Innovation Associates, Inc.

Xerox Corporation

Bruce Edward Holtje

James G McGonigal

Joseph H Boyer

James P Boyer

Todd Edward Bower

Timothy William Limer

Mark Andrew Fisher

Michael J Hostetler

A canister arrangement for refilling a pharmaceutical dispenser. The dispenser can hold a predetermined number of pills, tablets, or capsules at one time. Since the canister arrangement can hold considerably more than the dispenser can, the canister is able to fill the dispenser to capacity multiple times before the canister must be refilled. The canister has a housing and one or more chambers in the housing. When a plurality of chambers is present, at least one of the chambers has a sloping floor at the bottom of the housing. A swinging door is disposed between each pair of adjacent chambers. The swinging door(s) are automatically activated when the dispensing apparatus senses that the dispenser and the previous chamber are both empty. An opening is also provided at the bottom of the housing. A sliding door covers the opening to prevent pills, tablets and capsules from exiting the housing. The sliding door is automatically opened upon the occurrence of an external condition, such as when the dispensing apparatus senses that the dispenser is empty.

Canister arrangement for refilling pharmaceutical dispenser

There is provided an automated prescription filling system using a robotic arm in combination with an automatic pharmaceutical dispenser having a plurality of individual pill-counting units, each under the control of its own microprocessor. The automatic pharmaceutical dispensers are modified for use with the robotic arm. Because tablet counting is completely independent of the robotic arm, system throughput is higher than in systems of the prior art. Unlike systems of the prior art, each individual pill-counting unit can be removed from behind the pharmaceutical dispenser so that the system need not be stopped for such service. The fact that counting operations are divorced from robotic arm movements allows the arm movements to be optimized and multiple prescriptions to be processed simultaneously. Controller software optimizes movement of the robotic arm based upon such factors as the fullness of the vial being transported.

Robotic arm and method for using with an automatic pharmaceutical dispenser

A self-contained, fully automated system for dispensing medicants into vials. Prescriptions are entered using a built-in workstation. Vials of several sizes are each contained in preloaded cassettes. Upon command from a computer, a vial is released and labeled with the prescription information. A robotic system moves the labeled vial to the output chute of one of many automated dispensing units that has previously been commanded to count a predetermined number of tablets, pills, or capsules. The filled vial is robotically moved to an optional capping station where a cap is applied if needed. The vial is then moved to an output region where it is sorted with other prescriptions for a customer. The prescription may be checked using the built-in computer workstation. Optionally, the automated dispensing system may be linked to pharmacy control software.

Robotic prescription filling system

The disclosed rotatable disks type sheet inverting, registration and stacking system has finger units, with sheet carrying slots, which are mounted to the disk units for variable radial movement. These finger units automatically adjust their radius to release sheets from their respective slots closely adjacent to the top of the output stack of sheets at their registration position to automatically compensate for variations in the height of said stack of sheets, preferably by limited force engagement of the ends of the fingers with the top of the stack. Preferably the finger units are radially pivotally outwardly lightly spring loaded to provide a transporting and inverting position for the sheets in the sheet slots which is at a substantially greater radius than the reduced radius thereof in releasing the sheets at the stacking registration position. A vertically movable sheet hold-down bail system is automatically actuated in coordination with the release of the sheet to only engage the sheet when it is very closely adjacent to the top of the stack.

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Berkshire, NY, United States of America

Bruce Edward Holtje