Disposable Prescription Container Requirements
For the purpose of our design, the disposable prescription container component serves as a medium for storage of machine-readable prescription administration instructions. Idealy some feature with the purpose of dispensing a single pill could be integrated into cap of the disposible container. It must facilitate dispensing of a defined-number of pills from itself by the in-home device.
Mechanical Dispensing Facilitation
Standard child-resistant medicine caps are designed to be difficult to open. Our disposable container design will have to be designed such that it can easily be accessed by a machine. We will need to be able to release pills from containers using a simple mechanical action such as the pushing of a plastic tab or button, without physically removing caps from their containers.
Prescription Data Storage Capability
The prescription containers must be capable of storing prescription information in machine-readable form. This includes the medication name, the dose associated with each pill, when doses are to be dispensed, and medication safety warnings (those normally present as paper tags on standard prescription bottles). Possible solutions include a printed bar-code or RFID type transmitter.
Size, Shape, and Weight
The size, shape, and weight of the disposable containers will be similar to existing 30-dram amber prescription pill vials which measure 3.250 inches in height and 5.125 inches in circumference and weighs 0.117 pounds (53.1 grams) 12. The size of the vial caps should not be greater than 3 inches in height and 6 inches in circumference, primarily for aesthetic purposes.
Durability and Shipping Considerations
The disposible containers should be able to take significant abuse without functional failure. They should be reasonably resistant to throwing, dropping, and crushing, and should be especially unlikely to shatter and bear sharp parts. Because they are to contain people’s medications, the disposable devices, or their packaging, should include tamper protection systems, which make it difficult to introduce substances into the devices without leaving evidence.