Patent ID: 8200366

Claim:
A method for determining and communicating a volume-based fill pattern of at least one multi-dose medicament container, comprising: obtaining a first pill instruction for a first pill for patient, including a first pill identification and a first dosing regime; obtaining a second pill instruction for a second pill for the patient, including a second pill identification and a second dosing regime, the first and the second dosing regimes intersecting so that the first and the second pill may be packaged together based on at least a portion of the intersection; obtaining pill data for the first and the second pills and container data for the at least one multi-dose medicament container, the pill data including a physical dimension of the first pill and a physical dimension of the second pill; determining the volume-based fill pattern using the pill data and the container data by selecting one from a group of volume-based fill pattern types, the group of volume-based fill pattern types including: a cuboid volume-based fill pattern, where each receptacle of each at least one multi-dose medicament container is limited to a maximum quantity of pills with a total cuboid volume less than a cuboid volume of the each receptacle, the total cuboid volume of the maximum quantity of pills determined based on the pill data, and a volume packing parameter volume-based fill pattern, where the each receptacle of the each at least one multi-dose medicament container is limited to a maximum quantity of pills with a total pill volume less than a target fill volume of the each receptacle, the target fill volume based on a volume packing parameter, the total pill volume of the maximum quantity of pills determined based on the pill data; the volume-based fill pattern including a number of at least one multi-dose medicament containers required to hold a set of first and second pills indicated by the first and the second dosing regimes, wherein at least one first pill and at least one second pill are mapped for distribution into a same receptacle of the at least one multi-dose medicament container; and communicating the volume-based fill pattern to a filling entity.