System and method for high-volume filling of pharmaceutical prescriptions
AssigneeParata Systems, LLC
InventorsMichael W. Jehn, Michael McCord, John Preston
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vial accumulator for use in a high volume pharmacy facility includes: a feed plate having an aperture; a vial staging unit mounted to the feed plate, the vial staging unit comprising at least one receiving compartment; a gate movably mounted to the feed plate, the gate movable relative to the feed plate between a blocking position, wherein the gate prevents a vial from exiting one of the receiving compartments, and a dispensing position, in which the gate allows passage of a vial in one of the receiving compartments through the aperture in the feed plate; and a controller operatively associated with the vial staging unit and the gate.
Claims11
A method of dispensing a filled pharmaceutical vial into a receptacle in a high volume pharmacy, comprising the steps of:
- (a) filling a vial with a medicament with an automated pharmaceutical dispensing machine;
- (b) delivering the filled pharmaceutical vial from the automated pharmaceutical dispensing machine to a vial accumulator configured to hold multiple pharmaceutical vials;
- (c) conveying a receptacle to a receiving position adjacent the vial accumulator;
- and
- (d) delivering the filled pharmaceutical vial from the vial accumulator to the receptacle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.