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System and method for removing medication from packaging

a medication dispenser and packaging technology, applied in the field of medication dispenser systems, can solve problems such as reducing the usefulness of the apparatus, unable to utilize such automatic packaging devices, and arising problems

Inactive Publication Date: 2006-12-14
MTS MEDICATION TECH
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] The de-blister apparatus includes a means for removing individual doses from a blister pack. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, this means is implemented as a plunger that protrudes in a downward direction and moves in a vertical direction between two extreme positions. The plunger is driven by, for example, a solenoid disposed within the de-blister apparatus package. Positioned below the de-blister apparatus and also connected to the cantilevered arm is a holding bracket upon which a funnel is attached. Once a pharmaceutical blister pack is positioned over the funnel and across the bracket, the plunger is displaced by the solenoid contact with each of the blisters to remove the medication dose from the blister-pack such that the dose falls into the funnel. The funnel helps to guide the pharmaceutical once it is freed from the blister-pack to one of the cavities in the custom pharmaceutical package.

Problems solved by technology

However, a problem has arisen in countries such as the United Kingdom which require all medications to be sold and distributed in individual blister packages.
As a result, it has not been possible to utilize such automatic packaging devices without first manually removing each medication from the blister pack to form a bulk supply.
Such a shortcoming reduces the usefulness of the apparatus and detrimentally causes reduced sales of the devices in these regions.

Method used

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  • System and method for removing medication from packaging

Examples

Experimental program
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Effect test

first embodiment

[0020]FIG. 1 illustrates a medication dispenser apparatus 10 according to the current invention. The apparatus is comprised of a de-blister apparatus 2, a positioning mechanism 4, a holding bracket 14, a cantilevered arm 12 for connecting the de-blister apparatus 2 and the bracket 14 to the positioning mechanism 4, a funnel 16 attached to the bracket 14, a sealing paddle 6 which holds a custom pharmaceutical package (not shown), and a templated structure 8 for interfacing between the funnel output and the custom pharmaceutical package. The de-blister apparatus further comprises a plunger 18 for removing individual doses of medication from a target blister-pack. The positioning mechanism includes slide rails 30 to facilitate movement in the x-direction, and slide rails 28 to facilitate movement in the y-direction. Finally, blister packs 22 and 24 are manually or mechanically fed to the de-blister apparatus 2.

[0021] For illustration purposes only, the apparatus in FIG. 1 contains a sc...

second embodiment

[0023]FIG. 2 shows the instant invention. Reference numbers corresponding to elements disclosed in FIG. 1 have been duplicated. In this embodiment, the pharmaceutical dispensing apparatus is under pure manual control. More specifically, there are no screw-drives in either the x or the y direction. Rather, slide rails 28 and 30 provide for free-movement of the de-blister apparatus 2 under the control of a pharmacist or other such user. In this way, there is provided a mechanism, such as a button or switch, disposed somewhere on the frame of the dispensing apparatus 10 that drives the plunger 18 (not shown in FIG. 2) downward to free a dose of medication from the blister-pack. Accordingly, there is no need to enter dosage information into a control apparatus such as a computer. Rather, the operator can simply feed the blister packs into the apparatus, position the de-blister apparatus over the desired cavity in the template 8, and manually cause the plunger to descend by depressing th...

third embodiment

[0024] In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, an alternate positioning apparatus 4 is described. As in FIG. 2, reference numbers corresponding to elements disclosed in FIG. 1 have been duplicated. In this embodiment, a pivotable arm comprised of two rigid arm portions 32 and 34 and two pivots 36 and 38 allow the de-blister apparatus to be moved in the x and y directions. Additionally, though not shown, a vertical adjustment portion may be provided to allow the positioning apparatus to be adjusted in the vertical direction (the z-direction). Similar to the above two embodiments, the pivot arm may be manually adjusted by the operator, or may be placed under computer control to automatically dispose of the medication from the blister packs into the corresponding cavity of the custom pharmaceutical package. In addition, the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is purely illustrative, and the arm may be composed of any number of segments and / or joints.

[0025] In light of the foregoing embodi...

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Abstract

An improved pharmaceutical dispensing system that allows direct transfer of doses from bulk blister packs into custom pharmaceutical packages in which medication doses are arranged by day of the week and / or time of day. In a preferred embodiment, the invention comprises a positioning mechanism that controls a de-blister apparatus. The de-blister apparatus comprises a de-blister means, such as a plunger, to remove individual doses from the blister pack and dispose them into a corresponding cavity of the custom pharmaceutical package. The apparatus may operate under manual or automatic control. Such an invention alleviates the operator from having to remove all of the medication doses from the blister pack before distributing the doses amongst the cavities of the custom pharmaceutical package.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates, in general, to the field of medication dispenser systems. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a system and method which may be used for dispensing medication from blister packages into custom pharmaceutical packages. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] The present invention overcomes the shortcomings and the deficiencies of the prior art and is directed to systems and methods which solve or at least substantially reduce the problems associated with existing pharmaceutical and medication dispenser systems. [0005] Over the last few years in the field of drug therapy, there has been an increase in the number of treatments that utilize more then one pharmaceutical product to treat any particular ailment. Moreover, as the world population ages, more patients are taking a plurality of medications on a daily basis to treat multiple ailments or diseases. In resp...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B65B1/04B65B69/00
CPCB65B69/0058A61J1/035
Inventor FEEHAN, JEFFSIEGEL, TODD
Owner MTS MEDICATION TECH
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