Pharmaceutical order processing systems and methods
View Patent ↗A pharmaceutical order processing system, components thereof, and associated methods for filling a prescription order. The pharmaceutical order processing system includes a lower insert placer, a syringe placer, a dosing cup placer, a pharmaceutical container placer, and/or an upper insert placer. The lower insert placer places a lower insert into a box. The syringe placer places a syringe into a syringe compartment of the lower insert. The dosing cup placer places a dosing cup into a dosing cup compartment of the lower insert. The pharmaceutical container placer places a pharmaceutical container into a pharmaceutical container compartment of the lower insert. The upper insert placer places an upper insert into the box after the box has received the lower insert and the lower insert has received the syringe, the dosing cup and the pharmaceutical container.
1 . A pharmaceutical order processing system for filling a prescription order, the pharmaceutical order processing system comprising:
a lower insert placer configured to place a lower insert into a box;
a syringe placer configured to place a syringe into a syringe compartment of the lower insert;
a dosing cup placer configured to place a dosing cup into a dosing cup compartment of the lower insert;
a pharmaceutical container placer configured to place a pharmaceutical container into a pharmaceutical container compartment of the lower insert; and
an upper insert placer configured to place an upper insert into the box after the box has received the lower insert and the lower insert has received the syringe, the dosing cup and the pharmaceutical container.
2 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a pathway and a box carriage movable along the pathway, the pathway extending between the lower insert placer, the syringe placer, the dosing cup placer, the pharmaceutical container placer and the upper insert placer, the box carriage configured to support and move the box along the pathway to the lower insert placer, the syringe placer, the dosing cup placer, the pharmaceutical container placer and the upper insert placer.
3 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 1 , wherein the syringe placer is located upstream of the dosing cup placer along the pathway such that the syringe placer places the syringe in the lower insert before the dosing cup placer places the dosing cup in the lower insert.
4 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more manual stations, each manual station including a table defining a box opening arranged to align with the box when the box is at the manual station.
5 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a box ID applier configured to apply a machine-readable marking to the box, the machine-readable marking representing an identifier associated with the prescription order received by the pharmaceutical order processing system.
6 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 1 , wherein the dosing cup placer includes a dosing cup singulator and a dosing cup transporter, the dosing cup singulator being configured to singulate a plurality of dosing cups and the dosing cup transporter being configured to move a singulated dosing cup of the plurality of dosing cups.
7 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a box erector configured to erect the box; and
a box closer configured to close the box after the lower insert, the syringe, the dosing cup, the pharmaceutical container and the upper insert have been placed in the box.
8 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 1 , further comprising a lower insert supplier configured to supply the lower insert to the lower insert placer, the lower insert supplier including:
a lower insert receiver having an interior sized and shaped to receive and hold a stack of lower inserts, the lower insert receiver having a first upper removal location from which each lower insert is is removed from the lower insert receiver; and
a first lift configured to raise the stack of lower inserts disposed in the interior of the lower insert receiver upward to move an upper-most lower insert in the stack of lower inserts to the first upper removal location.
9 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 8 , further comprising an upper insert supplier configured to supply the upper insert to the upper insert placer, the upper insert supplier including:
a upper insert receiver having an interior sized and shaped to receive and hold a stack of upper inserts, the upper insert receiver having a second upper removal location from which each upper insert is removed from the upper insert receiver; and
a second lift configured to raise the stack of upper inserts disposed in the interior of the upper insert receiver upward to move an upper-most upper insert in the stack of upper inserts to the second upper removal location.
10 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 8 , further comprising an insert conveyor configured to move a subsequent stack of lower inserts toward the first lift, the first lift being moveable to a loading position in which the first lift is arranged to receive the subsequent stack of lower inserts from the insert conveyor.
11 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 10 , wherein the first lift includes a lift conveyor configured to move the subsequent stack of lower inserts received from the insert conveyor to position the subsequent stack of lower inserts on the first lift.
12 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 8 , further comprising a keeper configured to engage a subsequent upper-most lower insert to retain the subsequent upper-most lower insert in the lower insert receiver when the upper-most lower insert is removed from the first upper removal location.
13 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 12 , wherein the keeper is moveable between a keeping position in which the keeper is positioned to engage the subsequent upper-most lower insert and a non-keeping position in which the keeper is positioned to not engage the stack of lower inserts when the first lift raises the stack of lower inserts to move the upper-most lower insert to the first upper removal location.
14 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 8 , further comprising an orientation sensor configured to detect an orientation of the lower insert, the lower insert placer being configured to rotate the lower insert to a proper orientation when moving the lower insert into the box based on the orientation detected by the orientation sensor.
15 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 2 , further comprising an automatic paper insert station adjacent to the pathway downstream from the upper insert placer and configured to place literature in the box.
16 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 15 , further comprising a manual paper insert station adjacent to the pathway downstream from the upper insert placer, wherein the pathway is configured to place the box carriage supporting the box adjacent to the manual paper insert station to provide access to the box so that the box can receive literature.
17 . A pharmaceutical order processing system for filling a prescription order, the pharmaceutical order processing system comprising:
a pathway;
a box carriage movable along the pathway to move a box;
a lower insert placer configured to place a lower insert into the box;
a syringe placer downstream of the lower insert placer and configured to place a syringe into a syringe compartment of the lower insert;
a dosing cup placer downstream of the lower insert placer and configured to place a dosing cup into a dosing cup compartment of the lower insert;
a pharmaceutical container placer downstream of the lower insert placer and configured to place a pharmaceutical container into a pharmaceutical container compartment of the lower insert; and
an upper insert placer configured to place an upper insert into the box after the box has received the lower insert and the lower insert has received the syringe, the dosing cup and the pharmaceutical container;
wherein the box carriage is configured to support and move the box along the pathway to the lower insert placer, the syringe placer, the dosing cup placer, the pharmaceutical container placer and the upper insert placer.
18 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 17 , wherein the syringe placer is located upstream of the dosing cup placer along the pathway such that the syringe placer places the syringe in the lower insert before the dosing cup placer places the dosing cup in the lower insert; and wherein the pharmaceutical order processing system further comprises one or more manual stations including a table defining a box opening arranged to align with the box when the box is at the one or more manual stations.
19 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 18 , further comprising an automatic paper insert station adjacent to the pathway downstream from the upper insert placer and configured to place literature in the box.
20 . The pharmaceutical order processing system of claim 19 , further comprising a manual paper insert station adjacent to the pathway downstream from the upper insert placer, wherein the pathway is configured to place the box carriage supporting the box adjacent to the manual paper insert station to provide access to the box so that the box can receive literature.