Patent ID: 7017623

Claim:
An automated medication preparation system including preparation and dispensing of a drug product that is initially stored in a drug container having a label containing medication identifying indicia disposed on an outer surface of the drug container, the system comprising: an automated device for preparing and dispensing a prescribed unit dose of medication; and a vision system including: (1) a camera that faces the drug container and is configured to produce a rollout image of the label as the drug container is rotated so as to capture the entire surface of the label; (2) a mapping system that maps the rollout image to produce a two dimensional coordinate map overlaid on the rollout image and (3) an optical character recognition system that is configured to read a particular coordinate location of the rollout image for detecting any characters that may be present therein and that are part of the medication identifying indicia, wherein the processing of the medication identifying indicia influences the further processing of the drug container.