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; 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.
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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.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles, the method comprising:
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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; 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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 22)
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11. An apparatus for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles, the apparatus comprising:
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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; and 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. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. 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:
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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; and 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.
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23. A method for dispensing and detecting solid pharmaceutical articles, the method comprising:
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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; 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 an average travel time based on previous detection signals.
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Specification