Prescription bottle imaging system and method
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
68 Claims
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1-35. -35. (canceled)
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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:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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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:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (48)
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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:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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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:
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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.
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58. A method for monitoring a prescription fulfillment process involving the dispensing of pills into a bottle having a label, the method comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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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:
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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.
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Specification