Patent ID: 7571023

Claim:
An apparatus for counting pharmaceutical units, comprising: (a) a deck assembly; (b) a cylindrical chamber carried by the deck assembly; (c) a hopper, carried by the deck assembly and positioned within the cylindrical chamber, the hopper having (i) side walls, (ii) a floor, positioned within the side walls and tilted relative to horizontal, whereby the floor is free to move relative to the side walls, and (iii) an opening adjacent a lower side of the floor, from which to discharge the pharmaceutical units; (d) a means to pivot the floor of the hopper around a central axis; (e) a means to support the floor of the hopper in a tilted orientation, while allowing the hopper to pivot around the central axis; (f) a means to vibrate the floor of the hopper, whereby the floor of the hopper rides unevenly against a surface as the floor is pivoted; (g) a rotatable, transport ring carried by the deck assembly, the transport ring having an inner perimeter, an outer perimeter and a top surface, wherein the outer perimeter of the transport ring is positioned within the walls of the cylindrical chamber, and wherein the opening in the hopper is oriented to discharge the pharmaceuticals units onto the top surface of the transport ring; (h) a motor for rotating the transport ring; (i) an outlet in the cylindrical chamber for discharging the pharmaceutical units from the transport ring; (j) a receptacle for receiving the pharmaceutical units discharged through the outlet; (k) a counting system, for counting the pharmaceutical units discharged to the receptacle; and (l) a controller for receiving prescription data, initiating a count cycle, controlling the transport ring motor, receiving a pharmaceutical unit count from the counting system and ending a count cycle.