Patent ID: 8666543

Claim:
An apparatus for dispensing pills of various sizes, the apparatus comprising: a storage section for storing pills to be dispensed; a dispensing section connected to said storage section to dispense pills stored in said storage section through an outlet, said dispensing section including an adjusting device to adjust a variable size cavity for receiving from said storage section a pill to be dispensed and an ejecting device for ejecting the pill from the variable size cavity; a controller for controlling said dispensing section; and a sensor to detect the pill to be dispensed, said sensor communicating with said controller, wherein said controller controls said adjusting device to adjust a size of the variable size cavity according to a size of the pill to be dispensed, controls said ejecting device to eject the pill from the variable size cavity, and receives a signal from the sensor when the pill has been successfully ejected from the variable size cavity, wherein said dispensing section defines the variable size cavity with a sizing ring, a movable dispensing ring, and a movable depth ring, and wherein said controller controls said dispensing section to position the movable dispensing ring at a predetermined rest position relative to the sizing ring in order to establish a maximum width of the variable size cavity, and to position the movable depth ring in a vertical direction to establish a depth of the variable size cavity.