METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING AN ORDER OF FILL FOR A PLURALITY OF PILLS IN A MULTI-DOSE MEDICAMENT CONTAINER

• US 20100071320A1
• Filed: 09/19/2008
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Inventors: Pankow, Greg, Biesenthal, Amy C., McGonagle, Sean, Khullar, Rishi, Lee, Victor, Ali, Syed Y.
• Granted Patent: US 8,627,639 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 53/473
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/103 for packaging pills or tablets
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/12 Introducing successive articles, e.g. confectionery products, of different shape or size in predetermined positions

Abstract

A method in a computer system of distributing pills into containers for use by a patient includes obtaining from a memory a fill pattern including a mapping of each of a first plurality of pills to one of a first plurality of containers such that at least two of the first plurality of pills are mapped to the same one of the first plurality of containers, obtaining from the memory an attribute of each of the first plurality of pills such that at least two of the first plurality of pills differ in at least the obtained attribute, and automatically sorting the first plurality of pills according to the attribute of each of the plurality of pills according to a predefined order to generate an ordered list corresponding to an order of depositing the first plurality of pills into the first plurality of containers

Claims

1. A method in a computer system of efficiently packaging pills, the method comprising:

obtaining from a memory a size of a first pill;

obtaining from the memory a size of a second pill, wherein the second pill differs from the first pill in at least one of size or composition;

automatically comparing the size of the first pill to the size of the second pill; and

placing the first pill and the second pill into a first container, including;

placing the first pill prior to placing the second pill if the size of the first pill is larger than the size of the second pill.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the size of a pill includes obtaining a volume of the pill, comprising:

associating the volume of the pill with a volume of a cuboid circumscribing the pill; and

calculating the volume of the cuboid.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the size of the first and second pills includes receiving the size of the first and second pills from a database storing pill information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first pill and the second pill includes medication.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first pill and the second pill is associated with a prescription.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a size of a third pill; and

placing a third pill into a second container, including;

placing the third pill prior to placing the first pill if the size of the third pill is larger than the size of the first pill; and

placing the third pill prior to placing the second pill if the size of the third pill is larger than the size of the second pill.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first container and the second container are individually sealed cells of a multi-dose blister pack.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the first container is an individually sealed cell of a first multi-dose blister pack having a first plurality of cells and the second container is an individually sealed cell of a second multi-dose blister pack having a second plurality of cells.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the first container corresponds to a first time of ingestion prescribed to a patient and wherein the second container corresponds to a second time of ingestion prescribed to the patient, the method further comprising receiving a fill pattern specifying a mapping of the first, second, and third pills to the first and second containers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein placing the first pill and the second pill into a first container further includes:

placing the first pill and the second pill into an intermediate filling unit, including placing the first pill into the intermediate filling unit prior to placing the second pill into the intermediate filling unit if the size of the first pill is not larger than the size of the second pill; and

wherein

placing the first pill and the second pill into the first container includes retrieving the first pill and the second pill from the intermediate filling unit.

11. A method in a computer system of distributing pills into containers for use by a patient, the method comprising:

obtaining from a memory a fill pattern including a first mapping of each of a first plurality of pills to one of a first plurality of containers;

wherein at least two of the first plurality of pills are mapped to the same one of the first plurality of containers;

obtaining from the memory an attribute of each of the first plurality of pills, wherein at least two of the first plurality of pills differ in at least the obtained attribute; and

automatically sorting the first plurality of pills according to the attribute of each of the plurality of pills according to a predefined order to generate a first ordered list corresponding to an order of depositing the first plurality of pills into the first plurality of containers.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the attribute of each of the first plurality of pills is a pill size.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising placing the first plurality of pills into the first plurality of containers in accordance with the fill pattern and in an order specified by the first ordered list.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein placing the first plurality of pills into the first plurality of containers includes:

placing the first plurality of pills into an intermediate filling unit in an order opposite to the order specified by the first ordered list;

retrieving an individual pill from the intermediate filling unit in the order specified by the first ordered list;

placing the individual pill into an individual container in accordance with the fill pattern; and

repeating the acts of retrieving an individual pill and placing the individual pill until the first plurality of pills is placed into the first plurality of containers.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein some of the first plurality of containers are cells of a first multi-dose blister pack and some of the first plurality of containers are cells of a second multi-dose blister pack;

wherein at least one of the first plurality of pills is mapped into a container in the first multi-dose blister pack and at least one of the first plurality of pills is mapped into a container in the second multi-dose blister pack; and

wherein each cell of the first and second multi-dose blister packs is individually sealable and corresponds to a particular time of ingestion of pills contained therein.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the first plurality of containers is a cell of a first multi-dose blister pack;

wherein the fill pattern includes a second mapping of each of a second plurality of pills to one of a second plurality of containers, wherein each of the second plurality of containers is a cell of a second multi-dose blister pack;

wherein each cell of the first and second multi-dose blister pack is individually sealable and corresponds to a particular time of ingestion of pills contained therein;

the method further comprising;

sorting the second plurality of pills according to a size of each pill to generate a second ordered list;

wherein at least two of the second plurality of pills differ in size; and

placing the second plurality of pills into the second plurality of containers in accordance with the fill pattern and in an order specified by the second ordered list.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first multi-dose blister pack corresponds to a first time of day corresponding to a first plurality of days and the second multi-dose blister pack corresponds to a second time of day corresponding to a second plurality of days, wherein at least some of the days in the first plurality of days are in the second plurality of days.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first multi-dose blister pack corresponds to a first plurality of days and the second multi-dose blister pack corresponds to a second plurality of days;

wherein none of the first plurality of days is in the second plurality of days, and wherein each of the first multi-dose blister pack and the second multi-dose blister pack includes at least two cells corresponding to different times of day.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the act of placing the second plurality of pills does not begin until the act of placing the first plurality of pills is completed.

20. A computer system for optimizing an order of fill of medication into a plurality of containers associated with a patient, the system comprising:

a processor for executing computer executable instructions;

a system memory to temporarily store data related to the computer executable instructions;

a non-volatile memory to permanently store data related to the computer executable instructions, the computer executable instructions generating the order of fill and including;

a first routine to obtain a fill pattern information mapping a plurality of pills to a plurality of containers, wherein each of the plurality of pills is mapped into no more than one container and wherein at least some of plurality of containers are adapted to hold more than one pill;

a second routine to obtain a pill attribute; and

a third routine to generate the order of fill of the plurality of pills based on the pill attribute.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the pill attribute is a size of a pill;

wherein each of the plurality of pills is mapped onto a geometric solid shape;

wherein the size of a pill is a cubic volume of the pill calculated as the volume of the geometric solid shape into which the pill can be inscribed;

wherein the plurality of containers are individual cells of at least one multi-dose blister pack; and

wherein the generated order of fill includes a listing of each of the plurality of pills in an ascending order of cubic volume.

22. The system of claim 20, further comprising a filling entity coupled to the processor to fill the plurality of containers with the plurality of pills according to the generated order of fill.

23. The system of claim 20, further comprising an intermediate filling unit to temporarily hold the plurality of pills after the order of fill is generated but prior to the plurality of pills being placed into the plurality of containers;

wherein the plurality of pills are placed into the intermediate filling unit in an order opposite to the generated order of fill.

24. The system of claim 20, further comprising a database communicatively coupled to the processor, the database storing pill information;

wherein the second routine obtains the pill attribute of each of the plurality of pills from the database.

25. A method in a computer system of generating an order of fill corresponding to a fill pattern for a plurality of pills to be deposited into a plurality of containers, the method comprising:

retrieving from a memory the fill pattern, wherein the fill pattern includes a mapping between the plurality of pills and the plurality of containers, each pill associated with no more than one container;

wherein at least two pills are mapped to a same container; and

wherein the plurality of containers is associated with a multi-dose pack;

receiving from the memory an attribute corresponding to each of the plurality of pills, wherein at least two of the plurality of pills are associated with different values of the attribute; and

generating a list corresponding to the plurality of pills and ordered according to the attribute of each the plurality of pills, wherein the list specifies an order in which each of the plurality of pills is placed into one of the plurality of containers so that a pill having a first value of the attribute is deposited prior to a pill having a second value of the attribute in accordance with a rule defining a relationship between the first value and the second value.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the attribute is a cubic volume of the pill and wherein the rule defines a comparison between cubic volumes whereby a pill having a greater cubic volume is deposited prior to a pill having a smaller cubic volume.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the plurality of containers is associated with a plurality of multi-dose packs including the first multi-dose pack, so that at least one of the plurality of containers is associated with the first multi-dose pack and at least another one of the plurality of containers is associated with a second one of the plurality of multi-dose packs.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein generating a list includes separately specifying an order of fill for each of the plurality of multi-dose packs, including:

generating a first sub-list having a head and a tail, the first sub-list including each of the plurality of pills mapped to a first of the plurality of multi-dose packs;

wherein a pill at the head of the first sub-list is placed into a container prior to all other pills in the first sub-list; and

wherein the first-sub list is ordered in a descending order of cubic volume of pills relative to the head of the first sub-list;

generating a second sub-list having a head and a tail, the second sub-list including each of the plurality of pills mapped to a second of the plurality of multi-dose packs, wherein a pill at the head of the second sub-list is placed into a container prior to all other pills in the second sub-list; and

wherein the second sub-sub list is ordered in a descending order of cubic volume of pills relative to the head of the second sub-list; and

adding the first sub-list and the second sub-list to the list, including appending the head of the second sub-list to the tail of the first sub-list.

29. A method in a computer system of distributing a plurality of pills into a plurality of containers associated with at least one multi-dose blister pack for use by at least one patient, the method comprising:

obtaining from a memory a first plurality of attributes of a first type, wherein each of the first plurality of attributes is associated with a respective one of the plurality of pills;

automatically applying a first rule to the first plurality of attributes to generate a first order of fill; and

placing the plurality of pills into the plurality of containers according to the first order of fill.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

applying a second rule to the first plurality of attributes to generate a second order of fill associated with an intermediate filling unit;

wherein placing the plurality of pills into the plurality of containers includes retrieving the plurality of pills from the intermediate filling unit.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

obtaining a second plurality of attributes of a second type, wherein each of the second plurality of attributes is associated with a respective one of the plurality of pills; and

wherein

applying the first rule further includes applying the first rule to the second plurality of attributes to generate the first order of fill.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the first type is one of pill size, pill shape, pill interaction restriction, pill weight, or pill density, and wherein the second type is another of pill size, pill shape, pill interaction restriction, pill weight, or pill density.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the plurality of containers includes a first subset associated with a first multi-dose blister pack and a second subset associated with a second multi-dose blister pack.