Apparatus for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles and related methods of operation
First Claim
1. A method for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles, the method comprising:
- forcing an article through a dispensing channel and past a sensor configured and positioned to detect the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the article comprises one of the solid pharmaceutical articles;
generating a detection signal using the sensor responsive to the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the detection signal indicates a time that the article takes to traverse the sensor;
determining whether the article is a complete article or an article fragment responsive to a comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and an article fragment travel time representing an expected travel time for a complete article to traverse the sensor that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical article, wherein the article fragment travel time comprises a complete article travel time, representing an expected travel time that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical articles, multiplied by a fragment percentage value, wherein the fragment percentage value is configurable and represents a percentage of the article under which the article is considered as an article fragment;
comparing the time indicated by the detection signal and the complete article travel time; and
altering the complete article travel time responsive to the comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and the complete article travel time.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles includes: forcing an article through a dispensing channel and past a sensor configured and positioned to detect the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the article includes one of the solid pharmaceutical articles; generating a detection signal using the sensor responsive to the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the detection signal indicates a time that the article takes to traverse the sensor; and determining whether the article is a complete article or an article fragment responsive to a comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and an article fragment travel time representing an expected travel time for a complete article to traverse the sensor that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical articles.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A method for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles, the method comprising:
-
forcing an article through a dispensing channel and past a sensor configured and positioned to detect the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the article comprises one of the solid pharmaceutical articles; generating a detection signal using the sensor responsive to the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the detection signal indicates a time that the article takes to traverse the sensor; determining whether the article is a complete article or an article fragment responsive to a comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and an article fragment travel time representing an expected travel time for a complete article to traverse the sensor that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical article, wherein the article fragment travel time comprises a complete article travel time, representing an expected travel time that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical articles, multiplied by a fragment percentage value, wherein the fragment percentage value is configurable and represents a percentage of the article under which the article is considered as an article fragment; comparing the time indicated by the detection signal and the complete article travel time; and altering the complete article travel time responsive to the comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and the complete article travel time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. An apparatus for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles, the apparatus comprising:
-
a dispensing channel; a drive mechanism to force an article through the dispensing channel, wherein the article comprises one of the solid pharmaceutical articles; a sensor configured and positioned to detect the article passing through the dispensing channel and generate a detection signal responsive thereto; and a controller configured to; receive the detection signal from the sensor responsive to the article passing through the dispensing channel, wherein the detection signal indicates a time that the article takes to traverse the sensor; determine whether the article is a complete article or an article fragment responsive to a comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and an article fragment travel time representing an expected travel time for a complete article to traverse the sensor that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical articles, wherein the article fragment travel time comprises a complete article travel time, representing an expected travel time that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical articles, multiplied by a fragment percentage value, wherein the fragment percentage value is configurable and represents a percentage of the article under which the article is considered as an article fragment; compare the time indicated by the detection signal and the complete article travel time and alter the complete article travel time responsive to the comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and the complete article travel time. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A computer program product for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising:
-
computer readable program code that is configured to receive a detection signal from a sensor responsive to an article passing through a dispensing channel, wherein the article comprises one of the solid pharmaceutical articles, and wherein the detection signal indicates a time that the article takes to traverse the sensor; computer readable program code that is configured to determine whether the article is a complete article or an article fragment responsive to a comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and an article fragment travel time representing an expected travel time for a complete article to traverse the sensor that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical articles, wherein the article fragment travel time comprises a complete article travel time, representing an expected travel time that is determined independent of physical attributes of the solid pharmaceutical articles, multiplied by a fragment percentage value, wherein the fragment percentage value is configurable and represents a percentage of the article under which the article is considered as an article fragment; computer readable program code that is configured to compare the time indicated by the detection signal and the complete article travel time; and computer readable program code that is configured to alter the complete article travel time responsive to the comparison of the time indicated by the detection signal and the complete article travel time.
-
Specification