Patent Issued for Automated Solid Pharmaceutical Product Packaging Machine (USPTO 10,392,140)

2019 SEP 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- MTS Medication Technologies Inc. (St. Petersburg, Florida, United States) has been issued patent number 10,392,140, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Siegel, Todd (St. Petersburg, FL); Bagley, Stuart (St. Petersburg, FL); Stevenson, Michael (St. Petersburg, FL).

This patent was filed on August 20, 2013 and was published online on September 9, 2019.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Field of the Invention

“The present invention relates generally to the field of automated pharmaceutical packaging machines. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an automated pharmaceutical packaging machine which simultaneously fills a product package template with desired solid pharmaceutical dosing requirements while also simultaneously sealing a final package containing a plurality of individual patient doses.

“Description of the Related Art

“There currently are a wide variety of automated pharmaceutical packaging machines available. The majority of these machines are designed for packaging a single pharmaceutical product into pharmaceutical package material. These machines typically transfer individual doses of solid pharmaceutical products into a cavity formed within a clear plastic cover member. Usually a plurality of cavities are formed in a single sheet of clear plastic material and a corresponding plurality of pharmaceutical products are inserted by the filling machine. Once the solid pharmaceutical members have been inserted into the cavities, a backing material is then adhesively applied to the clear plastic sheet to seal the solid pharmaceutical products within the cavities.

“These automated machines satisfy the majority of solid pharmaceutical packaging requirements where a single product is inserted into a package. However, especially in managed care facilities, there is a significant need for an automated pharmaceutical packaging machine which is capable of selectively depositing one or more pharmaceuticals into each of the individual cavities in a pharmaceutical product package.

“Managed care facilities now use patient specific packaging that provide all of a patient’s prescription drug needs for a given period of time. Existing packaging solutions typically employ solid pharmaceutical product package cards that contain all the given patients’ dosages for a one week period of time. Each dose of one or more pharmaceuticals is stored in a clear plastic cavity. These dosing cards usually include three to four different clear plastic cavities for any given day that correspond with each prescribed dosage time for a patient’s medication requirements. Currently there are no automated systems for selectively filling a plurality of different dosing cavities with a plurality of different solid pharmaceutical medications for a single patient and which are also capable of simultaneously sealing the package cavities.

“As a result, it is necessary that the managed care facility go through a more time consuming process in order to create a package containing a patient’s dose of solid pharmaceuticals for a given period of time. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an automated pharmaceutical packaging machine which is capable of automatically selecting and depositing one or more solid pharmaceutical products into a plurality of medication packages for a patient while also simultaneously sealing and further processing a solid pharmaceutical product package.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art and provides a fully automated pharmaceutical product packaging machine which is capable of selectively depositing one or more different solid pharmaceutical products into an individual cavity for each of a plurality of individual patient product package cavities. The system that is descried below is a fully automated machine which is computer controlled and employs a plurality of solid pharmaceutical product dispensing canisters. Each of these solid pharmaceutical dispensing canisters is capable of selectively dispensing a pre-designated number of solid pharmaceutical products. The canisters are programmable and can be manipulated with a computer controller. These canisters are capable of selecting individual pills regardless of their size or shape and are commercially available.

“The system of the present invention employs an array of canisters arranged within a mechanical feeding mechanism. Each canister is designed to feed a funnel or trough which transmits a solid pharmaceutical product selectively dispensed from one of the canisters into a cavity of a product package template. A plurality of pharmaceuticals may be selected for a single cavity member. This step is repeated for each of the plurality of cavities in template that corresponds with the cavities in a single sheet or card of cavities that provide a patient’s dosing requirements for a given period of time.

“For example, a single sheet may typically include all of the solid pharmaceutical products that have been prescribed for a patient during a one week period. The patient’s doctor may have prescribed three or four different administration times during the week and accordingly the dosing card has typically between 21 and 28 different individual cavities. Each of the cavities are capable of holding a volume of solid pharmaceuticals necessary for patient dosing requirements. Once the template containing temporary storage cavities for each combination of drugs has been filled, the template is automatically positioned over a sheet of clear plastic material containing a plurality of cavities corresponding to the cavities in the template. A barrier between the cavities in the template and the sheet of clear plastic material is shifted or moved and the pharmaceuticals in the template cavities drop into the corresponding cavities in the clear plastic sheet of material. The clear plastic sheet of material is then maneuvered into subsequent product packaging stations and the template is returned to beneath the canister region. The template member is selectively moveable through a range of motion defined by an X-Y axis so that each cavity of the template may be selectively positioned beneath the feed mechanism for transfer of pharmaceuticals located in the canisters.

“The system then simultaneously fills the template with either the dosing requirements for the same patient for another week or the dosing requirements for another patient for a given period of time. While the template is being filled, the sheet of clear plastic material now containing each of the solid pharmaceutical doses for the first patient are then simultaneously enclosed and packaged into a final package that may be given to a patient or the care givers for the patient so that the prescribed pharmaceuticals may be administered from the product package. Advantageously, the machine saves a significant amount of time by simultaneously filling the template while also packaging the previously selected pharmaceuticals. The present invention employs canisters which are commercially available for selectively for dispensing the desired quantity of solid pharmaceutical products. In order to complete the packaging process, a sheet of backing material is secured to the clear plastic members to enclose the pharmaceutical products within the clear plastic cavities as is known in the art. The machine of the present invention makes use of pneumatically controlled automated machinery for packaging and manipulating the product. Additionally, the system of the present invention includes pharmaceutical product package and sealing stations.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“We claim:

“1. A system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging, comprising: a storage means for storing patient specific prescription data in an electronic memory associated with a computer controller; a means for automatically effecting relative motion along multiple axes to locate a first solid pharmaceutical product cavity location of an array of cavity locations beneath a dispensing passageway for a first solid pharmaceutical dispensing canister, wherein the array of cavity locations comprises a plurality of cavities, each of the plurality of cavities corresponding to a different cavity formed within a product package wherein the array of cavities has a same number of cavities in a same arrangement as the product package; means for automatically causing the first solid pharmaceutical dispensing canister to eject a solid pharmaceutical product into the first cavity location; means for automatically effecting relative motion along multiple axes to selectively locate a second solid pharmaceutical product cavity location beneath a dispensing passageway for a second solid pharmaceutical dispensing canister; means for automatically causing the second solid pharmaceutical dispensing canister to eject a solid pharmaceutical product into the second cavity; and means for automatically effecting relative motion for each remaining cavity location of the array of cavity locations and the canisters and automatically dispensing one or more solid pharmaceutical products from each of a plurality of dispensing canisters corresponding to a prescribed dose at a dosing time for the specific patient corresponding at each cavity location until all cavities for the patient prescription have been filled.

“2. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 1, further comprising: a means for aligning the array of cavity locations with corresponding cavities of the product package; and a means for transferring the solid pharmaceutical products from each cavity location of the array of cavity locations to a corresponding one of the cavities of the product package.

“3. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 2, further comprising: a means for sealing the product package.

“4. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 3, further comprising: a means for printing information on the product package.

“5. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 1, further comprising: a means for sealing the product package and a means for transferring the array of cavity locations to a position beneath a dispensing passageway for receiving solid pharmaceutical products simultaneously to the product package being sealed.

“6. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 1, wherein: each of the plurality of dispensing canisters comprises a unique address for use by the computer controller.

“7. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 1, wherein: the multiple axes are perpendicular to one another.

“8. A system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging, comprising: a template member having a plurality of cavities that are each to receive one or more solid pharmaceutical products, wherein each of the plurality of cavities of the template member corresponds to a different cavity formed within an empty product package wherein the template member has a same number of cavities in a same arrangement as the empty product package; a pharmaceutical dispensing mechanism to: receive a plurality of solid pharmaceutical canisters; move the template member along at least two axes wherein each of the plurality of cavities is positionable beneath a feed mechanism of the plurality of solid pharmaceutical canisters; and cause at least one of the plurality of the solid pharmaceutical canisters to eject at least one solid pharmaceutical product into at least one of the plurality of cavities of the template, wherein the at least one solid pharmaceutical product corresponds to a prescribed dose at a dosing time for a specific patient corresponding at each cavity location until all cavities for a patient prescription have been filled; and a computer system to: store patient specific prescription data; and control the ejection of solid pharmaceutical products by the pharmaceutical dispensing mechanism.

“9. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 8, wherein: the pharmaceutical dispensing mechanism is further to: maneuver a filled template over the empty product package such that the plurality of cavities are aligned with corresponding cavities of the empty product package; and transfer the solid pharmaceutical products from each cavity of the plurality of cavities to a corresponding one of the cavities of the product package.

“10. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 9, further comprising: a sealing station that is to seal the filled product package.

“11. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 10, further comprising: a printing station that is to print information onto the sealed product package.

“12. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 11, further comprising: a track that is configured to maneuver the product package between the pharmaceutical dispensing mechanism, the sealing station, and the printing station.

“13. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 8, wherein: each of the plurality of the solid pharmaceutical canisters comprises a unique address for use by the computer system.

“14. The system for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 8, wherein: the at least two axes are perpendicular to one another.

“15. A method for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging, comprising: storing patient specific prescription data in an electronic memory associated with a computer controller; automatically effecting relative motion along multiple axes to selectively locate a first solid pharmaceutical product cavity location of an array of cavity locations of a template member beneath a dispensing passageway for a first solid pharmaceutical dispensing canister, wherein each cavity location of the array of cavity location of the template member corresponds to a different cavity formed within a product package wherein the template member has a same number of cavity locations in a same arrangement as the product package; automatically causing the first solid pharmaceutical dispensing canister to eject a solid pharmaceutical product into the first cavity location; automatically effecting relative motion along multiple axes to selectively locate a second solid pharmaceutical product cavity location beneath a dispensing passageway for a second solid pharmaceutical dispensing canister; automatically causing the second solid pharmaceutical dispensing canister to eject a solid pharmaceutical product into the second cavity location; and automatically effecting relative motion along multiple axes for each remaining cavity location of the array of cavity locations and the canisters and automatically dispensing one or more solid pharmaceutical products from each of a plurality of dispensing canisters corresponding to a prescribed dose at a dosing time for the specific patient corresponding at each cavity location until all cavity locations for the patient prescription have been filled.

“16. The method for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 15, further comprising: aligning the array of cavity locations with corresponding cavities of the product package; and transferring the solid pharmaceutical products from each cavity location of the array of cavity locations to a corresponding one of the cavities of the product package.

“17. The method for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 16, further comprising: sealing the product package.

“18. The method for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 17, further comprising: printing information on the product package.

“19. The method for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 15, further comprising: simultaneously sealing the product package and transferring the array of cavity locations to a position beneath a dispensing passageway for receiving solid pharmaceutical products while the product package is being sealed.

“20. The method for filling solid pharmaceutical product packaging of claim 15, wherein: each of the plurality of dispensing canisters comprises a unique address for use by the computer controller.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Siegel, Todd; Bagley, Stuart; Stevenson, Michael. Automated Solid Pharmaceutical Product Packaging Machine. U.S. Patent Number 10,392,140, filed August 20, 2013, and published online on September 9, 2019. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,392,140.PN.&OS=PN/10,392,140RS=PN/10,392,140

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