1. An apparatus for making particles comprising:
at least one atomizer for spraying an emulsion, solution, or suspension which comprises a solvent and a bulk material to form droplets of the solvent and the bulk material;
a primary drying chamber having a drying gas inlet and a discharge outlet, the atomizer being located in the primary drying chamber which provides for evaporation of at least a portion of the solvent into the drying gas to solidify the droplets and form particles dispersed in the drying gas; and
an inline jet mill having an inlet in fluid communication with the discharge outlet primary drying chamber, the jet mill being operable to receive the particles dispersed in at least a portion of the drying gas and grind or deagglomerate the particles, wherein the jet mill comprises a spiral jet mill or other fluid energy impact mill.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one secondary drying chamber interposed between, and in fluid communication with, the discharge outlet of the primary drying chamber and the inlet of the jet mill, wherein the at least one secondary drying chamber provides for evaporation of a second portion of the solvent into the drying gas.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one secondary drying chamber comprises tubing having an inlet in fluid communication with the discharge outlet of the primary drying chamber, wherein the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the primary drying chamber to the cross-sectional area of the tubing is at least 4:3, and wherein the ratio of the length of the tubing to the length of the primary drying chamber is at least 2:1.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a particle concentration means, interposed between, and in fluid communication with, the primary drying chamber and the inline jet mill, to separate and remove at least a portion of the drying gas from the particles.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the particle concentration means comprises a cyclone separator.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the particle concentration means comprises one or more devices selected from the group consisting of gravity settling chambers, electrostatic charge precipitators, impingement separators, mechanical centrifugal separators, and uniflow cyclones.
7. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a flow controlling device to control the flow rate of drying gas discharged from the particle concentration means.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the flow controlling device comprises a device selected from the group consisting of control valves, filters, regulators, orifices, and combinations thereof.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a collection cyclone which separates the drying gas from the deagglomerated or ground particles discharged from the jet mill.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a flow controlling device to control the flow rate of the drying gas discharged from the collection cyclone.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the flow controlling device comprises a device selected from the group consisting of control valves, filters, regulators, orifices, and combinations thereof.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a means for introducing an excipient material into the particles and drying gas flowing between the discharge outlet of the primary drying chamber and the inlet of the jet mill.
13. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a plurality of atomizers disposed in the primary drying chamber.
14. An apparatus for making microparticles comprising:
at least one atomizer for spraying an emulsion, solution, or suspension which comprises a solvent and a bulk material to form droplets of the solvent and the bulk material;
a primary drying chamber having a drying gas inlet and a discharge outlet, the atomizer being located in the primary drying chamber which provides for evaporation of at least a portion of the solvent into the drying gas to solidify the droplets and form microparticles dispersed in the drying gas;
an inline jet mill having an inlet in fluid communication with the discharge outlet primary drying chamber, the jet mill being operable to receive the microparticles dispersed in at least a portion of the drying gas and to grind or deagglomerate the microparticles; and
at least one secondary drying chamber interposed between, and in fluid communication with, the discharge outlet of the primary drying chamber and the inlet of the jet mill, wherein the at least one secondary drying chamber provides for evaporation of a second portion of the solvent into the drying gas.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising at least one cyclone separator which separates and removes at least a portion of the drying gas from the microparticles.
16. An apparatus for making particles in a continuous process comprising:
at least one atomizer for spraying an emulsion, solution, or suspension which comprises a solvent and a bulk material to form droplets of the solvent and the bulk material;
a primary drying chamber having a drying gas inlet and a discharge outlet, the atomizer being located in the primary drying chamber which provides for evaporation of at least a portion of the solvent into the drying gas to solidify the droplets and form particles dispersed in the drying gas;
an inline, spiral jet mill having an inlet in fluid communication with the discharge outlet primary drying chamber, the jet mill being operable to receive the particles dispersed in at least a portion of the drying gas and grind or deagglomerate the particles;
a cyclone separator, interposed between, and in fluid communication with, the primary drying chamber and the inline jet mill, to separate and remove at least a portion of the drying gas from the particles;
a collection cyclone which separates the drying gas from the deagglomerated or ground particles discharged from the jet mill; and
a first flow controlling device to control the flow rate of the drying gas discharged from the cyclone separator or the collection cyclone.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a second flow controlling device to control the flow rate of the drying gas discharged from the cyclone separator or the collection cyclone, whichever is not controlled by the first flow controlling device.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A computer-implemented method for managing customer data in a customer master database and a second database, the method comprising:
receiving a first search query for an account from a client application, wherein the first search query is associated with a first territory; and
searching the customer master database in response to the first search query and obtaining a first search result, wherein the customer master database stores information of a number of accounts and comprises data from a plurality of sources and a master record consolidated from the data from the plurality of sources, and wherein the plurality of sources comprise master data management (\u201cMOM\u201d) data from an MDM system,
wherein the first search. result comprises at least one account and enables display of the at least one account on a first search result page, and wherein the first search result page comprises an inside territory section which only displays accounts associated with the first territory and an outside territory section which only displays accounts not associated with the first territory.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining that a first account n the first search result is not associated with the first territory; and
displaying the first account in the outside territory section on the first search result page.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:
determining that a second account in the first search result is not associated with the first territory; and
displaying the second account in the outside territory section on the first search result page.
4. The method of claim I, further comprising:
determining that a third account in the first search result is associated with the first territory; and
displaying the third account in the inside territory section on the first search result page.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second database is a centralized customer relationship management (\u201cCRM\u201d) database, and uses a data model different from that of the customer master database.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sources further comprise data compiled by the customer.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sources further comprise data from a third party data provider.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the MDM data comprises a healthcare provider’s contact information and license information.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first account in the first search result is determined to be not associated with the first territory based on a territory code.
10. The method of claim 2, further comprising:
receiving an input for moving the first account into the inside territory section on the first search result page;
determining that the first account is not in the second database; and
sending a request to the customer master database for account information of the first account.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:
receiving the account information of the first account from the customer master database; and
storing the account information of the first account in the second database.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first account in the first search result is determined to be not in the second database if the first account is not associated with a custom key of the second database.
13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: mapping the account information of the first account to a data model of the second database.
14. The method of claim 10. further comprising: associating the first account with the first territory.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: associating a custom key of the second database with the account information of the first account in the customer master database.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
receiving a second search query for an account in the customer master database from a client application, wherein the second search query is associated with the first territory;
searching the customer master database in response to the second search query and obtaining a second search result;
determining that the first account in the second search result is associated with the first territory; and
displaying the first account in an inside territory section on a second search result page.
17. The method of claim 3, further comprising:
receiving an input for moving the second account into the inside territory section on the first search result page;
determining that the second account is in the second database;
sending a request for associating the first territory with the second account; and
storing the account information of the second account, associated with the first territory, in the second database.
18. The method of claim 6, further comprising:
comparing records in the MDM data and the data compiled by the customer to decide if a fourth account and a fifth account are similar enough to be a suspect match; and
merging the fourth account and the fifth account in response to an input.
19. The method of claim I , wherein the client application is a sales tool for marketing medical products.
20. A system for managing data for a customer, the system comprising:
a master data management system comprising: a customer master database for storing information of a number of accounts and a master data management server, wherein the customer master database comprises data from a plurality of sources and a master record consolidated from the data from the plurality of sources, and wherein the plurality of sources comprise master data management (\u201cMDM\u201d) data from an MOM system; and
an integration server, serving as an interface between a client application and the master data management system,
wherein when there is a request for moving an outside territory account into the territory:
the integration server determines to obtain account information of the outside territory account from the master data management system;
the integration server sends a request to the master data management system for the account information of the outside territory account;
the master data management server searches the customer master database for the account information and returns the account information for the outside territory account to the integration server; and
the integration server enables moving the outside territory account from an outside territory section on a first search result page for displaying account information to an inside territory section on the first search result page in response to a request on the first search result page, wherein the inside territory section only displays accounts associated with the territory and the outside territory section only displays accounts not associated with the territory.