METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR COMPILING INFORMATION FOR USE IN A COMMAND SCRIPT FOR A PRODUCT DISPENSING SYSTEM

• US 20090103127A1
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Spencer Health Solutions LLC
• Original Assignee: Parata Systems, LLC (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Inventors: Bresolin, Stefano, Cunningham, Paul Joseph, Mitchall, Jonathan Anthony, Hubbard, Vick Allen, McCarron, Andrew Keller
• Granted Patent: US 11,128,601 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.150
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1205 resulting in increased flexibility in print job configuration, e.g. job settings, print requirements, job tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1248 by printer language recognition, e.g. PDL, PCL, PDF
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/4435 Detection or removal of dead or redundant code
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload

Abstract

Information for use in a command script for a product dispensing system is compiled by sniffing packets associated with a print job that contains information associated with a product to be dispensed, filtering the packets so as to remove fields not associated with the print job, and combining the filtered packets to generate contiguous data associated with the print job. A command script for a product dispensing system is generated by receiving data associated with a print job that contains information associated with a product to be dispensed, extracting the information associated with the product from the print job data, organizing the information associated with the product into discrete informational units, and generating the command script based on the organized discrete information units.

Claims

1. A method of compiling information for use in a command script for a product dispensing system, comprising:

sniffing packets associated with a print job that contains information associated with a product to be dispensed;

filtering the packets so as to remove fields not associated with the print job; and

combining the filtered packets to generate contiguous data associated with the print job.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting the information associated with the product from the contiguous data; and

organizing the information associated with the product into discrete informational units.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the discrete information units comprise discrete textual items.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the discrete textual items comprises an acronym, word, number, and/or phrase.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein organizing the information associated with the product comprises:

associating Cartesian coordinates with each of the discrete textual items;

associating an orientation indicator for each of the discrete textual items; and

/or

associating a page number of the print job for each of the discrete textual items that identifies a page that the respective textual item would have printed on.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the packets comprise Page Description Language (PDL) data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein extracting the information comprises:

extracting Postscript or Printer Command Language (PCL) data.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein extracting the information comprises:

extracting raster graphics or binary data; and

performing optical character recognition on the raster graphics or binary data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the packets are TCP/IP packets.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein sniffing the packets comprises sniffing the packets via a network hub that is configured to present all packet traffic to all ports on the hub.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein sniffing the packets comprises sniffing the packets via a switch that is configured to mirror traffic destined for at least one printer to a port on the switch.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the product dispensing system is a pharmaceutical product dispensing system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the product dispensing system is a tablet dispensing system.

14. A method of generating a command script for a product dispensing system, comprising:

receiving data associated with a print job that contains information associated with a product to be dispensed;

extracting the information associated with the product from the print job data;

organizing the information associated with the product into discrete informational units; and

generating the command script based on the organized discrete information units.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the discrete information units comprise discrete textual items.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each of the discrete textual items comprises an acronym, word, number, and/or phrase.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein organizing the information associated with the product comprises:

associating Cartesian coordinates with each of the discrete textual items;

associating an orientation indicator for each of the discrete textual items; and

/or

associating a page number of the print job for each of the discrete textual items that identifies a page that the respective textual item would have printed on.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating a bitmap file containing the extracted information associated with the product.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying script fields in the bitmap file;

determining Cartesian coordinate regions for each of the identified script fields;

determining an orientation indicator for each of the identified script fields; and

/or

determining a page number of the print job for each of the identified script fields that identifies a page that the respective script field would have printed on.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

associating respective ones of the script fields with respective ones of the discrete textual items such that each of the script fields is associated with at least one of the discrete textual items; and

wherein generating the command script comprises generating the command script based on the associations between the script fields and the discrete textual items.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein extracting the information comprises:

extracting Postscript or Printer Command Language (PCL) data.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein extracting the information comprises:

extracting raster graphics or binary data; and

performing optical character recognition on the raster graphics or binary data.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the product dispensing system is a pharmaceutical product dispensing system.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein the product dispensing system is a tablet dispensing system.

25. A system for compiling information for use in a command script for a product dispensing system, comprising:

a data processing system that is configured to sniff packets associated with a print job that contains information associated with a product to be dispensed, filter the packets so as to remove fields not associated with the print job, and combine the filtered packets to generate contiguous data associated with the print job.

26. A system for generating a command script for a product dispensing system, comprising:

a data processing system that is configured to receive data associated with a print job that contains information associated with a product to be dispensed, extract the information associated with the product from the print job data, organize the information associated with the product into discrete informational units, and generate the command script based on the organized discrete information units.

27. A computer program product for compiling information for use in a command script for a product dispensing system comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to sniff packets associated with a print job that contains information associated with a product to be dispensed;

computer readable program code configured to filter the packets so as to remove fields not associated with the print job; and

computer readable program code configured to combine the filtered packets to generate contiguous data associated with the print job.

28. A computer program product for generating a command script for a product dispensing system comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to receive data associated with a print job that contains information associated with a product to be dispensed;

computer readable program code configured to extract the information associated with the product from the print job data;

computer readable program code configured to organize the information associated with the product into discrete informational units; and

computer readable program code configured to generate the command script based on the organized discrete information units.