Method, system, and computer program product for distributing pharmaceutical products in a pharmaceutical packaging system using round-robin removal from a retention canister

Abstract

The method includes generating an order for a pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense a quantity of a pharmaceutical product to each pouch of a plurality of pouches; associating a plurality of canisters in the pharmaceutical packaging system with one another as a group, where each of the plurality of canisters contains the pharmaceutical product; and operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of a pharmaceutical product to each pouch of the plurality of pouches by drawing from the plurality of canisters in a round robin manner by switching between canisters of the plurality of canisters when transitioning between pouches of the plurality of pouches.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] Related Applications This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 179,738, filed April 26, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. [Background technology]

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to pharmaceutical packaging, and more particularly to methods, systems and computer program products for packaging pharmaceutical products using a pharmaceutical packaging system.

[0003] Pharmaceutical packaging systems may be used to dispense pharmaceuticals to fill prescriptions in facilities such as pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care facilities, etc. These pharmaceutical packaging systems may include systems designed to package pharmaceuticals in a variety of container types, including but not limited to pouches, vials, bottles, blister cards, and strip packaging. Strip packaging is a type of packaging in which medications are packaged in individual pouches for administration on a specific date and sometimes at a specific time. Typically, the individual pouches are removably attached and are often provided in a roll, which can be separated from the roll as needed.

[0004] A pharmaceutical packaging system typically includes a canister containing a quantity of pharmaceutical to be packaged in a containment mechanism, e.g., strip package, blister card, pouch, etc. Some types of pharmaceuticals, e.g., dietary supplements, may be packaged in quantities greater than traditional prescription drugs or medications. Dietary supplement dispensing machines typically use smaller formularies, less than 50 unique products, but dispense the same quantity. As a result, it may be desirable to allocate the same pharmaceutical to multiple canisters to increase the amount of the pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical packaging system available for packaging. Having more canisters of the same pharmaceutical type (NDC or SKEW) may improve the overall machine output and reduce refill frequency and stock-outs. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In some embodiments of the inventive concept, a method includes generating an order for a pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense a quantity of a pharmaceutical product to each pouch of a plurality of pouches; associating a plurality of canisters in the pharmaceutical packaging system with each other as a group, where each of the plurality of canisters contains the pharmaceutical product; and operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of pharmaceutical product to each pouch of the plurality of pouches by drawing from the plurality of canisters in a round robin manner by switching between canisters of the plurality of canisters when transitioning between pouches of the plurality of pouches.

[0006] In other embodiments, the method further includes determining that one of the plurality of canisters is empty when operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of pharmaceutical product into one of the plurality of pouches; and refilling the plurality of canisters in response to determining that the one of the plurality of canisters is empty.

[0007] In yet another embodiment, the method further includes operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of pharmaceutical to the respective pouches of the plurality of pouches by drawing from the plurality of canisters in a round robin manner by switching between the canisters of the plurality of canisters based on the order when transitioning between the pouches of the plurality of pouches in response to refilling the plurality of canisters.

[0008] In yet another embodiment, the method further includes maintaining the order, wherein in response to determining that the one of the plurality of canisters is empty, a new order for the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of the pharmaceutical product into each pouch of the plurality of pouches is not generated.

[0009] In yet another embodiment, the plurality of canisters includes fixed canisters that are smart canisters.

[0010] In yet another embodiment, the plurality of canisters includes fixed canisters that are a combination of smart canisters and regular canisters.

[0011] In yet other embodiments, a lot number of the pharmaceutical product contained in a first canister of the plurality of canisters is different from a lot number of the pharmaceutical product contained in a second canister of the plurality of canisters.

[0012] In yet other embodiments, an expiration date of the pharmaceutical product contained in a first canister of the plurality of canisters is different from an expiration date of the pharmaceutical product contained in a second canister of the plurality of canisters.

[0013] In yet another embodiment, the number of canisters in the plurality of canisters in a group is greater than 8 and is 32 or less.

[0014] In yet another embodiment, the one group is one of a plurality of canister grouping options in the pharmaceutical packaging system, the pharmaceutical packaging system being configured to perform different actions for dispensing pharmaceutical products for different ones of the plurality of canister grouping options.

[0015] In yet another embodiment, associating the plurality of canisters within the pharmaceutical packaging system with one another as the one group includes receiving user input selecting the one group from among the plurality of canister grouping options.

[0016] In yet another embodiment, the pharmaceutical agent is a dietary supplement.

[0017] In some embodiments of the inventive concept, a system includes a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory including computer readable program code embodied therein executable by the processor to perform operations including: generating an order for a pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense a quantity of a pharmaceutical product to each pouch of a plurality of pouches; associating a plurality of canisters in the pharmaceutical packaging system with each other as a group, each of the plurality of canisters containing the pharmaceutical product; and operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of a pharmaceutical product to each pouch of the plurality of pouches by drawing from the plurality of canisters in a round robin manner by switching between canisters of the plurality of canisters when transitioning between pouches of the plurality of pouches.

[0018] In a further embodiment, the operations further include determining that one of the plurality of canisters is empty when operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of pharmaceutical product into one of the plurality of pouches, and refilling the plurality of canisters in response to determining that the one of the plurality of canisters is empty.

[0019] In still a further embodiment, the operations further include, in response to refilling the plurality of canisters, operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of pharmaceutical to each pouch of the plurality of pouches by drawing from the plurality of canisters in a round robin manner by switching between the canisters of the plurality of canisters based on the order when transitioning between the pouches of the plurality of pouches.

[0020] In still a further embodiment, the operations further include maintaining the order, wherein in response to determining that the one of the plurality of canisters is empty, a new order is not generated for the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of the pharmaceutical into each pouch of the plurality of pouches.

[0021] In yet a further embodiment, the pharmaceutical agent is a dietary supplement.

[0022] In some embodiments of the inventive concept, a computer program product comprises a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable program code embodied therein that is executable by a processor to perform operations including: generating an order for a pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense a quantity of a pharmaceutical product to each pouch of a plurality of pouches; associating a plurality of canisters in the pharmaceutical packaging system with one another as a group, where each canister of the plurality of canisters contains the pharmaceutical product; and operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of a pharmaceutical product to each pouch of the plurality of pouches by drawing from the plurality of canisters in a round robin manner by switching between canisters of the plurality of canisters when transitioning between pouches of the plurality of pouches.

[0023] In other embodiments, the operations further include determining that one of the plurality of canisters is empty when operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of pharmaceutical product into one of the plurality of pouches, and refilling the plurality of canisters in response to determining that the one of the plurality of canisters is empty.

[0024] In yet another embodiment, the operations further include, in response to refilling the plurality of canisters, operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense the quantity of pharmaceutical to each pouch of the plurality of pouches by drawing from the plurality of canisters in a round robin manner by switching between the canisters of the plurality of canisters based on the order when transitioning between the pouches of the plurality of pouches.

[0025] Other methods, systems, articles of manufacture and / or computer program products according to embodiments of the inventive concepts will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description, and all such additional systems, methods, articles of manufacture and / or computer program products are intended to be included within this specification, be within the scope of the inventive subject matter, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

[0026] Other features of the embodiments will be more readily understood from the following detailed description of specific embodiments thereof when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0027] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a communication network including a system for distributing pharmaceuticals within a pharmaceutical packaging system using round robin retrieval from holding canisters in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating operations for dispensing pharmaceutical products within the pharmaceutical packaging system of FIG. 1, according to some embodiments of the inventive concepts. [Figure 3A] FIG. 3A is a block diagram illustrating a refill operation of a retention canister in a pharmaceutical packaging system in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts. [Figure 3B] FIG. 3B is a block diagram illustrating a refill operation of a retention canister in a pharmaceutical packaging system in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts. [Figure 3C] FIG. 3C is a block diagram illustrating a refill operation of a retention canister in a pharmaceutical packaging system in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating further operations for dispensing pharmaceutical products within the pharmaceutical packaging system of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts. [Diagram 5]FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating further operations for dispensing pharmaceutical products within the pharmaceutical packaging system of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a user interface for selecting between retention canister grouping options in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a data processing system that may be used to implement a packaging system interface server in a system for distributing pharmaceutical products within the pharmaceutical packaging system of FIG. 1 according to some embodiments of the inventive concepts. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a software / hardware architecture for use in a system for dispensing pharmaceutical products within the pharmaceutical packaging system of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0028] In the following detailed description of the invention, numerous specific details are described in order to fully understand the implementation of the inventive concept. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without those specific details. In some cases, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the inventive concept. All embodiments disclosed herein are intended to be practiced separately or combined in any manner and / or combination. An aspect described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporated in a different embodiment even if not specifically described with respect thereto. That is, all embodiments and / or features of any embodiment may be combined in any manner and / or combination.

[0029] As used herein, the term "data processing facility" encompasses, but is not limited to, hardware elements, firmware components, and / or software components. A data processing system may be configured with one or more data processing facilities.

[0030] As used herein, the term "pharmaceutical packaging system" refers to any type of pharmaceutical formulation dispensing system, including, but not limited to, automated systems that fill pharmaceuticals into vials, bottles, containers, pouches, blister cards, strip packages, etc.; semi-automated systems that fill pharmaceuticals into vials, bottles, containers, pouches, blister cards, etc.; and any combination of automated and semi-automated systems that fill pharmaceutical packages. Pharmaceutical packaging systems also include packaging systems for pharmaceutical formulation substitutes, such as dietary supplements and / or biopharmaceuticals.

[0031] As used herein, the terms "pharmaceutical" and "medication" are used interchangeably and refer to a medicament that is prescribed for a patient, either human or animal. A pharmaceutical or drug may be embodied in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, a pill, a capsule, a tablet, and the like.

[0032] The term "drug product" refers to any type of pharmaceutical product that can be packaged in vials, bottles, containers, pouches, blister cards, etc., by automated and semi-automated pharmaceutical packaging systems, including, but not limited to, pills, capsules, tablets, caplets, gelcaps, lozenges, etc. Drug products also refer to pharmaceutical formulation substitutes, such as dietary supplements and / or biological products. Examples of pharmaceutical packaging systems, such as those described above, including management techniques for filling packaging orders, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,492,987, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0033] The term "pharmaceutical package" refers to any type of object capable of holding a pharmaceutical product, such as those listed above, including vials, bottles, containers, pouches, blister cards, strip packages, and the like.

[0034] The term "pouch" may be used to refer to conventional pouch packaging receiving mechanisms as well as blister card and strip packaging receiving mechanisms.

[0035] Some embodiments of the inventive concept stem from the recognition that certain types of pharmaceuticals, e.g., dietary supplements, may be packaged in larger quantities than traditional prescription drugs or medicines. To facilitate packaging such pharmaceuticals in larger quantities, multiple canisters holding pharmaceuticals may be grouped together for dispensing therefrom. Two rules for grouping holding canisters for dispensing pharmaceuticals therefrom include what may be known as cluster groups and firmware groups. In cluster groups, multiple canisters may be associated with each other to form a group for dispensing a particular pharmaceutical. The canisters may be smart canisters that may be placed anywhere in the pharmaceutical packaging system, or regular canisters that must be placed in a specific location. The loaded canisters, whether smart canisters or regular canisters, may be referred to as fixed canisters, which may be assigned specific locations in the pharmaceutical packaging system. Each of the canisters may hold various quantities of pharmaceuticals corresponding to multiple lot numbers and expiration dates. From the canisters, pouches are typically removed for filling, often in a sequence based on the expiration date of the drug product held therein. However, one drawback of using cluster groups is that when a canister becomes empty, the pouch that would have been filled based on the packaging order is left empty, a new order is generated, and a new pouch is prepared for filling, and the new pouch is filled from the next canister in the sequence. This empty pouch requires personnel to manually remove it from the roll of pouches and join the remaining pouches. The new pouch generated in place of the empty pouch may be referred to as a "redo bag" and the empty pouch may be referred to as an "attention bag". Modifying a roll of pouches in this manner is labor intensive and may significantly increase the workload of support personnel. Additionally, some implementations set limits on the maximum number of empty pouches or redo bags per roll of pouches.

[0036] The other rule for grouping canisters is known as firmware group. This grouping rule avoids the problem of empty pouches or rerun bags by automatically advancing to the next canister in the sequence when a canister is empty. However, the firmware group requires that the drugs held in the canisters in the group are from the same lot number and have the same expiration date. Furthermore, due to firmware limitations in legacy pharmaceutical packaging systems, the number of canisters in a firmware group is limited to eight. This may result in more frequent refill operations and may be impractical for large volume pharmaceutical dispensing orders that may be more common with pharmaceuticals, e.g., dietary supplements.

[0037] Some embodiments of the inventive concept may provide a third rule for grouping holding canisters from which pharmaceutical products are dispensed, which may be referred to as level load groups. In a level load group, multiple canisters may be associated with each other without the eight canister limit associated with the firmware group rule. For example, 32 or more canisters may be associated with each other in a level load group, although embodiments of the inventive concept are not limited to a particular number. Rather than sequentially removing multiple canisters, the pharmaceutical packaging system may remove from the canisters in a level load group in a round robin fashion by switching canisters each time a new pouch is to be filled with the pharmaceutical product. In contrast to the cluster group rule, when a canister is determined to be empty, all of the canisters in the level load group are refilled in parallel. This may significantly reduce the amount of time spent refilling empty canisters. In some pharmaceutical packaging systems, it may take up to 12 seconds or more to rotate or manipulate the canister and determine that the canister is empty without dispensing pharmaceutical. By refilling all the canisters in a level load group in parallel when the first canister in the group is determined to be empty, up to 12 seconds can be saved in the refill process for each remaining canister in the level load group. The pharmaceutical packaging system may also continue filling the current pouch without generating a new order once the refill process is complete. As a result, no empty pouches or rerun bags are generated, which may eliminate the need for manual corrections required to remove empty pouches with the cluster group rules. Similar to the cluster group rules, the level load group rules for grouping canisters may support fixed, smart canisters, and / or regular (non-smart) canisters, for example, that are installed in the pharmaceutical packaging system. The level load group rules do not require that all drugs be from the same lot and / or have the same expiration date.Thus, canisters within one level load group may contain pharmaceutical products of the same or different lot numbers and / or expiration dates.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 1, a communication network 100 including a pharmaceutical packaging system using round robin retrieval from pharmaceutical holding canisters in accordance with some embodiments of the concepts of the present invention is shown to include a pharmacy management system (PMS) or host system 110, a packaging system server 120, and one or more pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b connected via a network 140.

[0039] The PMS system 110 may be configured to manage and fill prescriptions for customers. As used herein, a PMS system may be used in a pharmacy or generally as a batch production system for other applications, such as dispensing dietary supplements or biologics. The PMS system 110 may be associated with various types of facilities, such as pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care facilities, etc. The PMS system or host system 110 may be any system capable of transmitting valid prescriptions to one or more product packaging systems 130a and 130b. The packaging system server 120 may include a packaging system interface module 135 and may be configured to manage the operation of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b. For example, the packaging system server 120 may be configured to receive packaging orders from the PMS system 110 and to identify which of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b should be used to package a particular individual order or batch of orders. In addition, the packaging system server 120 may be configured to manage the operation of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b. For example, the packaging system server 120 may be configured to manage an inventory of pharmaceuticals available through each of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b, to manage pharmaceutical dispensing canisters allocated or registered to one or more of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b, to generally manage the operational status of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b, and / or to manage reports regarding the status (e.g., allocated, completed, etc.) of packaging orders, pharmaceutical inventory, order requisitions, etc. In some embodiments, the packaging system server may provide a user interface that may enable the canisters in one or more of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b to be grouped using rules, such as the cluster groups, level load groups, or firmware groups described above.A user 150, such as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, may communicate with the packaging system server 120 via wired and / or wireless connections using any suitable computing device and may control the operation of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b through the user interface provided by the packaging system interface 135. Although the user 150 is shown in FIG. 1 communicating with the packaging system server 120 via a direct connection, it will be understood that the user 150 may communicate with the packaging system server 120 via one or more network connections. The user 150 may interact with the packaging system server 120 to approve or override various recommendations made by the packaging system server 120 in operating the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b. The user 150 may also initiate the running of various reports as described above for the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b. Although only two pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b are shown in FIG. 1, it will be understood that more than two pharmaceutical packaging systems may be managed by the packaging system server 120.

[0040] In general, the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b may be configured to package pharmaceuticals using a variety of containment types, including, but not limited to, vials, bottles, containers, pouches, blister cards, strip packages, etc. However, embodiments are described herein with reference to the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b configured to package pharmaceuticals using pouches as containment mechanisms, including blister cards and strip packages.

[0041] Network 140 connects pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b, PMS system 110, and packaging system server 120 to one another. Network 140 may be a global network, such as the Internet or other publicly accessible network. Various elements of network 140 may be interconnected by wide area networks, local area networks, intranets, and / or other private networks, which may not be accessible by the general public. Thus, communication network 140 may represent a combination of public and private networks, or a virtual private network (VPN). Network 140 may be a wireless network or a wired network, or a combination of both wireless and wired networks.

[0042] Although FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary communications network including a pharmaceutical packaging system that uses round-robin retrieval from pharmaceutical holding canisters, it will be understood that embodiments of the present subject matter are not limited to such configurations and are intended to encompass any configuration capable of performing the operations described herein.

[0043] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating operations for dispensing pharmaceuticals within the pharmaceutical packaging system. Referring now to FIG. 2, using the PMS system 110, pharmaceutical packaging orders may be generated (block 200), which may be reviewed and processed by the packaging system server 120 before being communicated to one of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a or 130b for fulfillment. The orders may include instructions to print patient and / or drug information on one or more pouches and to dispense a quantity of pharmaceutical to each of the one or more pouches. The canisters within the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b may be associated with each other as groups, such as level load groups as described above (block 205). The pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b may be operable to dispense the quantity of pharmaceutical to each pouch by drawing from the canisters within the level load group in a round robin fashion by switching between canisters when transitioning between pouches (block 210).

[0044] 3A, 3B and 3C are block diagrams illustrating the refilling operation of holding canisters in a level load group, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are flow charts illustrating further operations for dispensing pharmaceutical products in a pharmaceutical packaging system according to some embodiments of the inventive concept. FIG. 3A is a block diagram illustrating ten canisters in a level load group that have been filled with pharmaceutical products. As described above with respect to FIG. 2, pharmaceutical products may be dispensed from the ten canisters in a round robin manner by switching between canisters when transitioning between pouches. Now referring to FIGS. 4 and 3B, a determination is made that one of the canisters is empty (block 400). In the example of FIG. 3B, canister 1 is emptied first, and the remaining canisters hold some pharmaceutical product. However, rather than simply refilling canister 1, the operation continues by refilling all the canisters of the level load group in parallel (block 405) as shown in FIG. 3C. Assuming a typical time to rotate or manipulate a canister to determine if it is empty, around 12 seconds, by refilling all the canisters in parallel, up to 108 seconds could be saved in the example of Figures 3A-3C where 10 canisters are assigned to a level load group by individually preventing each canister from becoming empty and then refilling each individual canister.

[0045] 5, by maintaining the current drug canister dispensing order after determining that a canister is empty, as opposed to a cluster group of canisters, and not generating a new drug dispensing order that may result in an empty pouch or a rerun bag, dispensing of the drug can be resumed after a refill operation of each of the canisters in a level load group is performed, which can eliminate manual corrections required to remove empty pouches that occur during the packaging process.

[0046] 6 is a block diagram illustrating a user interface for selecting among holding canister grouping options according to some embodiments of the inventive concept. The packaging system interface module 135 may provide a user interface that allows a user to control the operation of the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b, including removing pharmaceuticals from canisters when dispensing and defining various grouping rules for canisters. As shown in FIG. 6, the user interface may include a pharmaceutical packaging system settings screen, which includes items such as "Canister Refill Options," "Expiration Date and Lot Handling," "General Settings," "Drug / Inventory Settings," and "Pouch Dispense Settings." Under "General Settings," a user may select one of the canister grouping rules, including a "Cluster Group" rule, a "Level Load Group" rule, and a "Firmware Group" rule. Thus, a user may select the "Level Load Group" rule to associate multiple canisters in a level load group for dispensing medication therefrom in a round robin fashion as described above, and refill the canisters of the group in parallel when one of the canisters is first determined to be empty, thereby saving refill time compared to the individual or sequential refilling of canisters associated with the Cluster Group and Firmware Group rules. Furthermore, a feature of the Cluster Group rule is that no empty pouch or rerun bag is generated upon detection of an empty canister.

[0047] 7, a data processing system 700 that may be used to implement the packaging system server 120 of FIG. 1 according to some embodiments of the inventive concept includes one or more input devices 702, such as a keyboard or keypad, a barcode scanner, or an RFID reader, a display 704, and a memory 706 in communication with a processor 708. The data processing system 700 may further include a storage system 710, a speaker 712, and one or more input / output (I / O) data ports 714 that also communicate with the processor 708. The processor 708 may be, for example, a commercially available or custom microprocessor. The storage system 710 may include removable and / or fixed media, such as a floppy disk, a ZIP drive, or a hard disk, as well as virtual storage, such as a RAMDISK. The one or more I / O data ports 714 may be used to transfer information between the data processing system 700 and other computer systems or networks (e.g., the Internet). These components may be conventional components, e.g., components used in many conventional computing devices, and their functions for conventional operation are generally known to those of skill in the art. The memory 706 may be configured with computer readable program code 716 for facilitating distribution of pharmaceutical products in a pharmaceutical packaging system employing round robin retrieval from canisters using level load group rules in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts.

[0048] FIG. 8 illustrates a memory 805 that may be used in embodiments of a data processing system, such as the packaging system server 120 of FIG. 1 and the data processing system 700 of FIG. 7, respectively, to facilitate distribution of pharmaceuticals in a pharmaceutical packaging system using round-robin retrieval from canisters using level load group rules in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts. The memory 805 is representative of one or more memory devices that contain software and data used to facilitate operation of the packaging system server 120 and the packaging system interface 135 described herein. The memory 805 may include, but is not limited to, the following device types: cache, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash, SRAM, and DRAM. As shown in FIG. 8, the memory 805 may include three or more categories of software and / or data: an operating system 810, a packaging system interface module 825, and a communications module 840. In particular, the operating system 810 may manage the software and / or hardware resources of the data processing system and may coordinate the execution of programs by the processors. The packaging system interface module 825 may include a user interface module 830 and a distribution control module 835. The user interface module may be configured to perform one or more of the operations described above with respect to Figure 6. The distribution control module 835 may be configured to perform one or more of the operations described above with respect to the flowcharts of Figures 2, 4, and 5, and the block diagrams of Figures 3A-3C. The communications module 840 may be configured to support communications between, for example, the packaging system server 120 and the PMS 110, and between the packaging system server 120 and the pharmaceutical packaging systems 130a and 130b.

[0049] FIG. 8 illustrates a hardware / software architecture that may be used in a data processing system, such as the packaging system server 120 of FIG. 1 and the data processing system 700 of FIG. 7, in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts, although it will be understood that embodiments of the invention are not limited to such configurations and are intended to encompass any configuration capable of performing the operations described herein.

[0050] Computer program code for carrying out operations of the data processing system described above with respect to Figures 1-7 may be written in a high level programming language, such as Python, Java, C, and / or C++, for ease of development. In addition, computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may also be written in other programming languages, such as, but not limited to, interpreted languages. Some modules or routines may be written in assembly language or microcode to enhance performance and / or memory usage. It will be further understood that the functionality of any or all of the program modules may also be implemented using discrete hardware components, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or a programmed digital signal processor or microcontroller.

[0051] Additionally, the functionality of the packaging system server 120 of Figure 1 and the data processing system 700 of Figure 7 may each be implemented as a single processor system, a multi-processor system, a multi-core processor system, or even a network of standalone computer systems in accordance with various embodiments of the inventive concepts. Each of these processors / computer systems may be referred to as a "processor" or a "data processing system."

[0052] The data processing devices described herein with respect to Figures 1-8 may be used to facilitate distribution of pharmaceuticals in a pharmaceutical packaging system using round robin retrieval from holding canisters in level load groups in accordance with some embodiments of the inventive concepts described herein. These devices are operable to receive, transmit, process and store data using any suitable combination of software, firmware and / or hardware, and may be standalone or embodied as one or more enterprise, application, personal, broadband and / or embedded computer systems and / or devices that may be interconnected by public and / or private networks, real and / or virtual networks, wired and / or wireless networks that encompass all or part of the global communications network known as the Internet, and may include various types of tangible, non-transitory computer readable media. In particular, the memory 805 when coupled to a processor includes computer readable program code that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations including one or more of the operations described herein with respect to Figures 1-6.

[0053] As explained above, embodiments of the inventive concept may provide rules for grouping holding canisters for dispensing medications therefrom, referred to as level load groups. Medications may be dispensed in a round robin fashion from canisters in a level load group and refilled in parallel when one of the canisters in the group is first determined to be empty. This may save time when refilling canisters sequentially as they become empty. The canisters may also contain medications from different lot numbers and with different expiration dates, providing more flexibility than rules for grouping canisters, such as firmware groups, which require all medications in a canister grouping to have the same lot number and expiration date. Furthermore, the level load group rules do not limit the number of canisters in the group to eight, which is a limitation of the firmware group rules, nor do they require the generation of a new order upon detection of an empty canister, a feature of the cluster group rules that may result in empty pouches or rerun bags and require manual correction to remove the empty pouches.

[0054] Further definitions and embodiments:

[0055] In the above description of various embodiments of the present disclosure, aspects of the present disclosure may be illustrated and described herein in any of a number of patentable classes or contexts, including any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented entirely in hardware, entirely in software (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or a combination of software and hardware implementations, all of which may be generally referred to herein as "circuits," "modules," "components," or "systems." Moreover, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product including one or more computer-readable media having computer-readable program code embodied thereon.

[0056] Any combination of one or more computer readable media may be used. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples (non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium include: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM, i.e., flash memory), a suitable optical fiber with repeaters, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above. In the context of this specification, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0057] A computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal having computer-readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, for example, but not limited to, electromagnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer-readable signal medium may be any computer-readable medium other than a computer-readable storage medium that can communicate, propagate, or transmit a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The program code embodied on a computer-readable signal medium may be transmitted using any suitable medium, for example, wireless, wired, fiber optic cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of those described above, but not limited to any suitable medium described above.

[0058] Computer program code for performing operations for aspects of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, Scala, Smalltalk, Eiffel, JADE, Emerald, C++, C#, VB.NET, Python, etc.; conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as the "C" programming language, Visual Basic, Fortran 2003, Perl, COBOL 2002, PHP, ABAP; dynamic programming languages ​​such as Python, Ruby, Groovy; or other programming languages. The computer program code may run completely on the user's computer as a standalone software package, partially on the user's computer as a standalone software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or completely on a remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer via any type of network, including, for example, a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be to an external computer (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet Service Provider) or in a cloud computing environment, or may be provided as a service, for example, Software as a Service (SaaS).

[0059] Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, and the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable instruction execution device can create a machine to generate mechanisms for implementing the functions / acts specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams.

[0060] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium and, when executed, direct a computer, other programmable data processing device, or other device to function in a particular manner to produce an article of manufacture including instructions that cause the computer to perform one or more specified functions / acts in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams. The computer program instructions may also be loaded into a computer, other programmable instruction execution device, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be executed on the computer, other programmable device, or other device to produce a computer-implemented process, thus providing a process for implementing the functions / acts specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams.

[0061] The flowchart diagrams and block diagrams in the drawings illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products or computer programs according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart diagrams or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of an instruction, which includes one or more executable instructions for implementing one or more specified logical functions. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions depicted in the block diagrams may occur out of the order depicted in the drawings. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially simultaneously, or the blocks may be executed in the reverse order, depending on the functionality involved. It should also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowchart diagrams, as well as combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowchart diagrams, may be implemented by a special purpose hardware-based system that performs the specified functions or acts, or a combination of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

[0062] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. As used herein, the words "comprises", "comprising", "include", "including", "includes", "have", "has", "having" or variations thereof specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof. As used herein, the word "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Like reference numbers refer to like elements throughout the description of the figures.

[0063] It will also be understood that although terms such as first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements are not intended to be limited by these terms, but rather are used merely to distinguish one element from another.

[0064] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted to have a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of this application and the related art, and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly defined as such in this specification. Well-known functions or structures may not be described in detail for brevity and / or clarity.

[0065] The description of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure in the disclosed form. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The aspects of the present disclosure in this specification have been chosen and described in order to best explain the principles and practical applications of the present disclosure and to enable others skilled in the art to understand the present disclosure with various modifications suited to the particular uses contemplated.

Claims

1. It is a method, Regarding pharmaceutical packaging systems, generating orders to distribute a certain amount of pharmaceutical into individual pouches; Associating multiple canisters within the pharmaceutical packaging system with each other as a single group, wherein each of the multiple canisters contains the pharmaceutical product; The pharmaceutical packaging system is operated to distribute a certain amount of pharmaceutical into each of the pouches by switching between canisters when moving between pouches, thereby dispensing from the canisters in a round-robin manner; Determining that one of the canisters is empty when operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense a certain amount of pharmaceutical into one of the pouches; In response to determining that one of the canisters is empty, refill all of the canisters in the group in parallel; and, In response to determining that one of the multiple canisters is empty, maintain the order without generating a new order for the pharmaceutical packaging system, and, once all of the multiple canisters in the group have been refilled, continue distributing the certain amount of pharmaceutical into one of the multiple pouches based on the order. The method, including the method described above.

2. Determining that one of the plurality of canisters is empty, To operate one of the multiple canisters without dispensing the pharmaceutical product from it, The method according to claim 1, including the method described in claim 1.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein when one of the plurality of canisters is determined to be empty, the other canisters in the group hold the pharmaceutical product.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of pouches are removably joined to one another in a roll.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of canisters include a fixed canister that is a smart canister.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of canisters include a fixed canister which is a combination of a smart canister and a normal canister.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the lot number of the pharmaceutical product contained in the first canister of the plurality of canisters is different from the lot number of the pharmaceutical product contained in the second canister of the plurality of canisters.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the expiration date of the pharmaceutical product contained in the first canister of the plurality of canisters is different from the expiration date of the pharmaceutical product contained in the second canister of the plurality of canisters.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the number of canisters in one group is more than 8 and 32 or less.

10. The one group is one of several canister grouping options in the pharmaceutical packaging system, The pharmaceutical packaging system is configured to perform different operations for dispensing pharmaceuticals for different options among the multiple canister grouping options. The method according to claim 1.

11. The multiple canisters within the pharmaceutical packaging system are associated with each other as a single group. The system receives user input to select a group from among the multiple canister grouping options. The method according to claim 10, including the method described in claim 10.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pharmaceutical product is a nutritional supplement.

13. A system, and said system Processor; and, Memory connected to the processor The memory includes computer-readable program code embodied within it, which is executable by the processor to perform an operation. The operation is, Regarding pharmaceutical packaging systems, generating orders to distribute a certain amount of pharmaceutical into individual pouches; Associating multiple canisters within the pharmaceutical packaging system with each other as a single group, wherein each of the multiple canisters contains the pharmaceutical product; The pharmaceutical packaging system is operated to distribute a certain amount of pharmaceutical into each of the pouches by switching between canisters when moving between pouches, thereby dispensing from the canisters in a round-robin manner; Determining that one of the canisters is empty when operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense a certain amount of pharmaceutical into one of the pouches; In response to determining that one of the canisters is empty, refill all of the canisters in the group in parallel; and, In response to determining that one of the multiple canisters is empty, maintain the order without generating a new order for the pharmaceutical packaging system, and, once all of the multiple canisters in the group have been refilled, continue distributing the certain amount of pharmaceutical into one of the multiple pouches based on the order. including, The aforementioned system.

14. Determining that one of the plurality of canisters is empty, To operate one of the multiple canisters without dispensing the pharmaceutical product from it, The system according to claim 13, including the following:

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein when one of the plurality of canisters is determined to be empty, the other canisters in the group hold the pharmaceutical product.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the plurality of pouches are removably joined to one another in a roll.

17. The system according to claim 13, wherein the pharmaceutical product is a nutritional supplement.

18. A computer program product, wherein the computer program product is It comprises a non-temporary computer-readable storage medium, wherein the non-temporary computer-readable storage medium includes computer-readable program code embodied within the medium that is executable by a processor to perform an operation. The operation is, Regarding pharmaceutical packaging systems, generating orders to distribute a certain amount of pharmaceutical into individual pouches; Associating multiple canisters within the pharmaceutical packaging system with each other as a single group, wherein each of the multiple canisters contains the pharmaceutical product; The pharmaceutical packaging system is operated to distribute a certain amount of pharmaceutical into each of the pouches by switching between canisters when moving between pouches, thereby dispensing from the canisters in a round-robin manner; Determining that one of the canisters is empty when operating the pharmaceutical packaging system to dispense a certain amount of pharmaceutical into one of the pouches; In response to determining that one of the canisters is empty, refill all of the canisters in the group in parallel; and, In response to determining that one of the multiple canisters is empty, maintain the order without generating a new order for the pharmaceutical packaging system, and, once all of the multiple canisters in the group have been refilled, continue distributing the certain amount of pharmaceutical into one of the multiple pouches based on the order. The computer program product including the above.

19. Determining that one of the plurality of canisters is empty, To operate one of the multiple canisters without dispensing the pharmaceutical product from it, The computer program product according to claim 18, including the following:

20. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein when one of the plurality of canisters is determined to be empty, the other canisters in the group hold the pharmaceutical product.

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