Patent ID: 7673772

Claim:
A method for automated dispensing of unit-based doses of medication from an apparatus, the method comprising: providing a pre-loadable container having a body defining a plurality of container slots, (1) wherein the plurality of container slots are sized for holding unit-based doses of medication, (2) wherein the pre-loadable container is mountable to the apparatus, and (3) wherein the unit-based doses of medication have been loaded in the pre-loadable container prior to mounting the pre-loadable container to the apparatus; mounting the pre-loadable container to a vertically extending panel of the apparatus, wherein the vertically extending panel includes a plurality of panel slots that align with the plurality of container slots when the pre-loadable container is mounted to the vertically extending panel, receiving an input associated with a particular unit-based dose of medication to be dispensed; positioning an effector relative to a particular panel slot based on the input; and imparting, by the effector, a force through both the particular panel slot and a corresponding container slot, which is aligned with the particular panel slot, and against the particular unit-based dose of medication within the corresponding container slot to induce movement thereof out of the corresponding container slot.