TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure erally relates to a blister pack pill dispenser particularly but not exclusively, it relates to dispenser capable of dispensing different types pills from different blister packs thereof.

BACKGROUND

Erroneous administration of medications is becoming a tremendous issue over the world, and it is estimated that 125, 000 people die annually in the US alone due to poor administration of medications.

Furthermore, about 10% of all hospital admissions in the US result from pharmaceutical noncompliance, and the cost of such non-compliance to the US healthcare system is estimated to be as much as $290 billion annually.

The elderly population, which consumes roughly 50% of all prescription drugs, is rapidly increasing, which leads to expected increase in the problems described above, as the likelihood of taking the wrong medicaments due to eyesight problems, lack of concentration, memory problems, etc.,

Also, about 23% of the people admitted to nursing homes in the US are people who cannot manage their medications at their own homes.

The problem of administering the right medication by the right person at the right time is also known in nursing home environment, where patients who need to take medications require a nurse or other medical staff member to provide them with the medications them. Typically, either the patient will call the medical staff or the medical personnel will go to the patient in order to administer the medication. In this scenario, the medical personnel must first confirm, among other things, that it is the proper time to administer the medication, prepare the right pill regimen and verify that the correct dosage is present (this process is costly and consumes hours to prepare the medicines for tens of patients), that the patient did not receive the medication from someone else, etc. After going through the details of the patient as listed on his chart, the medical personnel may then administer the medication.

An alternative domestic solution, is the use of a compartmental pill dispenser, whereby the patient, or care-taker, extracts the pills from blister-packs and distributes the pills according to the patient's medicaments' regimen into separate compartments ahead of time (e.g. for a period of a week or longer) . This process is time consuming, error-prone and prematurely exposes the pills to open air, light, moisture, thereby adversely affecting the pill's medical properties.

Several prior art solutions to the above-mentioned problems have been suggested, where various attempts were made to suggest a solution of automated dispenser for medicaments .

US 4,207,992 describes a timed dispenser which alerts the patient when the medication needs to be taken. The pills need to be pre-separated into the correct dosages as with several other devices.

US 4,638,923 describes a device that dispenses the medications from the container provided by the pharmacy, using gravity to release the pills from the container. However, it does not contain a system to verify that the pills were correctly extracted from the container. US 5,947,329 discloses a dispenser that provides a security feature against unauthorized access to the medications, by storing the medications in sealed containers that require deliberate steps to get the medication dispensed.

US 6,163,736 describes a dispensing device that prevents untimely access to medications. It is a small and portable product, but requires the medications to be separated into the appropriate dosages beforehand.

US 8,365,507 describes an assembly for filling medicine dispensers with administering units for daily use by patients and a de-blistering apparatus for automatic removal of the medicines from the respective blister pack. The individual medicines are loaded into respective receiving compartments of the medicine dispenser .

US 2010/0147868 discloses a medicine dispenser which comprises a plurality of medicine storage portions in which medicines are stored by type and a medicine recovery portion which moves to the medicine storage portions to retrieve medicines according to prescription data, which is configured to feed the medicines at a predetermined position.

US 2011/0011880 describes a dispensing machine for blister type tablet packs, in which the blister includes a plurality of housings or cells for receiving the corresponding tablets, thereby it allows the personalizing of the contents of the inside of a blister in an efficient and effective manner.

US 2012/0271454 describes a medicine collecting system for use in a hospital which includes a cart having a plurality of trays, and a dispenser that dispenses a medicine to the tray according to prescription information that indicates the type of a medicine to be dispensed to each tray and the number of the medicines for each tray.

WO 2011/023941 discloses a motorized de-blistering dispenser comprising dispensing platforms each adapted to de-blister and dispense items from a particular configuration of a blister pack. Each platform has a dispensing channel that connects with the channels of the other platforms to form a common delivery channel for de- blistered items. The dispenser comprises an appropriate number of platforms, each of which is stocked with the different blister packs appropriate to a particular patient's requirements.

WO 2014/006620 describes a medication dispenser for controlled sequential delivery of pills from a flat multiple pill-containing pack of the blister package type. According to the disclosure provide, either the access portal is locked upon the complete insertion of the blister pack into the dispenser, or the blister pack is a double arrayed blister package type having two columns and a plurality of rows and the de-pilling station is provided with a pair of spaced apart de- pilling press means for sequentially dispensing each of the pills in a given row into the aperture positioned there below, respectively.

EP 2301850 describes an automated blister pack pill dispenser comprising a blister pack loader which receives a blister pack and loads it onto a platform, and blister pack sensors operative to sense the blister pack on the platform and to generate signals indicative of the transverse and longitudinal positions of the pills on the blister pack in order to align between a pill pocket of the blister pack is transversely and longitudinally aligned with the plunger, which pushes a pill from the aligned blister pack pocket. Still, there is a need for a blister pack pill dispenser that increases substantially the ease and accuracy of medication dispensing to individuals who need to take a number of different types of pills during the day. The device should minimize manual intervention, allow for an independent, automatic and reliable medication management. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure may be summarized by referring to the appended claims.

It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a medicament de-blistering apparatus for dispensing different types of medicines to a patient.

It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a medicaments' dispenser for dispensing different medicines to the patient based on his/her prescription.

It is still another object of the present disclosure to provide a medicaments' dispenser for dispensing different medicines packaged in a blister pack irrespective to the blister-pack size, shape or form.

It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide a medicaments' dispenser for dispensing different medicines packaged in different blister packs and retrieve information associated therewith.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

According to one embodiment of the disclosure, there is provided a blister pack pill dispenser comprising:

a blister pack loader operative to receive a plurality of blister packs, wherein said plurality of blister packs comprises pills of at least two different types ; a detector operative to detect presence of at least one pill comprised in a respective blister pack and at least one characteristic feature thereof, and to forward that information to the at least one processor;

at least one processor (e.g. a controller) operative to receive information that relates to medications of two or more types that should be administered to a specific patient, to receive information that relates to the detected at least one pill, and to determine if the at least one pill should be extracted by an extractor;

a memory configured to store information conveyed thereto by the at least one processor;

an extractor operative to obtain from the at least one processor an instruction on whether to extract the at least one pill from the respective blister pack; and

a dispenser operative to dispense the extracted at least one pill.

The term "blister pack" as used herein throughout the specification and claims, is used to denote a pack of pills, that prior to extracting any pills therefrom, each blister cavity comprises no more than one pill (e.g. a single pill is located within each blister cavity) .

The "at least one characteristic feature" that needs to be detected by the detector, may be any one of a number of possible features, or any combination thereof. For example, it may be the name of the medication (if the detector is a visual scanner) , it may be one or more of the blister pack dimensions, the number of pills in a blister pack, shape and/or dimensions of the pills, and the like.

According to another embodiment, the blister pack loader is configured to receive a plurality of blister packs of at least two different types via a single ingress . According to another embodiment, the blister pack dispenser further comprises a user interface configured to provide information to the at least one processor that relates to medications of the two or more types that should be administered to the specific patient.

In accordance with yet another embodiment, the blister pack pill dispenser further comprises a communication module for remotely providing information to the at least one processor that relates to medicines of the two or more types that should be administered to the specific patient (e.g. a wireless module, such as cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and the like, or a landline module) .

By yet another embodiment, the blister pack pill dispenser is further characterized in that the plurality of blister packs are received thereat via a single ingress irrespective of their physical form or the order by which they were inserted.

The capability characterizing the blister pack pill dispenser to differentiate between different medications being forwarded to the extractor, irrespective of their order of introduction or the medications' types, offer a number of advantages, among which are:

A simple loading for whoever loads the medications into the dispenser (easy for patient, fast for pharmacists) ; and

Prevents human errors at the stage of introducing the medications into the dispenser, as each medication that should be administered, is automatically identified, while avoiding others, that should not be administered to the patient, from administering to the patient. According to still another embodiment, the blister pack dispenser is adapted to simultaneously dispense a plurality of pills of different types.

In accordance with another embodiment, the blister pack dispenser is adapted to extract and dispense at least one pill at a pre-determined time.

By still another embodiment, the extractor is further adapted to extract a plurality of pills from two or more blister packs and arrange them in at least two different compartments comprised in the blister pack dispenser, ready for their dispensing.

According to another embodiment, the blister pack dispenser comprises of one or more storage compartments, for storing the blister packs before extracting therefrom pills that need to be administered to the patient, and optionally as a pack collection storagee for blister packs after extracting therefrom pills that need to be administered to the patient.

According to still another embodiment, the blister packs are received via the ingress of the blister pack loader comprised in a pre-loaded cartridge (which could have been loaded for example in an arbitrarily way by a pharmacist and then inserted into a slot in the device, i.e. the ingress of the blister pack loader).

In accordance with another embodiment, pre-loaded cartridge is provided with at least one divider/compartment/tray onto which the blister packs are stacked arbitrarily.

By yet another embodiment, if the blister packs are received in the pre-loaded cartridge, that cartridge may be used as a storage compartment of the one or more storage compartments.

One of the advantages of having two or more storage compartments arrangement is that it provides a possibility to load more blister packs into the blister pack pill dispenser, thereby to extend the period between two consecutive loadings.

According to another embodiment, the blister pack dispenser comprises one or more feed trays, configured to forward blister packs from the at least one storage compartment towards the extractor, and a feed tray operative to convey the blister packs after extracting from them respective pills that need to be administered to the patient, and to return the blister packs to the at least one storage compartment. For example, after the pill has been extracted from a blister pack, the blister pack will be conveyed upwardly to a location above the storage compartment, from which it will be dropped onto the storage compartment, or by another example, the same feed tray will forward and return the blister pack between extractor and the at least one storage compartment .

According to another embodiment, the blister pack pill dispenser comprises at least two feed trays, wherein a first of the at least two trays is operative to forward blister packs before extracting the pills that need to be administered to the patient while a second of said at least two trays is operative to forward blister packs after extracting the pills that need to be administered to the patient, and wherein at a proceeding administration of pills to the specific patient, the first tray would be operative to forward blister packs after extracting the pills while the second tray would be operative to forward blister packs before extracting the pills .

By yet another embodiment, the blister pack pill dispenser comprises one feed tray, configured to forward blister packs towards the extractor, and wherein the blister pack pill dispenser further comprises a conveyer operative to convey the blister packs after extracting therefrom pills that need to be administered to the specific patient, and to return the blister packs to the one feed tray.

According to a specific example of implementing the present invention, the loading phase may be carried out in two separate stages. The first stage may be carried out at the pharmacy, where the pharmacist uploads all medications required to be administered within a certain period of time to a specific patient (or a number of patients in case the dispenser is to be used for a number of patients), e.g. in accordance with the patient (s) prescriptions, to say a "medication drawer/compartment" . This medication drawer may consist of several separated trays/sub-compartments, yet the order by which the pharmacists uploads the medicines may still be random. The patient may then take that medication drawer and at the second stage, simply insert it as is into the dispenser. Obviously, as explained throughout this disclosure, before extracting the pills, an OCR identification (or any other applicable identification means) followed by a matching process is carried out for each medication, so as to ensure that the medications administered to the patient, are those that he should indeed receive.

According to another embodiment, the extractor is operative in three dimensional directions. Horizontally along the X and Y axis for locating the pills, and vertically along the Z axis, to extract the pill from the blister pack.

The location of the pills along the X and/or Y axis may be determined by using a visual scanner or by applying a three dimensional pin-bed mechanism as described hereinbelow.

According to another embodiment, the extractor comprises a three dimensional (3D) pin bed having pins that are adapted to be lowered on top of a blister pack thereby forming a contour of that blister pack at the pin-heads surface, and a pressing means (e.g. a roller) for de-blistering the blister pack in order to extract therefrom at least one pill.

According to another embodiment, based on the pill location (e.g. as determined by a visual scanner), the. extractor comprises a push-mechanism and a blister feed tray that, when implemented together, may cover movement in all three axis. For example, the blister feed tray moves in the horizontal X axis and Y axis while the push mechanism moves in the vertical Z axis. In the alternative, the extractor is configured to move the tray horizontally in X-axis whereas the push mechanism is configured to move in the horizontal Y axis and in the vertical Z axis.

By yet another embodiment, the memory is further adapted to store data to enable identifying which medications should be administered to a patient associated with identification data that is currently being forwarded to the at least one processor.

By still another embodiment, the blister pack pill dispenser comprises an OCR (Optical Character reader) scanner configured to operate together with the at least one processor to allow reading, processing and storing data that enables identifying the medications in each blister pack and compare it with the medications that need to be administered to the patient. The visual scanner and the at least one processor are further adapted to locate, process and store data to enable identifying the location of the pills within the blister pack and to control the extractor to extract a specific pill.

As will be appreciated from the above description by those skilled in the art, the extractor may be implemented in any one of various ways. The embodiments described herein refer primarily to the use of a visual scanner in order to identify the pills' location, or the use of a 3D pin bed to identify the pills' location. However, the inventions should not be considered as being restricted to these two specific implementations, but rather should be understood as encompassing any other applicable way for achieving this functionality.

According to still another embodiment, the memory is further adapted to store data to enable identifying a patient to whom medications of the two or more types should be administered (e.g. patient ID number, biometric data, etc.), and upon receiving patient identification data that is currently being forwarded to the at least one processor, matching the patient identification data received with the stored data and determining if and which medicines should be currently administered to the patient whose patient identification data has been received last by the at least one processor.

In accordance with another embodiment, the blister pack pill dispenser is operative for administering medications of different types to a plurality of patients, e.g. in a hospital, in a retirement home, a nursing home and the like.

By yet another embodiment, the blister pack pill dispenser comprises a weighing means (e.g. a scale), configured to retrieve weight of pills of different types and to provide the retrieved weight to the at least one processor. This embodiment allows among others to validate that the proper pill is about to be dispensed (or has just been dispensed) , and/or to confirm that the overall weight of pills that are about to be dispensed (or have just been dispensed) matches the expected weight of pills that a specific patient needs to receive at a given time.

The weighing means may also provide an indication on whether the pills have been removed from the device (e.g. by the patient) . For example, in case the pills remain for more than specified pre-defined period of time, an alert is provided to the patient and/or to a care-taker.

According to another embodiment, the detector (e.g. an optical character recognition ("OCR") means) is further configured to detect an expiration date associated with one or more blister packs. Obviously, once this information is conveyed to the at least one processor, the latter is able to determine whether the pills comprised in each of the one or more blister packs, are still safe to be administered.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a pill de-blistering device adapted to be used in a blister pack pill dispenser, wherein the de- blistering device comprises a 3 dimensional pin bed having pins that are adapted to be lowered on top of a blister pack, thereby forming a contour of the blister pack at the pin-heads surface, and a pressing means for de-blistering the blister pack in order to extract therefrom at least one pill. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 illustrates a general block diagram of an exploded view of an apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a general block diagram of an exploded view of an apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, having two storage compartments and two feed trays;

Fig. 3 illustrates a schematic view of an extractor comprising an XY-axis Pusher structure, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 illustrates a schematic view of an extractor comprising a 3D pin bed structure, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 5 demonstrates a front view, a side view and an isometric view of elements comprised in a 3D pin bed extractor according to an embodiment of the present invention .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present invention by way of examples. It should be apparent, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided blister pack pill dispenser (which is also referred to herein as "blister pack dispenser"), that comprises the following components:

1. A blister pack loader. This element is operative to receive via a single ingress, a plurality of blister packs, wherein various blister packs among them comprise pills of different types, and the blister pack dispenser is agnostic to the size, shape of the blister packs as well as to the order at which these blister packs (that comprise different types of medicines) are loaded onto a storage compartment.

2. One or more processors (e.g. a controller). The processor is operative (among others) to receive information that associates between different medicines that would be loaded to the blister pack loader and a specific patient to whom these medicines should be administered, the timing of the medicine administration (medication regimen) for that specific patient and to store that information at the memory of the device. Additional optional functionalities of the processor will be discussed in the following description.

3. An extractor. The extractor is operative to identify a type of pills comprised in each of the blister packs (e.g. by retrieving this information from optically scanning the back of the blister packs) . Upon identifying the type of pills comprised in the blister pack being currently extracted, the information is forwarded to a processor that is operative to match the information received with information retrieved from the memory of the blister pack dispenser, and to associate the different medicines that were loaded with a specific patient, in order to determine whether one or more pills should be extracted from the blister pack whose content that has just been identified. If the processor determines that such one or more pill should be extracted, the extractor applies pressure onto the blister pack so that the one or more pills are de- blistered from the pack.

4. A dispensing means. The dispensing means (also referred to as a dispenser) is operative to receive the extracted pills, preferably to weight them in order to validate their correct dosage and to dispense them so that they can be administered to the patient.

The information that is inputted to the blister pack dispenser may include any one or more of the following: name/ID of the patient, type of pills that should be administered to the specific patient, number of pills of each type that should be administered e.g. on a daily basis (or on a weekly/monthly basis) etc. This information may also include dosage of the active material in the pill, time of administering each type of pill, additional instructions (e.g. as provided by the patient's doctor, a pharmacist or by the pharmaceutical company which had made these pills) . The information may be provided to the processor by using a user interface for manually inserting the information (e.g. by using a touch screen or a keyboard by the patient and/or by a care-taker/nurse) .

Other possible options for providing the input information are scanning a bar-code provided by a pharmacist or a physician, or by downloading the information by pharmacist or a physician, e.g. in a form of communicating with the blister pack dispenser that further comprises a communication module, either wirelessly or by using a landline link such as an xDSL line or any other applicable link.

Fig. 1 presents an exploded view of a block diagram illustrating an example of a blister pack dispenser. According to this example, the blister packs of the different medicaments (for a week/month use of the patient) are inserted at a random order via the single ingress of the blister pack dispenser (100) and onto a storage compartment (110), and are stacked thereat. Preferably, the blister pack dispenser is agnostic to the size of the blister pack, its shape, the number of pills contained therein, and the like, as the appliance has the means to distinguish there-between and to extract the right pill in accordance with the appropriate administration regimen. .

A blister pack may be characterized as being composed of the following three main elements.

1. A base, which is _. usually made of Aluminum foil, glued to the bottom of the plastic blister structure. The name of the medicine and dosage of the active material of the medicine comprised in that pack are printed on the outwardly facing surface of each blister pack, at a plurality of locations, as defined by the appropriate regulations .

2. Blister cavities, a plurality of enclosures within each of which a pill resides.

3. Pills.

In the present example, each blister pack is inserted through the ingress aperture of the blister pack dispenser, into the storage compartment having its surface where the medicine details are printed, facing downwardly (i.e. the bottom of the pack) . The blister pack is then placed onto the pack feed tray (190) and conveyed towards an OCR (Optical Character Reader) scanner (120), where its bottom surface is scanned and the medicine name (and optionally the dosage of its active material and/or its expiration date) is identified .

The information obtained by the scanner is then forwarded to a processor/controller (170), which compares this information with the patient related information retrieved from the memory of the device, in order to validate that the medication should be administered to that patient, based on the stored information. Optionally, a visual scanner (140) (or any other applicable detection means) may be positioned above the blister pack, to enable identifying the locations of the blister cavities in the blister pack being scanned, and that information may also be conveyed to the processor for storage at the memory means for a later extraction of pills from that pack (i.e. for future de-blistering), or alternatively to allow confirming its matching with the expected blister pack structure of that medicine. In the alternative, the processor is further adapted to receive information retrieved from the manufacturer that relates to the medicament, such as the number of pills in a pack, size and location of the pills and/or of the blisters, etc. and have this information stored at the memory of the blister pack dispenser.

Next, the blister pack is forwarded to an extractor (130) (a "de-blister") for extracting pills that need to be administered to the patient. The extractor will be further discussed in details in the following description.

The extracted pill optionally falls down to a pill verification Med Tray (150) and cup weight scale (180) is configured to weigh the cup together with the pill in it, so that the net weight of the pill may be retrieved therefrom. Once the pill's weight has been determined, the processor (170) is configured to retrieve (e.g. from the device memory) the manufacturer data regarding the expected weight of such a pill whose identification (i.e. name and dosage of the active material) have already been retrieved from the blister pack by the optical character reader (120) . By matching the expected weight of the pill with its measured weight, the processor/controller (170) is capable of verifying that: i) a single pill was extracted (based on the known weight of a pill of each type) ; and

ii) a pill of the correct weight was extracted (indicating that the correct type of pill having that weight was extracted) .

After extracting the pill from the blister pack currently placed at the extractor, the pack is returned to the to the storage compartment (110) . In the alternative, the pack may be forwarded to a storage compartment B (115) as shown in FIG. 2. Also, the processor preferably receives an indication that a pill of the specific type was extracted.

The process is repeated every time that a new blister pack is forwarded to OCR (120) . If the new blister pack comprises pills of the type that has already been extracted (in that administration session) or if the new blister pack comprises pills of a type that should not be administered to the patient in this administration session, the pack rolls untouched to storage compartment B (115) or to the storage compartment A (110) . However, if the new pack is identified as a pack that contains pills that should be administered to the patient in the administration session, the steps described above are repeated for this different type of medicine.

The process continues until all the prescribed pills that need to be administered to the patient at that administration session are extracted and the total weight of the pills extracted into the pill verification cup (Med Tray) (150) is the expected weight (based on data stored at the memory) or that all of the blister packs that were placed at the storage compartment A (110) before beginning the extraction of pills for the present administration session. Once all the blister packs that were positioned at the storage compartment A (110) , are forwarded by feed tray 190 via scanners (120) and (140), extractor (130) and feed tray B (195) conveyed to the storage compartment B (115) , the roles of the two compartments are reversed, and the process for preparing the pills that need to be administered in the next administration session, will begin by forwarding the blister packs from compartment B (115) through pack feed tray B (195) via scanners (125 and 145) and eventually to tray (190) that would then serve as a pack collection tray.

At the end of the process, the pill verification cup (150) contains pills that need to be administered to the specific patient. Basically. There are two main options for dispensing the pills to the patient. The first, where the pill verification cup, Med Tray (150) will contain a group of pills, that need to be administered to the patient at that time, according to the patient's prescription ( s ) and the administration instructions. The second, where the pill verification cup contains a group of pills which the patient is reguired to take within a day (or a week) , subdivided to the daily (weekly) regimen in separate compartments (e.g.: morning, noon, evening) . The latter options enables daily/weekly administration of pills, independent of the appliance. Obviously, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, other means may be used to provide the pills to the patient such as a plastic pouch and the like. It should be understood that the scope of the present invention in not restricted to any such specific means that may be used to enable the patient to receive the pills.

Following are several examples demonstrating different embodiments for constructing the extractor of the present disclosure. In the first example, illustrated in FIG. 3, the coordinates of the pill location along the X and Y axis are determined by using visual scanner (140) of FIG. 2. Information that relates to the determined location is provided to control unit (170) . The extractor, as shown in FIG. 3 comprises 2 hinges (screw type) (220) that enable moving pushing means (230) in the X-axis, and 2 additional hinges (210) to enable moving pusher (230) in the Y-axis. The pushing means (230) is moved along the X axis and Y axis based on the coordinates determined by visual scanner (140) as provided to the control unit (170) . Once the pushing means (230) is located above the pill, it pushes down on the pill while supporting the base foil around the pill. The pushing means is independent of (i.e. not sensitive to) the size and shape of the pill. Alternatively, the pushing means may comprise a leverage against which the blister is pushed upwardly so that pressure may be applied downwardly on the blister, or vice versa, the pushing means applies pressure downwardly on top of the blister, pushing it against the blister's foil.

In the second example, a 3D pin bed (310) (as illustrated in FIG. 4) is used.

According to this example, the blister pack is conveyed under a 3D pin bed (310) where (300) indicates a blister cavity within which there is a pill. The pins of the 3D pin bed are lowered so as to touch the top of the blisters · of the blister pack, thereby forming the contour of the blisters on the pin-heads surface for use during the de-blistering phase. The base (bottom part) of the blister-pack is supported by base rails (320) and optionally by base support fingers (330) . In the alternative, a visual means may be used to identify location, shape and size of the blisters, for use during the de-blistering (extraction) phase.

Preferably, the size of the 3D pin bed is equal to at least the widest blister pack available and the pins are adapted to be raised to at least the maximal height of any given blister. The depth is equal to at least a single row of blisters. Optionally, the blister geometric pattern may be recorded, say, when a new type of blister pack goes through the process for the first time, and the recorded data may be stored at the memory for future use in the de-blistering phase.

The base rails (320) are positioned at the sides of the blister pack (preferably at at least two opposing sides) . The base rails together with the descending pins located at the sides of the blister pack, are pressed tight (below and above the blister pack base) in order to lock the blister pack in position while the blister cavities are pushed against, in order to extract the pill (s) .

The base support fingers (330), (demonstrated in

Fig. 4 and Fig. 5) are optional, and if used, they may provide support the blister-pack base, in addition to the base rails (320) . Such a configuration provides a counter pressure to the pins pressing the blister cavities. The location of the support base support fingers may be matched to complement the positioning of the protruding pin-heads using pill spacing leverage 350 (Fig. 5) . In other words, wherever a blister cavity is identified by the pins, is not supported by support fingers, the pill is extracted from the bottom of the blister pack base.

The extractor exemplified herein further comprises a pressing means, e.g. a roller (240), which is configured to roll and to press down the pin-heads of the 3D pin bed, resulting in that the pins push down the blister, thereby extracting the pill which is located within the blister cavity.

In this example, the width of the roller is partitioned, wherein each partition is narrower than a single column of pills, each portion of the roller is used sequentially, e.g. column by column.

By another alternative, the pressing means used is a piston instead of the roller, for pressing down the pin heads .

The peripheral pins of the 3D pin bed (310) which are located at the circumference of the blister-pack, lock down the blister pack together with the base rail (320), thereby, stabilizing the blister-pack during the exertion of pressure on the blister cavity.

As was previously described, the blister pack pill dispenser as illustrated for example in Fig. 1, comprises a processor (e.g. a control module) (170) which is configured to carry out different functionalities. Some of these functionalities are summarized in the following list.

a. Receive and store personal data associated with a patient (e.g. his/her ID); b. Receive and store data that relates to medicines that should be administered to the patient (e.g. the patient's prescription); c. Match biometric data of a patient with his/her personal data;

d. Match data received from the OCR scanner (name & dosage of active material) of each pack with the stored data that relates to the patient's medicines (his prescription);

e. Match the weight of the pills with the a priori known weight of a pill of its type; f . Schedule the dispensing of pills in accordance with the patient's prescription, and optionally notify the patient when the time arrives to take the medicines;

g. Issue a warning in case of mismatch between the patient prescription and the pills in the blister pack being scanned.

h. Issue a warning (e.g. send a text message to a pre-defined phone number) when the pills comprised in the blister pack dispenser are about to be consumed and reloading is needed; i. Time the mechanical process of blister packs maneuvering and the extraction of the pills; j. Control the appliance display (if provided); and

k. Issue audio/visual instructions for the patient taking the pills that correspond to the type of pills that need to be administered .

1. Issue a warning if pills that were due to be administered, were not taken.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the controller does not necessarily carry out all the functions listed above, and the functions that will be adopted in a blister pack dispenser depends upon its design. Similarly, additional functions may be assigned to be carried out by the processor/controller.

As was previously explained, in order to ensure that a patient receives the medicines prescribed to him (and not to another patient) , the blister pack pill dispenser may further comprise identification means such as biomechanical means, for identifying the patient and/or his caretaker and associate them with the appropriate prescription. Such means can be identifying by a finger print, by using a voice recognition mechanism, etc.

This embodiment of the invention enables the use of the blister pack pill dispenser in places with a large number of people to whom the dispensing of medicines may be carried out in a way described above, mutatis mutandis, such as hospitals, nursery homes, retirement homes etc. In such cases, each patient in turn will be identified by the blister pack pill dispenser identification means and the proper medicines will be provided to him.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.