The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 16, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 02, 1996
James W Meador, Houston, TX (US);
Thomas L Kraft, Houston, TX (US);
KVM Technologies, Inc., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A container for pharmaceutical items, comprising a tray having at least one compartment adapted to retrievably contain at least one pharmaceutical item, each said compartment having associated therewith a lid movable between a closed position restricting access to the associated compartment and an open position permitting access to the associated compartment, and each lid having associated therewith a mechanism responsive to control signals from a computer to permit movement between the closed and open positions. The invention also includes a system for dispensing pharmaceutical items comprising at least one support structure supporting at least one drawer, each said drawer being adapted to receive at least one of the above described containers and being movable with respect to said support structure between an open position permitting access to a given compartment of a given container and a closed position restricting access to all containers in each said drawer; and at least one said computer operable to control access to each compartment in each container. The invention also includes a method of controllably and securably dispensing pharmaceutical items comprising, storing pharmaceutical items in locations identifiable by a computer and to which access is controlled by a computer, inputting data identifying a desired pharmaceutical item, and having said computer identify a location having the desired item and issue appropriate control signals to permit access to the desired item.