Medicine inspection device and medicine inspection method

Abstract

To provide a medicine inspection device for accurately inspecting a medicine group including a plurality of medicines, and medicine inspection device.SOLUTION: A medicine inspection device 11 includes an inspection processing part (imaging / inspection processing part 803) collating a captured image of each medicine with medicine master data in inspection processing for a dispensed medicine group, when it is determined that the medicine in the captured image is a medicine included in the medicine group, determining it as a normal result, when it is determined that it is unknown whether or not the medicine in the captured image is included in the medicine group, determining it as an unknown result, and although it is estimated that the medicine in the captured image is included in the medicine group, when it is determined that human verification is recommended, determining it as a verification required result.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a drug inspection device and a drug inspection method, and is suitable for use in a drug inspection device and a drug inspection method for inspecting dispensed drugs. [Background technology]

[0002] In hospitals and pharmacies, medicines are dispensed according to prescriptions, and drug inspections to check whether the amount of medicine prepared is correct are generally performed by pharmacists. In particular, when multiple medicines are combined and packaged as a single dose, it is necessary to distribute the medicines and inspect the contents of each dose. Various methods have been proposed for automating and streamlining this work.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which medicines are dropped onto a disk-shaped member for inspection and then rotated around a predetermined axis to transport them. Patent Document 1 states that "The medicine packaging device of the present invention is preferably such that a plurality of receiving sections are arranged in the circumferential direction on a rotating body that can rotate around a predetermined axis, and the transfer section can perform the transfer operation for the medicines in the receiving sections arranged within a predetermined operating area. According to this configuration, the medicines supplied from the medicine preparation and dispensing section are prepared in sequence in a plurality of receiving sections, and the rotating body is moved toward the operating area of ​​the transfer section to perform the transfer operation, thereby supplying the medicines one by one to the pre-packaging imaging section. This allows the individual supply section to efficiently perform the operation of supplying the medicines one by one to the pre-packaging imaging section."

[0004] Furthermore, as a technology similar to that of Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2 discloses an inspection device that moves solid medication discharged from a hopper, one dose at a time, to multiple inspection containers arranged on the top surface of a turntable, and moves the turntable to a photographing position where the solid medication in the inspection container is photographed by an imaging device.

[0005] Patent Document 3 is an example of a technology for a device that supports the inspection of medicines after they have been packaged as a single dose. Patent Document 3 describes that "a packet containing medicine enclosed between two films is illuminated from one of the two films, the packet is imaged from the other of the two films to obtain a transmitted light image, the packet is illuminated from the other film to obtain a reflected light image, a color image of the packet, a medicine area showing the area of ​​the medicine enclosed in the packet is detected using the transmitted light image, an image of the reflected light image corresponding to the medicine area is cut out to create a medicine image, and the medicine image is displayed on a display unit."

[0006] Furthermore, a technology using two cameras to photograph a medicine is disclosed in Patent Document 4. Patent Document 4 states that "as shown in Fig. 2, the image acquisition unit 20 is composed of two cameras (imaging units) 22A and 22B that photograph the medicine, an illumination unit 24 having a plurality of light sources, and an imaging control unit 26 that controls the cameras 22A and 22B and the illumination unit 24." [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. 2017 / 002713 [Patent Document 2] International Publication No. 2013 / 105198 [Patent Document 3] International Publication No. 2012 / 005004 [Patent Document 4] International Publication No. 2020 / 105395 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] However, the medicine dispensing device described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that the processing mechanism from the input of medicine to be inspected to the discharge of medicine after inspection is complicated, and the inspection process for each dose takes time. In addition, since images of medicines are taken one tablet at a time, it takes even more time if the number of medicines in one dose is large. In addition, there are problems such as the accumulated processing time for multiple consecutive prescriptions being long, and the mechanism becoming complex and large.

[0009] In addition, the inspection device (medicine supply device) disclosed in Patent Document 2 assumes a situation in which, when a single dose contains many medicines, the medicines overlap in the inspection container, making it impossible to accurately capture and inspect them. In such a situation, the image capturing unit needs to stop the inspection container to capture an image, which causes a problem of time-consuming operation. In addition, the image processing in Patent Document 2 for inspecting each tablet from the captured image also takes a problem of time-consuming.

[0010] In addition, in the devices disclosed in Patent Documents 3 and 4, when a single dose contains many medicines, the medicines tend to become unevenly distributed in the packaging sheet, and it is expected that the overlapping of the medicines will make it difficult to accurately capture and inspect them. Also, the imaging unit is not designed to take into account the continuous supply of multiple doses of medicine, and there are problems with processing capacity.

[0011] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and provides a drug inspection device and drug inspection method that can image a single dose of medicines containing multiple medicines in a state where they are not packaged in individual packets and in a state where each tablet can be easily identified, and can accurately inspect a medicine group containing multiple medicines. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] In order to solve the above problem, the present invention provides a drug inspection device for inspecting a drug group consisting of one or more dispensed drugs, the device comprising: drug master data in which basic data including master images of a plurality of drugs including each drug included in the drug group is registered; an inspection imaging unit that images each drug in the drug group that is transported in a spread-out manner on a transport path; an inspection processing unit that executes an inspection process for the drug group by software control based on a comparison between an image captured by the inspection imaging unit and the drug master data; and an inspection result processing unit that generates and outputs an inspection process screen that displays a result of the inspection process, and the inspection processing unit compares the captured image of each drug with the drug master data in the inspection process, and determines whether the drug in the captured image belongs to the drug group. a drug inspection device which determines the inspection result of the captured image as a normal result if it is determined that the drug in the captured image is a drug included in the drug group, determines the inspection result of the captured image as an unknown result if it is determined that it is unknown whether the drug in the captured image is a drug included in the drug group, and determines the inspection result of the captured image as a result requiring confirmation if it is determined that the drug in the captured image is presumed to be a drug included in the drug group but manual confirmation is recommended, and the inspection result processing unit displays the captured image determined to be the normal result or the result requiring confirmation corresponding to the drug in a first display field on the inspection processing screen that is provided corresponding to each drug identified in the inspection processing, and displays the captured image determined to be the unknown result in a second display field that is provided separately from the first display field.

[0013] In addition, in order to solve the above problem, the present invention provides a drug inspection method using a drug inspection device that inspects a drug group consisting of one or more dispensed drugs, the drug inspection device having drug master data in which basic data including master images of a plurality of drugs including each drug included in the dispensed drug group is registered, an inspection imaging unit that images each drug in the drug group that is spread out and transported on a transport path, an inspection processing unit that executes an inspection process for the drug group by software control based on a comparison between the image captured by the inspection imaging unit and the drug master data, and an inspection result processing unit that generates and outputs an inspection process screen that displays a result of the inspection process, and the inspection processing unit compares the captured image of each drug with the drug master data in the inspection process, a first display field provided for each drug identified in the inspection process, and a second display field provided for each drug identified in the inspection process, the inspection result processing unit displays the photographed image determined to be the normal result or the confirmation required result corresponding to the drug in the inspection process screen in a first display field provided for each drug identified in the inspection process, and displays the photographed image determined to be the unknown result in a second display field provided separately from the first display field. Effect of the Invention

[0014] According to the present invention, an inspection of a medicine group including a plurality of medicines can be performed with high accuracy. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a drug inspection device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a medicine packing device 101 equipped with a medicine inspection device 10. [Diagram 3] 1A and 1B are a front view and a top view of a drug inspection device 11 in accordance with Example 1. [Figure 4] 8 is a block diagram showing an example of an internal configuration of a drug inspection device 11, mainly including an inspection control unit 800. FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a pre-inspection storage unit 200. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a transfer processing unit 300. [Figure 7] 1 is a configuration diagram of a transport inspection processing unit 400, a discharge processing unit 600, and a post-inspection storage unit 700. FIG. [Figure 8] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure of a control process by a medicine action control unit 804. [Figure 9] 13 is a diagram showing an example of a process transition of the inspection process when a plurality of medicines are continuously added. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an inspection imaging unit 500. [Figure 11] 11 is a schematic diagram for explaining an imaging operation by the inspection imaging section 500. FIG. [Figure 12] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an initial inspection selection screen. [Figure 13] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a first processing procedure of an audit result determination process. [Figure 14] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a second processing procedure of the audit result determination process. [Figure 15] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example (first example) of an inspection processing screen. [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example (second example) of the inspection processing screen. [Figure 17] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example (third example) of the inspection processing screen. [Figure 18] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example (fourth example) of the inspection processing screen. [Figure 19] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example (fifth example) of the audit processing screen. [Figure 20] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example (sixth example) of the audit processing screen. [Figure 21] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example (seventh example) of the audit processing screen. [Figure 22]FIG. 13 illustrates an example of an audit correction screen. [Figure 23] 13 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a pre-inspection storage section 200A. FIG. [Figure 24] 11A and 11B are a side view and a front view of a drug inspection device 12 in accordance with Example 2. [Diagram 25] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the drug inspection operation of drug inspection device 12. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0017] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a drug inspection device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The drug inspection device 10 includes a pre-inspection storage section 20, a transfer processing section 30, a transport inspection processing section 40 having an inspection imaging section 50, a discharge processing section 60, and a post-inspection storage section 70, and these sections are continuously arranged as a configuration forming a movement path of a plurality of drugs M received by the drug inspection device 10. Furthermore, in addition to the above-mentioned sections, the drug inspection device 10 includes an inspection control section 80 that controls the movement, imaging, and inspection of the drugs M. The inspection control section 80 realizes a predetermined function by software, as a result of hardware (e.g., a processor, a storage element, various interfaces, etc.) constituting a computer executing a predetermined program and storing data, but a part or all of the inspection control section 80 may be realized by hardware.

[0018] In the inspection control process, the drug inspection device 10 performs an individual inspection process for each drug group (referred to as drug M) to check whether the individual drug m included in the drug group matches pre-registered drug information, where m is an individual drug among the multiple drugs M received. The inspection process result for drug m is, for example, "normal" if it is determined that there is a match, and "unknown" if it is not determined that there is a match.

[0019] The drug inspection device 10 aggregates the inspection process results for the individual drugs m for each drug M, and performs inspection process for the received drug M consisting of multiple drugs m. The inspection process result for the drug M is "normal" if the inspection process results of the drugs m included are all normal, and is "unknown" if at least some of the drugs m have unknown inspection results.

[0020] Furthermore, the drug inspection device 10 can receive another drug M (hereinafter referred to as M1, M2, M3, etc.) consecutively after the drug M, and performs an inspection process on the multiple drugs M1, M2, M3, etc. consecutively. The drug inspection device 10 then aggregates the inspection results of the drugs M1, M2, M3, etc. that are consecutively handled, and outputs a processing result such as whether all are "normal" or whether at least some are "unknown." In this specification, "the drug M is consecutively introduced / the drug M is consecutively introduced" means that the introduction period (or the acceptance period) of the preceding drug group (e.g., the drug M1) and the following drug group (e.g., the drug M2) are consecutively carried out without overlapping, and includes a predetermined time being inserted between the end of introduction (or acceptance) of the drug M1 and the start of introduction (or acceptance) of the drug M2 (i.e., the drug M is introduced (or accepted) intermittently and consecutively).

[0021] To explain the flow of the medicine M specifically, the medicine M received by the medicine inspection device 10 is temporarily held in the pre-inspection storage section 20. After that, the medicines m contained in each medicine M are dropped and moved to the downstream transfer processing section 30 arranged below, in order, for example, with a predetermined interval between each medicine M. Furthermore, the downstream transport inspection processing section 40 transfers the medicine M (the medicines m) from the transfer processing section 30 onto the transport means by a transport means (for example, a transport belt in FIG. 1, or a rotating disk in FIG. 3 described later) that continuously operates in the horizontal direction. Here, at the downstream of the transport means, inspection imaging sections 50 including a camera and lighting are arranged above and below the transport means, and the inspection imaging section 50 captures images of the medicine M moving on the transport means from above and below. Although details will be described later, the inspection process is performed on each medicine m constituting the medicine M using the captured images. Then, in the discharge processing section 60 arranged at the end point of the transporting means, the drug M is moved from the transporting means to the post-inspection storage section 70, and when the inspection processing of the drug M is completed, the drug is discharged from the post-inspection storage section 70.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a medicine packing device 101 equipped with a medicine inspection device 10. The medicine packing device 101 is a device that packs a plurality of medicines (identical to medicine M) prescribed by a doctor in units of medicine M, and is composed of a medicine storage unit 102, a medicine supply unit 103, a medicine inspection device 10, and a medicine packaging unit 104 as shown in FIG. 2. A pharmacist 108 takes out the medicines (e.g., packaged medicines 105) packaged by the medicine packaging unit 104 of the medicine packing device 101, checks the contents, and hands them over to a patient. For example, the packaged medicine 105 shown in FIG. 2 is a package of prescription medicines 107 in which one or more individual medicines 106, each of which is a single dose, are packaged in one bag, and the number of doses to be given to the patient is linked together.

[0023] The configuration of the drug packaging device 101 excluding the drug inspection device 10 (the drug storage section 102, the drug supply section 103, and the drug packaging section 104) is shown in the documents listed in the prior art documents mentioned above, so a detailed explanation will be omitted, but each component of the drug packaging device 101 has the following functions.

[0024] The medicine storage unit 102 stores a plurality of different medicines (medicines m), and when it receives an output instruction for medicines to be dispensed based on a prescription from a doctor, it discharges the specified medicines m in a specified amount and number. The medicine supply unit 103 has a chute shape, and uses the falling gravity of the medicines m discharged from the medicine storage unit 102 to collect the plurality of medicines m and pass them to the medicine inspection device 10 as medicine M. As shown in FIG. 1, the medicine inspection device 10 is disposed at the bottom of the chute of the medicine supply unit 103, and when it receives the plurality of medicines M, it performs an inspection process to inspect whether the specified amount of the above-mentioned specified medicines has been discharged. Then, the medicine packaging unit 104 packages the medicines M that have been inspected by the medicine inspection device 10, and discharges them.

[0025] Prescription data indicating the prescription contents of medicines is input to the medicine packing device 101. For example, the prescription data specifies the names and the numbers of each medicine to be taken in the morning, afternoon, and evening for one week. The medicine packing device 101 releases a specified number of medicines M from a medicine storage unit 102 in which the medicines are separately stored, to a medicine supply unit 103 according to the names of the medicines specified by the prescription data. Although there may be one type or one medicine to be taken at one time, there are many cases where there are multiple types or multiple medicines. The medicine packing device 101 creates, for example, a total of 21 packaged medicines for the morning, afternoon, and evening for one week by continuously processing the above processes based on the prescription data, so that the medicines M1, M2, M3, etc. (a total of 21 packaged medicines) are also continuously input to the medicine inspection device 10. Therefore, the medicine inspection device 10 performs an inspection process on multiple medicines M while synchronizing the ID numbers attached to the medicines M1, M2, M3, etc. with the medicine packing device 101. The inspection process by the drug inspection device 10 is performed on all of the drugs M1, M2, M3, etc., and as described above, an inspection process result is obtained, either "normal" if all are normal, or "unknown" if at least some are unknown. The drug packaging device 101 (e.g., the drug inspection device 10) acquires inspection process result data based on the inspection process result and displays it on a display means (not shown), thereby transmitting the information to the pharmacist 108, and the pharmacist can easily check the contents of the drug M by comparing and checking the packaged drug with the inspection process result data.

[0026] 2 shows an example in which the drug inspection device 10 of the present invention is built into the drug packaging device 101, but the use of the drug inspection device 10 is not limited to this. The drug inspection device 10 can perform an individual inspection process for each drug m among a plurality of drugs M received by the inspection control process to check whether the drug m matches preregistered drug information (drug master data or drug database), and can therefore be used as a means for finding out which drug in the registered drug information each drug m is, for example, after the drug M has been packaged and prescribed.

[0027] Various configurations can be proposed for drug inspection device 10 that achieves the above-mentioned object. Therefore, hereinafter, as multiple embodiments of drug inspection device 10, drug inspection device 11 will be described in Example 1 and drug inspection device 12 will be described in Example 2. EXAMPLES

[0028] Fig. 3 is a front view and a top view of the drug inspection device 11 according to Example 1. The drug inspection device 11 shown in Fig. 3 is significantly different from the drug inspection device 10 shown in Fig. 1 in that the transport means of the transport inspection processing unit 400 in the drug inspection device 11 is a rotating disk 401, whereas the transport means of the transport inspection processing unit 40 in the drug inspection device 10 is a transport belt. However, there are many common configurations.

[0029] Therefore, in the following, components of the drug inspection device 11 will be described using the same names as those of the drug inspection device 10. Specifically, for example, a transport inspection processing unit 400 included in the drug inspection device 11 corresponds to a transport inspection processing unit 40 included in the drug inspection device 10. This unification of names also applies to the drug inspection device 12 shown in the second embodiment.

[0030] Drug inspection device 11 temporarily holds the received multiple drugs m (drugs M) in pre-inspection storage section 200. Drugs M in pre-inspection storage section 200 drop and move to transfer processing section 300 disposed below by opening input partition plate 202.

[0031] In the transfer processing section 300, the medicine M is pushed out by the transfer pushing plate 302 and transferred to a rotating disk 401 constituting the transport inspection processing section 400 at the downstream side.

[0032] The rotating disk 401 is a disk with a diameter of about 250 mm, and rotates at a constant rotation speed of 15 rpm. In the transport inspection processing section 400, the medicine M is placed in a long and narrow space with a width of about 20 mm formed by the rotating disk 401, which rotates continuously in the horizontal direction, and the inner circumference guide 403 arranged on the inner circumference surface of the rotating disk. When the medicine M moves with the rotating disk 401, it is imaged from the upper and lower surfaces by the inspection imaging section 500, which has a camera 501 and a light (reflection light) 502 arranged up and down downstream of the transport. When the rotating disk 401 further rotates by about 180 degrees, the medicine M is pushed out from the rotating disk 401 to the discharge processing section 600 by moving the inner circumference guide 403 on the rotating disk 401 in the outer circumferential direction, and further, the discharge lever 602 of the discharge processing section 600 operates in the direction of the rotating disk 401, so that the medicine M moves to the post-inspection storage section 700. After the inspection, an image of the drug M stored in storage section 700 is captured by a storage section camera (not shown).

[0033] When the inspection process of drug M is completed through the above steps, the post-inspection storage section 700 discharges drug M by opening the discharge partition plate 702, and then closes the discharge partition plate 702, after which the post-inspection storage section 700 is imaged with the storage section camera to confirm that no drug M remains.

[0034] The rotating disk 401 used in this embodiment has an outer periphery divided into four sections, and a circumferential partition plate 404 is disposed at the boundary between the sections to divide the sections (see FIG. 7). When the pre-inspection storage section 200 receives a plurality of drugs M in succession (for example, when drugs M1, M2, M3, and M4 are received in succession), the above operation is repeated, but since the rotating disk 401 is divided into four sections, the drugs M1, M2, M3, and M4 can be placed in each section in order and imaged and inspected continuously.

[0035] 4 is a block diagram showing an example of an internal configuration of the drug inspection device 11, mainly including an inspection control unit 800. The inspection control unit 800 corresponds to the inspection control unit 80 of the drug inspection device 10, and has functions of transporting, capturing images, and inspecting the received drug M in the drug inspection device 11. As shown in FIG. 4, the inspection control unit 800 is configured to include an inspection result processing unit 802, an imaging / inspection processing unit 803, and a drug operation control unit 804 under an overall inspection processing unit 801 that performs overall control processing.

[0036] The inspection overall processing unit 801 is connected to a host prescription drug indication device 902 that holds data on drugs to be prescribed (drug prescription data), and acquires drug prescription data of accepted drugs M and outputs inspection processing results between the host prescription drug indication device 902 and the host prescription drug indication device 902. The inspection overall processing unit 801 is also connected to a server 903 that holds basic data on various drugs (drug master data), acquires master data of drugs to be prescribed from the server 903, and stores it in a drug database 904 of the imaging / inspection processing unit 803. The inspection overall processing unit 801 also determines an operation method of the drug inspection device 11 based on drug prescription data acquired from the host prescription drug indication device 902, for example, and instructs the inspection result processing unit 802, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803, and the drug operation control unit 804 to perform operation processing, and outputs the inspection result of drug M to the inspection result display screen 901 and the host prescription drug indication device 902. The inspection result display screen 901 is a screen that displays the inspection result of the drug in the drug inspection device 10 for the pharmacist, and is displayed on a display device of an external terminal connected to the drug inspection device 10 (for example, a display of a user terminal connected via a network) using, for example, a GUI (Graphical User Interface). The inspection result display screen 901 may be displayed on a display device such as a display provided in the drug inspection device 10, or may be included in the output to the upper prescription drug instruction device 902. The inspection result display screen 901 is not limited to being displayed on a display device, and at least a part of it may be replaced with another output method (for example, data output to an external storage medium or printing, etc.). More specifically, an inspection selection initial screen, an inspection processing screen, and an inspection correction screen, which will be described later, are displayed on the inspection result display screen 901.

[0037] The drug operation control unit 804 controls the operation of the drug operation unit 805 (specifically, the pre-inspection storage unit 200, the transfer processing unit 300, the transport inspection processing unit 400, the discharge processing unit 600, and the post-inspection storage unit 700) for the drug M received by the drug inspection device 11 in accordance with the operating method determined by the overall inspection processing unit 801.

[0038] The imaging / inspection processing unit 803 acquires an image of each drug m of the drug M photographed by the inspection imaging unit 500 of the transport inspection processing unit 400, and calculates the similarity between the photographed image and the master data by comparing and judging the outer size and color information of the drug m and image matching of the marking information using the image and the master data of each drug m included in the drug prescription data read from the drug database 904, and determines and outputs the inspection result of each drug m based on the calculated similarity. For example, three types of the inspection result can be defined: "normal", "confirmation required", and "unknown".

[0039] The audit result of "normal" indicates that the drug inspection device 11 has determined that the drug m to be inspected is a drug specified in the drug prescription data, and is determined, for example, when the similarity with one of the master data of the drug master data included in the drug prescription data exceeds a predetermined threshold. The audit result of "confirmation required" is a part of the audit result of "normal" (although it is presumed to be a drug specified in the drug prescription data), and although the drug inspection device 11 has determined that there is no problem with the drug m to be inspected, it is recommended that a person (e.g., a pharmacist) check it just to be sure. The audit result of "confirmation required" is determined, for example, when the similarity does not reach a threshold but it is determined that it is similar to one of the master data of the drug master data included in the drug prescription data. The audit result of "unknown" indicates that the drug inspection device 11 has determined that it is unclear whether the drug m to be inspected is a drug specified in the drug prescription data, and is determined, for example, when the similarity is low and is not similar to any master data of the drug included in the drug prescription data, or when it is determined that it is similar to multiple drug master data. Then, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 generates an inspection result for the drug M by combining the inspection results for each drug m.

[0040] The inspection result processing unit 802 generates a screen for the pharmacist 108 to confirm based on the results of the inspection of the drug M performed by the imaging / inspection processing unit 803, and displays the screen on the inspection result display screen 901. That is, the inspection result processing unit 802 has a function of outputting information indicating the inspection results of the drug M in the drug inspection device 11.

[0041] When the drug inspection device 11 of this embodiment is implemented and used inside the drug packing device 101 like the drug inspection device 10 shown in Fig. 2, the higher-level prescription drug instruction device 902 is the same as the control part of the drug packing device 101. The inspection control unit 800 is configured so that the internal inspection result processing unit 802, imaging / inspection processing unit 803, and drug operation control unit 804 can execute processing individually or in parallel under the control of the overall inspection processing unit 801, thereby realizing high-speed and high-precision inspection processing, inspection processing that is easy for pharmacists to use, and easy connection processing with a higher-level device in terms of software.

[0042] The configuration and functions of the drug inspection device 11 according to Example 1 have been described above with reference to Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. Below, the configurations of the pre-inspection storage unit 200, the transfer processing unit 300, the transport inspection processing unit 400, the inspection imaging unit 500, the discharge processing unit 600, and the post-inspection storage unit 700, their operations on the drug M, and the method of controlling the drug operation unit 805 by the drug operation control unit 804 will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

[0043] Fig. 5 is a configuration diagram of pre-inspection storage section 200. Fig. 5(A) is a perspective view of pre-inspection storage section 200, and Fig. 5(B) to Fig. 5(D) show the movement of drug M in pre-inspection storage section 200 in chronological order.

[0044] 5(A), pre-inspection storage section 200 includes, inside storage case 203, input vibration alignment section 201 for receiving input medicine M, and input partition plate 202 rotatably supported by input vibration alignment section 201. Input vibration alignment section 201 is vibrated back and forth by about 5 mm in the direction of arrow 204 by a driving source (not shown), thereby scattering accumulated medicine M. Input partition plate 202 is a door installed between input vibration alignment section 201 and transfer processing section 300, and input partition plate 202 rotates in the direction of arrow 205 around rotation axis 206 by a driving source (not shown) to open, allowing medicine to fall from input vibration alignment section 201.

[0045] 5(B) shows a state where a plurality of drugs M (a plurality of drugs m) overlap each other after falling from the input vibration alignment section 201. The input vibration alignment section 201 and the input partition plate 202 form a V-shaped valley shape. This V-shaped valley shape has a steep slope of about 45 degrees so that the individual drugs m falling under the influence of gravity can easily spread along the elongated V-shaped valley, and the length is about 100 mm in consideration of the size and number of the drugs m.

[0046] Fig. 5(C) shows a state where the multiple medicines m shown in Fig. 5(B) are dispersed by vibration motion in the direction of arrow 204. In order to disperse the stacked medicines m by horizontal vibration motion, it is effective to apply different accelerations to each medicine. Therefore, by forming the portions of the input vibration alignment unit 201 and the input partition plate 202 that contact the medicines at the V-shaped valley surface into a groove shape, a larger acceleration can be applied to the medicines in contact with the V-shaped groove than to the stacked medicines by horizontal vibration motion (arrow 204 direction) by the driving source, and the stacked medicines m can be dispersed at high speed.

[0047] FIG. 5(D) shows a state in which the medicine M falls downward by rotating the input partition plate 202 in the direction of the arrow 205 around the rotating shaft 206. In the pre-inspection storage section 200, the rotating shaft 206 connected to the input partition plate 202 is disposed above the V-shaped groove, so that when the rotating shaft 206 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 205, the input partition plate 202 can be shifted from a state in which the input partition plate 202 is in approximate contact with the input vibration alignment section 201 to form a V-shaped groove with an inclination of about 45 degrees in FIG. 5(C) to an open state at high speed. As a result, the medicine M held in a spread state on the input partition plate 202 in FIG. 5(C) can be reliably dropped at high speed while maintaining the spread state as shown in FIG. 5(D).

[0048] Fig. 6 is a configuration diagram of the transfer processing section 300. Fig. 6(A) is a perspective view of the transfer processing section 300, and Fig. 6(B) is a cross-sectional view of the transfer processing section 300. Fig. 6(C) to Fig. 6(E) show the movement of the drug M in the transfer processing section 300 in chronological order.

[0049] The transfer processing section 300 is disposed inside the storage case 203 constituting the pre-inspection storage section 200. More specifically, as shown in Fig. 6(A) and Fig. 6(B), the transfer processing section 300 is configured to include, inside the storage case 203, a transfer guide 301 that guides the falling medicine M, a transfer pushing and aligning section 303 that holds the medicine M that has fallen in a dispersed state, a transfer pushing plate 302 that pushes out the medicine M on the transfer pushing and aligning section 303 toward the next stage rotating disk 401, and a transfer section shutter 304 that is disposed between the rotating disk 401 and opens and closes by vertical movement.

[0050] As shown in Figures 5(C) and 5(D), when the drug M falls from the pre-inspection storage section 200 in a scattered state, the drug M is guided by the transfer guide 301 and the inclined surfaces of the transfer push-out plate 302, and while maintaining the scattered state, multiple drugs m are held in a scattered, elongated shape without overlapping on the plane partitioned by the transfer push-out alignment section 304 on the upper surface of the transfer push-out alignment section 303.

[0051] Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 6(C), the transfer / loading section shutter 304 is moved upward to an open state, and further, as shown in Fig. 6(D), the transfer / loading push-out plate 302 is moved over the transfer / loading push-out alignment section 303 toward the transfer / loading section shutter 304. As a result, the medicine M is pushed out and moves onto the rotating disk 401 while maintaining the dispersed state. Then, after the medicine M has been pushed out onto the rotating disk 401, the transfer / loading push-out plate 302 is returned to its original position as shown in Fig. 6(E).

[0052] Here, the transfer section shutter 304 is formed in an arc shape so as to be in contact with the circumference of the rotating disk 401, and the tip of the transfer pusher plate 302 is also formed in an arc shape, so that a plurality of drugs m can be pushed out simultaneously while maintaining a dispersed state onto the rotating disk 401. Also, when transferring the drugs M from the transfer guide 301 to the rotating disk 401, if there is a large gap or a large step, it will adversely affect the dispersed state of the drugs, so it is preferable to minimize the horizontal gap and the step in the falling direction as much as possible.

[0053] FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of the transport inspection processing unit 400, the discharge processing unit 600, and the post-inspection storage unit 700.

[0054] 7 has a rotating disk 401 with a diameter of about 250 mm, which is continuously rotated in the horizontal direction at a constant rotation speed of 15 rpm by a drive motor (not shown). The rotating disk 401 has an outer periphery divided into four sections, and four circumferential partition plates 404 (individually, circumferential partition plates 404A to 404D) are arranged to divide the four sections, and four inner periphery guides 403 (individually, inner periphery guides 403A to 403D) are arranged on the inner periphery surface of the rotating disk 401 to form a circumferential placement plate 402 (individually, circumferential placement plates 402A to 402D) as an elongated surface with a width of about 20 mm on which each drug m of the drug M is placed, and rotates on a support frame 406.

[0055] The circumferential mounting plate 402 is made of a transparent material (transparent body) such as an acrylic plate or a glass plate, so that the medicine m mounted on the circumferential mounting plate 402 can be photographed from both the upper and lower surfaces, as described below. In addition, above the support frame 406, the transfer processing unit 300 is disposed at a position in contact with the rotating disk 401.

[0056] In the following, the transport of medicines corresponding to the rotation of the rotating disk 401 will be described. For the sake of easy understanding, the quadrant including the position where the transfer processing unit 300 is arranged among the four sections divided on the rotating disk 401 will be referred to as "quadrant 1", and the quadrants along the downstream of the rotation direction from quadrant 1 will be referred to as "quadrant 2", "quadrant 3", and "quadrant 4" at 90 degrees intervals. In addition, in the drawings, the respective members on the rotating disk 401 described above can be referred to by corresponding symbols A to D in correspondence with these quadrants 1 to 4. For example, the circumferential mounting plate 402A corresponds to the circumferential mounting plate 402 in quadrant 1, the circumferential mounting plate 402B corresponds to the circumferential mounting plate 402 in quadrant 2, the circumferential mounting plate 402C corresponds to the circumferential mounting plate 402 in quadrant 3, and the circumferential mounting plate 402D corresponds to the circumferential mounting plate 402 in quadrant 4.

[0057] 7, in quadrant 1, when the rotation of the rotary disk 401 causes the circumferential loading plate 402A to pass a position facing the transfer section shutter 304, the transfer section shutter 304 is opened and the transfer push-out plate 302 is pushed out to move the drug M onto the circumferential loading plate 402A. Then, the drug M moved onto the circumferential loading plate 402A is rotated together with the inner guide 403A and the circumferential partition plates 404A and 404D.

[0058] In this description, it is assumed that when the medicine M is transferred onto the circumferential mounting plate 402A in the quadrant 1, the medicine M has already been placed on the circumferential mounting plates 402B, 402C, and 402D in the other quadrants 2, 3, and 4, respectively.

[0059] At this time, in quadrant 2, the medicine M placed on the transparent circumferential mounting plate 402B is transported between the rotating inner circumference guide 403B and the fixed outer circumference guide 405, and at this time, the inspection imaging unit 500 performs imaging processing described below. As will be described in detail later, the inspection imaging unit 500 has a camera 501A and a reflective illuminator 502A for taking pictures from above the circumferential mounting plate 402, and a camera 501B and a reflective illuminator 502B for taking pictures from below, disposed in quadrant 2.

[0060] On the other hand, in quadrant 3, the medicine M is transported while remaining placed on the circumferential placement plate 402C.

[0061] On the other hand, in quadrant 4, the inner circumferential guide 403D is pushed outwardly by a movable mechanism (not shown) utilizing a rotating cam mechanism, whereby the drug M on the circumferential placement plate 402D is discharged from the rotating disk 401.

[0062] As described above, in the transport inspection processing section 400 of FIG. 7, a series of operations from transfer to transport and then discharge are performed in parallel with shifted timing for each quadrant in accordance with the rotation of the rotating disk 401, thereby enabling continuous transport of up to four drugs M at the same time.

[0063] The operation after the drug M is discharged from the transport inspection processing section 400 will also be described with reference to FIG.

[0064] 7, a discharge processing unit 600 that receives the medicine M discharged from the rotating disk 401 is disposed in quadrant 4. The discharge processing unit 600 includes a discharge guide 601 that holds the medicine M pushed out from the rotating disk 401, and a discharge lever 602 that is operated by a drive source (not shown) on the discharge guide 601 in the rotational direction of the rotating disk 401. The medicine M pushed out from the rotating disk 401 in quadrant 4 is held by the discharge guide 601 of the discharge processing unit 600, and then pushed out by the operation of the discharge lever 602, and moves to the post-inspection storage unit 700.

[0065] The post-inspection storage section 700 is configured to include a discharge partition plate 702, which is a plate that holds the drug M pushed out by the discharge lever 602 and moves to open and close in the horizontal direction by a drive source (not shown), and a storage section camera that images the drug M on the discharge partition plate 702. The storage section camera images the drug M stored in the discharge partition plate 702. Then, when the inspection process of the drug M is completed, the discharge partition plate 702 of the post-inspection storage section 700 moves to an open state, so that the drug M is discharged from the drug inspection device 11, and then, after the discharge partition plate 702 is closed, the storage section camera images the top of the discharge partition plate 702 to confirm that no drug remains.

[0066] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure of a control process by the medicine operation control unit 804. FIG. 8 shows an operation flow from when medicines are input into the medicine inspection device 11, to when the medicines are aligned, an inspection image of the medicines is taken, the medicines are inspected, and the medicines are discharged. As described above, the medicine operation control unit 804 controls the operations of the pre-inspection storage unit 200, the transfer processing unit 300, the transport inspection processing unit 400 (including the inspection imaging unit 500), the discharge processing unit 600, and the post-inspection storage unit 700 for the medicine M received by the medicine inspection device 11, in accordance with an operation method determined by the overall inspection processing unit 801. Each process shown in the processing flow of FIG. 8 will be described below, but for simplicity, a description of the control entity of each process being the medicine operation control unit 804 will be omitted.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 8, when inspection of the medicine M received by the medicine inspection device 11 is started, the rotation of the rotary disk 401 of the transport inspection processing unit 400 starts (Step S110).

[0068] Then, until rotation of the rotating disk 401 is stopped in step S130 described later, the medicine M is transported to a predetermined flow path passing through the pre-inspection storage section 200, the transfer processing section 300, the transport inspection processing section 400, the discharge processing section 600, and the post-inspection storage section 700 in this order, while alignment, photography, inspection, etc. of the medicine are performed (step S120). Note that, in step S120, the processes of steps S121 to S129 are executed as described in detail below.

[0069] First, as described in detail with reference to FIG. 5, drug M is loaded into the pre-inspection storage section 200 (step S121), and the loading vibration alignment section 201 in the pre-inspection storage section 200 is vibrated to disperse the drug M (multiple drugs m) (step S122).

[0070] Furthermore, in pre-inspection storage section 200, input partition plate 202 is opened, and drugs M are dropped into transfer processing section 300 in a spread-out state (step S123).

[0071] Next, as described in detail with reference to FIG. 6, the transfer push plate 302 of the transfer processing section 300 is operated to transfer the drug M onto the rotating disk 401 of the transport inspection processing section 400 (step S124).

[0072] As described in detail with reference to Fig. 7, the drug M transferred onto the rotating disk 401 (e.g., quadrant 1) in step S124 moves with the rotation of the rotating disk 401. Then, during the movement (e.g., quadrant 2), the top and bottom surfaces of the drug M are photographed by the camera 501 and the lighting 502 arranged in the inspection imaging unit 500 (step S125). Thereafter, when the drug M moves to the vicinity of the discharge processing unit 600 (e.g., quadrant 4) due to the rotation of the rotating disk 401, the inner circumference guide 403 is pushed outward to move the drug M to the discharge processing unit 600 (step S126).

[0073] Next, in the discharge processing unit 600, the discharge lever 602 is operated in the rotational direction of the rotating disk 401 to move the drug M to the post-inspection storage unit 700 (step S127). Next, in the post-inspection storage unit 700, the discharge partition plate 702 is opened to discharge the drug M from the drug inspection device 11 (step S128). Then, after the discharge partition plate 702 is closed, it is confirmed by an image taken by the storage unit camera that the drug M does not remain in the post-inspection storage unit 700 (step S129).

[0074] The above is the detailed process in step S120. Then, when the processes in steps S121 to S129 are completed and it is confirmed that all of the medicine M to be inspected has been discharged from the medicine inspection device 11, the medicine movement control unit 804 stops rotation of the rotating disk 401 (step S130), and the inspection of the medicine M is completed.

[0075] The process of step S120 described above is a process for one input of drug M into drug inspection device 11. Drug inspection device 11 is configured to also handle successive input of multiple drugs M, and when drugs M are continuously input, as described using quadrants 1 to 4 in the description of FIG. 7, the processes of step S120 corresponding to each input need to be executed in parallel.

[0076] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the process transition of the inspection process when a plurality of medicines are continuously inserted. In FIG. 9, a plurality of medicines M continuously inserted are represented as medicines M1 to M7 in the order of insertion, and the process transition of the inspection process for each medicine M is shown. The numbers (No.) [1] to

[11] shown in FIG. 9 correspond to the numbers assigned to each process of the inspection process shown in FIG. 8, and in the explanation of FIG. 9, each process is represented using the numbers [1] to

[11] . That is, in FIG. 9, the process of step S110 in FIG. 8 is referred to as "process 1", the process of step S121 as "process 2", ..., and the process of step S130 as "process 11". In addition, in FIG. 9, the timing at which process 2 is started for the medicine Mn inserted at the nth time is referred to as "time Tn".

[0077] 9, for the first drug M1, process 2 starts at time T1, and process 10 ends midway between time T4 and time T5. During this process, the operation of process 5, in which the transfer push plate 302 transfers the drug M1 onto the rotating disk 401, is executed in synchronization with the rotational position of the rotating disk 401. Then, in conjunction with the operation of process 5, the operation of process 2 for the next drug M2 starts. This kind of coordination of operation starts is the same for the subsequent drugs M3 and onwards.

[0078] Here, the difference between time T2 when process 2 of drug M2 is started and time T1 is the processing cycle Ts. Since the rotating disk 401 is divided into four, it is preferable to set the rotation cycle of the rotating disk 401 to four times Ts. In order to process consecutive drugs M, for example, at time T4, process 9 is executed for drug M1, while process 6 is executed for drug M2, process 5 is executed for drug M3, and process 2 is executed for drug M4 in parallel. In this way, the drug inspection device 11 can periodically execute inspection processes for drugs M that are continuously inputted using parallel processing control.

[0079] Furthermore, in Figure 9, drugs M1 to M7 are administered at periodically synchronized timing, but if the timing of administering drug M is delayed for some reason, for example, if drug M4 is not administered at time T4, the series of inspection processes for drug M4 can be delayed by one processing cycle Ts and started at time T5, allowing processes 2 to 10 to be executed in synchronization with the processes for the other drugs M.

[0080] Fig. 10 is a configuration diagram of the inspection imaging unit 500. Fig. 10(A) is a top view of the inspection imaging unit 500, and Fig. 10(B) is a cross-sectional view of the inspection imaging unit 500 as viewed from the direction of the arrow in Fig. 10(A).

[0081] The inspection imaging unit 500 has cameras 501 and lights 502 respectively arranged above and below the circumferential mounting plate 402 in quadrant 2, and when the transport inspection processing unit 400 transports the medicine M held in a spread-out state on the circumferential mounting plate 402 in a counterclockwise direction at a constant speed, the upper camera 501 (upper camera 501A) and then the lower camera 501 (lower camera 501B) take images in succession at constant intervals. When the medicines M1, M2, M3, and M4 are continuously fed, the inspection imaging unit 500 performs an imaging process on the medicines M1, M2, M3, and M4 held on the circumferential mounting plates 402A, 402B, 402C, and 402D shown in FIG. 7 as they are transported through quadrant 2.

[0082] 10(A), upper camera 501A is disposed above circumferential mounting plate 402, whereas lower camera 501B is disposed below circumferential mounting plate 402 and captures an image of drug M through transparent circumferential mounting plate 402. Upper camera 501A and lower camera 501B are shifted a predetermined amount in the rotation direction of rotating disk 401 and disposed optically symmetrically above and below, thereby enabling standardization of image processing in inspection processing.

[0083] In both upper camera 501A and lower camera 501B, camera element 511 and lens 512 are positioned so that images can be captured without distortion on all sides within an imaging area of ​​25 to 30 mm, taking into consideration the width dimension (approximately 20 mm) of elongated circular mounting plate 402 and the size of drug M, and in order to minimize the mounting dimensions, an L-shaped optical path structure is used in which images are captured by reflection on mirror 513.

[0084] Both the reflective lighting 502A arranged for the upper camera 501A to take pictures and the reflective lighting 502B arranged for the lower camera 501B to take pictures employ annular lighting that can illuminate individual medicines m from an oblique side in order to clearly take pictures of the medicines (especially the marks and engravings on the surface). In order to reduce unevenness in the direction of the lighting, it is desirable to not only make the circumferential mounting plate 402 transparent, but also to make the inner surface of the inner guide 403 and the outer guide 405 out of transparent materials.

[0085] In this embodiment, in order to enable imaging of special medicines such as transparent tablets, the inspection imaging unit 500 is equipped with external imaging by transmitted illumination. Specifically, in the inspection imaging unit 500, when combined with the upper camera 501A, the transmitted illumination 515 and the semi-transparent sheet 516 are disposed on the opposite side of the circumferential mounting plate 402 from the upper camera 501A, that is, on the back side of the medicine m. Similarly, when combined with the lower camera 501B, the transmitted illumination 515 and the semi-transparent sheet 516 are disposed.

[0086] Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram for explaining the imaging operation by the inspection imaging unit 500. In Fig. 11, the arrangement relationship of the engineering configuration such as the camera and the lighting is shown by taking the upper camera 501A as an example, but the lower camera 501B may be considered similarly. With reference to Fig. 11, the operation of the inspection imaging unit 500 to alternately switch between the transmitted lighting 515 and the reflected lighting 502 and to capture an image of the medicine by the camera 501 will be explained.

[0087] First, when photographing the upper side, the upper camera 501A turns on the surrounding reflective illuminators 502A and photographs the medicine on the rotating disk 401 (circumferential mounting plate 402) from above, thereby acquiring a front-light image 522 of the medicine surface. At this time, the transmitted illuminator 515 is turned off.

[0088] Next, when photographing the lower side, the transmission illuminator 515 under the semi-transparent sheet 516 is turned on, and the medicine on the rotating disk 401 (circumferential mounting plate 402) is illuminated from below through the semi-transparent sheet 516 and the rotating disk 401, and photographed from above by the upper camera 501A to obtain a backlit image 521 capturing the outline (shadow picture) of the medicine. At this time, the reflection illuminator 502A is turned off. The semi-transparent sheet 516 is a sheet member that is non-reflective to the irradiation from the reflection illuminator 502A and transmits the irradiation from the transmission illuminator 515, and may be, for example, a black attenuation filter. In addition, as described later, it is preferable that the surface of the semi-transparent sheet 516 on the circumferential mounting plate 402 side is black or a color equivalent thereto.

[0089] As described above, upper camera 501A alternately photographs the upper side using transmitted light and the lower side using reflected light, thereby acquiring front-light image 522 and back-light image 521. As a result, color images of both the upper and lower surfaces of the drug (front-light image 522) and an outline image of the silhouette (back-light image 521) can be acquired. Note that lower camera 501B also photographs the upper side and the lower side in the same manner as upper camera 501A (except that the top and bottom are reversed).

[0090] In addition, in the repetition of the upper side photographing and the lower side photographing, the lighting (reflected lighting 502, transmitted lighting 515) is periodically switched at a cycle of several tens of milliseconds, and the light irradiating the medicine is periodically switched between reflected light and transmitted light, and the camera images are continuously captured in synchronization with this, so that the backlight image 521 and the frontlight image 522, which are continuously photographed of the rotating and moving medicine M, can be obtained. Also, as described above, the upper camera 501A and the lower camera 501B are arranged with a predetermined amount of shift in the rotation direction of the rotating disk 401, so that a time difference occurs between the images of the medicine M photographed by both cameras. Therefore, when the upper camera 501A and the lower camera 501B perform the upper side photographing and the lower side photographing, respectively, the frontlight image 522 and the backlight image 521 can be obtained at different times, and the effect of improving the accuracy of identifying the medicine can be expected.

[0091] The imaging / inspection processing unit 803 compares the images of the drug M captured by the upper camera 501A and the lower camera 501B, cut out for each drug m (hereinafter also referred to as drug image), with information such as color, outline, and marking of the master data for each drug m registered in advance, and determines whether the inspection result for each drug m is "normal," "needs confirmation," or "unknown" based on the comparison result. Note that the detailed processing procedure of the processing in which the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines the inspection result for drug m (inspection result determination processing) will be described later with reference to Figs. 13 and 14.

[0092] In the inspection imaging unit 500 described above, the transmitted light 515 and the black semi-transparent sheet 516 are placed close to each other, so that when photographing with transmitted light (for example, photographing from below with the upper camera 501A), the white illumination light color of the transmitted light 515 passes through the semi-transparent sheet 516 and the rotating disk 401 (circumferential mounting plate 402) and becomes the background color of the drug m, and the drug m itself is photographed in black or gray as a silhouette. In the backlit image 521 photographed in this way, as shown in FIG. 11, the outlines of transparent bodies and dark drugs are easily visible.

[0093] On the other hand, in the case of photographing with reflected light (for example, photographing from above by the upper camera 501A), since the reflected illuminator 502 and the semi-transparent sheet 516 are separated, the light from the reflected illuminator 502 does not pass through the semi-transparent sheet 516, and the black surface of the semi-transparent sheet 516 becomes the background color of the medicine m. When the background color of the front-light image 522 is black in this way, since most of the medicine m is whitish, it becomes easy to identify the photographed medicine m. Also, as described above, in order to clearly photograph the shadow of the mark or marking on the surface of the medicine m, the reflected illuminator 502 irradiates the medicine m from an oblique side.

[0094] In this way, the inspection imaging unit 500 switches the lighting to acquire the inspection image, so that the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 can inspect the medicine m using an image that is easy to see, or can track the movement of the medicine m and extract the image individually. Also, a black attenuation filter may be used for the semi-transparent sheet 516.

[0095] As described above, in the drug inspection device 11 according to this embodiment, inspection images are taken while the received drugs M (plurality of drugs m) are aligned and transported, and the images are analyzed to inspect each drug m contained in the drug M, and the inspection results for each drug m are combined to obtain an inspection result for the drug M. The inspection result obtained in this manner is displayed on the inspection result display screen 901 by the inspection result processing unit 802 and presented to the pharmacist 108.

[0096] Then, the pharmacist 108 operates the inspection result display screen 901 that displays the inspection result to confirm whether the packaged medicines M1, M2, ... match the prescription information (medicine prescription data), and corrects the inspection result if the inspection result is unclear or differs from the prescription information, thereby completing the medicine inspection. Below, the screen output displayed on the inspection result display screen and the operation by the pharmacist will be described with reference to Figs. 12 to 22.

[0097] Fig. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the inspection selection initial screen. The inspection selection initial screen is a screen operated when the pharmacist selects the drug M to be inspected, and Fig. 12 shows a specific example.

[0098] The initial audit selection screen 1500 shown in FIG. 12 displays a button 1501 for selecting a drug M, a prescription ID 1502 which is key information for the selection, a patient name 1503, a packaging machine ID 1504, a total number of packages 1505 included in the prescription information for each drug M, a number of dosage methods 1506 indicating the number of different dosage methods at the time of taking the drug, such as "after breakfast" or "before bed," an audit level 1507, audit results 1508, and a pharmacist audit 1509.

[0099] The audit level 1507 is information for distinguishing whether drug m, which is an individual tablet contained in drug M, is a drug that requires strict auditing, such as a high-risk drug, or is a normal drug. By using this level to impose restrictions on who should audit (pharmacists must audit, multiple pharmacists must audit, even office staff can audit, etc.), it is possible to operate strict drug audits.

[0100] In the audit result 1508, the above-mentioned three types, "normal," "confirmation required," and "unknown," are defined as the audit results for individual drugs m by the drug inspection device 11, and the breakdown of the total number of packets for each prescription ID 1502 is displayed. Here, "normal" means that the tablets were identified and audited as specified in the prescription information (drug prescription data), "confirmation required" means that the tablets were sorted according to the prescription information (although the drug inspection device 11 judges that there is no problem), but the similarity in comparison with the tablet master data and identification is low, and it is determined that confirmation by a pharmacist is desirable, and "unknown" means that the tablets could not be sorted as specified in the prescription information.

[0101] In the following, two example processing procedures will be described with reference to Figures 13 and 14 regarding the "inspection result determination process" in which the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 of the drug inspection device 11 determines the inspection result of an individual drug m ("normal", "needs confirmation", or "unknown").

[0102] Fig. 13 is a diagram illustrating a first example of a process procedure of the inspection result determination process. The process illustrated in Fig. 13 is an example of the inspection result determination process for inspecting medicines by taking into account the markings on the tablets, and is referred to as the first inspection result determination process.

[0103] 13, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 first acquires an image (medicine image) of each individual drug m from the images of the drug M captured by the upper camera 501A and the lower camera 501B (step S201). Then, the processes from step S202 onward are performed for each individual drug m. Note that the multiple drugs m included in the drug M are drugs specified in the drug prescription data, and master data for each of them is prepared.

[0104] Next, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 performs image analysis on the drug image acquired in step S201 to acquire information indicating whether or not the drug m to be inspected is marked, size information, and color information for the drug m shown in the drug image (step S202).

[0105] The information indicating the presence or absence of an imprint is information obtained by analyzing the presence or absence of an imprint on the drug m to be inspected, and is different from information indicating the contents of the imprint (such as a character string including numbers) (the imprint information described below). That is, in step S202, it is not necessary to obtain the imprint information. Note that, although in this embodiment, processing is performed by focusing on the imprint on the tablet, similar processing according to the presence or absence of an imprint may also be performed on drugs other than tablets (such as capsules).

[0106] The size information is information indicating the external shape (size) of the drug m to be inspected. Specific examples of the size information include the length or width, aspect ratio, area, and perimeter. The color information is information indicating the color of the drug m to be inspected. Specific examples of the color information include the average color of the entire drug and the number of colors contained in the drug.

[0107] Next, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines whether the drug m to be inspected is a tablet having an engraving based on the information indicating the presence or absence of an engraving obtained in step S202 (or may refer to the master data of the drug m to be inspected) (step S203).

[0108] If the drug m to be inspected in step S203 is a tablet with an imprint (YES in step S203), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 acquires additional imprint information of the drug m by image analysis of the drug image, and then analyzes whether the imprint, size, and color match by comparing the size information and color information acquired in step S202 with the master data of the drug m (step S204). Note that "match" in the first and second inspection result determination processes means that the match rate of the two pieces of information to be matched (information acquired from image analysis and master data) exceeds a predetermined threshold (first threshold). The calculation of the match rate by matching can be performed using a known image analysis method, so a detailed description will be omitted.

[0109] Next, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines whether the markings, size, and color all match based on the analysis results of step S204 (step S205). If a positive result is obtained in step S205 (YES in step S205), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines the inspection result of the drug m to be inspected as "normal" (step S206) and ends the inspection result determination process.

[0110] If a positive result is not obtained in step S205, that is, if at least any of the marking, size, and color does not match (NO in step S205), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 checks whether the size and color match and only the marking is similar (step S207). Note that "the marking is similar" means that the marking information of the captured image does not match the master data of the drug m to be inspected (or, further, is similar). Specifically, for example, when the matching rate between the marking information and the master data is less than a first threshold (a threshold used as a criterion for determining whether the marking is similar), it can be determined that the markings are similar (mismatched). Note that, if it is desired to limit the degree of approximation rather than determining all mismatches as "approximated," a second threshold, etc., described later, may be used.

[0111] If a positive result is obtained in step S207 (YES in step S207), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines the inspection result of the drug m to be inspected as "verification required" (step S208) and ends the inspection result determination process. On the other hand, if a positive result is not obtained in step S207 (NO in step S207), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines the inspection result of the drug m to be inspected as "unknown" (step S209) and ends the inspection result determination process.

[0112] Furthermore, if the drug m being inspected is not a tablet having an imprint in step S203 (NO in step S203), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 compares the size information and color information acquired in step S202 with the master data of image m to analyze whether the size and color match (step S210).

[0113] If the analysis result in step S210 shows that both the size and color match (YES in step S210), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines the inspection result of the drug m to be inspected as "normal" (step S212) and ends the inspection result determination process. On the other hand, if the judgment in step S210 shows that at least either the size or the color does not match (NO in step S210), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines the inspection result of the drug m to be inspected as "unknown" (step S213) and ends the inspection result determination process.

[0114] As described above, in the first inspection result determination process, the size and color information is analyzed and acquired for all the drug images of the drug m cut out from the captured image of the drug M, while the marking information is analyzed and acquired only when the drug m is a tablet having a marking. There are various types of tablets, including tablets that are not marked in the first place, tablets with small letters even if marked, tablets with concave marks that are difficult to see, tablets with capsule-shaped, cylindrical, or spherical surfaces with markings that are difficult to observe visually, etc. Therefore, the first inspection result determination process analyzes the presence or absence of marking from the image information acquired in step S202 immediately after the process starts, classifies the tablets into cases where marking information is acquired and cases where marking information is not acquired (step S203), and then divides the method of judging the inspection result. According to such a first inspection result determination process, for tablets for which a match determination of the marking is not required, image analysis of the marking information is not performed, so that it is expected to have the effect of shortening the inspection time.

[0115] In addition, according to the first audit result determination process, for tablets with engravings, it is possible to classify them not only as "normal" or "unknown," but also as a new classification, "requires confirmation," when the match rate of the engraving is insufficient. This allows pharmacists to distinguish between tablets where only the engraving needs to be rechecked (audit result "requires confirmation") and tablets where the tablet type should be checked for accuracy (audit result "unknown"), making work more efficient.

[0116] As a modified example of the first inspection result determination process, the image analysis in step S202 may include the acquisition of the imprint information, but the acquisition of the imprint information may not be performed in step S204. In the case of such a modified example, the inspection time may be increased because image analysis of the imprint information is performed on all drug images, but the internal processing may be simplified by reducing the number of times that a program that performs image analysis is called.

[0117] As a modified example of step S207 for confirming the unclearness of the marking, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 may set a second threshold lower than the first threshold as a criterion for determining whether the marking information of the captured image is clearly inconsistent with the master data, and may determine that the marking is approximate only when the matching rate between the marking information and the master data is equal to or higher than the second threshold and lower than the first threshold (if it is lower than the second threshold, the result is NO in step S207). Alternatively, the second threshold may not be used, and the marking may be determined to be approximate when the matching rate between the marking information and the master data is within 90% of the first threshold. When these modified examples are adopted, cases in which the marking shown on the medicine image is clearly different from the marking of the master data (i.e., cases in which there is a clear mismatch) may be excluded, and a degree of matching that is not necessarily a match may be determined to be approximate, and the inspection result may be determined to be "verification required" in the subsequent step S208. As a result, it is possible to narrow down cases in which confirmation by a pharmacist is required while maintaining a high level of accuracy in the inspection by the medicine inspection device 11.

[0118] Fig. 14 is a diagram showing a second example of the process procedure of the inspection result determination process. The process shown in Fig. 14 is an example of an inspection result determination process for inspecting medicines without considering the markings on the tablets, and is referred to as a second inspection result determination process. A difference from the first inspection result determination process shown in Fig. 13 is that the second inspection result determination process shown in Fig. 14 does not analyze or obtain marking information from medicine images.

[0119] According to Fig. 14, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 first acquires an image (drug image) of each individual drug m from the images of the drug M captured by the upper camera 501A and the lower camera 501B (step S301). Then, the processing from step S302 onwards is carried out for each individual drug m. Note that the multiple drugs m included in the drug M are drugs specified in the drug prescription data, and master data for each of them is prepared. Step S301 is the same as step S201 in Fig. 13.

[0120] Next, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 performs image analysis on the medicine image acquired in step S301 to acquire size information and color information about the medicine m to be inspected that appears in the medicine image (step S302).

[0121] Next, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 compares the size information and color information acquired in step S302 with the master data of the drug m to analyze whether the size and color match each other (step S303).

[0122] Next, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines whether or not all the sizes and colors match based on the analysis results of step S303 (step S304). If a positive result is obtained in step S304 (YES in step S304), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines the inspection result of the drug m to be inspected as "normal" (step S305) and ends the inspection result determination process.

[0123] If a positive result is not obtained in step S304, that is, if at least either the size or the color does not match (NO in step S304), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 judges whether the colors match and the sizes are similar (step S306). For example, a second threshold lower than the first threshold (criterion for judging a match) may be set as a criterion for judging whether the sizes are completely mismatched, and the sizes may be judged to be similar only if the matching rate between the size information and the master data is equal to or higher than the second threshold and less than the first threshold (if it is less than the second threshold, it is not regarded as being similar, and NO is judged in step S306).

[0124] If a positive result is obtained in step S306 (YES in step S306), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines the inspection result of the drug m to be inspected as "verification required" (step S307) and ends the inspection result determination process. On the other hand, if a positive result is not obtained in step S306 (NO in step S306), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines the inspection result of the drug m to be inspected as "unknown" (step S308) and ends the inspection result determination process.

[0125] As described above, the second audit result determination process is easy to perform and is expected to reduce the processing time by not acquiring the marking information. However, if the size and color match is simply compared with the master data in the audit of the drug m, a person (pharmacist) will need to reconfirm difficult-to-identify drugs, and it is expected that this will occur more frequently. For this reason, in the second audit result determination process, when at least either the size information or the color information does not match the master data (NO in step S304), the audit result is not determined to be "unknown" for all cases, but rather, a determination is made in step S306 as to whether the color information matches and the size information is similar, thereby adding a case in which the audit result is "confirmation required." In the above explanation, the size information is defined as being equal to or greater than the second threshold and less than the first threshold, but may be defined as being within 90% of the first threshold, for example. According to this second audit result determination process, by separating "requires confirmation" from "unknown," the pharmacist can distinguish between medications that only need to be reconfirmed for size (shape) (audit result "requires confirmation") and medications that need to be confirmed for the correctness of the medication type (audit result "unknown"), allowing the pharmacist to work more efficiently.

[0126] In addition, in the second inspection result determination process described above, the approximation of size information is set as the judgment condition in step S306, but as a modified example, the approximation of color information may be set as the judgment condition. Since the color of a medicine may be expected to change slightly depending on the condition of the light or the position of the shadow, by adopting such a modified inspection result determination process, it is possible to judge the color fluctuation in the medicine image as an inspection result of "confirmation required," and visual assistance by a pharmacist is possible.

[0127] Although the first and second inspection result determination processes have been described above, which inspection result determination process is executed in the drug inspection device 11 may be set according to the hardware configuration of the drug inspection device 11, or may be arbitrarily set by the user if the hardware configuration satisfies sufficient conditions. An example of a condition due to the hardware configuration is when the resolution of the camera 501 is not sufficient to identify the marking, in which case it is preferable to execute the second inspection result determination process. By executing the second inspection result determination process, it is possible to determine the inspection result of "needs confirmation" even in a hardware configuration that cannot identify the marking. In addition, when it is possible to set it from the user, for example, it is possible to implement such that a normal mode and a specific mode that improves the processing speed are provided, and the first inspection result determination process is executed in the normal mode, and the second inspection result determination process is executed in the specific mode.

[0128] 13 or 14, and may be executed to set the audit result as either "normal" or "unknown" and not to output an audit result of "confirmation required." In this case, specifically, if step S205 in FIG. 13 or step S304 in FIG. 14 returns NO, the result may be determined as "unknown" without further determination (steps S207 and S306).

[0129] In the above description, information on color, size, and marking is obtained by image analysis based on the medicine image cut out from the medicine m as tablet-specific identification information, but the present embodiment is not limited to this, and other information on the shape of the medicine (tablet), such as circle, ellipse, barrel, triangle, square, pentagon, and degree of circularity, or information on the presence or absence of gloss may be obtained. Alternatively, information on the type of medicine, such as plain tablet, sugar-coated tablet, capsule, and soft capsule, may be obtained.

[0130] In addition, when calculating the matching rate by comparing the marking information acquired from the medicine image with the master data, a method of calculating the matching rate as an image of the marking portion may be adopted, or character recognition may be performed to recognize characters from the image of the marking portion, and then the matching rate as characters may be calculated. In addition, both of these may be performed. By appropriately adopting these methods, the inspection function of the medicine inspection device 11 can be further improved.

[0131] Returning to the explanation of the audit selection initial screen 1500 shown in FIG.

[0132] Pharmacist audit 1509 displays information such as "completed" or "incomplete" as the status of whether or not the pharmacist's audit for each drug M has been completed.

[0133] The pharmacist looks at this initial inspection selection screen 1500, selects the prescription ID (drug M to be inspected) to be handled (for example, selects the first record 1510), and presses button 1520 to display the inspection processing screen for the selected prescription ID (drug M to be inspected).

[0134] Specific examples (first to seventh examples) of the audit process screen are shown in Figures 15 to 21. The features of each of the audit process screen examples will be described in detail below.

[0135] Fig. 15 is a diagram showing an example (first example) of the inspection processing screen. The inspection processing screen 1600 shown in Fig. 15 is a specific example of the inspection processing screen when all inspection results of the drug M1 by the drug inspection device 11 are “normal” and there is no drug (tablet) m that is “needs confirmation” or “unknown”.

[0136] The audit processing screen 1600 displays information 1601 such as the prescription ID and patient name of drug M1, and the audited packing machine ID, and then displays a list of photographed images of individual drugs (tablets) m contained in drug M1. This list display is in a table format with the drug names of tablets m1 to m5 in each row and the number of prescription days in each column, and the time and method of use are displayed in tabs 1602.

[0137] The inspection processing screen 1600 displays the tablet images captured by the drug inspection device 11 in a line for each individual tablet according to the inspection result of the device, so that the pharmacist can check at a glance that no wrong tablets are included. The pharmacist can complete the pharmacist inspection of the drug M1 by checking the inspection processing screen 1600 to confirm that all of the individual drugs m contained in the drug M1 are packaged with the correct tablet type and quantity, and then pressing the inspection result confirmation button 1603. If the pharmacist determines that detailed confirmation of an individual drug (e.g., tablet m1) is necessary, the pharmacist can also proceed with the pharmacist inspection by displaying the inspection correction screen of FIG. 22 described later and visually comparing the display in which the master image of tablet m1 and the image captured by the device are arranged side by side.

[0138] 16 to 21 are diagrams showing other examples (second to seventh examples) of the inspection process screen. The inspection process screens shown in Fig. 16 to 21 are specific examples of the inspection process screen when the inspection result of the drug M2 by the drug inspection device 11 includes not only "normal" but also "unknown" or "needs confirmation" drugs (tablets) m, and the method of displaying the screen and the response required of the pharmacist when an "unknown" or "needs confirmation" tablet is found are different in each example.

[0139] The same reference numerals are used for common display elements in the inspection processing screens shown in Figures 16 to 21. First, these common display elements will be described using the inspection processing screen 1700 in Figure 16 (and in part, the inspection processing screen 1800 in Figure 17) as an example.

[0140] The audit processing screen 1700 displays information 1701 such as the prescription ID and patient name of drug M2, and the audited packaging machine ID, and displays a list of captured images of individual drugs (tablets) m contained in drug M2. This list display is in a table format in which each row represents the drug name of tablets m1 to m3 or an unknown drug whose name has not been identified, and each column represents the number of days for which the drug was prescribed. In addition, the types of usage at the time are displayed as tabs 1702 to 1704, and by selecting one of these tabs, tablet images of individual tablets m for each usage at the time can be displayed.

[0141] In the inspection processing screen 1700, for individual tablets m that are determined to be "unknown" in the inspection results by the drug inspection device 11, a photographed image is displayed in a new row marked "unknown 1" or "unknown 2" in addition to the row showing the individual drug name included in the prescription information of the drug M2 (specifically, the rows "with engraving m1", "without engraving m2", and "capsule m3"). In this description, the row "unknown 1" is a row that displays tablets determined to be "unknown", and the row "unknown 2" is a row that displays capsules determined to be "unknown", but this is not limited to this. In addition, "with engraving" or "without engraving" in the display of the individual drug name is information indicating whether or not the tablet is one for which engraving is confirmed in step S203 of the first inspection result determination process. When the second inspection result determination process is executed, the notation "with engraving" or "without engraving" is not necessary.

[0142] Furthermore, if there is a drug m whose audit result is "unknown", the photographed image is not displayed in the display area of ​​the drug m where the photographed image would be displayed if the audit result is "normal", but the periphery of the display area of ​​the photographed image may be highlighted, such as by coloring. Specifically, the "grid line shading 1706" shown in FIG. 16 etc. is a highlight corresponding to "unknown", and in the case of the audit processing screen 1700 of FIG. 16, it can be seen that a total of five drugs have been determined to be "unknown". Furthermore, the periphery of the photographed images displayed in the rows of "unknown 1" and "unknown 2" may also be highlighted to correspond to "unknown".

[0143] On the other hand, for each individual drug (tablet) m that has been determined to "require confirmation" in the inspection result by the drug inspection device 11, a photographed image is displayed in the display area of ​​the corresponding tablet m. Furthermore, a highlighting display, such as coloring the periphery of the display area, may be performed. Specifically, the "diagonal shading 1707" shown in FIG. 17 and other figures is a highlighting display corresponding to "requires confirmation," and in the case of the inspection processing screen 1800 in FIG. 17, it can be seen that a total of four drugs have been determined to "require confirmation."

[0144] On the inspection processing screen 1700 etc., the above display for the inspection result of "unknown" or "needs confirmation" allows the pharmacist to immediately recognize the individual medicines (tablets) that need to be confirmed or corrected. Note that different highlighting for "unknown" and "needs confirmation" can improve the identifiability.

[0145] Furthermore, the inspection processing screen 1700 has a warning field 1705 that displays the number of packets or tablets that need to be checked on the screen, thereby preventing the pharmacist from forgetting or overlooking an inspection. The inspection processing screen 1700 has an inspection result confirmation button 1708, which is pressed by the pharmacist when completing the pharmacist's inspection of the drug to be inspected, similar to the inspection result confirmation button 1603 on the inspection processing screen 1600 of FIG.

[0146] Next, the features of each of the inspection process screens shown in FIG. 16 to FIG. 21 will be described.

[0147] The second example of the inspection processing screen 1700 shown in Fig. 16 is an example of the display result when a first inspection result determination process is executed for the drug M2 and the inspection result of each drug m is "normal" or "unknown." Also, when the first inspection result determination process is executed in a modified example that does not determine "confirmation required," the inspection processing screen as shown in Fig. 16 is displayed.

[0148] Explaining the details of individual drugs m for which audit results are displayed on the audit processing screen 1700, drug m1 is a tablet (tablet m1) for which an engraving is confirmed in the first audit result determination process, drug m2 is a tablet (tablet m2) for which an engraving is not confirmed in the first audit result determination process, and drug m3 is a capsule (capsule m3) for which an engraving is not confirmed in the first audit result determination process.

[0149] In the first audit result determination process, for tablets m1 that require marking confirmation, color, size, and marking are compared with the master data (matching analysis). For tablets m2 and capsules m3 that do not require marking confirmation, color and size are compared with the master data (matching analysis).

[0150] According to the display of the audit processing screen 1700, it can be seen that the audit result of "unknown" occurred at least once for each of tablet m1, tablet m2, and capsule m3. Specifically, for example, in the audit result of drug M2 on the second day, only tablet m2 is judged to be normal, and tablet m1 and capsule m3 are judged to be unknown. Then, photographed images of tablets judged to be unknown are displayed in "unknown 1", and photographed images of capsules judged to be unknown are displayed in "unknown 2". Furthermore, the display areas of the photographed images of tablet m1 and capsule m3 are highlighted with a grid line shading 1706.

[0151] The third example of the inspection processing screen 1800 shown in Figure 17 is an example of the display result when a first inspection result determination process is executed for drug M2, and the inspection result for each drug m is not only "normal" or "unknown" but also "confirmation required."

[0152] The individual drugs m whose audit results are displayed on the audit processing screen 1800 are, similarly to the audit processing screen 1700, an engraved drug m1 (tablet m1), an unengraved drug m2 (tablet m2), and a capsule drug m3 (capsule m3).

[0153] In the first audit result determination process, for tablets m1 that require marking confirmation, color, size, and marking are compared with the master data (matching analysis). For tablets m2 and capsules m3 that do not require marking confirmation, color and size are compared with the master data (matching analysis).

[0154] According to the display of the audit processing screen 1800, it can be seen that the audit result of "unknown" occurred at least once for each of tablet m1, tablet m2, and capsule m3. Then, in "unknown 1", a photographed image of a tablet determined to be unknown is displayed, and in "unknown 2", a photographed image of a capsule determined to be unknown is displayed. Furthermore, the display area of ​​the photographed images of tablet m1 and capsule m3 is highlighted with a grid line 1706. For example, looking at the audit results for the second day, a photographed image of a circular tablet is displayed in "unknown 1", and a photographed image of a capsule is displayed in "unknown 2". By displaying photographed images of unknown tablets and non-tablets (capsules) in separate columns in this way, it becomes easier for pharmacists to confirm and correct unknown drugs.

[0155] Furthermore, according to the display of the inspection processing screen 1800, it can be seen that the tablet m1 has had three inspection results of "check required". Specifically, for example, in the inspection results on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th days, the tablet m1 with the mark was judged to be "check required", so the display area of ​​the corresponding photographed image is highlighted with diagonal shading 1707. As can be seen from FIG. 17, "check required" is treated as part of "normal" (the drug inspection device 11 judges it to be normal, but recommends that a pharmacist check it), so the photographed image is displayed in the display area of ​​"tablet m1" rather than "unknown 1". In this case, the pharmacist can easily visually check the drug image with the "check required" highlighted by comparing it with a master image such as the master image 2301 displayed on the inspection correction screen 2300 in FIG. 22 described later. Note that this master image is an image (master image) of the master data used for matching in the inspection result judgment process for each individual drug m.

[0156] A fourth example of an inspection process screen 1900 shown in FIG. 18 is a display example of the inspection results of each medicine m when the medicine M2 to be inspected includes a tablet (tablet m4) that is likely to stand.

[0157] The individual drugs m whose audit results are displayed on the audit processing screen 1900 are drug m1 with an engraving (tablet m1), drug m2 without an engraving (tablet m2), drug m3 in a capsule (capsule m3), and drug m4 with an engraving that is easy to stand (tablet m4).

[0158] Here, the "medicine that stands easily" is a tablet that is assumed to be likely to "stand" with the surface without the marking facing the camera when it is dropped from the pre-inspection storage unit 200 onto the transport path (on the rotating disk 401) in a spread state. Whether or not the tablet is easy to stand can be determined in advance based on the shape of the tablet. Therefore, for tablets that stand easily, the fact that they are "easy to stand" is registered in advance in the medicine master data along with the presence or absence of the marking. Specifically, in the case of a tablet that stands easily with the marking, a master image of a normal state in which the marking is visible and a master image of a standing state in which the marking is not visible are registered in the master data. A plurality of master images of the standing state may be registered. In the case of a tablet that stands easily without the marking, a master image of a normal state and a master image of a standing state are registered in the master data. Note that the difference in size between the normal state and the standing state is also taken into consideration as data. Then, when generating the inspection processing screen 1900, the inspection result processing unit 802 reads out information on these individual medicines m from the medicine master data and displays it in the "medicine name" column. As a result, the drug m4 is displayed as a tablet m4 that is "engraved" and "easy to stand" on the inspection processing screen 1900. The tablets m1, m2, and capsule m3 are displayed in the same manner as the inspection processing screens 1700 and 1800.

[0159] In the first audit result determination process, for tablets m1 and m4 that require marking confirmation, color, size, and marking are compared with the master data (matching analysis). For tablets m2 and capsules m3 that do not require marking confirmation, color and size are compared with the master data (matching analysis).

[0160] However, in the first inspection result determination process for the tablet m4 that is easy to stand, the process from step S204 onwards shown in Fig. 13 changes as follows. If the drug M2 includes a tablet that is easy to stand, when making an inspection determination for the tablet that is easy to stand, the first inspection result determination process may be performed according to the processing procedure described below. As a premise, for tablets that are easy to stand, a master image taken in a normal state (not standing) and a master image taken in a standing state are registered in advance in the drug master data.

[0161] First, the case of a tablet without an engraving and easy to stand will be described. In the case of a tablet without an engraving and easy to stand, the result of step S203 in FIG. 13 is determined as NO. In the matching analysis in step S210, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 uses the master image in the normal state. If the captured image matches the master image in the normal state in color and size in step S210, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 determines the result of the inspection as "normal" in step S211. If the captured image does not match the master image in the normal state in at least color in step S210, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 determines the result of the inspection as "unknown" in step S211. In addition, as a process unique to this modified example, if the captured image does not match the master image in the normal state only in size in step S210, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 performs a matching analysis again using the master image in the standing state. If the result of this matching analysis shows that the captured image matches the master image in the standing state in color and size, the inspection result is determined to be "normal". On the other hand, if the result of this matching analysis is that the photographed image does not match the master image in a standing state in at least either color or size, the inspection result is determined to be "unknown."

[0162] Next, the case of a tablet with an inscription that is easy to stand will be described. If the captured image is determined to have an inscription (YES) in step S203 of FIG. 13, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 uses the master image in the normal state (not standing state) in the matching analysis in step S204. Steps from S204 onwards are the same as the processing procedure described above. On the other hand, if the captured image is determined to have no inscription (NO) in step S203, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 uses the master image in the standing state in the matching analysis in step S210. If the captured image matches the master image in the standing state in color and size in the matching analysis in step S210, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 judges YES in step S211 and judges the inspection result as "confirmation required" rather than "normal". The reason for the inspection result being "confirmation required" is that although it was confirmed that the color and size matched the master image in the matching analysis, it was not confirmed whether the inscription matched. Depending on the settings, if the color and size of the captured image match those of the master image in a standing state in the matching analysis in step S210 (YES is determined in step S211), the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 may determine the inspection result as "normal" rather than "requires confirmation."

[0163] As a result of the first inspection result determination process as described above, according to the display of the inspection process screen 1900, the tablets m1, m2, and capsule m3 were all determined to be "normal", but it can be seen that the inspection result of "check required" occurred three times for the tablet m4, which has an imprint and is easy to stand. The display area of ​​the tablet m4 determined to be "check required" is highlighted by a diagonal shading 1707. By displaying the inspection results in this way, the pharmacist can easily check and correct the tablet m4 that is determined to be check required by comparing the photographed image with a master image such as the master image 2301 displayed on the inspection correction screen 2300 of FIG. 22 described later.

[0164] In addition, in the explanation of the inspection processing screen 1900 of the fourth example, it was explained that for tablets that tend to stand up, multiple master images are used to compare with the captured images to determine the inspection result for tablets in a standing state, but such a processing method in the drug inspection device 11 according to the present embodiment is not limited to tablets that tend to stand up, but can be applied to all drugs whose size or the appearance of the markings changes depending on the direction in which they are placed on the transport path. Although a detailed explanation is omitted, when the size changes, master images of sizes corresponding to the respective placing methods are prepared, and a matching analysis with each master image is performed.

[0165] Furthermore, non-tablets (capsules) with markings may also be considered as medicines whose appearance in the captured image changes depending on the direction in which they are placed on the transport path. For example, if the medicine M2 includes a capsule m3 with markings and it is desired to determine the inspection result for the capsule m3 taking into consideration the matching of the markings, then as a modified example of the first inspection result determination process shown in FIG. 13, the processes from step S204 to step S210 onward may be changed as follows.

[0166] First, as a premise, in the case of capsules, multiple master images in which the appearance of the inscription differs depending on the orientation of the capsule when photographed (master images photographed with the entire capsule inscription visible, master images photographed with only part of the capsule inscription visible, etc.) are registered in advance in the drug master data. Master images in which the inscription is not visible do not need to be registered.

[0167] In this modified example, if it is determined in step S203 of the first inspection result determination process that the captured image has an inscription (YES), in the matching analysis in step S204, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 performs a matching analysis with each of a plurality of master images, and if it is determined that the size, color, and inscription all match with any of the master images, it determines YES in step S205 and determines the inspection result as "normal". If the matching analysis in step S204 does not result in a match with any of the master images in terms of the size, color, and inscription, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 determines NO in step S205 and proceeds to step S207. In step S207, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 checks whether the size and color match and only the inscription is similar, based on the analysis result with any of the master images in step S204. If a positive result is obtained in step S207, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 judges the result as YES and determines the inspection result as "confirmation required," and if a positive result is not obtained in step S207, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 judges the result as NO and determines the inspection result as "unknown."

[0168] Also, if the captured image is determined to have no mark (NO) in step S203, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 performs a matching analysis with each of a plurality of master images in the matching analysis in step S210, and if it is determined that the size and color match with any of the master images, it determines YES in step S211 and determines the inspection result as "verification required" rather than "normal". On the other hand, if the matching analysis using any of the master images in step S210 does not result in a match in size and color, the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 determines NO in step S211 and determines the inspection result as "unknown". Note that, depending on the settings, if it is determined that the size and color match with any of the master images (YES in step S211), the inspection result may be determined as "normal" rather than "verification required".

[0169] The fifth example of the inspection processing screen 2000 shown in Figure 19 is an example of the display of the inspection results for an individual drug m when the drug M2 to be inspected contains a tablet that is easy to stand (tablet m4), and differs from the fourth example shown in Figure 18 in that it is configured to display the matching rate of the markings for drugs (tablets) with markings.

[0170] The individual drugs m whose audit results are displayed on the audit processing screen 2000 are drug m1 (tablet m1) with an engraving, drug m2 (tablet m2) without an engraving, drug m3 in a capsule (capsule m3), and drug m4 (tablet m4) with an engraving and easy to stand, which are the same as the fourth example shown in Fig. 18. Therefore, the first audit result determination process to be executed is also the same as the fourth example, and a description thereof will be omitted.

[0171] When generating the inspection processing screen 2000, the inspection result processing unit 802 displays the reference value (first threshold value) used to determine whether the markings match in the inspection result determination process for medicines (tablets) with markings in the medicine name column, and displays the match rate in the captured image in the corresponding display area. As a result, the inspection processing screen 2000 shows the reference value and the match rate in the columns for the tablet m1 with markings and the tablet m4 with markings that are easy to stand. In the case of FIG. 19, the match rate is expressed as a numerical value with 100 being a perfect match, but this is not limited thereto, and for example, the match rate may be ranked and the ranks may be displayed.

[0172] In addition, looking at the results of tablet m4 on the 3rd, 5th, and 6th days on the inspection processing screen 2000, the inspection result of "verification required" is shown, but the matching rate is not displayed. This means that the photographed image was in a standing state and the marking could not be confirmed (matching rate 0%). In cases where "verification required" is due to reasons other than the standing state (for example, tablet m1 on the 3rd day on the inspection processing screen 1800), the matching rate of the marking is displayed. In addition, since there is not much value in displaying the matching rate when the inspection result is "unknown", the inspection result processing unit 802 may display the matching rate only for photographed images with markings whose inspection result is determined to be "normal" or "verification required". Furthermore, even if the inspection result is "verification required", the matching rate may not be displayed, assuming that confirmation will be performed by a pharmacist.

[0173] By displaying the standard value and the matching rate for tablets with markings as in the audit processing screen 2000, not only is it easier to identify tablets that require confirmation, but even for tablets whose audit results are "normal", the degree of difference from the master data can be understood from the high or low matching rate, which can also serve as a reference for verifying the validity of the master data (whether the currently set standard value is appropriate). In addition, the standard value (threshold value) used for the matching judgment in the audit result judgment process can be set differently for each drug, and can also be changed. Note that the drug name column may display the average matching rate of "normal" results (or results requiring confirmation for which the matching rate was calculated) from past audits, rather than the standard value, in which case the current audit result can be compared with audit results that were previously judged to be "normal".

[0174] The sixth example of the inspection processing screen 2100 shown in Fig. 20 is a display example of the inspection result when the photographed image of the medicine m to be inspected, which is taken while the medicine M2 is spread out, includes an image of multiple medicines overlapping each other. Since the processing other than the processing for the photographed image in the overlapping state is the same as each of the inspection processing screens described in Figs. 16 to 19, the description will be omitted.

[0175] In the drug inspection device 11 capable of displaying the inspection processing screen 2100 of the sixth example, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 performs the following processing in the inspection result determination processing as a special processing for the captured image in the overlapping state. Specifically, in the matching analysis in steps S204 and S210 in FIG. 13 (or step S303 in FIG. 14), when at least the overall size does not match between the captured image and the master image, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 performs a detailed analysis of the shape of the captured image, and can identify the overlapping state when, for example, the shape is an expected shape when two or more drugs are in an overlapping state (in other words, a shape different from a shape that one drug can have (such as a circle or a polygon)). When identifying the captured image as an overlapping state, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 refers to information on a plurality of drugs m designated in the drug prescription data of the drug M2 that have not obtained a normal result in the inspection result determination processing, and compares each of the plurality of drugs with each drug identified by image analysis of the captured image in the overlapping state. For example, if two tablets m1 and m2 of different sizes are partially overlapped, the tablet located at the front (e.g., tablet m1) can be compared (by size, color, or engraving) with the master image of the drug for which a normal result has not been obtained, since the entire shape of the tablet located at the front is captured in the captured image, and if the matching rate of the matching exceeds a predetermined reference value, it can be estimated (or identified depending on the matching rate) that the drug is tablet m1. Also, the other tablet located at the rear can be compared (by at least size or color) with the master image of the drug for which a normal result has not been obtained, within the range captured in the captured image, and if the matching rate of the matching exceeds a predetermined reference value, it can be estimated that the drug is tablet m2. In this way, the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 estimates which drugs are overlapping.

[0176] Then, when the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 is able to individually estimate the multiple drugs contained in the overlapping captured image through the above process, it determines the inspection result as "confirmation required." At this time, it outputs information indicating that "confirmation required" due to the overlapping state, as well as an estimation result of which combination of drugs caused the overlapping state. Note that, when the imaging / inspection processing unit 803 is unable to individually estimate the multiple drugs contained in the captured image identified as an overlapping state, it determines the inspection result as "unknown."

[0177] Then, when generating the inspection processing screen 2000, the inspection result processing unit 802 displays the photographed images of the plurality of medicines estimated to be included in the overlapping photographed images in the respective display areas of the inspection processing screen 2100 based on the above information output in the inspection result determination process, and performs a highlighting corresponding to "confirmation required". For example, in the inspection processing screen 2100 of FIG. 20, a photographed image of two overlapping tablets is displayed in the inspection result column for tablets m1 and m2 on the second day, and the display area is highlighted by diagonal shading 1707. These displays mean that in the inspection result determination process, the medicines shown in the overlapping photographed images are estimated to be tablets m1 and m2, and the inspection result is determined to be "confirmation required".

[0178] As described above, for overlapping medications, as in the inspection processing screen 2100, the suspected medication is displayed as “requiring confirmation,” allowing the pharmacist to easily confirm the medication in question.

[0179] The seventh example of the inspection processing screen 2100 shown in FIG. 21 is a display example of the inspection result when closely similar tablets are included in the individual medicines m included in the medicine M2 to be inspected.

[0180] A closely similar tablet is a tablet that closely resembles at least one of the size or color of a target tablet, and information on the closely similar tablet (master image of the closely similar tablet) is linked to information on the target tablet in the master data and registered in advance. For example, a registration method in which master data (basic data) of tablets that closely resemble each other may be linked to each other. Furthermore, registration and cancellation of closely similar tablets in the master data may be arbitrarily set during operation of the drug inspection device 11.

[0181] Then, when generating the inspection processing screen 2100, the inspection result processing unit 802 checks whether closely similar tablets have been registered when referring to the master data for each of the drugs m1 to m4 output as the inspection result for the drug M2, and if the drug (tablet) is a registered closely similar tablet, displays a warning message 2201 in a predetermined format (e.g., speech bubble or pop-up) in the display column for the drug to notify the presence of closely similar tablets. Specifically, in the case of the inspection processing screen 2100, the warning message 2201 is displayed in speech bubble format in the drug name column for the tablet m4 that has an imprint and is easy to stand.

[0182] As shown in the inspection processing screen 2100, a warning message 2201 is displayed for drug m for which similar tablets exist, allowing the pharmacist to receive a warning and take measures such as visually checking the drug just to be sure, even if the inspection result is "normal."

[0183] Various display examples of the audit result when an audit result other than "normal" occurs have been described above with reference to Figs. 16 to 21. These display examples can be combined as appropriate, and the processing contents of the audit result determination process are changed as appropriate depending on the combination. In addition, the display form to be selected may be selected by a pharmacist or the like, or the display may be switched to displaying the audit processing screen in a different display form depending on an operation by a pharmacist or the like after the audit processing screen is displayed in a certain display form.

[0184] Fig. 22 is a diagram showing an example of an inspection correction screen. The inspection correction screen is a screen that is displayed when a photographed image of any individual tablet displayed in a list is clicked on the inspection processing screens exemplified in Figs. 15 to 21, and an inspection correction screen 2300 shown in Fig. 22 is a specific example thereof.

[0185] The inspection correction screen 2300 is mainly composed of a display field of two rows and three columns. In detail, the first column on the left side of the screen displays the tablet name (tablet m1 in FIG. 22) assigned as the identification result by the drug inspection device 11 (imaging and inspection processing unit 803), and the master image 2301 of the tablet is displayed in the second column to the right of the first column. In addition, the above-mentioned tablet name assignment is performed by the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 performing image identification on the photographed image of each drug m extracted from the photographed image of the drug M by the inspection imaging unit 500, and comparing the identification result with the drug prescription data and the drug master data (or the drug database 904), thereby determining the corresponding master tablet and assigning the tablet name of the master tablet. Furthermore, in the inspection correction screen 2300, the third column on the right side of the screen displays an enlarged image 2302 of each drug (tablet m1 in this case) photographed by the drug inspection device 11 (inspection imaging unit 500). In addition, in the image display of the second and third columns, the front image is displayed in the first row on the top, and the back image is displayed in the second row on the bottom.

[0186] The pharmacist looks at the audit correction screen 2300 and visually confirms that the master image 2301 and the photographed image (enlarged image 2302) of the target tablet that was marked as "requiring confirmation" are the same type of individual tablet, and then presses the confirm button 2304 to confirm the audit result. When the audit result is confirmed by pressing the confirm button 2304, the highlighting of the target tablet marked as "requiring confirmation" on the audit processing screen 1700 of FIG. 14, for example, disappears. Note that the photographed images displayed on the audit processing screens 1600 and 1700 of FIG. 15 and FIG. 14 only display images of the side that has markings or printing and can be visually distinguished from other tablets, but the audit correction screen 2300 displays photographed images of both the front and back of the tablet in order to confirm detailed information about the individual tablet m.

[0187] Note that the audit correction screen 2300 in Figure 22 is an audit correction screen that is displayed when tablet m1 (shaded 1706) on the third day that is marked as "requires confirmation" on the audit processing screen 1700 in Figure 14 is selected. However, corrections can also be made using the audit correction screen 2300 in Figure 22 when a tablet (shaded 1707) that is marked as "unknown" on the audit processing screen 1700 is selected.

[0188] In the case of an "unknown" individual tablet, since there is no assigned master tablet as a result of identification by the drug inspection device 11 (imaging / inspection processing unit 803), a master tablet that is not assigned among the individual tablets contained in the drug M2 is preferentially selected and its tablet name and master image are displayed in the first and second column names of the inspection correction screen 2300. Note that by pressing an arrow button 2303 provided below the display column of the master image 2301, the display of the master image 2301 etc. can be switched to other master tablet candidates included in the prescription information of the drug M2.

[0189] The pharmacist looks at the audit correction screen 2300 and visually confirms that the master image 2301 and the photographed image of the unknown tablet (enlarged image 2302) of the target tablet that was marked as "unknown" are the same type of individual tablet, and then presses the Confirm button 2304 to confirm the audit result. When the audit result is confirmed by pressing the Confirm button 2304, the image of the target tablet that was marked as "unknown" on the audit processing screen 1700 is corrected to be displayed in the row of the visually confirmed individual tablet m, and the highlighting of the target tablet disappears.

[0190] In addition, without using the audit correction screen 2300 as described above, the pharmacist can correct the audit results by dragging and dropping the image of the tablet marked as "unknown" onto the row of the correct individual tablet on the audit processing screen 1700.

[0191] Then, when the above procedure has been carried out and visual inspection and correction of the inspection results for all individual tablets with an inspection result of "requires inspection" or "unknown" has been completed, the pharmacist presses inspection result confirmation button 1708 on inspection processing screen 1700 to complete the pharmacist inspection of drug M2. As a result, the display of inspection processing screen 1700 ends, and the display returns to the inspection selection initial screen 1500 shown in FIG. 22.

[0192] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and includes various modifications. Various modifications of the configuration and control method of drug inspection device 11 are possible depending on the number and shape of drugs M and the conditions of the pharmacist's inspection of prescribed drugs.

[0193] For example, when the number or shape of the drug M is such that there is only one drug, or the drug is spherical and naturally disperses, the drug M received by the drug inspection device 11 can be dropped directly onto the circumferential loading plate 402 of the rotating disk 401 of the transport inspection processing unit 400 without the need for a pre-inspection storage unit 200 or a transfer processing unit 300.

[0194] Also, for example, if some medicines do not require inspection processing, a mechanism may be added that, after the pre-inspection storage section 200 receives the medicine, can directly transfer the medicine to the post-inspection storage section 700 without going through the transport inspection processing section 400. Such a mechanism can be realized, for example, by employing a pre-inspection storage section 200A shown in FIG. 23 instead of the pre-inspection storage section 200 described in detail in FIG. 5, FIG. 6, etc.

[0195] Fig. 23 is a diagram showing an example configuration of pre-inspection storage section 200A. Pre-inspection storage section 200A is configured so that storage case 203 and path switching guide 213 are replaceable. Providing handles (handles) on storage case 203 and path switching guide 213 allows a user to easily replace them. Fig. 23(A) shows a state in which storage case 203 is attached to pre-inspection storage section 200A, and Fig. 23(B) shows a state in which storage case 203 is replaced with path switching guide 213 in pre-inspection storage section 200A.

[0196] 23(A), pre-inspection storage section 200A can temporarily hold the medicine in storage case 203 and then drop and move it to transfer processing section 300, similar to pre-inspection storage section 200 described above. On the other hand, when path switching guide 213 is attached as in FIG. 23(B), the medicine dropped into path switching guide 213 can be moved directly to post-inspection storage section 700.

[0197] Furthermore, pre-inspection storage section 200A is equipped with a path switching guide detection sensor 220 that detects whether storage case 203 or path switching guide 213 is attached. In drug inspection device 11 employing pre-inspection storage section 200A, the operation of transport inspection processing section 400 and post-inspection storage section 700 is switched based on the detection result of path switching guide detection sensor 220 because the time required for the drug to reach post-inspection storage section 700 differs depending on whether storage case 203 is attached to pre-inspection storage section 200A or whether path switching guide 213 is attached.

[0198] In the pre-inspection storage section 200A configured as described above, when inspection processing is not required, a route switching guide 213 can be attached to the pre-inspection storage section 200A, thereby shortening the time required for the medicine to reach the post-inspection storage section 700 by not passing through the transport inspection processing section 400, and as a result, the time required for packaging can be shortened.

[0199] As described above, the pre-inspection storage section 200A is effective when handling drugs that do not require inspection processing. However, in other cases, for example, if the transport inspection processing section 400 or the discharge processing section 600 malfunctions and becomes inoperable, by replacing the storage case 203 with the route switching guide 213, it becomes possible to transport the drug without going through the malfunctioning part, and although the inspection function becomes degraded, it is possible to continue processing the drug.

[0200] Also, for example, in the explanation of Figure 7 etc., the circumferential loading plate 402 of the rotating disk 401 in the transport inspection processing unit 400 is configured to be divided into four quadrants, but if the number of drugs M is small, it may be further divided into 6 to 10 quadrants, etc., or, for simplification, the number of quadrants may be reduced or no quadrants may be used.

[0201] On the other hand, when it is difficult to inspect each individual medicine, such as when the number of medicines M is large (for example, 10 or more) or when large medicines are included, the inspection overall processing unit 801 may grasp the type and number of tablets that the medicine inspection device 11 receives from the upper device based on the medicine prescription data, and variably handle the upper device and the timing of inputting the medicine, as well as the cycle and number of repetitive operations. For example, in the case of the medicine inspection device 11, the pre-inspection storage unit 200, the transport inspection processing unit 400, etc. have a predetermined volume for storing medicine, and there are cases where the medicine described in the medicine prescription data cannot be input to the medicine inspection device 11 at once. In such a case, the processing method can be adjusted by dividing the number of times the medicine is input into two or more times by adjusting with the upper device, and processing using multiple sections in the rotating disk 401, etc. In addition, some medicines have characteristics such as being easily overlapped depending on the shape and combination, and adjustments can be made such as inputting those medicines separately into the medicine inspection device 11.

[0202] In addition, in order to improve the performance of drug inspection, if a drug inspection fails, the drug may not be ejected from the rotating disk 401, but may be retained on the rotating disk 401 for another rotation, photographed again, and then sent for inspection.

[0203] According to the above-described first embodiment or its modified example, a medicine inspection device and a medicine inspection method having the following characteristics (1) to (4) are provided. (1) Even when the drugs M are a combination of many differently shaped drugs, such as 10 differently shaped tablets, the individual drugs can be transferred in a vertical line (almost in a line along the transport path) in a long, narrow transport space without overlapping (spread out), thereby enabling the upper and lower surfaces of each drug to be reliably imaged and high-definition images to be obtained. Thus, a drug inspection device and a drug inspection method that can perform inspection with high accuracy or high probability can be provided. (2) Even when the drugs M are a combination of many drugs with different shapes, the drugs M can be transferred to a long and narrow transport space on a rotating disk and transported at a constant speed, and the drugs can be divided and inspected individually from images of the multiple drugs, thereby narrowing the field of view of the installed camera and making it easy to make the inspection process (image extraction) small and fast. Thus, a drug inspection device and drug inspection method that are small and capable of high-speed processing can be provided. (3) Even when the medicine M is a combination of many medicines with different shapes, the elongated transport space on the rotating disk rotates approximately 360 degrees to perform the inspection process, so that the preceding medicine can be clearly distinguished from the following medicine by a series of unidirectional movements without reciprocating movements. Thus, a medicine inspection device and a medicine inspection method suitable for processing multiple consecutive medicines can be provided. (4) Since the elongated transport space on the horizontal rotating disk rotates approximately 360 degrees to perform the inspection process, the pre-inspection storage section and the post-inspection storage section can be arranged in close proximity with little difference in height, making it possible to provide a compact drug inspection device with a small height dimension and where the drug input and output sections are located close to each other. EXAMPLES

[0204] The drug inspection device 11 of the first embodiment described above has an advantage that the drug can be continuously, stably, and quickly processed from the input to the output in one rotational motion by using a rotating disk in the transport inspection processing unit 400 having the inspection imaging unit 500. On the other hand, the drug inspection device 11 of the first embodiment has a problem that the device becomes large to a certain extent. Therefore, in the second embodiment, a drug inspection device 12 will be described with reference to FIGS. 24 and 25 as an example of a drug inspection device 10 in which miniaturization is prioritized.

[0205] Fig. 24 is a side view and a front view of drug inspection device 12 according to Example 2. Fig. 25 is a view for explaining the drug inspection operation of drug inspection device 12. Fig. 25(A) to Fig. 25(D) show the movement of drug M during drug inspection in time series. Fig. 25(A) and Fig. 25(D) are side views, and Fig. 25(B) and Fig. 25(C) are front views.

[0206] Drug inspection device 12 includes a pre-inspection storage unit 250, a transfer processing unit 350, a transport inspection processing unit 450, an inspection imaging unit 550, a discharge processing unit 650, a post-inspection storage unit 750, and an inspection control unit (not shown). As in the first embodiment, the functions of each component correspond to the functions of the components with the same names in drug inspection device 10. In the following description, descriptions of components and control operations common to the first embodiment will be omitted.

[0207] As shown in FIG. 24, in the drug inspection device 12, the pre-inspection storage section 250 and the transfer processing section 350 are arranged successively in the vertical direction, and have the same configuration and control operation as the pre-inspection storage section 200 and the transfer processing section 300 of the drug inspection device 11. That is, the drug M put into the pre-inspection storage section 250 is pushed out from the transfer processing section 350 to the transport inspection processing section 450. A flat plate 451 is arranged in the transport inspection processing section 450, and the drug M pushed out from the transfer processing section 350 is held on the flat plate 451 (see FIG. 25(A)). The transport inspection processing section 450 of this embodiment is different from the transport inspection processing section 400 of the first embodiment in that it does not have a moving transport path (rotary disk 401). That is, the transport inspection processing section 450 holds the drug M transferred from the transfer processing section 300 on the flat plate 451 without moving it until the drug M is discharged to the discharge processing section 650 by operating the flat plate 451 as described later.

[0208] The inspection imaging unit 550 includes an upper camera disposed on the upper portion of the flat plate 451. After the transport inspection processing unit 450 holds the drug M on the flat plate 451, the inspection imaging unit 550 moves in the horizontal direction by a driving means (not shown) to a position shown by a dotted line in FIG. 24(B) to image the drug M (see FIG. 25(B) and FIG. 25(C)). The flat plate 451 is structured to be movable to an inclined state shown by a dotted line in FIG. 24(A). After the inspection imaging unit 550 images the drug M, the flat plate 451 moves to the inclined state, so that the drug M passes through the discharge processing unit 650 and moves to the post-inspection storage unit 750, and is then discharged (see FIG. 25(D)). The configurations and control operations of the discharge processing unit 650 and the post-inspection storage unit 750 are the same as those of the discharge processing unit 600 and the post-inspection storage unit 700 of the drug inspection device 11.

[0209] In the drug inspection device 12 shown in Figures 24 and 25, miniaturization is prioritized, so the inspection imaging unit 550 is equipped with only an upper camera. However, as in Example 1, it may also be configured to be equipped with a lower camera so that the drug M can be photographed from above and below.

[0210] According to the above-described embodiment 2, even when the medicine M is a combination of many medicines with different shapes, for example, when the medicine M is 10 different shaped tablets, high-definition images can be acquired by transferring the individual medicines in a vertical line (almost in a line along the conveying path) without overlapping (spread out) in a long and narrow conveying space similar to that of embodiment 1. Thus, a medicine inspection device capable of performing an inspection with high accuracy or high probability can be provided as a compact device.

[0211] In the drug inspection device 12 of the second embodiment, the substantial components of the transport inspection processing unit 450 are only the flat plate 451 that serves as the placement surface for the drug M and the space surrounding it. Therefore, these components may not be included in the transport inspection processing unit 450, but may be included as part of the discharge processing unit 650, for example. In such a configuration, the drug inspection device 12 does not need to include the transport inspection processing unit 450.

[0212] In the second embodiment, in order to process a plurality of successive medicines M at high speed, not only the mechanism for moving the medicines but also the inspection imaging section 550 may be moved at high speed.

[0213] The above-mentioned embodiments have been described in detail to make the present invention easier to understand, and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. It is also possible to replace a part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. It is also possible to add, delete, or replace a part of the configuration of each embodiment with another configuration. The above-mentioned configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be realized in hardware by designing them as integrated circuits, for example, in part or in whole. The above-mentioned configurations, functions, etc. may also be realized in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function. Information such as programs, tables, files, etc. that realize each configuration may be stored in a memory, a recording device such as a hard disk or SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD. [Explanation of symbols]

[0214] 10,11,12 Drug inspection device 20 Pre-audit storage section 30 Transfer Processing Section 40 Transportation Inspection Processing Department 50 Audit and Imaging Department 60 Discharge Processing Unit 70 Post-inspection storage section 80 Audit Control Section 101 Drug packaging device 102 Medicine storage section 103 Drug Supply Department 104 Drug Packaging Department 105 Packaged medicines 106 Individual Drugs 107 Single-packet prescription drugs 200, 200A, 250 Pre-audit storage section 201 Insertion Vibration Alignment Section 202 Inlet partition plate 203 Storage Case 204,205 Arrows 206 Rotational Axis 213 Route Switching Guide 220 Route switching guide detection sensor 300,350 Transfer processing section 301 Transfer Guide 302 Transfer and extrusion plate 303 Transfer, push-out and alignment section 304 Transfer section shutter 400,450 Transportation inspection processing section 401 Rotating Disc 402 Circular loading plate 403 Inner guide 404 Circumferential Partition Plate 405 Outer circumference guide 406 Support Frame 451 Flat plate 500,550 Audit Imaging Department 501 Camera 501A Upper Camera 501B Lower Camera 502,502A,502B Lighting (reflected lighting) 515 Transillumination 516 Semi-transparent sheet 521 Backlit Images 522 Front-light images 600 Discharge Processing Unit 601 Ejection Guide 602 Ejection lever 700 Post-inspection storage section 702 Discharge partition plate 800 Audit Control Section 801 Audit Overall Processing Section 802 Audit result processing unit 803 Imaging and Inspection Processing Department 804 Drug operation control unit 805 Drug action unit 901 Audit result display screen 902 Upper prescription drug indication device 903 Server 904 Drug Database 1500 Audit Selection Initial Screen 1600,1700,1800,1900,2000,2100,2200 Audit processing screen 2300 Audit Modification Screen

Claims

1. A drug inspection device for inspecting a drug group consisting of one or more dispensed drugs, a data acquisition unit that acquires drug master data including master images of a plurality of drugs including each drug included in the drug group; an inspection imaging unit that images each drug in the group of drugs; an inspection processing unit that performs an inspection process on the group of medicines based on a comparison between an image captured by the inspection imaging unit and the medicine master data; an audit result processing unit that generates and outputs an audit processing screen that displays the results of the audit processing; Equipped with In the inspection process, if the inspection processing unit determines that the drug in the photographed image is a drug included in the drug group, it determines the inspection result of the photographed image as a normal result; if it determines that it is unclear whether the drug in the photographed image is a drug included in the drug group, it determines the inspection result of the photographed image as an unknown result; if it determines that the drug in the photographed image is presumed to be a drug included in the drug group but human confirmation is recommended, it determines the inspection result of the photographed image as a result requiring confirmation; The inspection result processing unit displays the photographed image determined to be the normal result or the result requiring confirmation corresponding to each drug identified in the inspection process in a first display field on the inspection processing screen, and displays the photographed image determined to be the unknown result in a second display field provided separately from the first display field. A drug inspection device characterized by:

2. The inspection result processing unit highlights the first display field, which displays the photographed image determined to be the result requiring confirmation, and the second display field, which displays the photographed image determined to be the result unknown, in different ways on the inspection processing screen. The drug inspection device according to claim 1 .

3. The inspection result processing unit divides the second display field on the inspection processing screen into a display field that displays a photographed image of a tablet among the photographed images determined to be the unknown result, and a display field that displays a photographed image other than a tablet. The drug inspection device according to claim 1 .

4. In the inspection process, when comparing the master image of the medicine having an inscription with the photographed image, the inspection processing unit determines whether the matching rate of the inscription is equal to or greater than a reference value as one of the elements for determining the inspection result, The inspection result processing unit displays a matching rate of the inscription of the photographed image to the master image when the photographed image is displayed in the first display field of the medicine having the inscription on the inspection processing screen. The drug inspection device according to claim 1 .

5. The inspection result processing unit displays, in an area on the inspection processing screen where the name of a drug having an imprint is displayed, the reference value of the match rate set in the drug master data of the drug, or an average value of the match rate in the past photographed images that have been determined to be the normal result corresponding to the drug. The drug inspection device according to claim 4 .

6. The inspection processing unit performs the inspection process for the drug group by comparing the drug master data of each drug included in the drug group with the photographed image, In the inspection process, the inspection processing unit acquires information about the color, size, and marking of the medicine captured in the captured image, analyzes whether the acquired information matches the medicine master data of the medicine to be compared, and determines the inspection result based on the result of the analysis of the color, size, and marking. The drug inspection device according to claim 1 .

7. The inspection processing unit determines that the inspection result of the photographed image is a result requiring confirmation when the information regarding color and size acquired from the photographed image matches the drug master data of the drug to be compared and the information regarding the imprint acquired from the photographed image does not match the drug master data of the drug to be compared. The drug inspection device according to claim 6 .

8. The medicine master data includes information indicating whether or not each medicine is marked, The inspection processing unit, in the inspection processing, determining whether the medicine to be compared with the photographed image has an inscription based on the medicine master data; If the medicine to be compared with the photographed image has an inscription, the inscription information is read from the photographed image and compared with the inscription information registered in the medicine master data, thereby determining whether the inscription matches. The drug inspection device according to claim 6 .

9. The audit processing unit executes the audit processing for the drug group by comparing the drug master data of each drug included in the drug group with the photographed image, In the inspection process, the inspection processing unit acquires information about the color and size of the drug captured in the captured image, analyzes whether the acquired information matches the drug master data of the drug to be compared, and determines the inspection result based on the result of the analysis regarding the color and size. The drug inspection device according to claim 1 .

10. In the medicine master data, a plurality of master images of a specific medicine taken from different directions are registered, When the inspection processing unit compares the specific drug with the photographed image in the inspection process, performing a first comparison in which one master image of the plurality of master images corresponding to the specific drug is compared with the captured image; If a match is not obtained in the first comparison, a second comparison is performed in which another master image among the plurality of master images is compared with the captured image; When a match is determined in the second comparison, the inspection result of the captured image is determined to be the normal result or the confirmation required result. The drug inspection device according to claim 6 or 9.

11. The drug master data can be registered by linking basic data of a predetermined drug with information on a drug that is very similar to the drug, When displaying a drug associated with information on a similar drug in the drug master data on the inspection processing screen, the inspection result processing unit notifies the user that the similar drug exists in the drug. The drug inspection device according to claim 1 .

12. When the photographed images used in the inspection process include an image of an overlapping state in which multiple drugs are overlapped, the inspection processing unit compares the photographed image of the overlapping state with the master image of a drug included in the drug group that has not been determined to have the normal result, thereby estimating the drug included in the photographed image of the overlapping state. The drug inspection device according to claim 1 .

13. When the inspection processing unit can estimate the plurality of drugs included in the photographed image in the overlapping state, it determines the inspection result of the photographed image as the result requiring confirmation, The inspection result processing unit displays the captured image of the overlapping state in the first display field of each of the estimated plurality of drugs on the inspection processing screen. The drug inspection device according to claim 12 .

14. The audit result processing unit is capable of displaying an audit correction screen for correcting the results of the audit processing, On the audit correction screen, for a drug determined to have an unknown result, the master image of an unassigned drug is preferentially displayed among the plurality of drugs included in the drug group, excluding the drug determined to have the normal result or the result requiring confirmation. The drug inspection device according to claim 1 .

15. A drug inspection method using a drug inspection device for inspecting a drug group consisting of one or more dispensed drugs, comprising: The drug inspection device includes: a data acquisition unit that acquires drug master data including master images of a plurality of drugs including each drug included in the dispensed drug group; an inspection imaging unit that images each drug in the group of drugs; an inspection processing unit that performs an inspection process on the group of medicines based on a comparison between an image captured by the inspection imaging unit and the medicine master data; an audit result processing unit that generates and outputs an audit processing screen that displays the results of the audit processing; and In the inspection process, if the inspection processing unit determines that the drug in the photographed image is a drug included in the drug group, it determines the inspection result of the photographed image as a normal result; if it determines that it is unclear whether the drug in the photographed image is a drug included in the drug group, it determines the inspection result of the photographed image as an unknown result; if it determines that the drug in the photographed image is presumed to be a drug included in the drug group but human confirmation is recommended, it determines the inspection result of the photographed image as a result requiring confirmation; The inspection result processing unit displays the photographed image determined to be the normal result or the result requiring confirmation corresponding to each drug identified in the inspection process in a first display field on the inspection processing screen, and displays the photographed image determined to be the unknown result in a second display field provided separately from the first display field. A drug inspection method characterized by:

Images