Tablet supplying and packaging apparatus

Abstract

A tablet supplying and packaging apparatus comprises a turntable having a center and tablet containers disposed around the center, plates corresponding to the tablet containers, each plate hingedly engaged to a tablet container portion adjacent to the container bottom opening to releasably close the bottom opening, whereby one or more tablets are either maintained in each tablet container when the bottom opening is closed by said plate or downwardly discharged when the plate is released, and a support rail having a release opening and disposed beneath the bottom openings and upholding the plates, so when one selected from the tablet containers reaches over the release opening by an angular rotation of the turntable, the plate corresponding to the selected tablet container is lowered through the release opening and the tablets in the selected tablet container are downwardly released through the release opening.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A tablet supplying and packaging apparatus, comprising: 
 a) a turntable having a center and a plurality of tablet containers disposed around the center, wherein said each tablet container is defined by side walls, a top opening and a bottom opening;    b) a plurality of plates corresponding to the plurality of tablet containers, wherein said each plate is hingedly engaged to a tablet container portion adjacent to the bottom opening of said each tablet container to releasably close the bottom opening of said each tablet container, whereby one or more tablets serving as a tablet batch for a unit dosage are either maintained in said each tablet container when the bottom opening is closed by said plate or downwardly discharged when said plate is released;    c) a support rail having a release opening, wherein the support rail is disposed beneath the bottom openings of the tablet containers and upholding the plates, and wherein when one selected from the tablet containers reaches over the release opening in accordance with an angular rotation of the turntable, the plate corresponding to the selected tablet container is lowered through the release opening so that the tablets in the selected tablet container are downwardly released through the release opening;    d) a vertical shaft fixed to the center of the turntable to center the turntable;    e) a first motor engaged to the vertical shaft to generate a force for the angular rotation of the turntable;    f) a packaging assembly disposed below the release opening for packaging the tablets from the tablet containers; and    g) an operation control connected to the motor and the packaging assembly.    
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 a) a hopper disposed between the release opening and the packaging assembly to guide the tablets to the packaging assembly; and  
 b) a second motor disposed adjacent to the packaging assembly to drive the packaging assembly.  
 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2  wherein the packaging assembly comprises: 
 a) a heater to seal said tablet batch from the selected tablet container into a tablet-packaged bag using a packaging paper; and  
 b) a printer provided adjacent to the heater to print a prescription information on the packaging paper.  
 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a sensor connected to the operation control for sensing the angular rotation of the turntable in accordance with the operation control to allow the tablets to be regularly discharged from the tablet containers through the release opening into the packaging assembly.  
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4  wherein said each tablet container has a sensing member disposed adjacent thereto to enable the sensor to detect the angular rotation of the in accordance with the operation control.  
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the sensing member is magnetized.  
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the vertical shaft allows the turntable to spin around the vertical shaft to make the angular rotation of the turntable in accordance with the operation control.  
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the angular rotation of the turntable is clockwise.  
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the angular rotation of the turntable is counter-clockwise.  
     
     
         10 . A tablet supplying and packaging apparatus, comprising: 
 a) a turntable having a center, a plurality of tablet containers disposed around the center, and a disk provided between the turntable center and the tablet containers, wherein the disk serves to identify each container of the tablet containers, wherein said each tablet container is defined by side walls, a top opening and a bottom opening;    b) a plurality of plates corresponding to the plurality of tablet containers, wherein said each plate is hingedly engaged to a tablet container portion adjacent to the bottom opening of said each tablet container to releasably close the bottom opening of said each tablet container, whereby one or more tablets serving as a tablet batch for a unit dosage are either maintained in said each tablet container when the bottom opening is closed by said plate or downwardly discharged when said plate is released;    c) a support rail having a release opening, wherein the support rail is disposed beneath the bottom openings of the tablet containers and upholding the plates, and wherein when one selected from the tablet containers reaches over the release opening in accordance with an angular rotation of the turntable, the plate corresponding to the selected tablet container is lowered through the release opening so that the tablets in the selected tablet container are downwardly released through the release opening;    d) a vertical shaft fixed to the center of the turntable to center the turntable;    e) a first motor engaged to the vertical shaft to generate a force for the angular rotation of the turntable;    f) a packaging assembly disposed below the release opening for packaging the tablets from the tablet containers; and    g) an operation control connected to the motor and the packaging assembly.    
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10  further comprising: 
 a) a hopper disposed between the release opening and the packaging assembly to guide the tablets to the packaging assembly; and  
 b) a second motor disposed adjacent to the packaging assembly to drive the packaging assembly.  
 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11  wherein the packaging assembly comprises: 
 a) a heater to seal said tablet batch from the selected tablet container into a tablet-packaged bag using a packaging paper; and  
 b) a printer provided adjacent to the heater to print a prescription information on the packaging paper.  
 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 10  further comprising a sensor connected to the operation control for sensing the angular rotation of the turntable in accordance with the operation control to allow the tablets to be regularly discharged from the tablet containers through the release opening into the packaging assembly.  
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein said each tablet container has a sensing member disposed adjacent thereto to enable the sensor to detect the angular rotation of the in accordance with the operation control.  
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14  wherein the sensing member is magnetized.  
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the vertical shaft allows the turntable to spin around the vertical shaft to make the angular rotation of the turntable in accordance with the operation control.  
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the angular rotation of the turntable is clockwise.  
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the angular rotation of the turntable is counter-clockwise.  
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the disk of the turntable is rotatable either separately from the turntable or engagedly to the turntable, whereby the disk can be set to visually indicate a first tablet batch and a last tablet batch of the tablet containers.  
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19  wherein the disk has a numbering system, wherein the operation control can dictate the angular rotation of the turntable based on the numbering system.