PHARMACEUTICAL PILL RECOGNITION AND VERIFICATION SYSTEM

A method of dispensing a prescribed medication, in pill form, and verifying that the medication dispensed is the prescribed medication. A medication identified from a prescription (P) is dispensed into a container (C). An image of the dispensed pills is taken and processed to obtain a set of characteristic features of the pill. These features include the coloration, shape, size, and any surface features of the pills. These features are then automatically compared with those of all the pills which can be dispensed by a dispensing apparatus (10). If a pill can be uniquely identified as the correct pill, the container of pills is accepted. Otherwise, the container is rejected. If, as a result of the processing, a determination cannot be made, the container is provisionally rejected and is subsequently inspected by a pharmacist to determine if the prescription is correctly filled.