Authomated pill-dispensing apparatus
First Claim
1. A pill-dispensing apparatus for automatically dispensing solid pills, comprising:
- a plurality of storage units for storing pills in bulk, each storage unit including an outer container, a track positioned in a bottom of the outer container, and a hopper movably positioned within the outer container for movement toward and away from the track to vary a size of a gap therebetwewn; and
a pill-dispensing module including a dock for receiving and holding a selected one of the storage units, a drive unit for oscillating the track to motivate the pills along the track, a pill counter for counting pills dispensed from the track, and a lift for raising and lowering the hopper to vary a gap between the hopper and the track to control flow and to and to assist in motivating pills to fall from the hopper to the track.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An under-counter portable automatic pill-dispensing apparatus includes a double array of storage units for storing pills in bulk, a retriever between the two arrays for retrieving selected storage units, and a pill-dispensing module for unloading pills into a vial. The storage units each include an outer container, a track positioned in a bottom of the outer container, and a hopper movably positioned within the outer container for movement toward and away from the track. The pill-dispensing module includes an oscillator for the track, a pill counter, and a lift for raising and lowering the hopper to control flow of pills. A prescription information station is provided including a computer for receiving patient prescription information, a printer for printing a label for the vial and for applying the label to the vial, bar code scanners for verification, and distributed controllers for operating the various components.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A pill-dispensing apparatus for automatically dispensing solid pills, comprising:
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a plurality of storage units for storing pills in bulk, each storage unit including an outer container, a track positioned in a bottom of the outer container, and a hopper movably positioned within the outer container for movement toward and away from the track to vary a size of a gap therebetwewn; and
a pill-dispensing module including a dock for receiving and holding a selected one of the storage units, a drive unit for oscillating the track to motivate the pills along the track, a pill counter for counting pills dispensed from the track, and a lift for raising and lowering the hopper to vary a gap between the hopper and the track to control flow and to and to assist in motivating pills to fall from the hopper to the track. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A pill-dispensing apparatus for automatically dispensing solid pills, comprising:
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an outer container;
a track positioned at a bottom of the outer container;
a hopper movably positioned within the outer container for movement toward and away from the track;
a dock for holding the storage unit;
an oscillator for vibrating the track to motivate the pills along the track; and
a lift for lifting the hopper to adjustably increase a gap between the track and the hopper when pills bridge up and stop moving along the track.
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15. A pill-dispensing apparatus for automatically dispensing solid pills, comprising:
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a frame with storage locations;
a plurality of storage units movably stored in respective ones of the storage locations, the storage units being adapted to hold pills in bulk, the storage units having a depth and being arranged in first and second vertical parallel planes with a space therebetween at least as deep as the depth of the storage units, the storage units each having a track associated therewith;
an x-y-z direction retriever module operably mounted on the frame for movement in the space, the retriever module including a carrier adapted to carry a selected one of the storage units, the retriever further including first, second and third actuators operable to move the retriever in x, y, and z orthogonal directions, respectively, and further including a coupler operable to grip the selected one storage unit as the selected one storage unit is pulled from its respective storage location onto the carrier;
a pill-dispensing module on the frame, including a dock for receiving and holding the selected one of the storage units and a pill-dispensing mechanism for dispensing pills from the selected one storage unit, the pill-dispensing mechanism including a vibrator with first and second nodes that engage the track at spaced apart locations for vibrating portions of the track with dissimilar vibration patterns; and
a controller for controlling the first, second, and third actuators, the gripper, and the pill-dispensing mechanism.
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16. A pill-dispensing apparatus for automatically dispensing solid pills, comprising:
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a hopper;
a track positioned at a bottom of the hopper;
one of the hopper and the track being supported for movement toward and away from the other of the hopper and the track to vary a gap between the hopper and the track to control pill flow from the hopper; and
an oscillator including first and second nodes engaging the track for vibrating different portions of the track with separately-generated vibrations to motivate the pills along the track. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification