Patent ID: RE40453

Claim:
An automated prescription dispensing system comprising a plurality of adjacently arranged pill dispensers, each operable to count out and dispense pills of a different pharmaceutical, computer control means to store a plurality of prescriptions each specifying a different pharmaceutical in pill form and a number of pills, said computer control means selecting the pill dispensers dispensing the pharmaceuticals specified in said stored prescriptions and controlling the selected pill dispensers to simultaneously count out and dispense pills, said computer control means stopping each pill dispenser from counting out and dispensing pills when the number of pills specified in the corresponding prescription have been counted out and dispensed, a plurality of upper hoppers, one for each of said pill dispensers, positioned to receive pills counted out and dispensed by said pill dispensers, a plurality of lower hoppers one for each of said upper hoppers, said computer control means releasing pills from an upper hopper into the corresponding lower hoppers after the pills of a prescription have been dispensed into such upper hopper, said computer means selectively permitting the release of pills from said lower hoppers into prescription containers.