Patent ID: 8798367

Claim:
A system to correlate a medication package with a prescribed medication, the medication package accommodating medication for a patient, the system comprising: an optical imager that uses a two-dimensional image sensor array to read an encoded symbol comprising encoded patient information and further to image an attribute of the medication package, the optical imager comprising an imaging lens for focusing an image on the two-dimensional image sensor array, the two-dimensional image sensor array having a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, the optical imager having a digital link to transmit a segment of data comprising the patient information encoded in the encoded symbol and the attribute of the medication package; a host computer connected to the digital link to receive the segment of data from the optical imager; and a database coupled to the host computer via a digital connection, the database to correlate the segment of data to (a) a patient record, and (b) a medication package attribute library; wherein the optical imager captures an image of a feature associated with the medication package, the feature selected from the group consisting of a pattern of symbols and a grid pattern, the feature having a predetermined size characteristic, and wherein the system processes the image using the predetermined size characteristic to determine a size of the medication.