Importance

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Abstract

A subassembly for use in a computerized medicine dispensing station is disclosed. The station has a cabinet for housing openable drawers in stacked arrangement containing dispensable pharmaceutical items. The subassembly includes a drawer having a base plate, side walls, and a front panel defining an interior compartment. The drawer can be inserted into the cabinet. The interior compartment of the drawer is divided into subcompartments, each subcompartment defined by spaced apart side walls and a curved rear wall. Each subcompartment contains a movable magazine mounted therein for racetrack-like movement therein between the spaced apart side wall and the curved rear wall. The magazine includes individual open cups for containing single dispensable pharmaceutical items therein. The front panel has an aperture which is normally closed and locked. The subassembly also includes a first device for moving the magazine upon receiving appropriate instructions, to a position in which one of the cups is located inside one of the doors, a second device for detecting the presence of an item in the cup, and unlocking and partially opening the door for further opening by a user, and a third device for closing and re-locking the door following extraction of the item from the door.

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First Claim