U.S. patent number RE42,730 [Application Number 12/469,482] was granted by the patent office on 2011-09-27 for automatic prescription filling, sorting and packaging system.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Medco Health Solutions, Inc.. Invention is credited to Michael Kennedy, Christopher J. Lasher, James G. McErlean, Frank Modrowsky, Dennis W. Rice, Paul Thomas Shupert, Michael J. Szesko.
United States Patent |
RE42,730 |
Lasher , et al. |
September 27, 2011 |
Automatic prescription filling, sorting and packaging system
Abstract
In an automated prescription dispensing and packing system,
empty prescription bottles are labeled and loaded in assigned
locations in carriers. Pills are automatically dispensed into the
prescription bottles in the carriers. Ranks of carriers containing
filled prescription bottles are assembled at stations where the
bottles are unloaded and packed into shipping containers with
literature printed by the system. Multiple bottles of an order are
automatically packed in the same shipping container.
Inventors: |
Lasher; Christopher J.
(Ridgewood, NJ), Rice; Dennis W. (Flanders, NJ), Szesko;
Michael J. (Freehold, NJ), Modrowsky; Frank (Branchburg,
NJ), McErlean; James G. (Union Dale, PA), Kennedy;
Michael (Doylestown, PA), Shupert; Paul Thomas (Parkton,
MD) |
Assignee: |
Medco Health Solutions, Inc.
(Franklin Lakes, NJ)
|
Family
ID: |
24591396 |
Appl.
No.: |
12/469,482 |
Filed: |
May 20, 2009 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
|
12235242 |
Sep 22, 2008 |
|
|
|
|
09608013 |
Jun 30, 2000 |
Re. 40510 |
|
|
Reissue of: |
08646016 |
May 7, 1996 |
5771657 |
Jun 30, 1998 |
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
53/474; 53/131.4;
53/55; 53/493; 53/251; 53/168 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65B
61/20 (20130101); B65B 5/103 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65B
3/04 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;53/55,495,493,473,411,168,238,240,237,251,249,131.4,131.2,474
;700/235,228,216,225,215,241 ;414/403,408,411,810 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
Automated Material Handling Products, S.I. Handling Systems, Inc.
Jan. 8, 1990. cited by other .
"Baker Lockouts: Persistence Pays off," Quality Bulletin, Mar.
1993. cited by other .
Automated Material Handling Products, S. I. Handling Systems, Inc.
Jan. 8, 1990. cited by other.
|
Primary Examiner: Durand; Paul R
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
LLP
Parent Case Text
.Iadd.This application is a Divisional Application of U.S.
application Ser. No. 12/235,242, filed Sep. 22, 2008, entitled
AUTOMATIC PRESCRIPTION FILLING, SORTING AND PACKAGING SYSTEM, which
is a Divisional Application of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/608,013
filed Jun. 30, 2000 entitled AUTOMATIC PRESCRIPTION FILLING,
SORTING AND PACKAGING SYSTEM now U.S. Pat. No. Re40,510 which is a
Reissue Application of U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,657 issued Jun. 30, 1998
entitled AUTOMATIC PRESCRIPTION FILLING, SORTING AND PACKAGING
SYSTEM. This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 12/473,785, filed May 28, 2009 which is a Divisional
Application of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/235,242, filed Sep. 22,
2008, entitled AUTOMATIC PRESCRIPTION FILLING, SORTING AND
PACKAGING SYSTEM, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference
herein in its entirety. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for
the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,657. The reissue applications
are application Ser. Nos. 12/469,482 (the present Divisional
Reissue Application, filed on May 20, 2009), application Ser. No.
12/473,785 (Divisional Reissue Application filed on May 28, 2009),
12/235,242 (Divisional Reissue Application filed on Sep. 22, 2008)
and 09/608,013 (Reissue Application filed on Jun. 30, 2000) now
U.S. Pat. No. Re40,510, all of which are reissues of U.S. Pat. No.
5,771,657. .Iaddend.
Claims
We claim:
.[.1. An automatic prescription filling and packing system
comprising pill dispensing machines to automatically count out and
dispense pills into prescription bottles in accordance with
prescription orders, means to print literature packs customized to
said prescription orders, and order consolidation means to present
a shipping container for each order, to insert the prescription
bottle for said order into such shipping container and to insert,
separately from any prescription bottle inserted into the shipping
container, the literature pack for said order into such shipping
container..].
.[.2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein some of said
prescription orders include a plurality of prescriptions, said
dispensing machine dispensing the pills of the prescriptions of a
prescription order into separate prescription bottles, said order
consolidation means loading a plurality of prescription bottles of
a prescription order containing more than one prescription into a
common shipping container with a literature pack for such
prescription order..].
.[.3. An automatic prescription filling and packing system as
recited in claim 1 further comprising means to apply printed
prescription labels to said prescription bottles prior to the
insertion of said prescription bottles into a shipping
container..].
.[.4. A prescription dispensing and packing system comprising a
plurality of bottle carriers each having receptacles to receive a
plurality of pill bottles, means to receive orders for
prescriptions, means to load prescription bottles corresponding to
the prescriptions of said orders into scheduled locations in said
carriers, a prescription pill dispensing machine, means to
transport said carriers with said prescription bottles through said
dispensing machine, said dispensing machine dispensing the pills of
said orders into the bottles in said carriers in accordance with
the scheduled locations of the pill bottles in said carriers, order
consolidation means receiving carriers from said dispensing machine
and presenting shipping containers to be filled, each shipping
container corresponding to an order, said order consolidation means
unloading bottles from said carriers and loading bottles into
shipping containers corresponding to the orders, said order
consolidation means determining each bottle to go in each shipping
container from the scheduled location of such bottle in a
carrier..].
.[.5. A system as recited in claim 4, wherein said order
consolidation means comprises a turntable to receive a plurality of
said carriers, a robotic arm to unload prescription bottles from
the carriers on said turntable and means to transport the bottles
unloaded from the carriers into shipping containers..].
.[.6. A system as recited in claim 4, including a plurality of
dispensing machines each receiving carriers with bottles and
dispensing pills into the prescription bottles corresponding to
orders in accordance with the scheduled locations of said
prescription bottles in said carriers, conveying means organizing
said carries into ranks of a plurality of carriers and passing a
rank of carriers through said dispensing machines synchronously,
said system further comprising a plurality of said order
consolidation means and conveyer means to direct all the carriers
of a rank to the same order consolidation means..].
.[.7. A system as recited in claim 4, wherein some of said orders
include a plurality of prescriptions, said automatic dispensing
machine dispensing each prescription of an order in a separate
bottle, said order consolidation means loading a plurality of
bottles of an order into a common shipping container..].
.[.8. A system for assembling prescriptions by prescription order
wherein an order may include more than one prescription, comprising
a multiplicity of carriers each having the capability of receiving
a multiplicity of prescription bottles in scheduled locations,
means responsive to an order to provide prescription bottles filled
with pharmaceuticals in accordance with the prescriptions of said
patient order in one or more of said carriers, an order
consolidation and packing station, means to assemble a plurality of
carriers at said order and packing station, and packing means at
said order and consolidation station to remove the prescription
bottles of said order from the scheduled locations in the carriers
of said plurality and pack the bottles of said order in a
container..].
.[.9. The system as recited in claim 8 further comprising means to
print literature for said order and pack said literature in said
container at said consolidation and packing station..].
.[.10. A system for sorting prescriptions by prescription order
comprising a carrier having the capability of receiving a
multiplicity of prescription bottles in assigned locations, means
responsive to a prescription of an order to provide a prescription
bottle filled with pharmaceuticals in accordance with said
prescription in an assigned location in said carrier, an order
consolidation and packing station comprising means to receive said
carrier and remove said prescription bottle from said assigned
location in said carrier and pack said prescription bottle in a
container corresponding to said order..].
.[.11. A system as recited in claim 10 further comprising means to
print literature corresponding to said order and pack said
literature in said container at said order consolidation and
packing station..].
.[.12. A method of sorting prescription bottles by prescription
order comprising identifying prescription bottles corresponding to
each order, placing the prescription bottles of each order in
scheduled locations in carriers, each carrier having a multiplicity
of locations to receive prescription bottles, maintaining a record
for each order of the identification of the carriers containing the
prescription bottles of each order and the scheduled location in
said carriers of each prescription bottle of each order, and
removing the prescription bottles from the scheduled locations in
said carriers in accordance with said record and placing the
prescription bottles of each order in a separate container..].
.[.13. A method as recited in claim 12 further comprising applying
a label to each prescription bottle identifying the prescription in
the order corresponding to said prescription bottle..].
.[.14. A method as recited in claim 12 further comprising filling
said prescription bottles with pills in accordance with said
patient orders after said prescription bottles have been placed in
scheduled locations in said carrier..].
.[.15. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising filling
said prescription bottles after said prescription bottles have been
labeled and placed in scheduled locations in said carriers..].
.Iadd.16. An automated method for filling and packaging a
prescription order that includes at least one prescription,
comprising at least one of sequential, sequence independent and
non-sequential steps of: storing in a computer prescription
information comprising at least one prescription order; counting
out and dispensing pharmaceuticals into at least one bottle
responsive to the at least one prescription order, each of the at
least one bottle having a first identifier corresponding to a
prescription order; printing at least one literature pack
customized to each of the at least one prescription order, the at
least one literature pack having a second identifier corresponding
to the prescription order; identifying, by at least one
identification device, the first and second identifiers; and
inserting the at least one bottle and the at least one literature
pack corresponding to the at least one prescription order into a
shipping container responsive to said identifying the first and
second identifiers. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.17. The method as recited in claim 16 further comprising the
step of organizing a plurality of carriers holding bottles into
ranks of carriers, wherein the literature pack and the at least one
bottle corresponding to one of the at least one prescription order
are inserted into the shipping container at an order consolidation
and packing (OCP) station when the at least one bottle is contained
within a single rank of carriers. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.18. The method as recited in claim 16 further comprising the
step of organizing a plurality of carriers holding bottles into
ranks of carriers, wherein the at least one literature pack and the
at least one bottle corresponding to one of the at least one
prescription order are inserted into the shipping container at a
bottle sortation and packing (BSP) station when the at least one
bottle is contained within at least two ranks of carriers.
.Iaddend.
.Iadd.19. The method as recited in claims 17 or 18 wherein the
carriers hold different size bottles. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.20. The method as recited in claims 17 or 18 further
comprising the step of capping the bottles in the carriers.
.Iaddend.
.Iadd.21. The method as recited in claims 17 or 18 further
comprising the step of transporting the ranks of carriers
synchronously during dispensing. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.22. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the first
identifier is applied to each of the at least one bottle prior to
dispensing pharmaceuticals into the respective bottles.
.Iaddend.
.Iadd.23. The method as recited in claim 16 further comprising the
steps of: providing a third identifier on the shipping container;
reading the first, second and third identifiers to determine if the
first, second and third identifiers correspond to the same
prescription order; and inserting the at least one bottle and the
at least one literature pack into the shipping container when the
first, second and third identifiers correspond to the same
prescription order. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.24. The method as recited in claim 23 further comprising the
step of transporting the shipping to container to a quality
assurance area when said reading step indicates that at least one
of the first, second and third identifiers do not correspond with a
common prescription order. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.25. The method as recited in claim 24, further comprising the
step of manually inspecting at least one of the shipping container,
the literature pack and the at least one bottle. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.26. The method as recited in claim 25 further comprising the
step of shipping a shipping container to a customer. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.27. The method as recited in claim 23 wherein the first,
second and third identifiers comprise a bar code. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.28. The method as recited in claim 23 further comprising the
steps of: providing a plurality of carriers, each carrier holding a
plurality of bottles; affixing a fourth identifier to each of the
plurality of carriers; and using a device prior to said counting
and dispensing step to read the fourth identifier to ensure that at
least one of the plurality of carriers holds bottles corresponding
to the prescription order. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.29. The method as recited in claim 23 further comprising the
step of printing a shipping address on the shipping container.
.Iaddend.
.Iadd.30. The method as recited in claim 16 further comprising the
steps of: detecting a discrepancy in a first identifier;
transporting the bottle associated with the identifier discrepancy
to a bottle quality assurance area. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.31. The method as recited in claim 30 further comprising the
steps of: manually inspecting the bottle and resolving the
discrepancy; transporting the bottle having the resolved
discrepancy from the bottle quality assurance area to a bottle
sortation and packing (BSP) station comprising at least one buffer
area that receives bottles with a resolved discrepancy; and
inserting the bottle having the resolved discrepancy and a
customized literature pack, each corresponding to a prescription
order, into the shipping container at the BSP station.
.Iaddend.
.Iadd.32. The method as recited in claim 16 further comprising the
steps of: identifying a discrepancy in a second identifier; and
transporting the shipping container that contains the literature
package having the second identifier discrepancy to a quality
assurance area. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.33. The method as recited in claim 32 further comprising the
step of manually inserting a bottle corresponding to the
prescription order in the shipping container. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.34. The method as recited in claim 16 further comprising the
steps of: identifying a discrepancy in a second identifier; and
transporting the literature package having the second identifier
discrepancy to a quality assurance area. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.35. The method as recited in claim 34 further comprising the
step of manually inserting a literature package corresponding to
the prescription order in the shipping container. .Iaddend.
Description
This invention is directed to an integrated system for
automatically filling prescriptions and then assembling multiple
prescriptions in a common package or unit with literature which
relates to the prescription and/or marketing materials.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The use of mail service to fill prescriptions has been highly
successful in lowering the costs of providing drugs to consumers.
The filling of prescriptions and mailing the filled prescriptions
to consumers is labor intensive and a pharmacy can significantly
reduce its costs, improve quality, and reduce turn around time by
automating the prescription filling and assembling procedures.
Semi-automated prescription dispensing machines which can
automatically count the tablets or capsules of a unique
prescription have had a significant impact in the drug industry.
However, use of these machines still require many manual steps to
complete a patient's order. For example, the positioning of the
bottle under the proper chute is controlled by a technician or
pharmacist and after filling the bottle, the prescription has to be
further handled manually to effect mailing of the prescription to
the patient.
Patients or families using mail services to fill prescriptions
often receive multiple prescriptions. Data suggests that about 50
percent of mail service for prescription drugs involves orders for
at least two separate prescriptions. The advantages of a system
which automatically fills the respective separate prescriptions,
combines the prescriptions of each order and prepares the orders
for mailing are readily apparent. An automated system would produce
great labor savings in what heretofore has been a highly labor
intensive process and at the same time would reduce time required
to process prescriptions.
While the advantages of such a system are apparent, there are a
number of problems which have to be solved in order to
automatically fill and combine multiple prescription orders into a
single package. The multiple parts of an order have to be brought
automatically into close proximity at a packaging location. There
is a need to place literature about the prescriptions in each
shipping container along with the prescription. Any system which
automatically distributes drugs must have a number of controls and
checks to insure that the correct prescription is filled into the
correct bottle which has been labeled correctly and the correct
bottle is placed in the correct shipping container. Any deviation
from the correct operations and handling of the prescription could
be expected to have serious consequences. Lastly, in order to be
economical for its intended purpose, the system must operate a high
volume throughput.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the system of the invention, a computer system called a Pharmacy
Automation Computer (PAC) controls print, apply, and load stations
(PAL stations), which print prescription labels, apply the labels
to prescription bottles and load the labeled prescription bottles
onto carriers, a carrier conveyer system which moves the carriers
containing the prescription bottles from one station to the next,
automatic drug dispensing machines which dispense pharmaceutical
tablets or capsules into the labeled empty bottles in the carriers,
bottle cappers which apply caps to the bottles, printers which
print information corresponding to each prescription order, order
consolidation and packing stations (OCP stations) which unload the
bottles from the carriers and transport the bottles into shipping
containers and which pack the printed information into the shipping
containers along with the prescription bottles. The system
dispenses both tablets and capsules and the word "pill" is used
herein to refer to pharmaceuticals, both tablets or capsules, or
any other kind of solid pharmaceutical dose in countable form. In
accordance with the invention, PAC will receive the orders for
prescriptions, each of which may contain an order for multiple
prescriptions or a single prescription. The multiple prescriptions
of an order may be for a single patient or two or more patients in
a patient group, such as a family. PAC stores the information for
each order and controls the PAL stations to print and apply labels
to the bottles corresponding to each prescription. Bottle loaders
at the PAL stations load the labeled bottles into assigned
locations in carriers. The identification of the assigned locations
for each order is stored by PAC. When the order is for two or more
prescriptions to be automatically dispensed, these prescriptions
will be normally assigned carriers progressing through the system
simultaneously. In most instances, the several bottles of a given
order will be placed in a common rank of carriers progressing
synchronously through corresponding parts of the system in separate
lanes.
Following loading of the bottles in the carrier, the conveyer
system will transport the carriers with the labeled bottles to the
automatic drug dispensing machines, where tablets or capsules of
the prescriptions are automatically dispensed into the prescription
bottles. Following this operation, the conveyer system transports
the now filled bottles in the carriers to the bottle cappers where
the prescription bottles are capped, whereupon the bottle carriers
holding the now filled and capped prescription bottles are
transported to the OCP stations.
The OCP stations are provided with bottle unloaders, each of which
comprises a turntable designed to receive four bottle carriers
simultaneously. The rank of carriers progressing synchronously
through the lanes will all be received on the turntable of the same
station. A robotic arm picks out the bottles from the carriers on
the turntable corresponding to a given order and places them on a
bottle conveyer, which carries the bottles to a loading mechanism.
In the loading mechanism, the prescription bottles are bar code
verified and then the bottles are loaded in a shipping
container.
PAC also controls printers to print literature corresponding to
each patient order. The printers print the information and enclose
it in envelopes and place each envelope on a conveyer which
transports the envelopes from the printers to the OCP stations. At
each OCP station, the envelopes corresponding to the orders in the
carriers on the turntable are received and are placed in a
literature dispensing mechanism. Each envelope is inserted into a
shipping container before the prescription bottles for the
corresponding patient order are loaded into the shipping container.
When the literature and the prescription bottles have been bar code
verified and have been loaded into the shipping container with an
envelope containing printed information, the shipping container is
sealed and in most cases will be dropped onto a mail conveyer which
carries the completed order to mailing where the packages are
sorted by destination and sent to the patient.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the automated prescription
filling, sorting and packaging system of the invention;
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the electromechanical portion of
the system of the invention in more detail;
FIG. 3 illustrates a typical bottle label to go on a prescription
bottle to be processed by the system of the invention;
FIGS. 4a and 4b show perspective and partial sectional views of a
prescription bottle carrier employed in the system of the
invention;
FIGS. 5a and 5b schematically illustrate plan and elevational views
of a PAL station used in the system to print and apply labels to
the prescription bottles and load the bottles into the
carriers;
FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a drug dispensing machine employed
in the system of the invention;
FIG. 6a schematically illustrates one of the drug dispensers in a
dispensing machine;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an OCP station for unloading
prescription bottles from carriers and packing the prescription
bottles with printed literature in shipping containers;
FIGS. 7a-7d illustrate subsystems of an OCP station;
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an OCP station, bottle sortation
and packing station employed in the system of the invention;
and
FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the architecture of the computer
system used in the system of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The operation of the automated system of the invention is initiated
by the entry of customer orders. From a customer order, a
production order is generated, which upon being entered in the
system is classified in accordance with a pre-established protocol.
The production order will be classified as either a Manual-Dispense
Production Order, an Auto-Pack Production Order, a Large Production
Order, and/or a Marriage Production Order. The Manual-Dispense
Order is one that is assigned to be manually filled and packed
because of the nature of the prescription, such as because it is
for a narcotic or a controlled substance, because it is for a
compound, or because it is for a drug which is not in a solid dose
countable form. The present invention is concerned with the
automatically handled orders which include the Autopack Production
Order, the Large Production Order and the Marriage Production
Order. An Autopack Production Order is one containing one to four
prescriptions for tablets or capsules, all of which are to be
automatically dispensed and automatically assembled in a shipping
container. A Large Production Order is like an Autopack Production
Order except that it is for more than four prescriptions or
requires more than four prescription bottles to be filled. In the
specific described embodiment, only four prescription bottles can
be automatically assembled in one shipping container. A Marriage
Production Order is one in which some of the order must be manually
filled and packed and some of which is to be automatically
dispensed and packed.
As shown in the schematic illustration of FIG. 1, the orders are
received by a host computer 9 which forwards the orders to a
distributed computer system including a central computer called
Prescription Automation Controller 10 (PAC). PAC maintains an order
file of the information about each prescription to be filled in an
order including all of the information needed to fill each
prescription, prepare a prescription label for each prescription
and the information to print literature to go in a shipping
container with the prescription or prescriptions. PAC updates the
order file to maintain a record of the current status of each
prescription being filled as it progresses through the automated
system.
In the specific embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 1, PAC
10 controls a set of PAL stations 14 which print prescription
bottle labels, apply the prescriptions to prescription bottles, and
load the labeled bottles onto bottle carriers, a carrier conveyer
system 21 which carries the bottle carriers to different parts of
the system, automatic drug dispensing machines 23 which dispense
tablets or capsules into the prescription bottles in the bottle
carriers as they are carried by the conveyer system 21, bottle
cappers 25 which apply caps to the bottles, and OCP stations 29 at
which the bottles are unloaded from the carriers and placed in the
shipping containers corresponding to the patient orders. The
conveyer system 21 carries the bottles in the carriers from the PAL
stations through the automatic drug dispensing machines 23 to the
bottle cappers 25 and then from the bottle cappers to the OCP
stations 29. The conveyer system 21 also carries the empty carriers
back to the PAL stations 14. The OCP stations each also have a
literature dispensing mechanism which inserts printed literature
into each shipping container with the filled and capped
prescription bottles. PAC 10 controls literature printers 31 which
print literature for each prescription order and enclose the
literature for each prescription order in an envelope, print a bar
code that shows through a window in the envelope identifying the
prescription order, and then place each envelope on a literature
conveyer 34 which carries the envelope from the literature printers
31 to the OCP stations 29.
As shown in FIG. 2, bottles to be automatically filled with the
prescription drugs are introduced to the automated system by
hoppers 37 which receive the bottles in bulk form and automatically
feed the bottles to unscramblers 39. One of the hoppers 37 and one
of the unscramblers 39 will be for large bottles of 160 cc. and the
remaining hoppers and unscramblers will be for small bottles of 110
cc. The small bottle size can accommodate a majority of the
automatically filled prescriptions. The large bottles are large
enough for 91 percent of the prescriptions and are used to fill the
prescriptions in that 91 percent which are too large for the small
bottles. The remaining 9 percent of the prescriptions which are too
large for the large bottles are filled by using multiple bottles. A
large bottle and a small bottle will contain a volume required for
97.5 percent of the automatically filled prescriptions. In the
unscramblers, the bottles are singulated and oriented so that the
bottle opening first faces downward. The bottles are then righted
and directed to PAL stations 14 on bottle conveyers 41 and 43, one
for large bottles and one for small bottles. The unscramblers are
purchased equipment and are available from Palace Packaging
Equipment Co.
In the specific embodiment of the invention, there are four PAL
stations 14 as shown in FIG. 2. At the PAL stations 14,
prescription labels are printed under control of the PAC
corresponding to the prescriptions being automatically filled and
the printed labels are applied to the bottles. As shown in FIG. 3,
which illustrates a typical bottle label, the bottle label contains
the usual prescription information plus a bar code 28 representing
a 14 digit decimal number called the Bottle Identification Number
(BIN). The first ten digits of the BIN will the same as the order
number which uniquely identifies a patient order. The other four
digits of the BIN represent a prescription item number within the
patient order. This BIN will also be stored by the PAC 10 in the
order file.
As shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, a bottle carrier has 24 wells 44 to
receive bottles which are arranged in a 4.times.6 array. The
leading row which consists of four wells are sized to accommodate
the large sized bottles and the remaining five rows are sized to
receive the small bottles. This breakdown is a close approximation
to the anticipated requirements for large and small bottles. The
bottles all have the same diameter, as do the wells, but the wells
in the first four rows are deeper to accommodate the larger bottles
which have a greater axial dimension. The well bottoms in the
carriers are positioned so that the tops of the bottles loaded in
the carriers are all at the same level.
The bottle carrier is also provided with an RFID tag 46 which
uniquely identifies the carrier. The carrier identification can be
read out from the RFID tag by radio frequency transducers. The RFID
tags and transducers are available from Data Logic Company. After a
carrier is loaded at a PAL station, the RFID tag on the carrier is
read and stored by PAC 10 in the order file associated with the
prescription orders of bottles loaded on the carrier.
Each bottle becomes unique when the label is applied to the bottle,
and it must be placed at a predetermined scheduled position within
the bottle carrier by a PAL station 14. It is critical that no
deviation occur between the logical position of the bottle
determined by PAC and the physical location of the bottle on the
carrier. Also a given Auto-Pack Production order for more than one
prescription may have prescription bottles in up to four different
carriers, but the carriers will usually all be in the same rank in
their progression through the system so that they will be loaded at
approximately the same time by the PAL stations. PAC must maintain
in the order file the identification of the carrier in which the
bottle of each prescription is located, and the location in the
carrier where each bottle is located. PAC will obtain the carrier
identification after the carrier is loaded by the reading of the
carrier RFID tag when the carrier is positioned for transfer out of
the PAL station.
PAL Station
As shown in FIG. 5a, the empty bottles are fed to a PAL station on
bottle stream conveyers 41 and 43. At the PAL station, the bottles
are received in a star wheel 48 which transports the bottles in
sequence to a label applying position 49. At the label applying
position, a label printed by a label printer 42 is applied to the
prescription bottle by rotating the bottle on its axis at the
position 49. After application of the label, the bar code on the
label is read by bar code reader 35 and is received by the PAL
station controller to verify the BIN on the label. After
verification of the bar code, the star wheel advances the labeled
bottle to the drop position 30. As shown in FIG. 5b, the bottle is
dropped through a trap door from the drop position into a
telescoping guide 32, which guides the bottle into a carrier 38
positioned beneath the star wheel 48. Empty carriers are delivered
to the PAL station by a conveyer, from which they are received into
a carrier buffer 40, and then are loaded on an XY indexing table 57
positioned beneath the star wheel 48. The indexing table 57 is
moved in a serpentine path to move each well in the carrier on the
table 57 in sequence under the drop position 30 to receive a
prescription bottle through the guide 32. As each prescription
bottle is dropped from the drop position 30, the guide 32
telescopes downwardly to guide the bottle into the appropriate
carrier well positioned directly under the drop position. In this
manner, the carrier is loaded with labeled prescription bottles in
scheduled positions in the carrier.
After the loading cycle, an RFID tag reader will read the unique
RFID tag identification and communicate it to PAC. The carrier will
then be released by the PAL station onto a conveyer 45 which
carries the carrier loaded with the labeled empty prescription
bottles to an automatic dispensing machine 23, of which there are
four, one for each PAL station 14.
Automatic Drug Dispensing Machines
As shown in FIG. 2, the conveyers 45, under control by PAC, carry
the bottle carriers from the four PAL stations 14 to carrier
buffers at the entrances of the four automatic drug dispensing
machines 23 in which the tablets or capsules of the prescriptions
are automatically dispensed into the prescription bottles under the
control of PAC. Because of the organization provided by the
carriers, the bottles are arranged into four columns approaching
each automatic dispensing machine 23. Since there are four
automatic dispensing machines 23, 16 parallel prescription bottle
columns approach the dispensing machines. In the specific
embodiment of the invention, the four automatic drug dispensing
machines each have 384 drug dispensers arranged four columns wide
and 96 rows deep to provide a total of 1,536 pill dispensers. The
automatic drug dispensing machines are similar to those described
in the copending application Ser. No. 08/455,398 filed May 31, 1995
which is hereby incorporated by reference. Each dispensing lane is
divided into 32 buffer assemblies each containing twelve drug
dispensers oriented six on each side of a conveyer within the
dispensing machine.
As shown in FIG. 6, which schematically illustrates one of the
dispensing machines with bottle carriers 38 being indexed
there-through, each of the 32 buffer assemblies of the machine
contains three rows of dispensers 50. The carrier conveyer in each
dispensing machine is an indexing conveyer, which moves each
carrier in the dispensing machine forward one row at a time. The
carriers in a dispensing machine are juxtaposed head to toe in a
continuous line throughout the dispensing machine so that there are
no gaps between carriers and the indexing conveyer moves all the
carriers in the continuous line forward simultaneously one row at a
time. The carriers in the continuous line are spaced from each
other a fraction of an inch on the indexing conveyer, but the
distance between the last row on a preceding carrier in the
continuous line and the first row on a succeeding carrier is equal
to the distance between rows on a carrier and to the distance
between dispenser rows in the automatic dispensing machines 23. At
each position in which the carriers are stopped in the automatic
dispensing machine, the prescription bottles in the carriers will
be aligned under the drug dispensers. Accordingly, each row of
bottles is successively brought under each of the 96 rows of four
dispensers in the machine. Each time the bottle carriers containing
the prescription bottles are stopped in the machine, each of the
bottles in the line which is underneath a drug dispenser containing
tablets or capsules to be dispensed in such bottle is filled with
the prescribed number of tablets or capsules and then the
continuous line of carriers is indexed to the next row position.
When a conveyer 45 transports a carrier newly filled with empty
prescription bottles to a dispensing machine 23, the carrier will
come into position adjacent the preceding carrier at the entrance
to the dispensing machine in a carrier buffer 51. An RFID tag
reader 58 verifies the presence of the correct new carrier in the
buffer 51. The indexing conveyer will not index the line of
juxtaposed carriers in the dispensing machine forward unless a new
carrier with empty bottles is within the carrier buffer 51 so that
no gaps will be formed between the carriers in the dispensing
machine. When the new carrier reaches the indexing conveyer, it
will become a part of the line of juxtaposed carriers in the
dispensing machine being indexed forward one row at a time. Each of
the automatic drug dispensing machines 23 operates to fill
prescriptions in the above-described manner as the bottle carriers
containing the prescription bottles move through the machines.
Preferably, the buffer assemblies of each dispensing machine 23 are
divided into groups of eight separated by a selected number of
dispensing rows so that the indexing conveyer can be accessed and
technicians on opposite sides of a dispensing machine can more
readily communicate. When a carrier moves out of the last row
position in a dispensing machine, all of the prescription bottles
in that bottle carrier should be filled and a conveyer 56
transports the prescription bottles now filled with the
prescriptions to a bottle capper 25 as shown in FIG. 2.
The individual drug dispensers and their organization into buffer
assemblies is similar to that described in the above-mentioned
copending application. As described in this application, and as
shown in schematically in FIG. 6a, the tablets or capsules are
counted out one at a time from a hopper 52 by a counter 53 into an
upper buffer 54, then released into a lower buffer 55 and then
released from the lower buffer into a prescription bottle
(designated 59 in FIG. 6a) when it comes into position under the
dispenser. The releasing of the tablets or capsules from the upper
buffer 54 into the lower buffer 55 is referred to as "staging".
While the tablets or capsules of a first prescription are held in
the lower buffer 55 waiting to be released into a prescription
bottle, the tablets or capsules of the next prescription to be
filled from that dispenser after the first prescription will be
counted into the upper buffer 54 as described in the
above-mentioned copending application. To control the release of
tablets or capsules from an individual dispenser into the correct
prescription bottle, PAC maintains an index count for each
automatic dispensing machine 23 which is incremented each time the
automatic drug dispensing machine indexes the carriers one row
forward within the machine. PAC 10 maintains a prescription work-to
list for each drug dispenser and this list is loaded with index
numbers each corresponding to a prescription for the tablets or
capsules of the dispenser and indicating when the dispensing cell
is to dispense the tablets or capsules of the prescription. The
index number for a prescription is loaded into the work-to list at
the time the prescription bottle for the prescription is loaded
into a carrier. The index number is determined from the current
index count plus the number of carrier rows between the dispenser
and the carrier row into which the prescription bottle is loaded.
When the index count for the dispenser reaches the index number in
the work-to list for a dispenser, the tablets or capsules from the
lower buffer in the dispenser are released into the prescription
bottle.
Because more than one bottle may be approaching a drug dispenser to
be filled from that dispenser, each work-to list may contain
several index numbers one for each of the prescription bottles to
be filled from the dispenser loaded in a carrier approaching the
dispenser. The lowest index number is processed first in each
work-to list so that each successive bottle will receive the
corresponding counted out prescription by the dispenser. If a drug
dispenser in the dispensing machine senses that the dispenser may
have failed to count out the correct number of tablets or capsules
or fails to operate to release the tablets or capsules into the
intended prescription bottle, this failure would be reported to the
PAC 10 which will record the failure in the order file. The faulty
dispenser is taken out of service by the PAC 10, which schedules no
new prescriptions for that dispenser until it has been serviced and
rendered operative.
Prescription Bottle Cappers
After the prescription bottles in the carrier have been filled by
one of the automatic drug dispensing machines 23, a conveyer 56
transports the carrier to a bottle capper 25 where the bottles
capped while the bottles remain in the carrier. At the bottle
capper 25, the carrier is loaded on an XY indexing table and the
carrier is moved on the indexing table to position each bottle
under the bottle capper where the bottle is capped. If the bottle
capper detects that a bottle is not properly capped, this
information is communicated to PAC and entered in the order
file.
OCP Stations
As explained above, the carriers are organized into ranks with a
rank of four carriers progressing through the automatic drug
dispensing machines 23 and the bottle cappers 25 synchronously so
that the four carriers of a rank exit from the cappers 25 at the
same time. From the bottle cappers 25, the conveyers 56 feed the
carriers onto an endless conveyer loop 71 which will transport the
four carriers of a rank to one of six OCP stations 29.
As shown in the OCP station of FIG. 7, the four carriers of a rank
are first received in a carrier buffer 75 from which they are
loaded onto a turntable 77. An RFID tag reader verifies that the
correct carriers are in place on the turntable. The turntable 77
selectively rotates the carriers into a position to have the
bottles removed by a robotic arm 79. The OCP station also contains
equipment 91 for packing literature into shipping containers, which
take the form of bags, along with the prescription bottles of a
given order. The OCP station also includes a bagging machine 81
which presents the bags for successive orders to be loaded in
sequence at a loading position. The bagging machines are purchased
equipment manufactured by Concept Packaging Company of Carson City,
Nev. The bagging machine also prints a bar code identifying the
order directly on each bag. The printed data may include the
mailing address to which the shipping container is to be sent. In
FIG. 7, a bag 83 is shown at the loading position with its mouth
open. The opening of the mouth of bag 83 is accomplished by a
blower provided as part of the bagging machine. The conveyer 34
brings envelopes 85 containing literature to be packed in shipping
containers to the OCP station in the reverse sequence that the
patient orders are to be packed at that OCP station for a given
rank of carriers. At the OCP stations the literature conveyor 34 is
in the form of a literature sortation system of the type used in
mail sortation by the U.S. Post Office. The literature sortation
system comprises a pair of belts 88 at each OCP station and the
pairs of belts pass the envelopes along from station to station.
Between each pair of belts is a gap in which a deflector 89 is
located. The deflector 89 under control of the OCP station
controller can deflect selected literature envelopes into a
literature dispensing mechanism 91 at the OCP station. When a rank
of carriers is directed to a given OCP station by PAC 10 from
bottle cappers 25, PAC 10 will send an unload message to the
controller for the OCP station. The unload message will contain an
indication of the sequence that the orders are to be unloaded from
the rank of carriers at the station as well as containing the
information as to the scheduled position of the bottles of each
order in the four carriers of the rank of carriers to be unloaded.
At the same time that PAC sends an unload message to the controller
of the OCP station, it sends a corresponding autopublish message to
the printers 31. This message will contain the information to be
printed for the complete orders contained in the rank of carriers
being sent to an OCP station. The autopublish message will also
contain the sequence in which the corresponding orders are to be
unloaded at the OCP station. In response to the autopublish
message, one of the printers 31 will print literature for the
orders and deposit the literature packs for the orders on
literature conveyer 34 in reverse order from that in which the
orders are to be unloaded at the OCP station. Each literature pack
is enclosed in an envelope having a die cut window through which a
bar code is readable by a bar code reader. This bar code which will
be printed by the appropriate printer 31 will identify the order
for which the literature pack is printed. As the envelopes
containing literature packs are carried past the OCP station in the
literature sortation system, the bar code readable through the
window in each envelope will be read by a bar code reader 87. When
the bar code read by the bar code reader verifies that the bar code
coincides with an order in the unload message received by the
controller for the OCP station, the controller for the OCP station
will cause the deflector 89 to deflect the envelope into the
literature dispensing mechanism 91 at the OCP station. Since the
conveyor brings the literature envelopes to the station in the
reverse sequence that the corresponding patient order is to be
packed at the packing station, the envelopes will be packed into
the dispensing mechanism in that sequence. When a bag 83 is ready
to be packed at the OCP station, the literature dispensing
mechanism 91 first inserts a literature envelope into the bag 83
where it will be positioned at one side of the bag by gravity. This
effect is achieved by orienting the bag at a slight tilted position
at the bagging machine. After the literature has been inserted, the
robotic arm 79 unloads the bottles of the order from the scheduled
positions in the four carriers on the turntable in accordance with
the unload message. The robotic arm includes a bar code reader and
each time a bottle is lifted out of a carrier by the robotic arm,
the label on the bottle is read and verified. The prescription
bottles are then loaded into the bag 83 by a bottle loading
mechanism 93.
If, because of a malfunction, a literature envelope is not
deflected by the deflector 89, because of, for example, an improper
bar code on the envelope, the envelope will continue on the
conveyer 34 to the end of the conveyer and be dumped into a
receptacle at the package quality assurance station 96 as will be
described in more detail below. In this circumstance, the bottles
of this order will not be packed with a literature pack. When the
shipping containers 83 have been verified and filled with a
literature pack and with a patient's order, the bag is sealed and
dropped onto a conveyer 95 which carries the sealed shipping
container to a mailing area where the bag is read and logged and
then mailed to the customer. If the bag does not contain a
literature pack, then the bag is diverted into a tote 99 which will
then be transported by a conveyer 101 to the package quality
assurance station 96 where the shipping container will be assembled
with the literature pack manually. As shown in FIG. 7a, the bag is
dropped from the loading position onto an inclined table 102 and
normally slides under a gate 103 onto conveyer 95. If the bag is to
be sent to the package quality assurance station 96, the gate 103
will be down to prevent the bag from sliding onto conveyer 95 and
the table 102 is pivoted to dump the bag into a waiting tote on
conveyer 101.
As shown in FIG. 7b, the bag loading mechanism comprises a
horizontal star wheel 120 which receives the bottles from a bottle
stream conveyer. Bottles are placed on the bottle stream conveyer
by the robotic arm 79. The horizontal star wheel feeds the bottles
into a vertical star wheel 122 which rotates the bottles from a
vertical axis orientation to a horizontal axis orientation and
drops the bottles into a bottle nozzle device 124, as shown in FIG.
7c. A bar code reader 106 reads the bar code on each bottle as it
is carried by the star wheel 120. The bottle nozzle device 124
receives all the bottles of the order and then deposits the bottles
in the waiting open bag.
As shown in FIG. 7c, the bottle drops from the vertical star wheel
122 into the open top of the box shaped nozzle device 124. One
vertical side of the nozzle device 124 has a slot 126 into which a
movable arm 128 extends. When the first bottle of an order is
received into the nozzle device 124, the arm 128 will be relatively
close to the open top of the nozzle device 124. The arm 128 is
movable upwardly and downwardly by means of the actuator 130 and as
each successive bottle is received in the nozzle device, the arm
128 indexes downwardly. When all of the bottles of an order have
been received in the nozzle device 124, the actuator 130 lowers the
arm 128 to the bottom of the slot 126 and then withdraws the arm
128 from the nozzle device 124 so that the bottles drop to the
bottom of the nozzle device. The nozzle device then moves
downwardly into the open bag. The bottom of the nozzle device 124
is provided with a normally closed flap 132 and the flap 132 is
opened after the nozzle device lowers into the bag to allow the
bottles to drop to the bottom of the bag.
The operation of the literature dispensing mechanism 91 is
schematically illustrated in FIG. 7d. As shown in FIG. 7d,
envelopes deflected from the conveyor 34 travel through a chute 136
to one side of a magazine 137 and a pusher mechanism 138 pushes the
envelope sideways into the magazine. The magazine 137 is one of a
pair of magazines 137 and 139 positioned one above the other. When
all of the envelopes for a rank of carriers on the turntable have
been received in the upper magazine 137, the assembly of the two
magazines is rotated to 180 degrees so that upper magazine becomes
the lower magazine and vice versa. A vacuum pick-up 142 removes the
envelopes from the lower magazine and carries the envelopes to a
guide 143, which directs each envelope to a bar code read position.
After a bar code reader 144 reads the bar code on the envelopes, an
actuator 145 moves the envelope into position over a waiting open
bag, where the envelope is dropped into the bag.
While the lower magazine of the pair of magazines 137 and 139 is
being unloaded and packed in a bag from the lower position as shown
in FIG. 7c, the magazine in the upper position will be packed with
literature envelopes for the next rank of carriers to be received
by the OCP station.
As described above, the bar code on the bottles transported by the
horizonal star wheel 120 are read by a bar code reader 106. The
patient order represented by the bar code read by the bar code
reader 106 must agree with the bar code read from the literature
pack by bar code reader 144 and with the bar code printed on the
shipping container by the bagging machine 81. If there is any
discrepancy, the package will be directed into the waiting tote 99
and sent on conveyer 101 to the package quality assurance area 96
where the shipping container and its contents will be manually
inspected for resolution of any problem identified.
The above-described operation of the packing of the shipping
containers with a literature pack and the bottles of the patient
order is carried out for an order comprising a single bottle or
containing multiple bottles up to four bottles of an order if the
bottles of the patient order are all in the same rank of carriers
which will be positioned on the turntable 77. In some instances a
patient order will have one or more bottles in two different ranks
of carriers. In that instance, this fact will be recorded in the
order file by PAC 10 and PAC 10 will direct the robotic arm to
place the bottles of the split order on a bottle stream conveyer
108 from which they are sent to bottle sortation and packing
station 112 (BSP station) to be described below.
As described above, each bottle unloaded from a carrier at one of
the OCP stations has its bar code read and verified by a bar code
reader in the robotic arm 79. A discrepancy in this verification
will cause OCP station to place the bottle in a bottle stream
conveyer 108 to be sent to the bottle quality assurance area 109
where the bottle is manually and electronically inspected. Any
bottle which has been identified by PAC as one which may have not
been filled with the correct number of tablets or capsules by the
automatic dispensing machine is also sent via conveyer 108 to the
bottle quality assurance area 109. Also when a bottle capper 25
detects that it failed to properly cap the bottle, this failure
will be recorded in the order file and PAC 10 will direct the OCP
station to place the corresponding prescription bottle in the
bottle stream conveyer 108, which transports the bottle to the
bottle quality assurance area 109.
In addition, bottles which require verification that the
replenishment of the automated dispensers in the automatic
dispensing machines 23 has been accomplished with the correct drug
are also sent to the bottle quality assurance area. This latter
function is accomplished as follows: PAC 10 maintains a count of
the number of tablets or capsules to be dispensed from each drug
dispenser in the automatic drug dispensing machines 23. When the
number of tablets or capsules in the hopper of a dispenser reaches
a predetermined low level, a prescription for the tablets or
capsules of that dispenser is selected from the que of
prescriptions awaiting filling stored in PAC 10. The prescription
is selected to call for a sufficient quantity of tablets or
capsules to exhaust the remaining tablets or capsules in that
dispenser. The corresponding dispenser is then caused to dispense
tablets or capsules in accordance with the predetermined
prescription so that the hopper at the dispenser is exhausted of
tablets or capsules. This operation is carried out before the PAL
station 14 labels a bottle for this corresponding prescription. The
tablets or capsules for the prescription will be counted out into
the upper buffer of the corresponding dispenser but will not be
released from the upper buffer to the lower buffer because the
number of tablets or capsules counted out is incomplete. Then when
that drug dispenser has been refilled with tablets or capsules, the
dispenser will then complete its counting out of the number of
tablets or capsules required for the prescription into the upper
buffer. When the count is successfully completed, the prescription
bottle for this prescription will be labeled and loaded in a
carrier by the appropriate PAL station in the appropriate column of
the carrier. When this bottle reaches the dispenser, the tablets or
capsules will be released into the bottle. Such a bottle which is
filled in this manner with part of the tablets or capsules before
the dispenser is exhausted and part of the tablets or capsules
coming from the next refill of the dispenser is called a crossover
bottle. All crossover bottles upon being unloaded at an OCP station
29 are placed in the bottle stream conveyer 108 by the robotic arm
79 to send the crossover bottles to the bottle quality assurance
area 109.
In addition to the crossover bottles, the first bottle after the
crossover bottle to be filled by any dispenser is also sent to the
bottle quality assurance area 109 by being placed in the bottle
stream conveyer 108 by the OCP station. When a bottle requiring
inspection at the bottle quality assurance area is part of a
multiple bottle order, all of the remaining bottles of that order
are sent via the conveyer 119 to BSP station 112.
Bottle Quality Assurance Area
The bottle quality assurance area 109 has several stations at which
pharmacists will scan the bar code on the bottles and visually
inspect the contents of the bottles. The scan of the bottle bar
code will bring up a display on the pharmacist's terminal which
includes all the information regarding the particular prescription
and order including the drug name, and instructions which identify
the reason for the verification. All of the bottles that pass this
inspection are inserted by the pharmacist on a bottle stream
conveyer 111 to send the inspected bottles to the BSP station
112.
As described above, the robotic arms at the order consolidation and
packing stations place individual bottles in the bottle stream
conveyer 108 to be sent to BSP station 112 or to the bottle quality
assurance area 109. The conveyer 108 leads to a star wheel diverter
mechanism 114 which under the control of a controller for the BSP
station deposits the bottle in a bottle stream conveyer 116 leading
to the bottle quality assurance area 109 or into a bottle stream
conveyer 118 leading to BSP station 112.
BSP Station
As shown in FIG. 8, the BSP station comprises a rotary buffer 113
in which slots 115 are defined by carriers sliding on an oval table
top and rotate around a central hub on the table top. The bottle
stream conveyer 118 leads to the table top of the rotary buffer 113
and each of the slots 115 rotates in succession past the exit end
of the bottle stream conveyer 118. As the bottles approach the
buffer 113, the bar codes on the labels are read by a bar code
reader 117,. The controller for the BSP station controls the buffer
113 to receive the bottles presented on conveyer 118 in slots
corresponding to patient orders as determined from the BIN numbers
read on the prescription bottles. The prescription bottles of a
given order are all accumulated in the same slot 115 in the rotary
buffer 113. When a complete order has been accumulated in the
rotary buffer 113, PAC will direct the printers 31 to print a
literature pack for the order. Literature on the conveyer 34 passes
the BSP station 112 before the OCP stations and the bar codes on
the literature packs on the conveyer 34 are read by a bar code
reader 125 at the BSP station. The conveyor 34 at the BSP station
112 comprises a literature sorting conveyor like those at the OCP
stations. When a literature envelope containing literature for a
patient order which is scheduled to be packaged at the BSP station
passes by this station, this fact will be detected by the bar code
reader 125. In response to this detection, a deflector 127 will
deflect the literature from the conveyer 34 and direct it into
literature dispensing mechanism 129. The literature dispensing 129
is the same as the dispensing mechanisms 91 at the OCP stations 29.
The BSP station 112 also has a bagging machine 123 like the bagging
machines 81 at the OCP stations 27 and the literature will be
dispensed and packed in a bag 121 in the same manner as described
in connection with the OCP stations. When the literature dispensing
mechanism 129 feeds a literature pack to the shipping container,
the bar code of the literature pack will be read by a bar code
reader. This bar code should identify an order in a slot in the
rotary buffer 113. In response to the bar code read by the bar code
reader, the controller for the BSP station will operate the rotary
buffer 113 to move the corresponding buffer slot 115 into position
to be unloaded into bottle loading mechanism 119, which is of the
same construction as the bottle loading mechanisms 93 at the OCP
stations. Then after the literature pack has been inserted into the
waiting bag 121, the bottles of the order will be loaded into the
bag 121 by the mechanism 119. The BSP station, like the OCP
stations, drops the completed and sealed bags on the conveyer 95
for carrying the completed package to the mailing area. When the
bar code reader 131 detects that the envelope does not correspond
to an order in the buffer 113, then this envelope will be packed
without bottles and the bag will be diverted into a tote 135 which
will be carried by the conveyer 101 to the package quality
assurance area 96 where the package will be manually assembled with
the correct prescription bottles.
If the literature pack is on the conveyer 34, but because of
failure of the bar code reader 125 or the literature sorting
mechanism, does not get diverted at station 112, the conveyer 34
will carry the literature package to the package quality assurance
area where it can be manually added to the package.
Manual Packing Area
When the order is a marriage order requiring some of the order to
be manually filled and some of the order to be automatically
filled, a portion of the order to be automatically filled will be
filled by the automatic dispensing machines 23 capped by the bottle
cappers 25 and inserted into a bag or shipping container at an OCP
station 29 along with the literature of this order. This bag will
then be diverted into a waiting tote 99 and sent on the conveyer
101 to manual packing area 149 where the rest of the marriage order
requiring manual dispensing and packing will be packed with the
automatically dispensed portion of the order.
When the order is a large production order requiring more than four
bottles for the order, all items of the large production order
should be found in the same rank of carriers and loaded onto a
turntable at an OCP station. Four bottles of the order will
automatically be inserted into a shipping container as described
above along with the literature for the order and then this order
upon being bagged will be diverted into a waiting tote 99 which
will remain at the OCP station to receive the rest of the order.
The remaining bottles of the order will then be packed in an
additional bag or bags and also diverted into the tote 99 so that
all the bags corresponding to a single large order will be
assembled in a tote 99. When the order is complete in the waiting
tote 99, the tote is sent on the conveyer 101 to the manual
packaging area 149 where the order will receive any manually
dispensed prescriptions and be packed manually into a mailing
package for sending to the patient.
Control System Architecture
As shown in FIG. 9, PAC 10 controls the components of the system
through a distributed logic system. PAC 10 receives the
prescriptions from the host computer and stores the prescriptions
in the order file. PAC 10 controls the PAL stations 14 via
controllers 153. PAC 10 makes a batch file for each carrier
containing the prescription information for each prescription to be
loaded into the corresponding carrier and the exact locations in
the carrier where the prescription bottles of the prescriptions are
to be placed. These batch files are transmitted to the controller
153 which controls label printers of the PAL stations 14 to print
the bottle prescription labels, label the bottles, and control the
PAL stations to load the labeled bottles in the scheduled locations
in a carrier. Transducers 155 read the carrier identification from
the RFID tag when a carrier has been loaded at a PAL station and
the loaded carrier is dispatched to an automatic drug dispensing
machine and controllers 153 transmit the carrier identification to
PAC 10. PAC 10 stores the carrier identifications of the carriers
in association with the scheduled locations for the prescription
bottles loaded in these carriers and with the corresponding orders
so that for each order, PAC can retrieve the carrier
identifications and the scheduled locations in the carriers of the
prescription bottles for the order.
The conveyer system is controlled by PAC 10 via carrier conveyer
controller 159. When the PAL stations have completed loading of the
orders in the batch file into a rank of carriers, PAC 10 issues a
move instruction to the conveyer controller 159 to cause the
conveyers 45 to transport the rank of carriers now filled with
labeled empty prescription bottles to the automatic drug dispensing
machines 23. The controller 159 also controls the cappers 25.
The automatic drug dispensing machines are controlled by PAC 10 via
automatic dispensing machine controllers 165. Each time a
dispensing machine 23 indexes a line of carriers in the machine
forward one row, the controller 165 for that dispensing machine
will report the indexing to PAC 10 which increments the index count
for the dispensing machine 23. In the preferred embodiment of the
invention, the dispensing machines 23 are indexed synchronously so
that only one index count is required to be kept for all four
machines. After each indexing of the carrier trains by one row, PAC
10 instructs the controllers 165 to dispense the tablets or
capsules from the lower buffers of those dispensers for which the
work-to list contain an index number equal to the index count. PAC
10 also instructs the controller 165 to count tablets or capsules
into the upper buffers and stage the tablets or capsules in the
lower buffers at the appropriate times as described in the
abovementioned copending application. When a dispenser exhausts the
tablets or capsules from its storage hopper in counting out tablets
or capsules into the upper buffer, PAC 10 will wait until the
hopper has been replenished and then will instruct the controller
165 to complete the count from that dispenser. If an automatic drug
dispensing machine 23 detects an error in counting out tablets or
capsules or in the staging of the tablets or capsules in the lower
buffer or in releasing the tablets or capsules from the lower
buffer into a prescription bottle, the existence of this error will
be signaled to the controller 165 which will report the error to
PAC 10 which will store the information indicating a potential
error in the filling of the bottle in the order file.
The OCP stations 29 are controlled by the PAC 10 via controllers
169. When a rank of four carriers leave automatic drug dispensing
machines 23, PAC 10 determines an OCP station 29 to receive the
rank of carriers and directs the carrier conveyer controller 159 to
control the carrier loop 71 to move the rank of four carriers to
the selected OCP station 29 after the bottles in the carriers have
been capped. As the carriers travel to the assigned OCP station 29
from the cappers 25, PAC 10 will send autopublish messages to
printers 31 to print documents for each order which has been loaded
in the rank of carriers and which is to be packed in OCP station.
Each of the stations 29 will be assigned one of the printers 31 and
the assigned printer will print literature packs for the orders in
a rank of carriers in the reverse sequence that the orders are to
be unloaded from the corresponding rank of carriers. When a rank of
carriers is sent to an OCP station, PAC 10 will send an unload
message to the OCP station controller 169 for that station. This
unload message will include the information necessary to unload the
bottles, and print the patient order ID on a bag to be presented by
the bagging machine at the OCP station. The unload message
identifies which carriers contain the bottles of each order, the
locations of the bottles of each order in each of the carriers and
the sequence in which the orders are to be unloaded. Also, bottles
of split orders, bottles to be sent to the BSP station 112 and
bottles to be sent to the bottle quality assurance station will be
identified in the unload message. From this information, the
controller 169 controls the OCP station to unload the bottles from
the locations in the four carriers on the turntable as specified in
the unload message. The OCP station controllers 169 receive the
carrier ID information from RFID tag readers and the BIN numbers
read by bar code readers from both the bottles unloaded at the
station and the information packets at the station. The controllers
169 also operate the tables 102 and gates 103 at the stations 29 to
divert into totes those shipping containers which are to be sent to
the package quality assurance area 96 or to manual packing 137.
PAC 10 also instructs a BSP controller 187 which controls the BSP
station 112. The controller 187 controls the rotatory buffer 113
and controls the printer of the bagging machine 123 to print labels
on the bags presented by the bagging machine 123. The controller
187 also receives prescription BIN numbers read from the bottles
and the order numbers read from the information packets at the
station 112 and controls the diverting mechanism comprising an
inclined table and gate at the BSP station 112 to divert selected
bags into totes at the BSP station 112. The controller 187 also
controls the star wheel 114 to direct bottles received on bottle
stream conveyer 108 to the BSP station 112 or to the quality
assurance station 109.
The deflectors 89 at the stations 29 and the deflector 127 at the
station 112 are controlled by means of controller 194 which
receives the patient order ID bar coded on the literature packets
read by the bar code readers 87 and 125. The controller 194
verifies that the bar codes read from the literature packs by the
bar code reader 87 at an OCP station corresponds with the orders in
the unload message received from the PAC 10. The controller 194
operates the deflectors 89 to direct the literature packs into the
literature dispensing mechanisms at the OCP station. The controller
194 compares the order identification received from PAC with order
numbers read from the literature pack by bar code reader 125 at the
BSP station and when a match is detected, controller 194 actuates
deflector 127 to direct the literature pack into the literature
dispensing mechanism at the BSP station.
PAC 10 controls the tote conveyer 101 by means of a tote conveyer
controller 197. The totes on the tote conveyer 101 are identified
by RFID tags and these RFID tags are read by an RFID tag reader
199. These tote IDs are transmitted to PAC 10 by the controller 197
so that PAC 10 can match the orders in the totes on the tote
conveyer 101 with the tote ID.
PAC 10 also interfaces with computers 201 at the quality assurance
area 109 and with computers 203 at the package quality assurance
area 96. The computers 201 and 203 provide information to
pharmacists or technicians about the orders and prescriptions in
the packages and prescription bottles received at these quality
assurance areas.
The above-described system automatically dispenses tablets and
capsules into prescription bottles, assembles the prescription
bottles for a common order into shipping containers, prints
literature packs for each order and automatically inserts the
literature packs into the shipping containers and prints the
mailing labels on the shipping containers so that upon completion
of the automatically operated system the order is ready to be
mailed.
The above automatic system is accomplished with a very high
throughput of orders and, at the same time, provides for checks and
balances to make sure that the system is operating properly and
provides for automatically diverting orders and bottles for manual
inspection for problems in the automatic system that have been
detected.
The above description is of a preferred embodiment of the invention
and modification may be made thereto without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention which is defined in the appended
claims.
* * * * *