US Patent No: 5,660,305

Number of patents in Portfolio can not be more than 2000

Automatic prescription dispensing system

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Abstract

In an automatic prescription dispensing system, a multiplicity of pill dispensers dispensing the pills of different prescriptions are arranged in columns and rows. A conveyer organizes open and labeled pill bottles in columns corresponding to the columns of the pill dispensers and carries the columns of pill bottles severally past and beneath the pill dispensers in the array. The pill bottles are carried in bottle carriers which in turn are carried by pallets on a conveyer. When a pill bottle gets to a pill dispenser containing the pills to be dispensed for the prescription of a pill bottle, the pills are released from the dispenser into the pill bottle, whereby a plurality of pill bottles passing under the array of dispensers are filled simultaneously. The pill dispensers count the pills out one at a time and accumulate the pills of a prescription before the pill bottle to receive such prescription reaches the dispenser and then releases the pills en masse into the pill bottle.

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First Claim

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Patent Owner(s)

Patent OwnerAddressTotal Patents
MEDCO HEALTH SOLUTIONS, INC.FRANKLIN LAKES, NJ64

International Classification(s)

  • [Classification Symbol]
  • [Patents Count]

Inventor(s)

Inventor Name Address # of filed Patents Total Citations
Lasher, Christopher J Ridgewood, NJ 19 455
Rice, Dennis Wayne Flanders, NJ 22 404
Szesko, Michael Joseph Freehold, NJ 12 406

Cited Art

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
AUTOMED TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (2)
5,208,762 Automated prescription vial filling system 199 1990
5,348,061 Tablet accumulator for an automated prescription vial filling system 156 1992
 
AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS, INC. (1)
4,869,894 Hydrogen generation and recovery 44 1987
 
HEALTECH S.A. (1)
5,401,059 Process and unit for univocal pairing of drugs corresponding to a prescribed treatment with a given patient 115 1992
 
MEDVANTAGE INTERNATIONAL, INC. (1)
4,695,954 Modular medication dispensing system and apparatus utilizing portable memory device 413 1984
 
NOVA PACKAGING SYSTEMS, INC. (1)
4,674,259 Container filling machine 64 1986
 
OWEN HEALTHCARE, INC. (1)
4,847,764 System for dispensing drugs in health care institutions 353 1987
 
PYXIS CORPORATION (1)
4,953,745 Medication dispensing apparatus 119 1986
 
SCRIPTRO, L.L.C. (1)
5,337,919 Automatic dispensing system for prescriptions and the like 212 1993

Patent Citation Ranking

Forward Cites

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
MEDCO HEALTH SOLUTIONS, INC. (26)
5,771,657 Automatic prescription filling, sorting and packaging system 145 1996
RE40510 Automatic prescription filling, sorting and packaging system 15 2000
6,892,512 Automated prescription filling system/method with automated labeling and packaging system/method automated order consolidation system/method 31 2002
7,530,211 System for emptying pharmaceutical containers 2 2003
7,409,977 Automatic labeling and packaging system label folding and application 10 2003
7,010,899 Automated prescription and/or literature bagger system and method optionally integrated with automated dispensing system and/or automated labeling and packaging system 15 2003
6,983,579 Automated prescription filling system/method with automated labeling and packaging system/method and automated order consolidation system/method 21 2004
6,970,769 Automated prescription filling system/method with automated labeling and packaging system/method and automated order consolidation system/method 13 2004
7,430,838 Method for automated prescription filling, packaging and order consolidation 15 2005
7,386,965 Automated prescription and/or literature bagger system and method optionally integrated with automated dispensing system and/or automated labeling and packaging system 10 2005
7,412,814 Bottle or container transfer system for automated prescription filling 10 2007
7,770,364 Systems for branding containers 0 2007
7,765,776 Systems and methods for dispensing pharmaceutical/medical product and branding pharmaceutical/medical containers 1 2007
7,837,107 Systems and methods for performing quality assurance of branding of pharmaceutical/medical containers and computer assisted systems and methods for branding pharmaceutical/medical containers 1 2007
7,837,093 Systems and methods for verifying branding of pharmaceutical/medical containers 2 2007
8,110,057 Automatic labeling and packaging system label folding and application 0 2008
7,668,618 Automated prescription filling system/method with automated labeling and packaging system/method and automated order consolidation system/method 0 2008
RE42937 Automatic prescription filling, sorting and packaging system 0 2008
8,136,332 Automated prescription filling system/method with automated labeling and packaging system/method and automated order consolidation system/method 0 2008
8,117,809 System for emptying pharmaceutical containers 0 2009
RE42730 Automatic prescription filling, sorting and packaging system 0 2009
RE42766 Automatic prescription filling, sorting and packaging system 0 2009
8,275,481 Automated prescription filling system/method with automated labeling and packaging system/method and automated order consolidation system/method 0 2010
8,109,066 Systems and methods for dispensing pharmaceutical/medical product and branding pharmaceutical/medical containers 0 2010
8,065,858 Method for branding containers 0 2010
8,322,613 Systems and methods for performing quality assurance of branding of pharmaceutical/medical containers and computer assisted systems and methods for branding pharmaceutical/medical containers 0 2010
 
INTELLIGENT HOSPITAL SYSTEMS LTD. (7)
7,610,115 Automated pharmacy admixture system (APAS) 6 2005
7,783,383 Automated pharmacy admixture system (APAS) 8 2006
8,267,129 Control of fluid transfer operations 0 2007
7,931,859 Ultraviolet sanitization in pharmacy environments 1 2008
8,271,138 Gripper device 1 2008
8,225,824 Method and apparatus for automated fluid transfer operations 0 2008
8,386,070 Automated pharmacy admixture system 0 2009
 
JVM CO., LTD. (5)
7,641,073 Apparatus and method for preventing irregular packaging for automatic medicine packing machine 1 2007
8,239,214 Method and apparatus for backing up power failure for automatic medicine packing machine 0 2007
7,549,268 Division-packaging method and apparatus for automatic medicine packaging machine 2 2007
7,894,656 Method and apparatus for inspecting manual dispensing tray of automatic medicine packaging machine 0 2007
7,451,583 Automatic medicine packaging machine with door lock unit 2 2007
 
MCKESSON AUTOMATION SYSTEMS INC. (4)
7,228,198 Prescription filling apparatus implementing a pick and place method 43 2003
7,831,334 Method of transporting vials and cassettes in an automated prescription filling apparatus 2 2007
7,789,267 Vacuum pill dispensing cassette and counting machine 3 2007
7,753,229 Vacuum pill dispensing cassette and counting machine 1 2007
 
AUTOMED TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (3)
6,256,967 Integrated automated drug dispenser method and apparatus 71 1998
6,449,927 Integrated automated drug dispenser method and apparatus 59 2001
6,742,671 Integrated automated drug dispenser method and apparatus 30 2002
 
OMNICARE INC. (3)
8,262,842 Automated label verify systems and methods for dispensing pharmaceuticals 0 2008
8,215,540 Automated label verify systems and methods for dispensing pharmaceuticals 0 2008
8,215,543 Methods for filling prescriptions to fulfill a customer order 0 2009
 
AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (2)
7,331,471 System and method for modular sorting stations 3 2004
7,686,171 System and method for modular sorting stations 1 2008
 
ANALYTICAL SPECTRAL DEVICES, INC. (2)
6,771,369 System and method for pharmacy validation and inspection 45 2002
7,006,214 System and method for pharmacy validation and inspection 25 2004
 
EXPRESS SCRIPTS, INC. (2)
7,313,898 Container carrying system and method for use in an automated filling process 4 2003
7,995,831 Prescription bottle imaging system and method 0 2006
 
MERCK & CO., INC. (2)
6,317,648 Customer specific packaging line having containers with tag means containing medication order information 97 1997
6,522,945 Customer specific packaging line 72 2001
 
ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC. (1)
7,604,181 System for processing mass-fabricated items with three-dimensional codes 2 2006
 
GREENWALD TECHNOLOGIES, LLC (1)
6,597,969 Hospital drug distribution system 20 2001
 
INNOVATION ASSOCIATES, INC. (1)
6,202,923 Automated pharmacy 149 1999
 
JV MEDI CO., LTD. (1)
6,367,232 Tablet cassette installation-error preventing system for automatic tablet supplying and packaging apparatus 10 2001
 
KNAPP LOGISTICS AUTOMATION, INC. (1)
8,141,330 Systems and methods of automated tablet dispensing, prescription filling, and packaging 0 2005
 
MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. (1)
6,233,906 Carrier tape cutter and component packaging machine 1 1999
 
MCKESSON AUTOMATED SYSTEMS INC. (1)
7,532,948 Method for filling vials in an automated prescription filling apparatus 0 2007
 
YUYAMA MFG. CO., LTD. (1)
5,787,678 Drug packaging device 45 1997
 
OTHER [CHECK PATENT PROFILE FOR ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION] (2)
D424850 Pill dispenser 4 1997
7,669,733 Cassette device for automatic medicine packaging apparatus 0 2006