Medicine audit device, medicine packaging device, and medicine audit device

Abstract

To accurately perform an audit of a medicine including a plurality of tablets.SOLUTION: A medicine audit device includes: a rotary disc 401 that rotates around a predetermined axis; a camera 501 that images a medicine placed on the rotating rotary disc 401; and an imaging / audit processing part that determines a type or the number of medicines imaged by the camera 501. In this case, for example, the camera 501 continuously images a plurality of medicine groups placed on the rotating rotary disc 401, and the imaging / audit processing part determines a type or the number of individual medicines in the medicine groups.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a medicine inspection device, a medicine packaging device, and a medicine inspection method, and is suitable for application to a medicine inspection device and a medicine inspection method for inspecting dispensed medicines. [Background technology]

[0002] Hospitals and pharmacies dispense medications according to prescriptions, and drug inspections to ensure the dosage and other details of the medications prepared are correct are generally performed by pharmacists. In particular, when multiple medications are combined and packaged as a single dose, the medications must be dispensed and their contents inspected for each dose. Various automation and efficiency technologies have been proposed to support this process.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology 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, "The medicine packaging device of the present invention preferably has a plurality of receiving sections arranged circumferentially on a rotor that is rotatable around a predetermined axis, and the delivery section is capable of performing the delivery operation for the medicines in the receiving sections arranged within a predetermined operating area. With this configuration, medicines supplied from the medicine preparation and dispensing section are sequentially prepared in the plurality of receiving sections, and the rotor is moved toward the operating area of ​​the delivery section to perform the delivery operation, thereby supplying the medicines one by one to the pre-packaging imaging section. This allows the individual supply section to efficiently supply 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 that an inspection device moves solid medication discharged from a hopper, one dose at a time, to multiple inspection containers placed 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 a photographing device.

[0005] Patent Document 3 describes a technology for a device that supports the inspection of medicines packaged as a single dose. Patent Document 3 states, "A packet having medicine enclosed between two films is illuminated from one of the two films, and the packet is imaged from the other of the two films to obtain a transmitted light image of the packet; the packet is illuminated from the other film to obtain a reflected light image of the packet, and a medicine area indicating the area of ​​the medicine enclosed in the packet is detected using the transmitted light image; an image of the area of ​​the reflected light image corresponding to the medicine area is cut out to create a medicine image, which is a color 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 "the image acquisition unit 20 is composed of two cameras (imaging units) 22A and 22B that photograph a medicine as shown in Fig. 2, 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 in that the processing mechanism from the input of medicines to be inspected to the discharge of medicines after inspection is complicated, and the inspection process for each dose takes time. Also, since images of medicines are taken one tablet at a time, it takes even more time if the number of medicines in a dose is large. Furthermore, there are problems in that the processing time accumulates and becomes long for multiple consecutive prescriptions, and the mechanism becomes complex and large.

[0009] Furthermore, the inspection device (medicine supply device) disclosed in Patent Document 2 anticipates a situation in which, when a single dose contains a large number of medicines, the medicines may overlap in the inspection container, making it impossible to accurately capture and inspect them. In such a situation, the inspection container must be stopped to capture an image using the imaging unit, which poses a problem of time-consuming operation. Furthermore, the image processing in Patent Document 2, which inspects each tablet from the captured image, also poses a problem of time-consuming operation.

[0010] Furthermore, in the devices disclosed in Patent Documents 3 and 4, when a single dose contains a large number of drugs, the drugs tend to become unevenly distributed within the packaging sheet, and it is anticipated that the overlapping of drugs 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 drugs, and there are issues 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 accurately inspect drugs containing multiple tablets by capturing images of a single dose of medicine containing multiple tablets in a state where the tablets are not individually packaged and are easily identifiable. [Means for solving the problem]

[0012] In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a drug inspection device that includes a drug placement section that rotates around a predetermined axis, an imaging section that images drugs placed on the drug placement section while it is rotating, and an inspection processing section that determines the type or number of drugs imaged by the imaging section.

[0013] In addition, in order to solve such problems, the present invention provides a drug packaging device that includes a drug inspection device, a drug supply unit that supplies drugs to the drug inspection device, and a drug packaging unit that packages drugs after inspection processing in the drug inspection device.

[0014] In addition, in order to solve such problems, the present invention provides a drug inspection method in which a drug inspection device performs the steps of placing drugs on a drug placement section that rotates around a predetermined axis, capturing images of the drugs placed on the rotating drug placement section, and determining the type or number of drugs captured. [Effects of the Invention]

[0015] According to the present invention, inspection of medicines containing multiple tablets can be performed with high accuracy. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the schematic configuration of a drug inspection device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a medicine packaging device 101 equipped with a medicine inspection device 10. [Figure 3] 1A and 1B are a front view and a top view of a drug inspection device 11 in accordance with a first embodiment. [Figure 4] 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the drug inspection device 11, centered around an inspection control unit 800. FIG. [Figure 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] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing procedure for control processing by a medicine action control unit 804. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a process transition in 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] 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining the imaging operation by the inspection imaging unit 500. FIG. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an audit selection initial screen. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an inspection processing screen. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of the inspection processing screen. [Figure 15] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an audit correction screen. [Figure 16] 10A and 10B are a side view and a front view of a drug inspection device 12 according to a second embodiment. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the drug inspection operation of drug inspection device 12. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0018] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating 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 unit 20, a transfer processing unit 30, a transport inspection processing unit 40 having an inspection imaging unit 50, a discharge processing unit 60, and a post-inspection storage unit 70, which are arranged in series to form a movement path for multiple drugs M received by the drug inspection device 10. In addition to the above units, the drug inspection device 10 also includes an inspection control unit 80 that controls the movement, imaging, and inspection of the drugs M. The inspection control unit 80 realizes predetermined functions by software, such as by hardware (e.g., a processor, a memory device, various interfaces, etc.) constituting a computer executing predetermined programs and storing data, but some or all of the functions may be realized by hardware.

[0019] In the inspection control process, the drug inspection device 10 inspects each drug m included in a group of drugs M to determine whether it matches pre-registered drug information for each group of drugs (referred to as drug M). 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.

[0020] 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 for all of the drugs m included are normal, and is "unknown" if at least some of the drugs m have unknown inspection results.

[0021] Furthermore, the drug inspection device 10 can receive other drugs M (hereinafter referred to as M1, M2, M3, etc.) consecutively after 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." Note that, in this specification, "continuously administering drugs M / accepting another drug M consecutively after drug M" means that the administration periods (or acceptance periods) of a preceding drug group (e.g., drug M1) and a succeeding drug group (e.g., drug M2) are executed consecutively without overlapping, and includes a predetermined time interval between the end of administration (or acceptance) of drug M1 and the start of administration (or acceptance) of drug M2 (i.e., intermittent administration (or acceptance) of drugs M).

[0022] Specifically, the drug inspection device 10 receives a plurality of drugs M, which are temporarily stored in the pre-inspection storage unit 20. Subsequently, the drugs m contained in each drug M are sequentially dropped, for example, at predetermined intervals, into the downstream transfer processing unit 30 located below. Furthermore, the downstream transport inspection processing unit 40 transfers the drugs M (the plurality of drugs m) from the transfer processing unit 30 onto the transport means by a transport means (e.g., a transport belt in FIG. 1 or a rotating disk in FIG. 3 , which will be described later) that continuously operates horizontally. Here, downstream of the transport means, inspection imaging units 50 each including a camera and lighting are disposed above and below the transport means, and these inspection imaging units 50 capture images of the drugs M moving on the transport means from above and below. As will be described in detail later, these captured images are used to perform an inspection process on each of the drugs m constituting the drug M. 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 process of the drug M is completed, the drug is discharged from the post-inspection storage section 70.

[0023] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the schematic configuration of a medicine packaging device 101 equipped with a medicine inspection device 10. The medicine packaging device 101 is a device that packages multiple medicines (identified as medicines M) prescribed by a doctor in units of medicine M, and as shown in FIG. 2, is composed of a medicine storage unit 102, a medicine supply unit 103, the medicine inspection device 10, and a medicine packaging unit 104. The medicines (e.g., packaged medicines 105) packaged by the medicine packaging unit 104 of the medicine packaging device 101 are taken out by a pharmacist 108, who checks the contents and hands them over to the patient. For example, the packaged medicine 105 shown in FIG. 2 is made up of prescription drug packets 107, each of which contains one or more individual medicines 106, each of which is a single dose, packaged in a single bag, linked together in the number of doses to be given to the patient.

[0024] The configuration of the drug packaging device 101 excluding the drug inspection device 10 (drug storage section 102, drug supply section 103, and drug packaging section 104) is shown in the documents listed in the prior art documents mentioned above, so detailed explanation will be omitted, but each component of the drug packaging device 101 has the following functions.

[0025] The medicine storage unit 102 stores a plurality of different medicines (medicines m), and upon receiving an output instruction for medicines to be dispensed based on a doctor's prescription, it discharges the specified medicines m in specified quantities and numbers. The medicine supply unit 103 is shaped like a chute, and utilizes the falling gravity of the medicines m discharged from the medicine storage unit 102 to aggregate 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 below the chute of the medicine supply unit 103, and upon receiving the plurality of medicines M, performs an inspection process to inspect whether the specified medicines have been discharged in the specified amounts. The medicine packaging unit 104 then packages and discharges the medicines M that have been inspected by the medicine inspection device 10.

[0026] Prescription data indicating the prescription details of medicines is input to the medicine packing device 101. The prescription data specifies, for example, the names and quantities of medicines 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 in the prescription data. Although one type or one medicine may be taken at a time, in many cases, multiple types or multiple medicines are taken at a time. The medicine packing device 101 continuously performs the above processing based on the prescription data to create, for example, a total of 21 packaged medicines for the morning, afternoon, and evening for one week. Therefore, medicines M1, M2, M3, etc. (a total of 21 dispensed 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, for example, synchronizing the ID numbers assigned 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 the inspection process result is either "normal" if all are normal, or "unknown" if at least some are unknown, as described above. The drug packaging device 101 (e.g., drug inspection device 10) then acquires inspection process result data based on the inspection process result and displays it on a display means (not shown), thereby communicating the information to the pharmacist 108. The pharmacist can easily check the contents of the drug M by comparing and confirming the packaged drug with the inspection process result data.

[0027] 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 to check whether each drug m among a plurality of drugs M received matches pre-registered drug information (drug master data or drug database) through the inspection control process. Therefore, for example, the drug inspection device 10 can be used as a means for finding out which drug in the registered drug information each drug m corresponds to after the drugs M have been packaged and prescribed.

[0028] Various configurations can be proposed for drug inspection device 10 that achieves the above-mentioned objective. Therefore, hereinafter, as multiple examples 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. [Example]

[0029] 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 components.

[0030] Therefore, in the following, components of the drug inspection device 11 that correspond to components of the drug inspection device 10 will be described using the same names. Specifically, for example, the transport inspection processing unit 400 included in the drug inspection device 11 corresponds to the transport inspection processing unit 40 included in the drug inspection device 10. This unification of names also applies to the drug inspection device 12 described in the second embodiment.

[0031] Medicine inspection device 11 temporarily stores the received medicines m (medicines M) in pre-inspection storage section 200. When input partition plate 202 is opened, medicines M in pre-inspection storage section 200 drop and move to transfer processing section 300 disposed below.

[0032] Then, in the transfer processing section 300, the medicine M is pushed out by the transfer pushing plate 302 and transferred onto a rotating disk 401 constituting the transport inspection processing section 400 at the subsequent stage.

[0033] The rotating disk 401 is a disk with a diameter of approximately 250 mm and rotates at a constant rotation speed of 15 rpm. In the transport inspection processing unit 400, the drug M is placed in a narrow space approximately 20 mm wide formed by the rotating disk 401, which continuously rotates horizontally, and an inner circumferential guide 403 arranged on the inner circumferential surface of the rotating disk. As the drug M moves along with the rotating disk 401, it is imaged from above and below by the inspection imaging unit 500, which has a camera 501 and a light (reflected light) 502 arranged above and below, located downstream of the transport. When the rotating disk 401 further rotates approximately 180 degrees, the drug M moves outward along the inner circumferential guide 403 on the rotating disk 401, pushing it out of the rotating disk 401 into the discharge processing unit 600. Furthermore, the discharge lever 602 of the discharge processing unit 600 moves toward the rotating disk 401, and the drug M moves to the post-inspection storage unit 700. After the inspection, a storage section camera (not shown) captures an image of the drug M stored in storage section 700.

[0034] Once the inspection process for 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 photographed with the storage section camera to confirm that no drug M remains.

[0035] The rotating disk 401 used in this embodiment has its outer periphery divided into four sections, and circumferential dividers 404 that divide the sections are disposed at the boundaries between the sections (see FIG. 7). When the pre-inspection storage section 200 receives a plurality of drugs M in succession (for example, when receiving drugs M1, M2, M3, and M4 in succession), the above operation is repeated, but because 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 consecutively.

[0036] 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the drug inspection device 11, centered around the 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 to process the transport, imaging, and inspection of the received drug M in the drug inspection device 11. As shown in FIG. 4, the inspection control unit 800 includes an inspection overall processing unit 801 that performs overall control processing, an inspection result processing unit 802, an imaging / inspection processing unit 803, and a drug operation control unit 804.

[0037] The overall inspection 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 for drugs M to be received and outputs inspection processing results between the host prescription drug indication device 902 and the device. The overall inspection processing unit 801 is also connected to a server 903 that holds basic data on various drugs (drug master data), acquires master data for drugs to be prescribed from the server 903, and stores the master data in a drug database 904 of the imaging / inspection processing unit 803. The overall inspection processing unit 801 determines the operation method of the drug inspection device 11 based on the 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 results for 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 results of drugs in the drug inspection device 10 for the pharmacist, and is realized by a display device such as a display provided in (or connected to) the drug inspection device 10. More specifically, the inspection result display screen 901 displays an inspection selection initial screen, an inspection processing screen, and an inspection correction screen, which will be described later.

[0038] 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 operation method determined by the overall inspection processing unit 801.

[0039] The imaging and inspection processor 803 acquires an image of each drug m of the drug M captured by the inspection imaging unit 500 of the transport inspection processor 400. Using the image, the inspection processor 803 compares the image with the master data of each drug m included in the drug prescription data retrieved from the drug database 904 to determine the degree of similarity between the captured image and the master data by comparing the external size and color information of the drug m and matching the image of the imprint information. Based on the calculated degree of similarity, the inspection processor 803 determines and outputs an inspection result for each drug m. The inspection result can be defined as "normal," "confirmation required," or "unknown." The "normal" inspection result is determined when the degree of similarity with one of the drug master data included in the drug prescription data exceeds a predetermined threshold. The "confirmation required" inspection result is determined when the degree of similarity does not reach the threshold but the drug is determined to be similar to one of the drug master data included in the drug prescription data. The "unknown" inspection result is determined when the degree of similarity is low and the drug is not similar to any of the drug master data included in the drug prescription data, or when the drug is determined to be 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 check based on the results of the inspection of the drug M performed by the imaging and inspection processing unit 803 , and displays the screen on the inspection result display screen 901 .

[0041] 2, the upper-level prescription drug instruction device 902 is equivalent to the control section 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 highly accurate inspection processing, inspection processing that is easy for pharmacists to use, and easy software connection processing with the upper-level device.

[0042] The configuration and functions of the drug inspection device 11 according to Example 1 have been described above with reference to Figures 3 and 4. Below, the configurations and operations 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 with respect to the drug M, as well as the control method of 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 the pre-inspection storage section 200. Fig. 5(A) is a perspective view of the pre-inspection storage section 200, and Figs. 5(B) to 5(D) show the movement of the drug M in the pre-inspection storage section 200 in chronological order.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 5(A), pre-inspection storage section 200 has, mounted inside storage case 203, input vibration alignment section 201 that receives input medicines M, and input partition plate 202 that is rotatably supported by input vibration alignment section 201. Input vibration alignment section 201 is vibrated back and forth by approximately 5 mm in the direction of arrow 204 by a drive source (not shown), thereby scattering accumulated medicines 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 drive source (not shown) to open, allowing medicines to fall from input vibration alignment section 201.

[0045] 5(B) shows a state in which medicines M (plurality of medicines m) are piled up 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 medicines 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 medicines m.

[0046] 5(C) shows the state in which the plurality of medicines m shown in FIG. 5(B) have been dispersed by vibration in the direction of arrow 204. In order to disperse the stacked medicines m by horizontal vibration, 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 come into contact with the medicines at the V-shaped valley surface into a groove shape, the medicines in contact with the V-shaped groove can be given a greater acceleration than the stacked medicines by vibration in the horizontal direction (in the direction of arrow 204) by the drive source, and the stacked medicines m can be dispersed at high speed.

[0047] FIG. 5(D) shows a state in which drug M falls downward by rotating input partition plate 202 in the direction of arrow 205 around rotation shaft 206. In pre-inspection storage section 200, rotation shaft 206 connected to input partition plate 202 is positioned above the V-groove, so that when rotation shaft 206 is rotated in the direction of arrow 205, input partition plate 202 can be rapidly shifted from a state in which input partition plate 202 is in substantial contact with input vibration alignment section 201 to form a V-groove with an approximately 45-degree inclination as shown in FIG. 5(C) to an open state. As a result, drug M, which was held in a spread state on 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 unit 300. Fig. 6(A) is a perspective view of the transfer processing unit 300, and Fig. 6(B) is a cross-sectional view of the transfer processing unit 300. Figs. 6(C) to 6(E) show the movement of the drug M in the transfer processing unit 300 in chronological order.

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

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

[0051] Thereafter, as shown in Fig. 6(C), the transfer unit shutter 304 is moved upward to an open state, and further, as shown in Fig. 6(D), the transfer push-out plate 302 is moved over the transfer push-out alignment unit 303 toward the transfer unit shutter 304. As a result, the drugs M are pushed out and moved onto the rotating disk 401 while maintaining their dispersed state. Then, after the drugs M have been pushed out onto the rotating disk 401, the transfer 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 push-out plate 302 is also formed in an arc shape, so that multiple drugs m can be pushed out simultaneously onto the rotating disk 401 while maintaining a dispersed state. Furthermore, when transferring drugs M from the transfer guide 301 to the rotating disk 401, if there are large gaps or large steps, this will have an adverse effect on the dispersed state of the drugs, so it is preferable to minimize horizontal gaps and steps 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 approximately 250 mm that continuously rotates horizontally at a constant rotational speed of 15 rpm by a drive motor (not shown). The outer periphery of the rotating disk 401 is 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 circumferential guides 403 (individually, inner circumferential guides 403A to 403D) are arranged on the inner circumferential surface of the rotating disk 401, forming circumferential mounting plates 402 (individually, circumferential mounting plates 402A to 402D) as elongated surfaces with a width of approximately 20 mm on which individual drugs m of drug M are placed. The rotating disk 401 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 top and bottom, as will be described later. 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] The following describes the transport of medicines in response to the rotation of the rotating disk 401. To facilitate understanding of this description, the quadrant containing the location of the transfer unit 300 among the four sections divided on the rotating disk 401 will be referred to as "quadrant 1," and the quadrants along the downstream rotational direction from quadrant 1 will be referred to as "quadrant 2," "quadrant 3," and "quadrant 4" every 90 degrees. Furthermore, in the drawings, the components on the rotating disk 401 described above can be designated by symbols A to D corresponding to quadrants 1 to 4. For example, circumferential mounting plate 402A corresponds to the circumferential mounting plate 402 in quadrant 1, circumferential mounting plate 402B corresponds to the circumferential mounting plate 402 in quadrant 2, circumferential mounting plate 402C corresponds to the circumferential mounting plate 402 in quadrant 3, and 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 unit shutter 304, the transfer unit shutter 304 is opened and the transfer push-out plate 302 is pushed out, thereby moving 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 circumferential 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 quadrant 1, the medicine M is already 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 drug M placed on the transparent circumferential mounting plate 402B is transported between the rotating inner circumferential guide 403B and the fixed outer circumferential guide 405, and at this time, the inspection imaging unit 500 performs an imaging process, which will be described later. As will be described in detail later, the inspection imaging unit 500 has arranged in quadrant 2 a camera 501A and a reflective illuminator 502A for taking images from above the circumferential mounting plate 402, and a camera 501B and a reflective illuminator 502B for taking images from below.

[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 outward by a movable mechanism (not shown) that utilizes a rotary cam mechanism, and the medicine M on the circumferential mounting plate 402D is discharged from the rotary disk 401.

[0062] As described above, in the transport inspection processing section 400 of Figure 7, a series of operations from transfer to transport and 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] As shown in Figure 7, quadrant 4 is provided with a discharge processing unit 600 that receives the medicine M discharged from the rotating disk 401. The discharge processing unit 600 is configured to include 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 unit 700 is a plate that holds the drug M pushed out by the discharge lever 602, and is configured to include a discharge partition plate 702 that moves horizontally to open and close by a drive source (not shown), and a storage unit camera that images the drug M on the discharge partition plate 702. The storage unit camera captures an image of the drug M stored on the discharge partition plate 702. When the inspection process of the drug M is completed, the discharge partition plate 702 of the post-inspection storage unit 700 moves to an open state, thereby discharging the drug M from the drug inspection device 11. Thereafter, the discharge partition plate 702 is closed, and the storage unit camera then captures an image of 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 for control processing by the medicine movement control unit 804. FIG. 8 shows an operational flow from when medicines are introduced into the medicine inspection device 11, to aligning the medicines, taking an inspection image of the medicines, inspecting the medicines, and discharging the medicines. As described above, the medicine movement 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 medicines M received by the medicine inspection device 11, in accordance with the operation method determined by the overall inspection processing unit 801. Each process shown in the processing flow in FIG. 8 will be described below, but for simplicity, the fact that the medicine movement control unit 804 is the controlling entity of each process 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 medicines M are transported to a predetermined flow path that passes 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 that order, while the medicines are aligned, photographed, inspected, etc. (step S120). In step S120, the processes of steps S121 to S129 are executed as described below in detail.

[0069] First, as described in detail with reference to Figure 5, drug M is introduced into the pre-inspection storage section 200 (step S121), and the drug M (multiple drugs m) is dispersed by vibrating the introduction vibration alignment section 201 in the pre-inspection storage section 200 (step S122).

[0070] Furthermore, in pre-inspection storage section 200, input partition plate 202 is opened, and medicines M are dropped into transfer processing section 300 in a spread 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 medicine 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 as the rotating disk 401 rotates. 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 periphery guide 403 is pushed outward to move the drug M to the discharge processing unit 600 (step S126).

[0073] Next, in discharge processing unit 600, discharge lever 602 is operated in the rotational direction of rotary disk 401 to move drug M to post-inspection storage unit 700 (step S127). Next, in post-inspection storage unit 700, discharge partition plate 702 is opened to discharge drug M from drug inspection device 11 (step S128). Then, after discharge partition plate 702 is closed, it is confirmed by an image capture with the storage unit camera that drug M does not remain in 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 drugs M to be inspected have been discharged from the drug inspection device 11, the drug movement control unit 804 stops the rotation of the rotating disk 401 (step S130), and the inspection of the drugs 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 be able to handle the successive input of multiple drugs M. When drugs M are continuously input, the processes of step S120 corresponding to each input must be executed in parallel, as described using quadrants 1 to 4 in the description of FIG. 7 .

[0076] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the process transition of the inspection process when multiple medications are continuously added. In FIG. 9, multiple medications M continuously added are represented as medications M1 to M7 in the order of addition, and the process transition of the inspection process for each medication M is shown. Note that the numbers (No.) [1] to

[11] shown in FIG. 9 correspond to the numbers assigned to each step of the inspection process shown in FIG. 8, and in the explanation of FIG. 9, each step will be 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." Also, in FIG. 9, the timing at which process 2 is started for the nth medication Mn added 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 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 is started. This kind of coordination of the start of operations is also true for the subsequent drugs M3 and onwards.

[0078] Here, the difference between time T2 when process 2 for drug M2 starts and time T1 is the processing cycle Ts. Because the rotating disk 401 is divided into four parts, the rotation cycle of the rotating disk 401 is preferably set to four times Ts. 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 consecutively introduced drugs M using parallel processing control.

[0079] Furthermore, in Figure 9, drugs M1 to M7 are administered at periodically synchronized times, 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 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 state on the circumferential mounting plate 402 counterclockwise 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 medicines M1, M2, M3, and M4 are continuously added, 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 arranged above circumferential mounting plate 402, while lower camera 501B is arranged 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 offset by a predetermined amount in the rotation direction of rotating disk 401 and arranged optically symmetrically above and below, thereby enabling standardization of image processing in inspection processing.

[0083] Both the upper camera 501A and the lower camera 501B have a camera element 511 and a lens 512 positioned so that they can capture images without distortion on all sides within an imaging area of ​​25 to 30 mm, taking into account the width dimension (approximately 20 mm) of the elongated circular mounting plate 402 and the size of the drug M, and in order to minimize the implementation dimensions, an L-shaped optical path structure is used by capturing images by reflecting them on a mirror 513.

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

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

[0086] Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram for explaining the imaging operation by the inspection imaging unit 500. Note that Fig. 11 shows the layout relationship of the engineering components such as the camera and lighting using the upper camera 501A as an example, but the same can be considered for the lower camera 501B. With reference to Fig. 11, the operation of the inspection imaging unit 500 in which the camera 501 captures an image of a drug by alternately switching between the transmitted illumination 515 and the reflected illumination 502 will be described.

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

[0088] Next, when photographing the bottom side, the transmitted light 515 below 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. The upper camera 501A photographs the medicine from above, thereby obtaining a backlit image 521 capturing the outline (shadow image) of the medicine. At this time, the reflected light 502A is turned off. The semi-transparent sheet 516 is a sheet member that is non-reflective to the illumination from the reflected light 502A and transparent to the illumination from the transmitted light 515, and may be, for example, a black attenuation filter. Furthermore, as described below, it is preferable that the surface of the semi-transparent sheet 516 facing the circumferential mounting plate 402 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 a front-light image 522 and a 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 procedure as upper camera 501A (except that the top and bottom are reversed).

[0090] In addition, when repeating upper-side and lower-side photography, the turned-on lighting (reflected lighting 502, transmitted lighting 515) is periodically switched at intervals of several tens of milliseconds, and the light irradiating the drug is periodically switched between reflected light and transmitted light, while camera images are continuously captured in synchronization with this, thereby making it possible to obtain backlit images 521 and frontlit images 522, which are consecutive images of the rotating and moving drug M. Also, as described above, since the upper camera 501A and the lower camera 501B are positioned with a predetermined amount of offset in the rotation direction of the rotating disk 401, a time difference occurs between the images of the drug M captured by both cameras. Therefore, when upper-side photography and lower-side photography are performed by the upper camera 501A and the lower camera 501B, respectively, it is possible to obtain images captured at different times for the frontlit image 522 and the backlit image 521, which is expected to have the effect of improving the accuracy of drug identification.

[0091] The imaging and 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, with information such as color, shape, and markings in the master data for each drug m that has been registered in advance, and determines the drug as "normal" if the matching rate is above a certain level. If the drug is not normal, it determines the drug as "confirmation required" or "unknown" depending on the matching rate.

[0092] In the inspection imaging unit 500 described above, by arranging the transmitted light 515 and the black semi-transparent sheet 516 close to each other, when photographing using transmitted light (for example, photographing from below using 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 easy to see.

[0093] On the other hand, in the case of an image taken using reflected light (for example, an image taken from above using the upper camera 501A), the reflected illuminator 502 and the semi-transparent sheet 516 are separated from each other, so 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-lit image 522 is black in this way, most of the medicine m is whitish, making it easier to identify the photographed medicine m. Furthermore, as described above, in order to clearly photograph the shadows of marks and imprints 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 image capturing unit 500 switches the lighting and acquires the inspection image, which allows the image capturing and inspection processing unit 803 to inspect the drug m using an image that is easy to see, or to track the movement of each drug m and extract individual images. Also, a black attenuation filter may be used for the semi-transparent sheet 516.

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

[0096] The pharmacist 108 then operates the inspection result display screen 901 that displays the inspection results to confirm whether the packaged drugs M1, M2, ... match the prescription information (drug prescription data), and corrects the inspection results if the inspection results are unclear or differ from the prescription information, thereby completing the drug inspection. Below, the screen output displayed on the inspection result display screen and the operations performed by the pharmacist will be described with reference to Figures 12 to 15.

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

[0098] The audit selection initial screen 1500 shown in Figure 12 displays a button 1501 for selecting drug M, a prescription ID 1502 which is key information for selection, a patient name 1503, a packaging machine ID 1504, a total number of packets 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 administration such as "after breakfast" or "before bedtime", an audit level 1507, an audit result 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 an ordinary drug. By using this level to restrict who should be audited (a pharmacist must audit, multiple pharmacists must audit, even an office worker can audit, etc.), it is possible to implement strict drug audits.

[0100] The audit result 1508 defines the three types of audit results for individual drugs m by the drug inspection device 11, "normal," "confirmation required," and "unknown," as mentioned above, and displays the breakdown of the total number of packets for each prescription ID 1502. 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, but the similarity was low when compared and identified with the tablet master data, and it was determined that confirmation by a pharmacist was desirable, and "unknown" means that the tablets could not even be sorted as specified in the prescription information.

[0101] Pharmacist audit 1509 displays information such as "completed" or "incomplete" as the status of whether or not the pharmacist has completed an audit of each drug M.

[0102] The pharmacist looks at this inspection selection initial 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). Specific examples of the inspection processing screen are shown in FIGS. 13 and 14.

[0103] 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the inspection processing screen. The inspection processing screen 1600 shown in Fig. 13 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 are no drugs (tablets) m that are "needs confirmation" or "unknown."

[0104] The audit processing screen 1600 displays information 1601 such as the prescription ID of drug M1, the patient name, and the audited packaging machine ID, and then displays a list of photographed images of individual drugs (tablets) m included in drug M1. This list display is in a table format with the drug name 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 tab 1602.

[0105] The inspection processing screen 1600 displays tablet images taken by the drug inspection device 11 in a row for each individual tablet for the number of days according to the inspection results of the device, allowing the pharmacist to confirm at a glance that no incorrect tablets have been included. The pharmacist can complete the pharmacist inspection of drug M1 by checking the inspection processing screen 1600 to confirm that all of the individual drugs m contained in 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 inspection of an individual drug (e.g., tablet m1) is necessary, the pharmacist can proceed with the pharmacist inspection by displaying the inspection correction screen of FIG. 15 (described later) and visually comparing the display of the master image of tablet m1 with the image taken by the device.

[0106] 14 is a diagram showing another example of the inspection processing screen. The inspection processing screen 1700 shown in Fig. 14 is a specific example of the inspection processing screen when the inspection result of the drug M2 by the drug inspection device 11 includes a drug (tablet) m that is "confirmation required" or "unknown."

[0107] The audit processing screen 1700 displays information 1701 such as the prescription ID, patient name, and audited packaging machine ID for drug M2, and displays a list of captured images of individual drugs (tablets) m contained in drug M2. This list is displayed in a table format, with each row showing the drug name of tablets m1 to m3 or an unknown drug whose name has not been identified, and each column showing the number of prescription days. In addition, the type of usage at the time is displayed using 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.

[0108] On the inspection processing screen 1700, individual tablets m that are determined to "require confirmation" in the inspection results by the drug inspection device 11 are highlighted by, for example, coloring the periphery of the display area of ​​the captured image (two diagonal shading areas 1706 in the figure). Furthermore, for individual tablets m that are determined to "unknown" in the inspection results by the drug inspection device 11, the captured image is displayed in a row labeled "Unknown 1" or "Unknown 2," separate from the individual drug name included in the prescription information for the drug M2. This may also be highlighted by, for example, coloring the periphery of the display area of ​​the captured image (three grid shading areas 1707 in the figure). The above display of "requires confirmation" or "unknown" allows the pharmacist to quickly identify individual tablets that require confirmation or correction. Using different highlighting for "requires confirmation" and "unknown" enhances identification. Furthermore, the inspection processing screen 1700 includes a warning field 1705 that displays the number of packets or tablets that require confirmation on the screen, thereby preventing pharmacists from forgetting or overlooking an inspection.

[0109] Fig. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an audit correction screen. The audit correction screen is a screen that is displayed when a photographed image of any individual tablet displayed in a list is clicked on the audit processing screen exemplified in Fig. 13 and Fig. 14, and the audit correction screen 1800 shown in Fig. 15 is a specific example thereof.

[0110] The inspection correction screen 1800 is mainly composed of two rows and three columns of display fields. Specifically, the first column on the left side of the screen displays the tablet name (tablet m1 in FIG. 15 ) assigned as the identification result by the drug inspection device 11 (imaging / inspection processing unit 803), and the second column to the right of that displays the master image 1801 of the tablet. The image / inspection processing unit 803 performs image identification on the individual images of drug m extracted from the images of drug M captured by the inspection / imaging unit 500, compares the identification results with the drug prescription data and drug master data (or the drug database 904), and determines the corresponding master tablet, assigning the tablet name of the master tablet. Furthermore, the third column on the right side of the inspection / correction screen 1800 displays an enlarged image 1802 of an individual drug (tablet m1 in this case) captured by the drug inspection device 11 (inspection / imaging unit 500). Regarding the image displays in the second and third columns, the top first row displays the front image, and the bottom second row displays the back image.

[0111] The pharmacist looks at this audit correction screen 1800 and visually confirms that the master image 1801 and the photographed image (enlarged image 1802) of the target tablet marked "requiring confirmation" are the same type of individual tablet, and then presses the confirm button 1804 to confirm the audit results. When the audit results are confirmed by pressing the confirm button 1804, the highlighting of the target tablet marked "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 FIGS. 13 and 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 1800 displays photographed images of both the front and back of the tablet in order to confirm detailed information about individual tablet m.

[0112] The audit correction screen 1800 in Figure 15 is an audit correction screen that is displayed when tablet m1 (shaded 1706) on the third day, which is marked as "requires confirmation" on the audit processing screen 1700 in Figure 14, is selected. However, if a tablet (shaded 1707) marked as "unknown" on the audit processing screen 1700 is selected, corrections can be made using the audit correction screen 1800 in Figure 15 in the same way.

[0113] 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 has not been assigned among the individual tablets included in drug M2 is preferentially selected and its tablet name and master image are displayed in the first and second column names on the inspection correction screen 1800. Note that by pressing the arrow button 1803 provided below the display column for the master image 1801, the display of the master image 1801, etc. can be switched to other master tablet candidates included in the prescription information for drug M2.

[0114] The pharmacist looks at this audit correction screen 1800 and visually confirms that the master image 1801 and the photographed image of the unknown tablet (enlarged image 1802) for the target tablet that was marked as "unknown" are the same type of individual tablet, and then presses the confirm button 1804 to confirm the audit results. When the audit results are confirmed by pressing the confirm button 1804, 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.

[0115] In addition, without using the audit correction screen 1800 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.

[0116] After the above procedure is performed and visual inspection and correction of the inspection results for all individual tablets with inspection results of "confirmation required" or "unknown" are 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 inspection selection initial screen 1500 shown in FIG. 15.

[0117] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but includes various modifications. Various modifications can be made to the configuration and control method of drug inspection device 11 depending on conditions such as the number and shape of drugs M and the conditions of the pharmacist's inspection of prescribed drugs.

[0118] For example, when the number of drugs M is one or when the drugs are spherical and naturally disperse, 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.

[0119] For example, if inspection processing is not required for some drugs, a mechanism may be added that allows the pre-inspection storage section 200 to move the drugs directly to the post-inspection storage section 700 without going through the transport inspection processing section 400 after receiving the drugs.

[0120] 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 subdivided into 6 to 10 quadrants, or for simplification, the number of quadrant divisions may be reduced or no quadrants may be used.

[0121] On the other hand, when it is difficult to inspect individual medications, such as when there are a large number of medications M (e.g., 10 or more) or when large medications are included, the overall inspection processing unit 801 may determine the type and quantity of tablets that the medication inspection device 11 receives from the host device based on the medication prescription data, and may variably handle the host device, the timing of drug input, and the cycle and number of repetitions. For example, in the case of the medication inspection device 11, the pre-inspection storage unit 200, the transport inspection processing unit 400, etc. have a predetermined capacity for storing medications, and it may not be possible to input all of the medications listed in the medication prescription data into the medication inspection device 11 at once. In such cases, the processing method can be adjusted by coordinating with the host device to divide the medication input into two or more times and processing using multiple compartments on the rotating disk 401. Furthermore, depending on the shape and combination of medications, some medications may have characteristics such as being prone to overlapping, and adjustments can be made such as inputting these medications separately into the medication inspection device 11.

[0122] 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 sent for inspection.

[0123] According to the above-described first embodiment or its modified example, a medicine inspection device and a medicine inspection method having the following features (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 conveying path) in the long, narrow conveying space without overlapping (spread out), thereby enabling the top and bottom surfaces of each drug to be reliably imaged and high-resolution images to be obtained. Thus, a drug inspection device and a drug inspection method can be provided that enable inspections to be performed with high accuracy or high probability. (2) Even when the drugs M are a combination of many drugs with different shapes, the drugs M can be transferred to a long, narrow transport space on a rotating disk and transported at a constant speed, and the drugs can be individually divided from images of the multiple drugs for inspection. This narrows the field of view of the installed camera, making it easy to make the inspection process (image extraction) smaller and faster. 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 inspection process is performed by rotating the elongated transport space on the rotating disk approximately 360 degrees, 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) By rotating the elongated transport space on the horizontal rotating disk approximately 360 degrees to perform the inspection process, the pre-inspection storage section and the post-inspection storage section can be positioned close to each other with little difference in height, thereby providing a compact drug inspection device with a small height dimension and where the drug input and output sections are close to each other. [Example]

[0124] The drug inspection device 11 of the first embodiment described above has an advantage in that it can continuously and stably process drugs from insertion to ejection at high speed with one rotation by using a rotating disk in the transport inspection processing unit 400 having the inspection imaging unit 500. However, the drug inspection device 11 of the first embodiment has a problem in that the device is relatively large. Therefore, in the second embodiment, a drug inspection device 12 will be described with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17 as an example of a drug inspection device 10 that prioritizes miniaturization.

[0125] Fig. 16 is a side view and a front view of drug inspection device 12 according to Example 2. Fig. 17 is a diagram for explaining the drug inspection operation of drug inspection device 12. Fig. 17(A) to Fig. 17(D) show the movement of drugs M during drug inspection in chronological order. Fig. 17(A) and Fig. 17(D) are side views, and Fig. 17(B) and Fig. 17(C) are front views.

[0126] 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.

[0127] As shown in FIG. 16 , in the drug inspection device 12, the pre-inspection storage unit 250 and the transfer processing unit 350 are arranged successively in the vertical direction and have the same configuration and control operation as the pre-inspection storage unit 200 and the transfer processing unit 300 of the drug inspection device 11. That is, the drug M introduced into the pre-inspection storage unit 250 is pushed from the transfer processing unit 350 to the transport inspection processing unit 450. A flat plate 451 is arranged in the transport inspection processing unit 450, and the drug M pushed out from the transfer processing unit 350 is held on the flat plate 451 (see FIG. 17(A)). The transport inspection processing unit 450 of this embodiment differs from the transport inspection processing unit 400 of the first embodiment in that it does not have a moving transport path (rotary disk 401). That is, the transport inspection processing unit 450 holds the drug M transferred from the transfer processing unit 300 on the flat plate 451 without moving it until the drug M is discharged to the discharge processing unit 650 by operating the flat plate 451 as described below.

[0128] The inspection imaging unit 550 includes an upper camera disposed above 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 is moved horizontally by a drive means (not shown) to the position indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 16(B) to capture an image of the drug M (see FIGS. 17(B) and 17(C)). The flat plate 451 is configured to be movable to the inclined position indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 16(A). After the inspection imaging unit 550 captures an image of the drug M, the flat plate 451 moves to the inclined position, causing the drug M to pass through the discharge processing unit 650 and move to the post-inspection storage unit 750, where it is then discharged (see FIG. 17(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.

[0129] In the drug inspection device 12 shown in Figures 16 and 17, miniaturization is prioritized, so the inspection imaging unit 550 is equipped with only an upper camera, but 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.

[0130] According to the above-described Example 2, even when the drugs M are a combination of many drugs with different shapes, such as 10 different shaped tablets, high-resolution images can be acquired by transferring the individual drugs in a vertical row (approximately in a line along the conveying path) without overlapping (spread out) in a long and narrow conveying space similar to that of Example 1. Thus, a compact drug inspection device capable of performing inspections with high accuracy or high probability can be provided.

[0131] 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 around 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 this configuration, the drug inspection device 12 does not need to include the transport inspection processing unit 450.

[0132] In the second embodiment, in order to process a plurality of consecutive medicines M at high speed, not only the mechanism for moving the medicines but also the inspection imaging unit 550 may be moved at high speed.

[0133] The above-described embodiments have been described in detail to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those including all of the described components. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations. The above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be implemented in hardware, in part or in whole, by designing them as integrated circuits, for example. Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, etc. may be implemented in software, by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function. Furthermore, information such as programs, tables, and files that realize each configuration may be stored in a memory, a recording device such as a hard disk or solid-state drive (SSD), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD. [Explanation of symbols]

[0134] 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 section 70 Post-inspection storage section 80 Audit Control Section 101 Medicine packaging device 102 Medicine storage section 103 Drug Supply Department 104 Pharmaceutical Packaging Department 105 Packaged medicines 106 Individual Drugs 107 Single-packet prescription drugs 200,250 Pre-audit storage section 201 Insertion vibration alignment section 202 Inlet partition 203 Storage Case 204,205 Arrow 206 Rotational Axis 300,350 Transfer Processing Section 301 Transfer Guide 302 Transfer and extrusion plate 303 Transfer and extrusion alignment section 304 Transfer section shutter 400,450 Transportation Inspection Processing Department 401 Rotating Disc 402 Circumferential loading plate 403 Inner guide 404 Circumferential Partition Plate 405 Outer perimeter 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-lit 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 Department 802 Audit Result Processing Unit 803 Imaging and Inspection 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 Audit processing screen

Claims

1. a medicine placement section that rotates around a predetermined axis; an imaging unit that captures an image of the medicine placed on the medicine placing unit during rotation; an inspection processing unit that determines the type or number of the medicines imaged by the imaging unit.

2. The drug inspection device according to claim 1, The imaging unit continuously images the plurality of drug groups placed on the rotating drug placement unit, The inspection processing unit is a drug inspection device that determines the type or number of each drug in the drug group.

3. The drug inspection device according to claim 1, A medicine inspection device comprising: a transfer processing unit that transfers the medicine to the medicine placement unit while the medicine is rotating.

4. The drug inspection device according to claim 3, The transfer processing unit is a medicine inspection device having a mechanism for aligning the medicines along an arc centered on the predetermined axis.

5. The drug inspection device according to claim 1, A medicine inspection device comprising a discharge mechanism that discharges the medicine from the medicine placement section while the medicine is rotating.

6. The drug inspection device according to claim 5, The discharge mechanism includes a push-out member that is movable in an outer diameter direction, and a holding member that is disposed on the outer periphery of the medicine placing portion.

7. The drug inspection device according to claim 1, The imaging unit successively acquires a front-light image of the medicine captured in front light and a back-light image of the medicine captured in back light while the medicine placement unit is rotating.

8. The drug inspection device according to claim 1, The imaging unit has a first imaging unit that images the medicine placed on the medicine placing unit from a first direction, and a second imaging unit that images the medicine from a second direction different from the first direction, The first imaging unit and the second imaging unit are disposed so as to be shifted from each other by a predetermined amount in a circumferential direction.

9. The drug inspection device according to claim 1, the medicine placing portion has a plurality of compartments divided in a circumferential direction, In the medicine inspection device, each compartment of the medicine placing portion is formed in an elongated shape with a radial width smaller than a circumferential width.

10. The drug inspection device according to claim 1, When divided into four quadrants when viewed from a direction along the specified axis, the quadrant in which the input section for inputting drugs into the drug loading section is located is adjacent to the quadrant in which the discharge section for discharging drugs from the drug loading section is located.

11. The drug inspection device according to claim 1, When an inspection by the inspection processing unit fails, the medicine that failed to be inspected is kept in the medicine placing unit, and the medicine inspection device performs the inspection by the inspection processing unit again.

12. A drug inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 11; a medicine supply unit that supplies medicines to the medicine inspection device; a medicine packaging unit that packages the medicine after inspection processing in the medicine inspection device.

13. placing a medicine on a medicine placement section that rotates around a predetermined axis; taking an image of the medicine placed on the medicine placing section during rotation; and determining the type or number of the captured images of the medicines.

Images