Patent ID: 7822505

Claim:
An article dispensing device comprising: a device main body; a drug conveying member for holding and dispensing articles one after another, the drug conveying member being coupled with the device main body and including a drug grasping member for holding the articles; a container for containing the articles dispensed by the drug conveying member one after another, wherein each of the articles includes a different size and form; a storage device for storing a container map and a plurality of article maps, wherein the container map defines an internal space of the container as a plurality of container virtual regions and each of the article maps defines the article as a plurality of article virtual regions in accordance with the size and form thereof; and a control device for accessing the storage device to recall the article map having the plurality of the article virtual regions of one article to be dispensed within the container by the drug conveying member and the container map, the control device being capable of searching for at least one vacant container virtual region in terms of the article map of said one article to be dispensed within the container and specifying the searched vacant container virtual region as a dispensing position within the container for said one article by referring to the container map and the article map stored in the storage device, wherein the control device drive-controls the drug conveying member based on the specified dispensing position for said one article to be dispensed within the container by the drug conveying member in the container.