Vibration-based ejection cassette, drug dispensing apparatus, PTP dispensing apparatus, pharmaceutical product storage apparatus and PTP dispensing system

A vibration-assisted ejection cassette, comprising:

• outer plates which align PTP-packaged or equivalently packaged drugs for storage;
• a top frame provided above an open front which prevents a drug at a head of a queue of accommodated drugs from falling forward by interfering with a top end of the drug;
• an inner plate which carries the accommodated drugs and advances the drugs when vibrated;
• a vibrating member which vibrates the inner plate, wherein the open front has an opening for ejecting the drug at the head of the queue prevented from advancing by interference with the top frame by the top end of the drug and the open front is located substantially at an original position while the inner plate is vibrated;
• a retention member which is provided in front of the open front and which retains the accommodated drug ejected from the open front;
• and
• a cassette controller which detects whether or not a drug is retained so as to activate the vibrating member when a drug is not retained and stop activating the vibrating member when a drug is retained.

A vibration-assisted ejection cassette, comprising:

• outer plates which align PTP-packaged or equivalently packaged drugs for storage;
• a top frame provided above an open front which prevents a drug at a head of a queue of accommodated drugs from falling forward by interfering with a top end of the drug;
• an inner plate which carries the accommodated drugs and advances the drugs when vibrated;
• and
• a vibrating member which vibrates the inner plate,
• wherein the open front has an opening for ejecting the drug at the head of the queue prevented from advancing by interference with the top frame by the top end of the drug and the open front is located substantially at an original position while the inner plate is vibrated;
• a retention member which is provided in front of the open front and which retains the accommodated drug ejected from the open front;
• and
• a controller which detects whether or not a drug is retained so as to activate the vibrating member when a drug is not retained and stop activating the vibrating member when a drug is retained, wherein
• the retention member is movable and adapted to be positioned to discharge a drug as well as being positioned to retain one.

A PTP dispensing apparatus comprising:

• a large number of cassettes which align PTP-packaged or equivalently packaged drugs for storage so that the drugs are sequentially ejectable;
• a support which accommodates and holds the cassettes;
• a descent guidance member which guide the drugs discharged from the cassettes downward;
• and
• a collecting mechanism which collect the drugs, wherein
• each of the cassettes comprises:
• outer plates which accommodate drugs;
• a top frame which is provided above an open front and which prevents a drug at a head of a queue of accommodated drugs from falling forward via physical contact with a top end of the drug;
• an inner plate which carries the accommodated drugs and advances the drugs when vibrated;
• a vibrating member which vibrates the inner plate, wherein the open front of each cassette has an opening for ejecting the drug at the head of the queue prevented from advancing by the contact of the top end of the drug with the top frame and the open front is located substantially at an original position while the inner plate is vibrated;
• and
• a retention member which is provided in front of the open front and which retains the accommodated drug ejected from the open front, wherein
• an activating mechanism, which acts on the retention member so as to discharge a retained drug towards the descent guidance member, is provided for each cassette so as to detect whether or not a drug is retained in the retention member and activate the vibrating member when a drug is not retained and stop activating the vibrating member when a drug is retained.