Method and apparatus for including article identification in an article handling device

An article storage and retrieval system / apparatus and or dispensing apparatus/system which includes

• 13. a) At least one article retrieval mechanism;
• b) At least one article identification (id) system including at least one article identification device and/or input device(such as a bar code scanner or camera, or vision or optical identification system );
• c) Said article dispensing apparatus having a plurality of article storage areas wherein articles are stored in an aligned manner;
• and
• d) At least one control system coupled to said article retrieval mechanism for controlling said dispensing system and said article Identification system;
• e) Wherein the number of aligned article storage areas is greater than the number of article id input devices.

An article storage and retrieval system / apparatus and or dispensing apparatus/system which includes

• f) At least one article retrieval mechanism;
• g) At least one article identification (id) system including at least one article identification (id) device and/or input device(such as a bar code scanner or camera, or vision or optical identification system );
• h) Said article dispensing apparatus having a plurality of article storage areas wherein articles are stored in an aligned manner;
• and
• i) At least one control system coupled to said article retrieval mechanism for controlling said dispensing system and said article Identification system;
• j) herein articles stored in storage area can be identified automatically by the article id input devices, independent of human intervention.

An article retrieving apparatus, comprising:

• a storage area for storing articles along at least one longitudinal axis in a stack;
• an article dispensing device for moving an end article from the stack of articles in the storage area along a path to a retrieval area;
• and
• an article identification device, mounted within the article retrieving apparatus, said article dispensing device moving the article in a predetermined pattern past the article identification device, so as to provide identification of the article being moved.