Patent ID: 11857505
Assignee: EXPRESS SCRIPTS STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 0:
1. A medication dispensing assembly for dispensing medications from at least one medication bottle to a user, comprising:
a housing having an interior;
a medication bottle including a receptacle and a cap assembly and disposed in said interior with said cap assembly facing vertically downwardly;
said cap assembly comprising at least three pieces including an outer piece and a middle piece and an inner piece, said outer and inner pieces being fixed with one another, said middle piece being fixed with said receptacle, and each of said outer and middle and inner pieces of said cap assembly having at least one medication opening;
a drive unit disposed in said interior of said housing and configured to engage said receptacle of said medication bottle to rotate said receptacle and said middle piece of said cap assembly relative to said outer and inner pieces of said cap assembly and about an axis which extends through said medication bottle; and
said at least one medication opening in said outer piece of said cap assembly being circumferentially offset from said at least one medication opening in said inner piece such that rotation of said receptacle and said middle piece causes individual pills to travel first from said receptacle into said at least one medication opening of said inner piece, then into said at least one medication opening of said middle piece, then around said axis, and then outside of said cap assembly through said at least one medication opening of said outer piece.