Patent ID: 11931317
Assignee: VMI HOLLAND B.V.
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  B  G | IPC A  B  G

Claim 9:
10. A dispensing device for dispensing discrete medicaments, wherein the dispensing device comprising:
a dispensing section for dispensing the medicaments, wherein the dispensing section defines an array of feeder positions for holding a plurality of feeder units,
wherein each feeder unit of the plurality of feeder units comprises a container for holding medicaments, an outlet for dispensing the medicaments and a dispensing mechanism between the container and the outlet for controlled feeding of the medicaments from the container into the outlet,
wherein the dispensing device further comprises:
a user interface, and
a control unit for controlling the user interface and the plurality of feeder units, wherein the control unit comprises a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium holding instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the control unit to:
predict a depletion time of a container of the first feeder unit,
provide a notification on the user interface of said depletion time, together with a due time, the due time representing the time a second feeder unit should be presented to the dispensing device; and
control the plurality of feeder units to continue dispensing from the first feeder unit until at least the due time.