capturing images of the pills dispensed into a row of uncapped bottles;

b. lifting and rotating the row of bottles to facilitate capture of images of the labels;

c. capturing images of the labels of the row of bottles by monitoring the rotation of each bottle, taking a plurality of images of portions of each label as the label rotates based upon rotational speed, and composing the label image for a bottle from the plurality of images for that bottle;

d. reading the bar codes from the label images and associating the pill image and label image for each bottle with a prescription based upon the bar code;

e. indexing the pallet forward row by row so that the system can sequentially capture the pill and label images of all rows of bottles; and

f. storing prescription data relating to the prescription, the prescription data comprising the pill image and the label image.