Patent Application
20080110921
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 (ie., 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. (hereinafter Williams '541). 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, with some types of vials, and in particular vials that include structural features for the securing of a cap, the vials have a tendency to “nest” (i.e. the vials tend to stick together, with the closed end of one vial being stuck in the open end of an adjacent vial). Also, the Williams '541 system described above utilizes a carousel-type system with vertical tubes that house vials for dispensing. This system requires that the vials be stacked end-to-end in a specific orientation in the tubes for dispensing; such stacking of vials can be time consuming. As such, improvements to the dispensing of vials may be desirable.
As a first aspect, embodiments of the present invention are directed to an apparatus for dispensing open-ended objects such as pharmaceutical vials. The apparatus comprises: a housing having an internal cavity configured to house open-ended objects, the housing including a guide and a floor; a pick-up unit mounted to the housing, the pick-up unit including an endless member and at least one pick-up member attached to the endless member; and a drive unit. The endless member engages the drive unit and the guide for movement relative thereto. As the drive unit drives the endless member, the at least one pick-up member travels on a pick-up path, at least a portion of which is within the housing. In this configuration, the apparatus can quickly and efficiently dispense loosely and randomly distributed objects from within the housing.
As a second aspect, embodiments of the present invention are directed to an apparatus for dispensing open-ended objects. The apparatus comprises: a housing having an internal cavity configured to house open-ended objects, the housing including a guide and a floor; a pick-up unit mounted to the housing, the pick-up unit including an endless member and at least one pick-up member attached to the endless member; and a drive unit. The endless member engages the drive unit and the guide for movement relative thereto. As the drive unit drives the endless member, the at least one pick-up member travels on a pick-up path, at least a portion of which is within the housing. The floor slopes at an angle relative to horizontal such that open-ended objects within the cavity are urged to be oriented in a preferred orientation in which an object axis that is generally perpendicular to the open end of the object is generally coincident with the pick-up path.
As a third aspect, embodiments of the present invention are directed to an apparatus for dispensing singulated open-ended objects, the apparatus comprising: a housing having a guide and an internal cavity configured to house open-ended objects, the housing including a dispensing exit; a pick-up unit mounted to the housing, the pick-up unit including an endless member and at least one pick-up member attached to the endless member; a drive unit, wherein the endless member engages the drive unit and the guide for movement relative thereto, and wherein the at least one pick-up member is mounted to the endless member such that, as the drive unit drives the endless member, the at least one pick-up member travels on a pick-up path, at least a portion of which is within the housing; a delivery chute attached to the housing such that an upper end thereof is fed by the dispensing exit; and a capture mechanism associated with the dispensing chute, the capture mechanism movable between a capture position, in which an object cannot pass through the delivery chute, and a passage position, in which an object can pass through the delivery chute. In this configuration, the apparatus can “pre-stage” objects for dispensing, which can render the dispensing operation more predictable and timely.
As a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method of dispensing singulated, open-ended pharmaceutical vials. The method comprises the steps of: providing a housing containing a plurality of open-ended pharmaceutical vials, the housing being configured such that the open-ended vials are urged to align along a pick-up path; passing a pick-up member along the pick-up path to engage and capture a container; and continuing to pass the pick-up member and the captured vial through the housing to a dispensing exit.
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, and more specifically to the singulation and dispensing of open-ended objects, such as vials, within such a system (as used herein, the term “vial” is intended to encompass open-ended containers, particularly those that contain pharmaceuticals, that are of generally constant cross-section and those that include a narrowed “neck” section near the open end). An exemplary process is described generally with reference to
A system that can carry out this process is illustrated in
Referring now to
The housing 102 includes a front wall 104, a side wall 106, a chain mounting wall 108, a rear wall 110, a floor 114 and a ceiling 111 that define a cavity 103. As used herein to describe the relative positions of various components, the terms “front,” “forward”, and derivatives thereof refer to the horizontal direction defined by a vector beginning at the rear wall 110 and extending toward the front wall 104. The terms “rear”, “back” and derivatives thereof refer to the direction opposite the forward direction. The terms “outward,” “outer,” “lateral” and derivatives thereof refer to the direction defined by a vector beginning at a vertical plane parallel to the forward direction that divides the housing 102 in the center and extending toward its periphery; the terms “inner,” “inward” and derivatives thereof refer to the direction opposite the outward direction.
The front wall 104 is generally flat and vertically disposed. The front wall 104 includes a finger exit window 105 at its upper edge adjacent the chain mounting wall 108. A front slide panel 112 is attached to the lower end of the front wall 104 and extends downwardly and slightly rearwardly therefrom. A finger entry window 115 (see
The side wall 106 is generally vertically disposed and extends between the front and rear walls 104, 110. A door 106a is attached at its lower edge to the side wall 106 via a hinge 106b; the door 106a is movable between open and closed positions and allows vials to be loaded into the cavity 103, even when the container dispensing station 100 is operating. In some embodiments, the door 106a may be attached to the housing 102 via a different mechanism or at a different location, may cover the open top end of the housing 102, or may be omitted entirely.
Referring now to
The rear wall 110 is generally planar and vertically disposed. The rear wall 110 spans the rear edges of the side wall 106 and the chain mounting wall 108.
The chain mounting wall 108 (best seen in
Referring to
Referring now to
Referring now to
Each of the fingers 144 (one of which is shown in
The fingers 144 are free to travel along a pick-up path PP (
It can also be seen from
Referring now to
Referring to
In operation, vials are initially loaded into the cavity 103 of the housing 102 via the door 106a. When a prescription is received, and the operator enters the prescription information, the controller 42 signals the container dispensing station 100 that a vial is needed. This signal activates the drive unit 130 such that the motor 134 rotates the axle 136 and attached sprocket 138 about the axis A1. This rotation drives the chain 142 around the chain path CP; the chain 142 travels in a counterclockwise direction from the vantage point of
It should also be noted that, as the fingers 144 travel within the cavity 103 along the pick-up path, the agitation prongs 148 attached to some of the fingers 144 extend into the cavity 103 and stir or agitate the vials contained therein. Movement of the vials tends to encourage the vials to orient in the following manner. As vials V within the housing 102 gradually descend after loading and/or agitation, they are funneled by gravity to the seam 119 (see
As shown in
After a finger 144 has captured a vial V, it proceeds on the pick-up path PP through the upward and angled runs PP2, PP3. In the event that a number of vials V have become nested or interlocked end-to-end (including in some instances one vial V of a stack or nest of vials being captured on the finger 144), the stacked vials V are likely to contact the anti-stacking wedge 220 and become dislodged from each other, thereby preventing the deposition of extra vials in the delivery chute 150 and/or the clogging of the housing 102. Also, as the finger 144 travels on the angled run PP3, it passes through the aperture 223 of the exit gate 222 (if an agitation prong 148 is present, it passes through the recess 224). The aperture 223 is sized such that a vial V of the proper size can pass therethrough, but a vial of an improper larger size cannot. If an oversized vial is inadvertently present in the housing 102 and picked up by the finger 144, the vial will be unable to pass through the aperture 223, with the result that the chain 142 will stop moving (and, in some embodiments, activate an audible alarm) or the oversized vial will be deflected by the exit gate 222 and return to the housing 102; in either event, the oversized vial is prevented from reaching the delivery chute 150.
In addition, the motor 134 may be configured such that it can drive the chain 142 in the opposite direction (clockwise from the vantage point of
The finger 144 then proceeds from the angled run PP3 to the drop-off loop PP4 (see
In some embodiments of the dispensing apparatus, a vial V dropped into the delivery chute 150 will simply drop to a waiting carrier for subsequent processing. However, in some embodiments, including the illustrated embodiment, it may be desirable to “pre-stage” vials in the dispensing chute 150 in order to coordinate dispensing of vials with other operations of the system 40. As one example of a pre-staging operation, the capture mechanism 155 can release a previously captured vial V from the delivery chute 150 for use in filling a prescription, then capture a next vial V after it has been picked up by the pick-up unit 140 and deposited in the delivery chute 150.
The operation of the capture mechanism 155 can be understood with reference to
Upon the receipt of a signal from the controller 42 that a vial V is needed from the delivery chute 150, a power source activates the solenoid 166 of the capture mechanism 155. Activation of the solenoid 166 retracts the rod 168 into the solenoid 166 (thereby overcoming the resistance provided by the spring). This action draws the pivot 170 downwardly, which in turn rotates the capture member 162 about the pivot 164. This action draws the capture member 162 to a “passage position” out of the delivery chute 150 through the slot 172 (
Those skilled in this art will appreciate that it may be desirable to configure the container dispensing station 100 to dispense different sizes of vials. One technique for handling different vials is to provide for the floor 114 to be adjustable in height, either through the use of inserts or the capability of raising and/or lowering the floor 114 itself. Changing the elevation of the floor 114 in turn changes the height of the axis of vials resting in position to receive a finger 144. Thus, a smaller vial can be properly positioned on the pick-up path PP by raising the floor 114, and a larger vial can be properly positioned on the pick-up path PP by lowering the floor 114. Also, for some sizes of vials it may be desirable to replace the fingers 144 with fingers of a different size that can fit within the selected vial. Alternatively, the floor 114 may be disposed at a steeper angle relative to the side wall 108 in order to raise the height at which the axis of the vials resides.
Those skilled in this art will also appreciate that the container dispensing station 100 may take any number of different configurations. As one example, the walls and floor of the housing may be curved or segmented rather than planar. As another example, the chain 142 may be replaced with a belt or other flexible endless member, and may be mounted on the outside of the chain mounting wall 108 or inside the cavity 103 rather than inside the chain track 109, and may include other type of guides to define its travel path. As a further example, and as illustrated in
As further alternatives, the chain mounting wall 108 may include on its inner surface guides, such as fins, fingers and the like, adjacent the pick-up path PP that can guide vials that are not completely seated on a finger 144. The pick-up path PP may vary; for example, the angled portion PP3 of the pick-up path PP may be omitted. There may be multiple pick-up paths. Rather than including pick-up fingers 144, the pick-up unit may include other pick-up members that capture the outside, rather than the inside, of a vial; for example, the pick-up member may be a complete or partial hoop, cup, hook or the like. The agitation prong 148 may be omitted and some other agitation means (such as a separate agitation device, a shaking or vibratory mechanism, a rotating knobbed disk, or an incoming airstream) may be used to agitate the vials, or agitation may be omitted entirely. The capture mechanism 155 may be omitted in some embodiments, may take a different configuration, or may even be manually actuated. Other variations will be apparent to the ordinarily skilled artisan and need not be set forth in detail herein.
As an additional example of an alternative embodiment, the floor may be a generally horizontal conveyor belt that travels in a direction generally perpendicular to the pick-up path. Like the angled floor 114, such a conveyor belt would urge vials in the housing toward the pick-up path.
Those skilled in this art will also understand that the capture mechanism 155 may take different configurations. For example, the linear solenoid 166 may be replaced with a rotary solenoid. Also, although the capture member 162 is illustrated and described as having an arcuate upper surface and as rotating upwardly to retract from the tube 154, the capture member may be of any configuration, and may rotate downwardly or horizontally to retract from the tube 154. Further, the sensor 158 may be located at any number of positions. For example, it may be located below the capture member 162, such that it detects the passage of a vial and signals the controller 42 to move the capture member 162 to the capture position; alternatively, a sensor may be located on a device, such as a vial labeler or the carrier member 70, that receives the vial from the container dispensing station 100 as part of a subsequent operation.
Also, the capture mechanism 155 may be actuated by other actions within the dispensing station 100. For example, the capture mechanism 155 may be actuated via a timer. Alternatively, the capture mechanism may be configured to rely on the movement of a finger 144 past a specified location to release a captured vial. Such a configuration is shown in
The capture mechanism 155 is described herein as receiving and dispensing only a single vial at a time; however, in some embodiments it may be desirable for the capture mechanism to receive, store or dispense more than one vial at a time.
It should be noted that the container dispensing station 100 can also be employed to dispense open-ended objects other than pharmaceutical vials, such as pipes, tubes, casings, springs, and the like; the dispensing station can dispense objects that are closed at one end, such as pharmaceutical vials, or open at both ends, such as a tube or pipe. It should also be noted that the container dispensing station 100 may also be utilized as a “stand-alone” station for dispensing vials without being integrated into a system such as the system 40 described herein.
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.
