Patent ID: 7313898

Claim:
A bottle carrier system for use in an automated process for filling prescription bottles of a plurality of sizes, the system comprising: a. a plurality of bottle pallets, each pallet comprising a structure defining a plurality of compartments for holding bottles, each compartment of a size adapted to hold a first bottle size; b. a plurality of pucks, each puck structured to be temporarily inserted into a compartment to adapt the compartment to hold a second bottle size; c. a puck configuration subsystem for configuring each pallet to hold a desired combination of bottles of the first and second bottle size by inserting and removing pucks from the compartments, the puck configuration subsystem comprising: i. a puck unloading station for unloading pucks from each pallet, the puck unloading station comprising: 1. a puck picker comprising one or more grippers for selectively gripping and releasing pucks; 2. a puck accumulator belt for accumulating pucks; and 3. a plurality of linear actuators for positioning the puck picker such that the puck picker can remove a selected number of pucks from each pallet and release the selected pucks onto the accumulator belt; ii. a puck loading station for receiving pallets from the unloading station and loading pucks on each pallet, the loading station comprising: 1. a puck picker comprising one or more grippers for selectively gripping and releasing pucks; and 2. a plurality of linear actuators for positioning the puck picker such that the puck picker can remove a selected number of pucks from the accumulator belt and release the pucks into compartments of the pallet; and d. a pallet conveyor for transporting pallets through the puck configuration subsystem and transporting configured pallets from the puck configuration subsystem to the filling process and returning empty pallets from the filling process to the puck configuration subsystem for reconfiguration.