Patent Application
20080110555
The present invention is directed generally to the dispensing of prescriptions of pharmaceuticals, and more specifically is directed to the automated dispensing of pharmaceuticals.
Pharmacy generally began with the compounding of medicines, which entailed the actual mixing and preparing of medications. Heretofore, pharmacy has been, to a great extent, a profession of dispensing, that is, the pouring, counting, and labeling of a prescription, and subsequently transferring the dispensed medication to the patient. Because of the repetitiveness of many of the pharmacist's tasks, automation of these tasks has been desirable.
Some attempts have been made to automate the pharmacy environment. Different exemplary approaches are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,919 to Spaulding et al. and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,006,946; 6,036,812 and 6,176,392 to Williams et al. The Williams system conveys a bin with tablets to a counter and a vial to the counter. The counter dispenses tablets to the vial. Once the tablets have been dispensed, the system returns the bin to its original location and conveys the vial to an output device. Tablets may be counted and dispensed with any number of counting devices. Drawbacks to these systems typically include the relatively low speed at which prescriptions are filled and the absence in these systems of securing a closure (i.e., a lid) on the container after it is filled.
One additional automated system for dispensing pharmaceuticals is described in some detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,541 to Williams et al. This system has the capacity to select an appropriate vial, label the vial, fill the vial with a desired quantity of a selected pharmaceutical tablet, apply a cap to the filled vial, and convey the labeled, filled, capped vial to an offloading station for retrieval.
Although this particular system can provide automated pharmaceutical dispensing, certain of the operations may be improved. For example, the speed and precision with which labels are applied to a vial may be improved. In particular, the Williams et al. system relies on a first robotic arm to maneuver an empty vial from a vial dispenser to a labeler, and a second robotic arm to convey the empty labeled vial from the labeler to a bin that dispenses pharmaceutical tablets. It may be desirable to eliminate the first robotic arm in order to improve the speed and reliability of the system.
As a first aspect, embodiments of the present invention are directed to an apparatus for applying a label to a pharmaceutical vial. The apparatus comprises: a base having a receiving section and a labeling section; an index member attached to the base, the index member including a receiving compartment, the index member configured to receive a vial from a vial dispenser in the receiving compartment as the receiving section is positioned over the receiving section and convey the vial to the labeling section of the base; a label source positioned to present a label to a vial located in the labeling section of the base; and a labeling assembly mounted in the labeling section of the base, the labeling assembly configured to receive the vial from the index member and rotate the vial as the label is presented to the vial to apply the label to the vial. In this configuration, the same component can both receive the vial from the vial dispenser and convey it to the labeling assembly for application of the label.
As a second aspect, embodiments of the present invention are directed to an apparatus for applying a label to a pharmaceutical vial, comprising: a base having a receiving section, a labeling section, and a pick-up section; an index member attached to the base, the index member including a receiving compartment, the index member configured to receive a vial from a vial dispenser in the receiving compartment as the receiving section is positioned over the receiving section and convey the vial to the labeling section of the base; a label source positioned to present a label to a vial located in the labeling section of the base; and a labeling assembly mounted in the labeling section of the base, the labeling assembly configured to receive the vial from the index member and apply the label to the vial. The index member is further configured to convey the labeled vial from the labeling section to the pick-up section. In this configuration, a common index member can convey a vial from a vial dispensing station to the labeler and subsequently to a carrier for dispensing of pharmaceuticals.
As a third aspect, embodiments of the present invention are directed to an apparatus for applying a label to a pharmaceutical vial, comprising: a base having a labeling section and a pick-up section; an index member attached to the base, the index member including a receiving compartment; a label source positioned to present a label to a vial located in the labeling section of the base; and a labeling assembly mounted in the labeling section of the base, the labeling assembly configured to receive the vial from the index member and apply the label to the vial. The index member is further configured to convey the labeled vial from the labeling section to the pick-up section. In this configuration, a single index member can convey a labeled vial from the labeling assembly to a pick-up station for retrieval by a carrier that takes the labeled vial to a pharmaceutical dispenser for dispensing.
As a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present invention are directed to a labeling assembly for use with a vial labeling apparatus. The labeling assembly includes: a generally horizontal base; a drive roller unit mounted to the base, the drive roller unit including a drive roller that is rotatable relative to the base about a first generally vertical axis of rotation and a drive unit that drives the drive roller about the first axis of rotation; an idler roller unit mounted to the base, the idler roller unit including an idler roller that is rotatable relative to the base about a second generally vertical axis of rotation; and a swing wheel unit mounted to the base. The swing wheel unit includes a shaft and a swing wheel that is rotatable relative to the shaft about a third generally vertical axis of rotation defined by the shaft, the shaft being pivotally mounted in the base for rotation about a generally horizontal axis of rotation, such that the position of the swing wheel relative to the drive roller unit and the idler roller unit can be modified to accommodate different sizes of pharmaceutical vials for labeling.
As a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method of labeling a pharmaceutical vial. The method comprises the steps of: receiving a pharmaceutical vial from a dispenser of pharmaceutical vials in a receiving section; conveying the vial with an index member to a labeling section adjacent a labeling source; applying a label presented by the labeling source to the vial; conveying the labeled vial with the index member away from the labeling section to a pick-up section; and removing the labeled vial from the pick-up section. This method employs a common index member to convey the vial from a vial dispenser to a labeling station for labeling, then from the labeling station to a pick-up location for retrieval by a carrier for subsequent filling with pharmaceuticals.
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements throughout. Thicknesses and dimensions of some components may be exaggerated for clarity.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein the expression “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
In addition, spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”, “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “under” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements or features. Thus, the exemplary term “under” can encompass both an orientation of over and under. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.
As described above, the invention relates generally to a system and process for dispensing pharmaceuticals. An exemplary process is described generally with reference to
A system that can carry out this process is illustrated in
Referring now to
Referring again to
Referring again to
Referring again to
Referring now to
Turning now to
The drive roller unit 140 (
Referring again to
The swing idler wheel unit 150 includes a shaft 152 and a swing idler wheel 158 that rotates relative to the shaft 152 about an axis of rotation A4 defined by the shaft 152. The shaft 152 extends through a slot 153 in the base plate 106 and is mounted in the illustrated embodiment to a rotary solenoid 156 that is mounted, in turn, to a bracket (not shown) fixed to the underside of the base plate 106. The shaft 152 is pivotable via the rotary solenoid 156 about a generally horizontal axis of rotation A5 defined by a pivot 154 on the solenoid 156 over a range of between about 25 and 45 degrees, which in turn enables the wheel 158 to move toward and away from the drive roller 144 and the idler roller 148 about 1 to 2 inches. The swing idler wheel 158 typically has a diameter of between about 0.25 and 0.75 inches.
Because vials of different sizes may be presented to the labeling assembly 139, the locations of the drive roller and idler roller units 140, 146 and the swing idler wheel unit 150 may be selected to handle different vial sizes. In the illustrated embodiment, the label gap 149 is selected such that the smallest vial to be presented cannot slip through the gap 149 (see vial V in
Referring now to
In operation, the labeling station 100 begins with the index member 116 in the position shown in
Notably, the presence of the beveled upper surface 124 in the small vial compartment 122 encourages the vial V presented to the compartment 122 to enter the compartment 122 (see FIG. 6). In the illustrated embodiment, vials V are deposited in the large vial compartment 122 with their open ends facing upwardly and their closed ends on the surface of the base plate 106 within the large vial compartment 122.
Once the vial V has entered the small vial compartment 122, the controller 42 signals the index motor 112, which activates and rotates the index member 116 about the axis A1 (counterclockwise from the vantage point of
Once the index member 116 pushes the vial V to the labeling section 138, the index motor 112 ceases, thereby stopping the index member 116. The cessation of rotation can be initiated by a sensor in the labeling assembly 139, a timer, an encoder, or the like. In this position, the cutout 134 is positioned in front of the swing idler wheel shaft 152. Then, based on a duration lapse, a counter in the motor 112, or the like, the controller 42 actuates the rotary solenoid 156 to rotate the shaft 152 of the swing idler wheel unit 150 about the axis A5 (counterclockwise from the vantage point of
After the vial V is engaged by the rollers 144, 148 and the wheel 158, after a short predetermined duration the controller 42 signals the motor 142 of the drive roller unit 140 to rotate the drive roller 144 about the axis A2 (rotation is clockwise from the vantage point of
Once the label L has been completely applied to the vial V, the controller 42, typically based on a predetermined elapsed time period, signals the solenoid 156 to retract the swing idler wheel 158 back through the cutout 134. Shortly afterward, the controller 42 also signals the index motor 112 to rotate the index member 116 (counterclockwise from the vantage point of
Referring now to
Typically, the difference in location of the center of the vial based on its diameter can be addressed by the controller 42, which can alert the carrier 70 to the size of the vial so that the carrier 70 travels to the appropriate location for pick-up.
Those skilled in this art will recognize that components described above may be present in other forms in alternative embodiments of the present invention. For example, the index member assembly 110 may include an index member that revolves around a non-circular endless path rather than rotating about a stationary axis or that moves along a linear path. The compartments 120, 122 of the index member 116 may have a different profile for the inner surfaces thereof; e.g., they may lack a beveled surface and/or a chamfered surface, or they may be smoothly conical. The compartments 120, 122 may be the same size. The index member may have only one compartment or may have more than two compartments (for example, it may have two compartments for large vials and two for small vials). The index member 116 may counter-rotate after depositing the labeled vial at the pick-up section 111 rather than continuing to rotate in the same direction, or the index member 116 may be configured such that the carrier 70 can retrieve the labeled vial without the index member 116 rotating out of the way. Further, in some embodiments, separate members may be employed for (a) conveying the vial from the point of vial dispensing to labeling and (b) conveying the labeled vial to the pick-up section. Other alternatives may be apparent to those skilled in this art.
In addition, the labeling assembly may be configured differently in alternative embodiments. For example, there may be multiple drive rollers, and/or more or fewer rollers. The label may be presented to the vial at a different angle and/or at a different location. The timing of various actions of the labeling assembly may be different (e.g., the drive roller may cease rotation before the index member 116 resumes its rotation after labeling occurs, or the signaling of the solenoid to retract the swing idler wheel may be based on parameters other than elapsed time). The swing wheel shaft may be stationary relative to the base, particularly if it is anticipated that only one vial size will be labeled, or may be rotated via components other than a rotary solenoid, such as a linear solenoid or a BTA actuator. Alternatively, the vial may be rotated by a turntable positioned below the vial rather than by rollers. The labels may be presented by a source other than a printer (e.g., they could be presented manually). Those skilled in this art will recognize other alternatives.
Further, pick-up of the labeled vial may vary in other embodiments. For example, the shape or length of the exit guide 108 may vary. Also, in some embodiments the carrier 70 may pick up the labeled vial from the labeling section if space permits. Other alternatives may also be suitable for use with the present invention.
In addition, although the labeling station 100 is illustrated and described herein as part of an overall pharmaceutical dispensing system, those skilled in this art will appreciate that the labeling station 100 may be employed as a stand-alone device, perhaps mounted on a bench-top, for labeling vials. Such a system may receive manually-fed vials and/or rely on manual pick-up.
The foregoing is illustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting thereof. Although exemplary embodiments of this invention have been described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the claims. The invention is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.
