Pharmacy printer system and method

1. A method of processing accompanying information related to a prescription, the method being implemented on a computing device having a processor programmed by one or more computer program instructions, the method comprising:

receiving sponsored content from a server;

determining a layout used to print accompanying information and sponsored content for a prescription request, the layout comprises an indication of a number of columns to be printed per page and the accompanying information is based on prescription information and comprises two or more elements;

removing competing elements from the print layout, the competing elements are content conflicting with the sponsored content in the prescription request;

determining print indicia that indicates continuity data for at least one of the two or more elements that spans more than one column;

generating a print file used to print the accompanying information based on the layout, the print file including the determined print indicia; and

printing the accompanying information using the print file.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting the prescription information to the server; and

receiving accompanying information from the server.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining the layout comprises:

determining a layout for printing the accompanying information and the sponsored content.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the layout comprises:

applying a rule for at least one of selecting content or formatting content.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

receiving from a server an update for at least one of a content selection rule or a content formatting rule.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the content selection rule or the content formatting rule is provided by a retailer operating a pharmacy management system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating a print file further comprises:

generating a print file based on the layout.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining the layout comprises an unprinted region; and

inserting additional information in the layout to fill the unprinted region.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the print file in association with the prescription request, the prescription request comprises an associated bar code.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

printing the print file using a printer when the printer is presented with the associated bar code.

11. A method of processing accompanying information related to a prescription, the method being implemented on a computing device having a processor programmed by one or more computer program instructions, the method comprising:

determining, by the processor, accompanying information and sponsored content to be printed for a prescription request, the accompanying information is based on prescription information and includes a plurality of elements;

determining, by the processor, a layout used to print the accompanying information, wherein the layout comprises a plurality of columns to be printed per page, and wherein the determining the layout comprises formatting a first element to be printed on a first column and a second element to be printed;

removing competing elements from the print layout, the competing elements are content conflicting with the sponsored content in the prescription request;

generating, by the processor, a print file used to print the accompanying information based on the layout; and

printing the print file using a printer.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining the layout further comprises:

formatting at least a first portion of the second element to be printed in the first column.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

formatting at least a second portion of the second element to be printed in a second column.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

determining the second column comprises an unprinted region; and inserting additional information into the unprinted region.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

determining a second layout rule provided by a retailer; and

prioritizing the second layout rule from the retailer as a higher priority than the first layout rule to determine the layout.

16. A device for processing accompanying information related to a prescription, the device comprising:

a processor programmed with one or more computer program instructions to:

determine accompanying information and sponsored content to be printed for a prescription request having an associated bar code, the accompanying information is based on prescription information in the prescription request and includes a plurality of elements;

determine a layout used to print the accompanying information, wherein the layout comprises a number of columns to be printed per page;

removing competing elements from the print layout, the competing elements are content conflicting with the sponsored content in the prescription request;

format a first element of the plurality of elements and a first portion of a second element of the plurality of elements to be printed in a first column;

format at least a second portion of the second element to be printed in a second column different from the first column;

format additional information to fill the second column based on a determination that the second column comprises an unprinted region;

generate a print file used to print the accompanying information and sponsored content based on the layout; and

cause a printer to print the print file using paper having a size that is defined by a layout rule.

17. The device of claim 16 , the processor further programmed to:

store the print file in association with the prescription request.

18. The device of claim 16 , wherein the printer prints the print file upon being presented with the associated bar code.