Other

Brian Marshall Burney

Derek William Thompson

Bryant James Deakins

Barton Carter Mitchell

Steven Craig Israel

William Robert Cobb

Michael Jones

Corey Spencer Martin

Chris Gregory Cox

A vial hopper and feeder assembly is used in conjunction with automated prescription filling devices and systems, wherein the vial hopper and feeder assembly is configured to allow an operator to dump a large number of vials into a hopper in a random orientation, and the hopper/feeder assembly has the capability of selecting individual vials, orienting them in the proper direction, and delivering them individually in assembly line fashion, and in proper orientation, to the next step of the prescription filling process. A rotatable singulator receives the vials, feeds each vial individually to a pocket within a rotating turnstile. Sensors detect the presence and orientation of the vial, upright or upside down, and the turnstile rotates either clockwise or counterclockwise, based on the orientation of the vial within the pocket, to release each vial in one single direction.

Automated vial hopper and feeder assembly

A low-profile visual counting system is provided and designed to count pills or other small discrete objects. This technology is vision based, which allows a pharmacist or other user to pour pills onto a counting surface in a single layer, and then the device tells the user how many pills are on that surface. The present device places the camera and preferably an infrared light source below the counting surface. This offers the unique advantage of not having to mount a camera above the counting surface which reduces the size and improves the aesthetic characteristics of such a device. The image is captured and then processed to determine the number of pills on the surface. This system may be interfaced with other networks, terminals, and existing pharmacy management systems.

Visual counting system

A wireless computerized will call system is provided for filling prescriptions and then locating specific prescriptions that have been filled when the customer arrives to pick up the prescription. The system includes a computer workstation or network, a wireless transmitter, and hanger bags for temporarily storing prescriptions awaiting customer pick up. The hanger bags are equipped with wireless receivers and transducers. When a pharmacy worker commands the computer system to locate a specific prescription, the specific hanger bag containing that prescription receives a wireless signal from the computer system and activates the transducer on the hanger bag to alert the pharmacy worker to the location of the prescription.

Pharmaceutical will call system and method

Growing community of inventors

Wake Forest, NC, United States of America

Brian Marshall Burney