Patent ID: 7369913

Claim:
Apparatus for automating the production of a radiopharmaceutical by executing a sequence of process flow operations, said apparatus comprising: a workstation having a processing component programmed to execute a process including the steps of: providing a recipe editor for creating and maintaining a recipe, and providing operations control for executing said recipe; a controller having an input/output component and a processing component, said controller communicating with said workstation, said controller processing component programmed to execute a process including the steps of: receiving a plurality of unit operations forming said recipe, each said unit operation describing a chemical process step, executing said plurality of unit operations; and process hardware in communication with said input/output component of said controller, said process hardware adapted to produce the radiopharmaceutical and including a reagent delivery system and a reaction vessel with an associated heating and purging system; wherein said step of executing said plurality of unit operations includes the steps of: executing one of said plurality of unit operations and starting a parallel group, classifying a next one of said plurality of unit operations as one of a parallel operation and a sequential operation, executing said parallel operation as part of said parallel group and repeating said step of classifying, waiting for said parallel group to complete execution, executing said sequential operation and starting a new parallel group, and repeating said step of classifying.