Method and system for verification of contents of a multi-cell, multi-product blister pack

• US 7,946,101 B1
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Issued: 05/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Inventors: Lee, Victor, Pankow, Greg, McGonagle, Sean, Lewis, J. Randolph
• Primary Examiner(s): Durand; Paul R
• Application Number:
  US12/130,575
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 534/73, 534/74, 534/75, 535/01, 535/02, 535/03, 535/04, 532/35, 532/38, 532/40, 539/00, 533/93, 700/216, 700/218, 700/219, 700/223, 700/231, 700/240, 700/242, 235/375, 235/385
• US Class Current: 53/474
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/035 Blister-type containers blisters in general B65D75/36
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 1/22 by vibration
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 11/50 Enclosing articles, or quantities of material, by disposing contents between two sheets, e.g. pocketed sheets, and securing their opposed free margins apparatus or devices for forming pockets in or from sheets, blanks or webs B65B47/00
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 2039/009 Multiple outlets
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 39/007 Guides or funnels for introducing articles into containers or wrappers
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/103 for packaging pills or tablets
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/106 by pushers B65B5/12 and B65B5/108 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 69/0041 by puncturing
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 69/0058 Solid contents

Abstract

A method of transferring a plurality of tablets of a product from a first blister card comprising a first plurality of blisters to a second blister card comprising a second plurality of blisters includes discharging the plurality of tablets from the first plurality of blisters of the first blister card. Then, each of the plurality of tablets are guided along one of a plurality of passageways defined by a transfer fixture positioned between the first blister card and the second blister card. Finally, the plurality of tablets are received in the second plurality of blisters of the second blister card. The method includes monitoring the deposit of product to the blister card and verifying the contents of the blister card.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring and verifying contents of a multi-cell blister pack comprising:

receiving an electronic product order for a blister pack at a first computing device, wherein the electronic product order requires multiple different products in the blister pack;

determining from the electronic product order a set of ingredient products of the blister pack;

retrieving stored physical characteristic data of multiple ingredient products for the blister pack;

scanning at least one cell of the blister pack to provide a computing device with data indicative of a physical characteristic of product content in the blister pack cell;

determining whether the retrieved product characteristic data corresponds with the scanned product content data of the blister pack cell; and

generating an indication of whether the retrieved product characteristic data corresponds with the scanned product content data of the blister pack cell.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic prescription order requires multiple different products in at least one cell of the blister pack.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising scanning each cell of the blister pack to provide the computing device an indication of whether a deposit is made to each cell and recording a mapping of cell position and deposit state for the cell position.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved physical characteristic data includes a density of the ingredient product and a size of the ingredient product, and wherein scanning comprises measuring a change in weight of the blister pack as product is deposited into the blister pack.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanned product characteristic data comprises measuring a color of a product in the blister cell, a shape of a product in the blister cell, and a size of the product in the blister cell.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the retrieved product characteristic data corresponds with the scanned product content data comprises performing a scan of an identifier printed on an ingredient product contained in the blister cell.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical characteristic data is an image of the product, and wherein scanning comprises capturing an image of a product contained in the scanned blister pack cell.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising using image recognition software to automatically determine the identity of a product in the cell.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising vibrating the blister pack to shuffle content of the blister cell and capturing a plurality images of content of the at least one cell over time.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising vibrating the blister pack for a predetermined period of time based on the quantity of the set of ingredients of the electronic product order.