Device

Abstract

To efficiently dispense a medicament.SOLUTION: A medicament cassette handling device (200) includes: a cassette shelf (110) for keeping m-number of cassettes (Ca) for storing a medicament; a specific processing part (120) for performing specific processing with respect to the medicament stored in the cassette; a cassette holding part (130) for temporarily and maximally holding the n-number (m>n≥2) of cassettes to receive the specific processing; and a cassette transportation part (140) for transporting the cassette between the cassette shelf and the cassette holding part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a medicine cassette handling device that handles cassettes containing medicines, and a medicine dispensing device equipped with the medicine cassette handling device. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, medicine sorting devices for sorting returned (collected) medicines and medicine dispensing devices for dispensing medicines stored in trays have been developed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a medicine sorting device.

[0003] In the medicine sorting device of Patent Document 1, the type of medicine taken out from the sorting tray installed in the sorting tray installation section is determined, and then the medicine is stored in a storage box. Specifically, the sorting tray installation section can store multiple sorting trays, and among the stored sorting trays, the medicine in the topmost sorting tray is taken out as the medicine type determination target.

[0004] It should be noted that the techniques relating to peripheral devices (eg, printer devices) of the medicine dispensing device are disclosed in, for example, Patent Documents 2 to 5. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2015-51040 A (Published March 19, 2015) [Patent Document 2] JP 2005-132565 A (published on May 26, 2005) [Patent Document 3] JP 2015-13177 A (Published on January 22, 2015) [Patent Document 4] JP 2012-136240 A (Published on July 19, 2012) [Patent Document 5] WO2011 / 138857 publication (published on November 10, 2011) Summary of the Invention

[0006] An apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a cassette shelf for storing a plurality of cassettes containing drugs; a plurality of cassette holding sections capable of temporarily holding a first cassette containing a plurality of types of drugs among the plurality of cassettes and a second cassette containing drugs transferred from the first cassette; a cassette transfer section for transferring the cassettes between the cassette shelf and the cassette holding sections; and a drug transfer section for transferring the drugs contained in the first cassette to the second cassette when the first cassette is held in one cassette holding section of the plurality of cassette holding sections and the second cassette is held in another cassette holding section. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an injection drug dispensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an injection drug dispensing system including an injection drug dispensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an injection drug dispensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a front view of the specific processing section and the cassette holding section. [Figure 6] FIG. [Figure 7] 4 is a perspective view of the specific processing section and the medicine sorting section from an angle different from that of FIG. 3. FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a plan view of a part of the specific processing section and the medicine sorting section. [Figure 9] FIG. [Figure 10] 4A is a perspective view of the cassette transfer section from an angle different from that of FIG. 3, and FIG. 4B is an enlarged view of a main part of the cassette transfer section shown in FIG. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the orientation cassette in a plane parallel to the front surface of the injection drug dispensing device. [Figure 12] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the shape of a large returned medicine cassette, where (a) is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in (a). [Figure 13] 1A is a diagram showing the shape of a small- to medium-sized returned medicine cassette, in which (a) is a plan view, (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in (a), and (c) is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC in (a). [Figure 14] 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of the injection drug dispensing device when dispensing an injection drug. [Figure 15] 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the injection drug dispensing device for returned drugs. [Figure 16] 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating an example of an arrangement of cassettes held in a cassette holding section. [Figure 17] 1A and 1B are diagrams for explaining a registration process of a shape model, in which FIG. 1A is a flowchart showing an example of the registration process, and FIG. 1B is a diagram showing a schematic representation of the shape of an injection drug represented by the shape model. [Figure 18] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an initial setting process. [Figure 19] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining each coordinate system. [Figure 20] 13(a) to 13(c) are diagrams for explaining coordinate conversion processing. [Figure 21] 13 is a diagram showing an example of a process for determining an adsorption position of an injection drug contained in a cassette. FIG. [Figure 22] 13(a) and 13(b) are diagrams for explaining detection of a cassette in an image. [Figure 23] 13A and 13B are diagrams for explaining correction of a position shift caused by lens distortion. [Figure 24] 13 is a diagram for explaining correction of positional deviation caused by the width of an injection drug. FIG. [Diagram 25] 6A to 6C are diagrams for explaining correction of positional deviation related to projection. [Figure 26]1A and 1B are diagrams showing an example of a cassette, in which FIG. 1A shows a state before a divided member is attached, and FIG. 1B shows a state after the divided member is attached. [Figure 27] 13(a) and (b) are detailed views of the cassette transfer section. [Figure 28] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an injection drug dispensing device. [Figure 29] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a process for identifying a storage position of a cassette. [Diagram 30] 13(a) and 13(b) are diagrams for explaining an example of the installation positions of a sensor and a reflector. [Diagram 31] 11 is a table showing an example of moving speed information. [Diagram 32] FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a configuration example of a movement mechanism of a medicine delivery unit, and FIGS. 1B and 1C are diagrams showing an operation example of an adsorption mechanism of the medicine delivery unit. [Diagram 33] 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating an example of timing adjustment of image processing by a camera for reading a deadline. [Diagram 34] 13(a) to (f) are diagrams for explaining an example of a process when an injection drug that cannot be dispensed is found. [Diagram 35] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state in which a small tray is placed on a carrier tray. [Diagram 36] FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an example of a small tray, FIG. 1B is a plan view showing an example of a small tray, and FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA' showing an example of a small tray. [Figure 37] FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a printer device. [Figure 38] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a printer device. [Figure 39] FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of the bottom of the printer device. [Diagram 40] FIG. 2 is a front view showing an example of a carrier tray printing device. [Diagram 41] FIG. 1A is an oblique view showing an example of an infusion label dispensing device and an infusion label transport mechanism, and FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C are oblique views showing an example of an infusion label receiving section provided in the infusion label dispensing device. [Diagram 42] FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of an infusion label dispensing device. [Diagram 43] 13(a) to 13(d) are diagrams for explaining an example of an infusion label gripping operation by an infusion label transport mechanism. [Diagram 44] 13(a) to 13(d) are diagrams for explaining an example of an infusion label transport operation by an infusion label transport mechanism. [Diagram 45] 13(a) and 13(b) are diagrams for explaining the placement position of the infusion label on the carrier tray. FIG. [Diagram 46] 1A and 1B are diagrams showing an example of an injection prescription dispensing device, where (a) is a front view showing an example of an injection prescription dispensing device, and (b) and (c) are oblique views showing an example of an injection prescription receiving section. [Figure 47] 13(a) and (b) are perspective views showing an example of an injection prescription transport mechanism. [Figure 48] 13(a) to 13(d) are diagrams for explaining an example of an injection prescription transport operation by an injection prescription gripping mechanism. [Figure 49] 13(a) and 13(b) are perspective views showing an example of a transport label gripper provided in an infusion label transport mechanism. [Figure 50] FIG. 13(a) is a diagram showing an example of a cassette when a separation member is attached, and FIG. 13(b) is a diagram showing an example of a data table when the cassette is used after being separated into two. [Figure 51] FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing an example of an injection drug dispensing device including a cassette holding section according to another embodiment. [Figure 52] 1A and 1B are diagrams showing an example of a cassette / drug holding section, where (a) is a schematic exploded cross-sectional view of the cassette / drug holding section, (b) is an oblique view showing an example of an anti-rolling sheet, and (c) is a plan view showing an example of a cassette / drug holding section with the light source turned on. [Figure 53] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic arrangement example of illumination members. [Figure 54] 13 is a flowchart showing another example of the operation of the injection drug dispensing device for returned drugs. [Figure 55]FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an image displayed on a touch panel. [Figure 56] 13A and 13B are diagrams showing another example of an infusion label receiving section, in which (a) is a perspective view and (b) is a front view. [Figure 57] 13(a) to 13(d) are diagrams for explaining an example of transportation of an infusion label. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] In this specification, "prescription data for administration to one patient" may refer to at least any one of the following (1) to (3). (1) Data regarding medications administered to a single patient (prescription data for a single patient). (2) Data regarding one dose of medication administered to one patient (prescription data for one prescription unit). (3) If a classification is assigned to a single dose of a drug administered to a patient at the time of prescription, data on that classification (prescription data for one RP (recipe) unit).

[0009] Furthermore, the term "medicine" includes not only the medicine itself not contained in a container, but also medicine contained in a container (e.g., ampoules, vials, injection kits, and PTP (Press Through Pack) sheets). In the present embodiment, the description will be mainly given assuming that the medicine is an injection drug (including ampoules or vials containing an injection drug).

[0010] [Outline of the injection drug dispensing system] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an injection drug dispensing system 1 (drug dispensing device) including an injection drug dispensing device 100 (drug cassette handling device) according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the injection drug dispensing system 1 includes a supply lifter 11, an injection drug dispensing device 100, a printer device 13, and a discharge lifter 14. The injection drug dispensing system 1 operates when prescription data including data such as the type and number of injection drugs to be administered to a patient based on a prescription from a doctor or the like is provided. The prescription data provided to the injection drug dispensing system 1 includes data including the type and number of injection drugs for multiple patients to be administered with the injection drug. The prescription data is managed, for example, by a hospital ward, and prescription data for a predetermined period is transmitted from the hospital ward to the injection drug dispensing system 1 on a predetermined date. The injection drug dispensing system 1 dispenses an injection drug for one administration for each patient based on the received prescription data. A transport tray 151a (see FIG. 7) for receiving the dispensed injection drug passes through the injection drug dispensing system 1.

[0011] The supply lifter 11 is a device that supplies a transport tray 151a that passes through the injection drug dispensing system 1 in accordance with the provision of prescription data. The injection drug dispensing device 100 is a device that dispenses injection drugs onto the transport tray 151a based on prescription data related to administration to one patient, which is included in the prescription data provided to the injection drug dispensing system 1. The printer device 13 prints information such as the type of injection drug indicated in the prescription data onto the transport tray 151a. The discharge lifter 14 discharges the transport tray 151a from the injection drug dispensing system 1 after dispensing of the injection drug and printing of the information have been completed.

[0012] [Configuration of the injection drug dispensing device] Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an injection drug dispensing device 100 according to this embodiment. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the injection drug dispensing device 100. In Fig. 3, the exterior shown in Fig. 2 is removed in order to visualize the inside of the injection drug dispensing device 100.

[0013] 1 and 3, the injection drug dispensing device 100 includes a cassette shelf 110, a specific processing unit 120, a cassette holding unit 130, a cassette transport unit 140, a drug sorting unit 150, a memory unit 180, and a control unit 190. In particular, the cassette shelf 110, the specific processing unit 120, the cassette holding unit 130, and the cassette transport unit 140 are collectively referred to as a drug cassette handling device 200.

[0014] The cassette shelf 110 is a shelf that stores m cassettes Ca that contain injection drugs (medicines). m is an integer of 3 or more. In this embodiment, the cassette shelf 110 stores the cassettes Ca in a matrix on a vertical plane. Each of the m cassettes Ca contains an injection drug for each drug type in advance. At least two cassettes Ca contain different types of injection drugs. As described below, it is not necessary that all of the m cassettes are cassettes Ca; for example, some of the m cassettes may include a cassette for handling returned drugs.

[0015] In the following description, the direction in which the cassette Ca is inserted into the cassette shelf 110 is referred to as the depth direction, and the direction perpendicular to the depth direction in a plane parallel to the horizontal plane is referred to as the width direction.

[0016] Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the cassette shelf 110. As shown in Fig. 4, the cassette shelf 110 has a plurality of wall members 111 that are parallel to the vertical direction and parallel to the depth direction. The interval between the plurality of wall members 111 is greater than the width of the cassette Ca.

[0017] A plurality of support members 112 extend in the width direction from each wall material 111. On opposing surfaces of adjacent wall materials 111, the heights of the support members 112 are equal to each other. Furthermore, the distance between the tips of the opposing support members 112 is smaller than the width of the cassette Ca. For this reason, in the cassette shelf 110, the cassette Ca inserted between the wall materials 111 is stored with both ends in the width direction supported by the support members 112.

[0018] The cassette Ca is inserted from the front side toward the back side in the depth direction. A protrusion 113 is formed on the upper surface of the front end of the support member 112. The distance between the upper end of the protrusion 113 and the support member 112 above the protrusion 113 is greater than the thickness (height) of the cassette Ca. Therefore, the cassette Ca can be inserted into the cassette shelf 110 from above the protrusion 113. Furthermore, when the cassette Ca stored in the cassette shelf 110 moves horizontally toward the front side, it is caught by the protrusion 113, so there is little risk of the cassette Ca slipping off the cassette shelf 110.

[0019] The injection drugs contained in the cassette Ca are contained in containers such as ampoules or vials. In this embodiment, the injection drugs are contained in the cassette Ca in an unaligned state. However, the injection drugs may be contained in the cassette Ca in an aligned state. Moreover, the cassette Ca may contain medicines such as tablets or ointments instead of injection drugs. Moreover, the cassette Ca may contain items other than medicines.

[0020] Ampoules and vials exist that have different shapes depending on the type of injection drug they contain. The cassette Ca may have different shapes (e.g., heights) depending on the shapes of the ampoules or vials contained in the cassette Ca. The cassette Ca may include, for example, a small cassette that contains ampoules or vials with a diameter of 28 mm or less, and a large cassette that contains ampoules or vials with a diameter of more than 28 mm.

[0021] Fig. 5 is a front view of the specific processing section 120 and the cassette holding section 130. For the purpose of facilitating understanding, the cassette shelf 110 is also shown in Fig. 5.

[0022] The cassette holding unit 130 can temporarily hold up to n cassettes Ca that are to undergo specific processing by the specific processing unit 120, among the cassettes Ca stored in the cassette shelf 110. The value of n may be 2 or more and less than m (m>n≧2), and in this embodiment, the value of n is 4.

[0023] Fig. 6 is a plan view of the cassette holding section 130. As shown in Fig. 6, the cassette holding section 130 is a group of four cassette holding sections 130a to 130d. The number of cassette holding sections 130 is not limited to four, but is equal to the value of n described above, that is, the number of cassettes Ca that the cassette holding section 130 can hold. The cassette Ca is held by being placed on any one of the cassette holding sections 130a to 130d. In addition, driving mechanisms 133a to 133d that reciprocate the cassette holding sections 130a to 130d in the depth direction are provided below the cassette holding sections 130a to 130d, respectively.

[0024] The cassette holding units 130a to 130d have a cassette receiving position 131 for receiving the cassette Ca from the cassette transport unit 140, and a processing position 132 for the cassette Ca to undergo a specific process by the specific processing unit 120. In detail, the cassette holding units 130a to 130d each have cassette receiving positions 131a to 131d and processing positions 132a to 132d. The cassette holding units 130a to 130d are reciprocated in the depth direction by the driving mechanisms 133a to 133d, thereby reciprocating the cassette Ca between the cassette receiving positions 131a to 131d and the processing positions 132a to 132d. In other words, the cassette holding unit 130 moves the cassette Ca horizontally toward the processing position 132. 6 shows a state in which cassette holding section 130b is located at processing position 132b, and the other cassette holding sections 130a, 130c, and 130d are located at cassette receiving positions 131a, 131c, and 131d, respectively. In this manner, each of the cassette holding sections 130a to 130d can reciprocate the cassette Ca independently of the others. Note that two or more of the cassette holding sections 130a to 130d may be located at the corresponding processing positions 132a to 132d.

[0025] Further, the cassette holding section 130a is provided with a load cell 134 for measuring the weight of the cassette Ca. The weight of the cassette Ca itself (i.e., not including the weight of the injection drug) and the weight of each injection drug contained in the cassette Ca are known. Therefore, by measuring the weight of the entire cassette Ca with the load cell 134, the number of injection drugs contained in the cassette Ca, i.e., the stock of injection drugs in the injection drug dispensing device 100, can be calculated. This calculation process is performed, for example, after all the injection drug dispensing processes for that day are completed in the evening of a certain day and each cassette Ca is filled with injection drugs, until the injection drug dispensing process starts the next morning.

[0026] The identification processing unit 120 performs identification processing on the injection drug contained in the cassette Ca. In this embodiment, the identification processing includes at least processing up to removing the cassette Ca containing the injection drug to be dispensed from the cassette shelf 110 and identifying the type and expiration date of the injection drug. The identification processing may also include at least processing up to removing the returned drug receiving cassette 161 (see FIG. 16), the large returned drug cassette 163 (see FIG. 12), or the small / medium returned drug cassette 164 (see FIG. 13) containing the returned drug described below from the cassette shelf 110 and identifying the type and expiration date of the returned drug. In order to realize the above-mentioned identification process, the identification processing unit 120 includes a drug transport unit 121, a position identification camera 122 (first photographing unit), barcode readers 123 and 124 (reading units), a expiration date reading camera 125 (second photographing unit), a position changing unit 126, a drug rotation unit 127, a first discrimination processing unit 195 (described later), and a second discrimination processing unit 196 (described later).

[0027] The position identifying camera 122 is a camera provided below the cassette shelf 110. The position identifying camera 122 captures an image for identifying the injection drug to be taken out of the cassette Ca.

[0028] As shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, the injection drug dispensing device 100 of this embodiment includes two position identifying cameras 122a and 122b as the position identifying camera 122. As shown in Fig. 6, the position identifying camera 122a is provided immediately above the vicinity of the center of the boundary line between the processing positions 132a and 132b, and images an imaging area 122c including the processing positions 132a and 132b. The position identifying camera 122b is provided immediately above the vicinity of the center of the boundary line between the processing positions 132c and 132d, and images an imaging area 122d including the processing positions 132c and 132d. Therefore, the two position identifying cameras 122a and 122b can image the inside of the cassette Ca located at the four processing positions 132a to 132d.

[0029] Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the specific processing unit 120 and the medicine sorting unit 150 from an angle different from that of Fig. 3. The cassette holding unit 130 is omitted in Fig. 7. Fig. 8 is a plan view of a portion of the specific processing unit 120 and the medicine sorting unit 150.

[0030] The position changing unit 126 is a turntable that can rotate around an axis perpendicular to the horizontal plane. On the upper surface of the position changing unit 126, a first mounting unit 126a (mounting unit) and a second mounting unit 126b (mounting unit) for mounting the medicine received by the specific processing unit 120 are provided. In this embodiment, the first mounting unit 126a and the second mounting unit 126b are recesses provided at positions facing each other across the rotation axis of the position changing unit 126.

[0031] The position changer 126 changes the positions of the first mounting section 126a and the second mounting section 126b between a medicine receiving position where the injection medicine is received from the medicine transport section 121 and a medicine delivery position where the injection medicine is delivered to the above-mentioned medicine moving section 153 to be dispensed. Specifically, the position changer 126 rotates around the above-mentioned axis, thereby changing the positions of the first mounting section 126a and the second mounting section 126b between the medicine receiving position and the medicine delivery position. In FIG. 8, the first mounting section 126a is at the medicine receiving position and the second mounting section 126b is at the medicine delivery position.

[0032] The medicine rotating unit 127 receives the injection medicine transported by the medicine transport unit 121 for reading by the barcode reader 123 or photographing by the expiration date reading camera 125, and rotates the received injection medicine in the axial direction. The medicine rotating unit 127 is provided on the first mounting unit 126a and the second mounting unit 126b. Specifically, the medicine rotating unit 127 is a belt conveyor provided on the bottom of the first mounting unit 126a and the second mounting unit 126b, and rotates the injection medicine mounted on the first mounting unit 126a and the second mounting unit 126b in the axial direction. The first mounting unit 126a and the second mounting unit 126b mount the injection medicine received by the medicine rotating unit 127. Specifically, the mounting unit located at the medicine receiving position of the first mounting unit 126a and the second mounting unit 126b mounts the injection medicine transported by the medicine transport unit 121.

[0033] In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, both the first mounting part 126a and the second mounting part 126b are provided with the medicine rotation part 127, but this is not limited thereto. For example, when the positions of the first mounting part 126a and the second mounting part 126b are fixed and the second mounting part 126b has a cross-sectional shape such that the injection medicine placed on the second mounting part 126b is in a fixed direction, the medicine rotation part 127 may be provided only on the first mounting part 126a. An example of the cross-sectional shape is a substantially V-shape. In this case, the injection drug dispensing device 100 has a transport mechanism that transports the injection drug from the first mounting part 126a to the second mounting part 126b. In addition, the barcode reader 124 described later is not necessary.

[0034] The number of mounting parts included in the injection drug dispensing device 100 may be three or more, or may be one. However, if the number of mounting parts is one, a time is required to wait for mounting of other injection drugs until one injection drug is identified, and the time required for dispensing the injection drug increases. In consideration of this point, it is preferable that the injection drug dispensing device 100 is configured to include a plurality of mounting parts and change the position of the mounting part between the drug receiving position and the drug delivering position.

[0035] The medicine transport unit 121 takes out the injection medicine from the cassette Ca and transports it to dispense the injection medicine contained in the cassette Ca. In this embodiment, the medicine transport unit 121 has an adsorption mechanism 121a, a moving mechanism 121b, and a slider 121c, as shown in FIG. 5. The adsorption mechanism 121a is an adsorption mechanism that adsorbs the injection medicine and can be extended vertically downward. The moving mechanism 121b is a mechanism that moves the adsorption mechanism 121a in the depth direction and is capable of reciprocating itself in the width direction. The moving mechanism 121b reciprocates in the width direction along the slider 121c.

[0036] The barcode reader 123 reads information (first identification information) attached to the injection drug indicating the type of the injection drug. In this embodiment, the information indicating the type of the injection drug is attached to the injection drug in the form of a barcode. The barcode reader 123 reads the barcode of the injection drug mounted on the first mounting portion 126a or the second mounting portion 126b at the drug receiving position.

[0037] The barcode reader 124 has a configuration substantially identical to that of the barcode reader 123. The barcode reader 124 reads the barcode of the injection drug mounted on the first mounting section 126a or the second mounting section 126b at the drug delivery position to confirm the posture. For example, when the cross section of the injection drug is elliptical, the injection drug has a posture suitable for adsorption and a posture not suitable for adsorption. Therefore, when the injection drug is in a posture suitable for adsorption, a barcode is attached at a position where it can be read by the barcode reader 124, and the injection drug is rotated by the drug rotation section 127 so that the barcode can be read, so that the injection drug can be put into a posture suitable for adsorption. Information indicating the injection drug whose posture needs to be confirmed based on whether the barcode can be read is stored in the storage section 180.

[0038] The position of the injection drug may be confirmed by another method, in which case it is not necessary to attach the barcode at the above-mentioned position.

[0039] The expiration date reading camera 125 captures information (second identification information) attached to the injection drug indicating the expiration date of the injection drug. In this embodiment, the information indicating the expiration date of the injection drug is attached to the injection drug in the form of text.

[0040] With the above-mentioned configuration, in the drug cassette handling device 200, the cassette Ca is transferred from the cassette shelf 110 to the cassette holding unit 130 by the cassette transfer unit 140. Furthermore, the specific processing unit 120 performs a specific process on the injection drug contained in the cassette Ca.

[0041] The medicine sorting unit 150 sorts the injection medicines after the processing in the specific processing unit 120. The medicine sorting unit 150 includes a tray holding unit 151, a non-dispensed medicine storage unit 152, and a medicine moving unit 153, as shown in FIG.

[0042] The tray holding unit 151 holds a transport tray 151a from which an injection drug is dispensed. The tray holding unit 151 is provided in the injection drug dispensing system 1 as a part of a path along which the transport tray 151a flows.

[0043] The non-dispensing medicine storage unit 152 stores the injection medicines that are determined to be non-dispensable. The non-dispensing medicine storage unit 152 classifies the injection medicines into a plurality of types and stores them. Specifically, the non-dispensing medicine storage unit 152 classifies, for example, the injection medicines whose type is inappropriate and the injection medicines whose expiration date is inappropriate into large, medium, and small sizes.

[0044] The medicine moving unit 153 moves the injection medicine to either the transport tray 151a held in the tray holding unit 151 or the non-dispensed medicine storage unit 152, based on the determination result regarding the type and expiration date of the injection medicine. The transport tray 151a may be divided into a plurality of areas, and injection medicines of different prescription data (e.g., an amount for administration to one patient, etc.) may be dispensed to each area.

[0045] The above-mentioned specification process may include a process of sorting the injection medicine, the type and expiration date of which have been specified, into the transport tray 151a or the non-dispensed medicine storage unit 152. In this case, the specification process unit 120 includes the medicine sorting unit 150.

[0046] 9 is a front view of the drug moving section 153. The drug moving section 153 of this embodiment has an adsorption mechanism 153a, a moving mechanism 153b, and a slider 153c. The adsorption mechanism 153a is an adsorption mechanism that adsorbs the injection drug and can be extended vertically downward. The moving mechanism 153b is a mechanism that moves the adsorption mechanism 153a in the width direction and can move back and forth in the depth direction. The moving mechanism 153b moves back and forth in the depth direction along the slider 153c.

[0047] Specifically, the medicine moving unit 153 dispenses the injection medicine determined to be appropriate in terms of both the type and the expiration date to the transport tray 151a. On the other hand, the medicine moving unit 153 moves the injection medicine determined to be inappropriate in terms of at least one of the type and the expiration date to the non-dispensed medicine storage unit 152.

[0048] The cassette transfer unit 140 transfers the cassette Ca between the cassette shelf 110 and the cassette holding unit 130 in order to replace the cassette Ca held in the cassette holding unit 130. In this embodiment, the cassette transfer unit 140 pulls out the cassette Ca from the cassette shelf 110, transfers it in the vertical direction, and places it on the cassette holding unit 130 at the cassette receiving position 131. In particular, when the prescription data related to administration to one patient among the received prescription data includes two or more types of injection drugs, the cassette transfer unit 140 transfers each of the cassettes Ca containing the injection drugs to the cassette holding unit 130 based on the prescription data and correspondence data described later.

[0049] In addition, prescription data for administration to one patient may include multiple recipes (combinations) of injection drugs. In this case, it is possible to dispense the injection drugs for each recipe, and administer the injection drugs of the multiple recipes dispensed in multiple dispenses to the patient together. In this case, when one recipe includes two or more types of injection drugs, the cassette transfer unit 140 may transfer the cassettes Ca containing the injection drugs to the cassette holding unit 130.

[0050] Fig. 10(a) is a perspective view of the cassette transfer section 140 from a different angle than that of Fig. 3. To facilitate understanding, Fig. 10 also shows the cassette shelf 110. Fig. 10(b) is an enlarged view of a main part of the cassette transfer section 140 shown in Fig. 10(a). As shown in Figs. 10(a) and (b), the cassette transfer section 140 includes a claw portion 141, a claw portion moving mechanism 142, a beam portion 143, and a support portion 144.

[0051] The claw portion 141 is a claw-shaped member that protrudes vertically upward. The cassette Ca has an engagement portion that protrudes vertically downward on the edge on the front side in the depth direction. By engaging the claw portion 141 with the engagement portion, the cassette transporter 140 can pull out the cassette Ca from the cassette shelf 110.

[0052] The claw moving mechanism 142 is a mechanism for reciprocating the claw 141 in the depth direction. When the cassette Ca is pulled out from the cassette shelf 110, it is located below the claw moving mechanism 142. The beam 143 is a beam that is arranged in the upper part of the injection drug dispensing device 100 and is parallel to the width direction. The claw moving mechanism 142 can move in parallel to the width direction along the beam 143. The support 144 is two support columns that are arranged at both ends in the width direction near the front surface of the injection drug dispensing device 100. The beam 143 can move in the vertical direction with both ends supported by the support 144. By combining these (i) movement of the claw 141 in the depth direction, (ii) movement of the claw moving mechanism 142 in the width direction, and (iii) movement of the beam 143 in the vertical direction, the cassette Ca in the state of being hooked on the claw 141 can be transported.

[0053] The cassette transport unit 140 also includes an impact absorbing plate 145 on the lower surface of the claw movement mechanism 142. The impact absorbing plate 145 covers the upper side of the cassette Ca when the cassette Ca is pulled out from the cassette shelf 110. The impact absorbing plate 145 is configured to be able to move up and down in response to an impact. When an injection drug jumps up due to an impact applied to the cassette Ca, the injection drug collides with the impact absorbing plate 145. The impact absorbing plate 145 mitigates the impact of the collision of the injection drug by moving up and down. This reduces the risk of the injection drug being damaged by an impact applied to the cassette Ca.

[0054] Furthermore, when the cassette transfer unit 140 removes the cassette Ca from the cassette shelf 110, the cassette transfer unit 140 removes the cassette Ca with the front side of the cassette Ca raised above the height of the protrusions 113. Therefore, the cassette transfer unit 140 can remove the cassette Ca from the cassette shelf 110 without the cassette Ca getting caught on the protrusions 113.

[0055] The control unit 190 controls the operation of the injection drug dispensing device 100. The control unit 190 includes a transfer control unit 191, a drive control unit 192, a transport control unit 193, an adsorption position determination unit 194, a first discrimination processing unit 195, a second discrimination processing unit 196, and a drug position control unit 197.

[0056] The transfer control unit 191 controls the operation of the cassette transfer unit 140 to transfer the cassette Ca from the cassette shelf 110 to the cassette holding unit 130. The drive control unit 192 controls the operation of the cassette holding unit 130 to move the cassette Ca between a processing position and a cassette receiving position. The transport control unit 193 controls the operations of the medicine transport unit 121 and the medicine moving unit 153.

[0057] The suction position determining unit 194 analyzes the image captured by the position specifying camera 122 and determines the suction position at which the medicine transporting unit 121 will suction the injection drug in order to take the injection drug out of the cassette Ca.

[0058] The first discrimination processing unit 195 judges whether or not the injection drug can be dispensed based on the result of comparing the information indicating the type of the injection drug read by the barcode reader 123 with the information indicating the type of the injection drug (specific information of the injection drug) included in the prescription data related to administration to one patient. The second discrimination processing unit 196 judges whether or not the injection drug can be dispensed based on the information indicating the expiration date of the injection drug photographed by the expiration date reading camera 125. Specifically, the second discrimination processing unit 196 may judge whether or not the injection drug can be dispensed based on, for example, the result of comparing the expiration date with the date and time when the discrimination process is performed. Alternatively, the second discrimination processing unit 196 may judge whether or not the injection drug can be dispensed based on, for example, the result of comparing the expiration date with the date and time when the injection drug is administered to a patient. In this case, the data on the date and time when the injection drug is administered to a patient may be included in the prescription data related to administration to one patient.

[0059] The processing by first determination processing unit 195 and second determination processing unit 196 is part of the above-mentioned identification processing. Therefore, as described above, identification processing unit 120 includes first determination processing unit 195 and second determination processing unit 196.

[0060] The medicine position control unit 197 controls the operation of the position changing unit 126 and the medicine rotating unit 127. Specifically, the medicine position control unit 197 controls the positions of the first mounting unit 126a and the second mounting unit 126b by rotating the position changing unit 126. In addition, the medicine position control unit 197 operates the medicine rotating unit 127 to rotate the injection medicine in the first mounting unit 126a or the second mounting unit 126b.

[0061] The control unit 190 further includes a dispensing order determination unit (not shown) that determines the dispensing order of the injection drugs when multiple types of injection drugs are indicated in the prescription data related to administration to one patient. The dispensing order determination unit may determine the dispensing order of the injection drugs, for example, the order indicated in the prescription data related to administration to one patient. The dispensing order determination unit may also determine the dispensing order of the injection drugs based on, for example, the names of the injection drugs. Based on the dispensing order of the injection drugs and the correspondence data described later, the order of the cassettes Ca transferred by the cassette transfer unit 140 and the order of the cassettes Ca held by the cassette holding unit 130 moving from the cassette receiving position 131 to the processing position 132 are determined.

[0062] The storage unit 180 stores information necessary for controlling the injection drug dispensing device 100. The storage unit 180 stores programs for controlling the operations of, for example, the drug delivery unit 121, the cassette transport unit 140, and the drug movement unit 153. The storage unit 180 also stores correspondence data indicating the correspondence between each of the m cassettes Ca and the injection drugs contained in each of the m cassettes Ca. The storage unit 180 also stores information indicating the injection drugs whose posture needs to be confirmed based on whether or not the barcode can be read, as described above.

[0063] Furthermore, a medicine master in which information on each injection drug is recorded is stored in the storage unit 180. Specifically, in the medicine master, various information (e.g., injection drug width information indicating the width of the injection drug) is registered in association with injection drug identification information (injection drug code, injection drug ID) for identifying each injection drug.

[0064] The medicine master and other information described above may be stored in a server (not shown) connectable to the injection drug dispensing device 100 via a network.

[0065] (Regarding returned medicines) In addition, in hospital operations, injection drugs that have been dispensed may be returned without being administered to the patient due to a change in the patient's condition, etc. It is time-consuming to return such returned injection drugs (returned drugs) to cassettes Ca by type. Therefore, the injection drug dispensing device 100 has a function to identify the type and expiration date of the returned drug, store it, and reuse the returned drug. A specific configuration for achieving this function will be described below.

[0066] 11 to 13, the cassette shelf 110 includes a returned medicine receiving cassette 161, a direction alignment cassette 162, a large returned medicine cassette 163, and a small / medium returned medicine cassette 164. These cassettes may be held in the rightmost column in the width direction of the cassette shelf 110, for example.

[0067] The returned medicine receiving cassette 161 is a cassette that first receives returned medicines. When a user puts a returned medicine into the returned medicine receiving cassette 161, the user can put the returned medicine into the returned medicine receiving cassette 161 without worrying about the type or direction of the returned medicine.

[0068] The direction alignment cassette 162 is a cassette for aligning the orientation of returned medicines in a certain direction. The direction alignment cassette 162 has a bottom surface with a substantially V-shaped cross section. Therefore, the orientation of the returned medicines inserted into the returned medicine receiving cassette 161 is aligned in a certain direction along the shape of the bottom surface.

[0069] FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the orientation alignment cassette 162 in a plane parallel to the front surface of the injection drug dispensing device 100. As shown in FIG. 11, the cross section of the bottom surface of the orientation alignment cassette 162 is not a simple V-shape, but has a shape in which an upwardly convex curve and a downwardly convex curve are combined. As will be described later, the operation for the returned drug includes a step in which the position identification camera 122 photographs the inside of the orientation alignment cassette 162. At this time, if the cross section of the bottom surface of the orientation alignment cassette 162 is a complete V-shape, there is a risk that the photographing cannot be performed appropriately due to the light reflected at the bottom surface. For this reason, in order to suppress reflection in the direction of the position identification camera 122, the cross section of the bottom surface of the orientation alignment cassette 162 is a shape in which curves are combined.

[0070] The large returned drug cassette 163 and the small / medium returned drug cassette 164 are both cassettes that store injection drugs after the type has been determined. A large returned drug may be, for example, a returned drug with a diameter of 26 mm or more. A medium or smaller returned drug may be, for example, a returned drug with a diameter of less than 26 mm. The size that is the boundary between medium and small may be set appropriately, and the size that is the boundary between large and medium or smaller is not limited to the above example.

[0071] Fig. 12 is a diagram showing the shape of the large returned medicine cassette 163, where (a) is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in (a). Fig. 13 is a diagram showing the shape of the small / medium returned medicine cassette 164, where (a) is a plan view, (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in (a), and (c) is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC in (a). In (b) of Fig. 12 and (b) and (c) of Fig. 13, the paper surface is a plane parallel to both the depth direction and the vertical direction of the injection drug dispensing device 100.

[0072] As shown in Figures 12(a) and (b), a plurality of recesses 163a are formed on the bottom surface of the large returned medicine cassette 163. Meanwhile, as shown in Figures 13(a) to (c), a plurality of recesses 164a shallower than the recesses 163a are formed at intervals narrower than the intervals between the recesses 163a on the bottom surface of the small / medium returned medicine cassette 164. Furthermore, a plurality of recesses 164b shorter and shallower than the recesses 164a are formed between the recesses 164a.

[0073] A large returned medicine is stored in one of the recesses 163a in the large returned medicine cassette 163. A medium returned medicine is stored in one of the recesses 164a in the small / medium returned medicine cassette 164. A small returned medicine is stored in the recess 164b in the small / medium returned medicine cassette 164. It should be noted that a small returned medicine may also be stored in the recess 164a.

[0074] The direction alignment cassette 162, the large returned drug cassette 163, and the small and medium returned drug cassette 164 may be configured by disposing a bottom plate of the above-mentioned shape on the bottom of the cassette Ca. Alternatively, the direction alignment cassette 162, the large returned drug cassette 163, and the small and medium returned drug cassette 164 may each be a dedicated cassette having a bottom of the above-mentioned shape.

[0075] [Example of operation when dispensing injection drugs] 14 is a flow chart showing the operation of the injection drug dispensing device 100 when dispensing an injection drug. The operation of the injection drug dispensing device 100 when dispensing an injection drug will be described below.

[0076] When prescription data is input to the injection drug dispensing system 1 and dispensing of an injection drug based on the prescription data for administration to one patient included in the prescription data is started, first, the transfer control unit 191 causes the cassette transfer unit 140 to transfer the cassette Ca corresponding to the type of injection drug to be dispensed from the cassette shelf 110 to the cassette receiving position 131 of the cassette holding unit 130 (SA1). The drive control unit 192 moves the cassette Ca from the cassette receiving position 131 to the processing position 132 (SA2).

[0077] The suction position determination unit 194 captures an image of the inside of the cassette Ca at the processing position using the position identification camera 122, analyzes the position and orientation of the injection drug from the image, and determines the suction position (SA3). The transport control unit 193 causes the drug transport unit 121 to suck the injection drug at the suction position determined in step SA3, and transports the injection drug from the cassette Ca to the first loading unit 126a (SA4).

[0078] The first discrimination processing unit 195 and the second discrimination processing unit 196 identify the type and expiration date of the injection drug loaded on the first loading unit 126a (SA5). Specifically, the first discrimination processing unit 195 reads the type using the barcode reader 123, and the second discrimination processing unit 196 analyzes the expiration date.

[0079] The first discrimination processing unit 195 judges whether the type of the injection drug is appropriate (SA6). If the type of the injection drug is appropriate (YES in SA6), the second discrimination processing unit 196 judges whether the expiration date of the injection drug is appropriate (SA7). If the expiration date of the injection drug is appropriate (YES in SA7), the transport control unit 193 dispenses the injection drug to the transport tray 151a by the drug moving unit 153 (SA8). On the other hand, if the type of the injection drug is not appropriate (NO in SA6) or the expiration date of the injection drug is not appropriate (NO in SA7), the transport control unit 193 moves the injection drug to the non-dispensed drug storage unit 152 and stores it (SA9) by the drug moving unit 153.

[0080] Through the above process, one injection drug is dispensed to the transport tray 151a or stored in the non-dispensed drug storage unit 152. The injection drug dispensing device 100 repeats the above process until all the required injection drugs are dispensed to the transport tray 151a.

[0081] In the above example, the processes of steps SA6 and SA7 are executed in this order, but these steps may be executed in the reverse order or in parallel.

[0082] The cassette Ca from which the injection drug has been removed may be returned by the cassette transfer unit 140 from the cassette holding unit 130 to the cassette shelf 110 at any timing while the processing from step SA3 onwards is being executed. However, if it is determined in the above-mentioned step SA6 or SA7 that the type or expiration date of the injection drug removed from the cassette Ca is not appropriate, it becomes necessary to remove the injection drug again from the cassette Ca. For this reason, it is preferable that the cassette Ca from which the injection drug has been removed is returned to the cassette shelf 110 after it is determined as YES in step SA7.

[0083] Furthermore, in step SA6, if NO is determined multiple times consecutively and the type of the injection drug is the same for the multiple times, there is a possibility that an injection drug different from the correspondence stored in the memory unit 180 is contained in the cassette Ca. In such a case, the control unit 190 may include a notification unit (not shown) that notifies the administrator of the injection drug dispensing system 1 of the above possibility.

[0084] The injection drug dispensing device 100 does not need to perform the above-mentioned processes independently for each cassette Ca, and may perform them in parallel. That is, for example, the transfer control unit 191 may perform step SA1 for one cassette Ca, and then perform step SA1 for another cassette Ca while the drive control unit 192 is performing step SA2. Also, while the transport control unit 193 is performing step SA4 for the other cassette Ca, the cassette holding unit 130 may move the cassette Ca for which step SA4 has already been completed to the cassette receiving position 131, and the cassette transfer unit 140 may return the cassette to the cassette shelf 110. In this way, the specific process can be performed in parallel for some of the many cassettes Ca stored in the cassette shelf 110, thereby speeding up the specific process. The more cassettes Ca are stored in the cassette shelf 110, the more effective the speed-up of the process achieved by performing the specific process in parallel.

[0085] [Example of operation when returning injection drugs] Fig. 15 is a flow chart showing the operation of the injection drug dispensing device 100 for a returned drug. Fig. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of cassettes held in the cassette holding unit 130. The operation when an injection drug is returned will be described below.

[0086] First, the transfer control unit 191 transfers the returned drug receiving cassette 161, the orientation alignment cassette 162, the large returned drug cassette 163, and the small and medium returned drug cassette 164 to the cassette holding unit 130 by the cassette transfer unit 140 (SB1). These cassettes may be arranged, for example, as shown in FIG. 16. That is, the orientation alignment cassette 162 may be arranged in a position closest to the position change unit 126, and the returned drug receiving cassette 161, the large returned drug cassette 163, and the small and medium returned drug cassette 164 may be arranged in this order, moving farther from the position change unit 126. However, this arrangement is not limited to this order.

[0087] Next, the drive control unit 192 moves the returned drug receiving cassette 161 and the orientation alignment cassette 162 to the processing position 132 (SB2).

[0088] The suction position determination unit 194 captures an image of the inside of the returned drug receiving cassette 161 with the position identification camera 122, analyzes the position (and orientation) of the returned drug from the image, and determines the suction position by the drug transport unit 121 (SB3). The transport control unit 193 causes the drug transport unit 121 to suck up the returned drug at the suction position determined by the suction position determination unit 194, and transports it from the returned drug receiving cassette 161 to the orientation alignment cassette 162 (SB4).

[0089] The returned medicine transported to the orientation alignment cassette 162 is aligned in its orientation by the shape of the bottom surface of the orientation alignment cassette 162 and the effect of gravity. The suction position determination unit 194 takes an image of the inside of the orientation alignment cassette 162 with the position identification camera 122, and determines the suction position by the medicine transport unit 121 based on the position of the returned medicine (SB5). The transport control unit 193 adsorbs the returned medicine by the medicine transport unit 121 at the suction position determined by the suction position determination unit 194, and transports it from the orientation alignment cassette 162 to the first mounting unit 126a (SB6).

[0090] As with step SA5 described above, the first discrimination processing unit 195 and the second discrimination processing unit 196 identify the type and expiration date of the returned medicine transported to the first loading unit 126a (SB7). The second discrimination processing unit 196 determines whether the expiration date of the returned medicine is appropriate (SB8). Whether the expiration date is appropriate is determined based on, for example, the result of comparing the expiration date with the date and time when step SB8 is executed.

[0091] If the expiration date is appropriate (YES in SB8), the transport control unit 193 transports the returned drug to the large returned drug cassette 163 or the small / medium returned drug cassette 164 based on the size using the drug transport unit 121 (SB9). After that, the first discrimination processing unit 195 stores the type of the returned drug in the memory unit 180, and the transport control unit 193 stores the location of the returned drug in the memory unit 180 (SB10). On the other hand, if the expiration date is not appropriate (NO in SB8), the transport control unit 193 moves the injection drug to the non-dispensed drug storage unit 152 for storage (SB11).

[0092] Through the above process, one returned medicine is stored in the large returned medicine cassette 163 or the small / medium returned medicine cassette 164 with the correspondence between the position and the type recognized. The injection drug dispensing device 100 repeats this process until all returned medicines in the returned medicine receiving cassette 161 are used up.

[0093] In addition, when prescription data is input to the injection drug dispensing system 1, if the prescription data includes an injection drug stored in the large returned drug cassette 163 or the small / medium returned drug cassette 164, the injection drug dispensing device 100 can reuse the returned drug. In this case, the transfer control unit 191 transfers the large returned drug cassette 163 or the small / medium returned drug cassette 164 in which the returned drug is stored to the cassette holding unit 130 instead of the cassette Ca in which the injection drug is stored. The transport control unit 193 transports the returned drug to the first mounting unit 126a based on the correspondence between the type and position of the returned drug stored in the memory unit 180. Thereafter, the injection drug dispensing device 100 executes the processes from step SA5 onwards described above.

[0094] [Specific process for taking out injection drugs] Next, an example of a specific process for removing an injection drug from a cassette Ca will be described with reference to Figs.

[0095] In order to take out the injection drug from the cassette Ca placed on the cassette holding unit 130, the suction position determination unit 194 analyzes the image captured by the position identification camera 122 to identify the injection drug to be suctioned among the injection drugs contained in the cassette Ca. Then, the suction position determination unit 194 determines the approximate center of the identified injection drug (in the case of a vial, the approximate center of the cylindrical part) as the suction position. The transport control unit 193 controls the medicine transport unit 121 to lower the suction mechanism 121a to the determined suction position to suction the injection drug.

[0096] First, a description will be given of a shape model required in the process of determining a pickup position by the pickup position determining unit 194, and a registration process and initial setting process of the shape model.

[0097] (shape model) First, the shape model will be described. The shape model is data showing multiple shape patterns calculated by applying multiple conditions to the shape information of the injection drug. The shape model is data referenced by the suction position determination unit 194 to identify the shape of the injection drug included in the image captured by the position identification camera 122.

[0098] The shape information is edge information indicating the contour of each injection drug. In this embodiment, the shape information is expressed as a set of point sequences of position information of adjacent pixels indicating the contour of the injection drug, and has a precision of about subpixels.

[0099] The multiple conditions include, for example, the following (1) to (5). (1) The range of rotation of the injection drug indicated by the shape information (e.g., greater than 0° and less than 360°). (2) The pitch at which the injection is rotated. (3) The range of magnifications for stretching or shrinking the injectable drug in the X-axis direction. (4) The range of magnifications for stretching or shrinking the injectable drug in the y-axis direction. (5) The contrast of the injection (the difference in brightness between the foreground and background of the injection).

[0100] The shape model is linked to the injection drug identification information of each injection drug and registered in the drug master. However, the shape model may be managed by a drug shape master in which each injection drug identification information is linked to a shape model and registered, instead of the drug master. Also, it is preferable that the shape model is created in advance and registered in the drug master. However, the shape model can be updated at any time. In other words, the latest shape model is registered in the drug master.

[0101] (Registration process of shape model) Next, the registration process of the shape model will be described with reference to Fig. 17. Fig. 17 is a diagram for explaining the registration process of the shape model, in which (a) is a flowchart showing an example of the registration process, and (b) is a diagram showing a schematic representation of the shape of an injection drug indicated by the shape model.

[0102] First, the user places the injection drug to be registered in a cassette Ca, and places it on the cassette shelf 110. The cassette transfer unit 140 takes out the cassette Ca from the cassette shelf 110 and places it on any cassette holding unit 130 located at the cassette receiving position 131. Note that the user may also place the cassette Ca on the cassette holding unit 130.

[0103] Then, as shown in (a) of Figure 17, the transport control unit 193 moves the cassette holding unit 130 with the cassette Ca placed thereon to the processing position 132, and the position identification camera 122 photographs the cassette Ca (i.e., the injection drug in the cassette Ca) (SC1).

[0104] Next, the suction position determination unit 194 detects an injection drug area indicating an area assumed to be an injection drug in the image acquired by the position identification camera 122 (SC2). The suction position determination unit 194, for example, performs a binarization process on the image and detects an area including pixels having a gradation value in a predetermined range as the injection drug area. Since the cassette Ca has a specific color (e.g., blue), the suction position determination unit 194 only needs to detect an area having a color different from the specific color. Therefore, the suction position determination unit 194 can easily identify the injection drug area. In other words, by using the cassette Ca of a specific color, the injection drug area can be easily identified.

[0105] Next, the suction position determination unit 194 performs a smoothing process on the contour of the injection drug region (SC3), and then detects the direction (angle) of the injection drug (SC4). Based on the detected direction of the injection drug, the suction position determination unit 194 aligns the direction of the injection drug to be registered to a certain direction (angle 0°) (SC5: normalization process). Note that this direction is defined as the angle between the reference line and the straight line connecting the center of the head and the center of the bottom of the injection drug, when the Y-axis direction (the direction in which the coordinate ImgCol is set) in the image Im1 shown in FIG. 19 is set as the reference line.

[0106] Next, the suction position determination unit 194 specifies the shape of the injection region after the smoothing process and the normalization process as shape information indicating the shape of the injection drug, and then calculates multiple shape patterns by applying the above conditions (1) to (5) to the shape information. The shape and orientation of the injection drug indicated by the shape model are shown in FIG. 17(b). Then, the multiple shape patterns are registered in the medicine master as the shape model of the injection drug (SC6).

[0107] As a result, during the adsorption position determination process, the adsorption position determination unit 194 is able to identify the shape of the injectable drug to be adsorbed by comparing the injection drug area detected from the image captured by the position identification camera 122 with the shape model registered in the drug master.

[0108] (Initial setting) Next, the initial setting process will be described with reference to Fig. 18 to Fig. 20. Fig. 18 is a flowchart showing an example of the initial setting process. Fig. 19 is a diagram for explaining each coordinate system. (a) to (c) of Fig. 20 are diagrams for explaining the coordinate conversion process.

[0109] At least at the time of shipment, the injection drug dispensing device 100 is initialized. The initial setting includes a parameter setting process and a coordinate conversion process.

[0110] 18, a parameter setting process is first performed. The parameter setting process is a process for setting (calculating) internal parameters and external parameters.

[0111] The intrinsic parameters are lens-specific (camera-specific) parameters that indicate the characteristics of the lens of the position identification camera 122, and their values ​​are published by the camera manufacturer. The intrinsic parameters, for example, specify the type of lens distortion (e.g., barrel distortion or pincushion distortion) and the degree of distortion.

[0112] The external parameters are parameters indicating the attitude (lens attitude) of the position identifying camera 122 installed in the injection drug dispensing device 100. In other words, the external parameters are values ​​determined by installing and fixing the position identifying camera 122 on the cassette shelf 110. The external parameters indicate, for example, the position of the position identifying camera 122 in the world coordinate system (e.g., the x coordinate, y coordinate, z coordinate, rotation angle with respect to the x axis, and rotation angle with respect to the y axis of the position identifying camera 122).

[0113] Specifically, the medicine transport unit 121 places the cassette holder 130, to which the parameter setting plate is fixed, at a processing position 132 that exists within the angle of view of the position identification camera 122 (SD1). After that, the position identification camera 122 photographs the parameter setting plate to obtain a parameter setting image (SD2).

[0114] The parameter setting plate is a plate used to calculate internal and external parameters, and is printed with, for example, many small black dots (dot patterns). Note that the processing of SD1 may be performed by the user.

[0115] Next, the suction position determination unit 194 judges whether or not the image has been captured a predetermined number of times (SD3). If the image has not been captured a predetermined number of times (NO in SD3), the process returns to SD1. In other words, if the image has not been captured a predetermined number of times, the medicine transport unit 121 places a parameter-setting plate, on which a dot pattern different from the dot pattern printed on the captured parameter-setting plate, on the processing position 132. In this embodiment, 6 to 10 parameter-setting plates having different dot patterns are prepared. As long as the internal and external parameters can be calculated, the number of parameter-setting plates to be prepared may be 5 or less, or 11 or more. The predetermined number of times is set to the number of parameter-setting plates prepared.

[0116] When the image has been captured the predetermined number of times (YES in SD3), the suction position determination unit 194 calculates the internal and external parameters by analyzing the images of the parameter setting plate (SD4).

[0117] As mentioned above, the intrinsic parameters are fixed values ​​published by the camera manufacturer, but there may be deviations from the published values ​​due to individual differences in lenses, even for the same type of lens. By calculating the intrinsic parameters, the actual intrinsic parameters of the lens used in the position identification camera 122 can be accurately identified.

[0118] Next, a coordinate conversion process is performed. The coordinate conversion process is a process of calculating a conversion matrix (Vector) for performing coordinate conversion to match the suction position in the image with the actual suction position in the cassette Ca. It can also be said that the conversion matrix is ​​for specifying the positional relationship between the image coordinate system and the robot coordinate system. In reality, as will be described later, distortion occurs in the captured image. Therefore, in this embodiment, a conversion matrix is ​​calculated for specifying the positional relationship between the robot coordinate system and a distortion-free world coordinate system obtained by converting the image coordinate system.

[0119] The image coordinate system is a coordinate system set in the image captured by the position identification camera 122. In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 19, one corner of the image Im1 (the back side (the processing position 132 side) of the injection drug dispensing device 100) is set as the origin (Img(0,0)), the X-axis is defined from the back side to the front side (the cassette receiving position 131 side) of the injection drug dispensing device 100, and coordinates (ImgRow, ImgCol) are defined.

[0120] The robot coordinate system is a coordinate system that defines the position of the suction mechanism 121a at the processing position 132. In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 19, the front side of the injection drug dispensing device 100 is set as the origin (Robo(0,0)), the Y axis is defined from the front side to the back side of the injection drug dispensing device 100, and coordinates (RoboX, RoboY) are defined.

[0121] The world coordinate system is an absolute coordinate system in the injection drug dispensing device 100. In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 19, an arbitrary position in the injection drug dispensing device 100 is set as the origin (World(0,0)), the X-axis is defined from the back side to the front side of the injection drug dispensing device 100, and coordinates (WorldX, WorldY) are defined. Note that the direction in which the lens of the position identification camera 122 is located as viewed from the origin (World(0,0)) is defined as the Z-axis, and coordinates (WorldZ) are defined. The origin (World(0,0)) (reference position) is, for example, the center of the cassette holding units 130a and 130b (or the cassette holding units 130c and 130d).

[0122] After the process of SD4, as shown in (a) of FIG. 20, the medicine delivery unit 121 places the cassette holders 130a and 130b (or the cassette holders 130c and 130d) to which the robot origin jig 501 is fixed, at the processing positions 132a and 132b (or the processing positions 132c and 132d) present within the angle of view of the position identification camera 122a (or the position identification camera 122b) (SD5). The two robot origin jigs 501 are fixed at positions where they are inserted into the jig holes 502a formed in the coordinate conversion plate 502 when the coordinate conversion plate 502 shown in (b) of FIG. 20 is placed on the cassette holders 130a and 130b. In addition, the two robot origin jigs 501 are fixed to such an extent that no positional deviation occurs due to the pressing or suction of the suction mechanism 121a. The process of SD5 may be performed by the user.

[0123] In this state, the transport control unit 193 lowers the suction mechanism 121a onto each robot origin jig 501 and brings its tip into contact with the robot origin jig 501. As a result, the suction position determination unit 194 specifies the positions of the two robot origin jig 501 in the robot coordinate system.

[0124] As shown in (b) of FIG. 20, two jig holes 502a into which the robot origin jig 501 is inserted are formed in the coordinate transformation plate 502, and nine targets (black dots) 503 are printed on the coordinate transformation plate 502. The positions of the jig holes 502a and the targets 503 in the coordinate transformation plate 502 are stored in advance in the storage unit 180. That is, the positional relationship between these two is specified in advance. Therefore, as described above, the suction position determination unit 194 specifies the position of the robot origin jig 501 in the robot coordinate system, and can also specify the position (RoboX, RoboY) of the target 503 in the robot coordinate system when the coordinate transformation plate 502 is placed on the cassette holders 130a and 130b.

[0125] 20(c), the user places the coordinate transformation plate 502 on the cassette holders 130a and 130b so that the robot origin jig 501 is inserted into the jig hole 502a formed in the coordinate transformation plate 502 (SD6). After placement, the position identification camera 122 captures an image of the coordinate transformation plate 502 to obtain a coordinate transformation image (SD7).

[0126] Next, the suction position determining unit 194 detects the position (ImgRow, ImgCol) of the target 503 in the image coordinate system by analyzing the coordinate transformed image (SD8).

[0127] Next, in order to correct distortion of the coordinate conversion image, the suction position determination unit 194 converts the position of the target 503 in the image coordinate system into the position (WorldX, WorldY) of the target 503 in the world coordinate system (SD9). Specifically, the suction position determination unit 194 calculates the position of the target 503 in the world coordinate system from the position of the target 503 in the image coordinate system, using the internal parameters and external parameters calculated in SD4 and target height information indicating the height of the target 503. The target height information is stored in the storage unit 180 in advance.

[0128] Next, the suction position determination unit 194 calculates a transformation matrix using the position coordinates of the target 503 in the world coordinate system calculated in SD9 and the position coordinates of the target 503 in the robot coordinate system specified in SD5 (SD10).

[0129] In this embodiment, since two position identifying cameras 122 are provided, the internal parameters and external parameters, and the transformation matrix are calculated for each of the position identifying cameras 122a and 122b. The external parameters depend on the installation position of the position identifying camera 122. Therefore, the position identifying camera 122 is firmly fixed to the cassette shelf 110, and if the installation position is shifted, the external parameters are calculated again.

[0130] (Determination of pickup position) Next, the process of determining the adsorption position of the injection drug contained in the cassette Ca will be described with reference to Fig. 21 and Fig. 22. Fig. 21 is a diagram showing an example of the process of determining the adsorption position of the injection drug contained in the cassette Ca. The process in Fig. 21 specifically explains the process of SA3 shown in Fig. 14. Fig. 22 (a) and (b) are diagrams for explaining the detection of the cassette Ca in an image.

[0131] 21, the suction position determination unit 194 compares the injection drug identification information included in the prescription data provided to the injection drug dispensing system 1 with the injection drug identification information included in the medicine master. As a result, the suction position determination unit 194 reads a shape model of the injection drug (the injection drug to be photographed) contained in the cassette Ca placed at the processing position 132 (SE1).

[0132] Next, the position identifying camera 122 photographs the cassette holding unit 130 (i.e., the cassette Ca placed on the cassette holding unit 130 and the injection drug contained in the cassette Ca) that has been transferred to the processing position 132 (SE2). For example, when the cassette Ca containing the injection drug to be photographed is placed on the cassette holding unit 130b, the position identifying camera 122a photographs an image Im2 as shown in (a) of FIG.

[0133] Next, the suction position determination unit 194 detects the cassette Ca included in the captured image (SE3). The cassette Ca has a specific color different from the color of the casing at the processing position 132. Therefore, the suction position determination unit 194 can easily detect the cassette Ca by detecting the specific color. In particular, when the specific color is blue, the cassette Ca is easily detected.

[0134] Even when two cassette holders 130 are placed in the photographing region 122c or 122d, the suction position determination unit 194 can identify the injection drug to be photographed based on the determined dispensing order. Therefore, the suction position determination unit 194 can identify the cassette Ca containing the injection drug to be photographed from among the two cassette holders 130 placed in the photographing region 122c or 122d.

[0135] Here, (b) of Fig. 22 is a view of the cassette Ca viewed from above. There is a possibility that the medicine transport unit 121 cannot adsorb the injection drug present in the end region inside the cassette Ca (the region having width W2 from the inside of the side wall). In addition, the side wall portion (thickness W1) of the cassette Ca cannot be specified as an area for adsorbing the injection drug. Therefore, the adsorption position determination unit 194 specifies the area detected as the cassette Ca in the image, excluding the side wall portion and the end region (the region having thickness W1 and width W2 from the outer edge of the cassette Ca), as the area Ra capable of adsorbing the injection drug.

[0136] If the injection drug exists in an area other than the adsorption-enabled area Ra, the adsorption position determination unit 194 does not determine the injection drug as the injection drug to be adsorbed. In other words, only the injection drug existing in the adsorption-enabled area Ra is specified as the injection drug to be adsorbed. If the injection drug exists only in an area other than the adsorption-enabled area Ra, the adsorption position determination unit 194 may notify (warn) that the injection drug cannot be adsorbed. In addition, if multiple types of cassettes Ca are prepared (for example, cassettes Ca with different heights are prepared), the adsorption-enabled area Ra is specified for each type of cassette Ca.

[0137] After the process of SE3, the suction position determination unit 194 performs preprocessing to emphasize the injection drug area in the image (SE4). For example, the suction position determination unit 194 performs processing to erase the label in the image by converting the area assumed to be the label into, for example, a specific color, or to emphasize the area assumed to be the outline defining the outer edge of the injection drug (for example, an area having a specific brightness difference or color difference between adjacent pixels). Then, the suction position determination unit 194 detects the injection drug area contained in the image from the image (SE5). For example, the suction position determination unit 194 performs binarization processing on the image processed in SE4 to specify an area including pixels having a gradation value in a specific range (i.e., an area having a color different from the specific color of the cassette Ca) as the injection drug area. Then, the suction position determination unit 194 compares the specified injection drug area with the shape model read in SE1 (SE6).

[0138] Next, the suction position determination unit 194 verifies the validity of the collation result (SE7). In the process of SE6, the outline of the injection drug is identified, so if multiple injection drugs are adjacent or overlapping, the multiple injection drugs may be identified as one injection drug. In this case, the accurate suction position cannot be identified.

[0139] For example, when two injection drugs are present, the cassette Ca exists as background in the area between the two injection drugs. Therefore, when an area that penetrates the injection drug area and includes a specific color exists in the specified injection drug area, the suction position determination unit 194 recognizes that multiple injection drugs exist and determines that the collation result is invalid. In this case, the process of SE6 is performed until the collation result is determined to be valid.

[0140] If it is determined in SE7 that the collation result is valid, the adsorption position (adsorption coordinates) in the injection drug region on the image and the orientation of the injection drug region are calculated (SE8), i.e., the adsorption position in the image coordinate system is calculated.

[0141] When matching is performed in SE6, the position of the head of the injection drug in the image can be identified, and therefore the orientation of the injection drug region can be identified. This orientation is defined as the angle between a reference line in the Y-axis direction (the direction in which the coordinate ImgCol is set, the left-right direction on the paper) in image Im2 shown in Fig. 22(a) and a line connecting the center of the head and the center of the bottom of the injection drug, for example. It may be calculated based on a registered shape model (angle 0°). The method of calculating the suction position will be described later.

[0142] Next, the suction position determination unit 194 converts the calculated suction position in the image coordinate system into a suction position in the world coordinate system in order to correct the distortion of the lens of the position identification camera 122 and the installation position of the lens (SE9). This conversion is performed using the internal parameters and external parameters calculated in SD4 shown in Fig. 19 and the injection width information indicating the width of the injection drug, similar to the processing of SD9 shown in Fig. 18.

[0143] Next, the suction position determination unit 194 converts the suction position in the converted world coordinate system into a suction position in the robot coordinate system (SE10). This identifies the suction position for the injection drug in the real space. This conversion is performed by applying the transformation matrix calculated in the process of SD10 shown in FIG. 18 to the suction position in the world coordinate system.

[0144] The suction position of the returned injection drug can be determined, for example, by using a known method, and therefore a detailed description of the method for determining the suction position will be omitted.

[0145] (Correction process related to adsorption position determination) Next, the correction process related to the adsorption position determination will be described with reference to Figs. 23 to 25. Fig. 23(a) and (b) are diagrams for explaining the correction of position deviation caused by lens distortion. Fig. 24 is a diagram for explaining the correction of position deviation caused by the width of the injection drug. Fig. 25(a) to (c) are diagrams for explaining the correction of position deviation related to projection.

[0146] As described above, in the injection drug dispensing device 100, due to configuration constraints, the two position identifying cameras 122 are provided on the bottom surface of the cassette shelf 110 as shown in Fig. 5. Therefore, the distance from the position identifying camera 122 to the processing position 132 (specifically, the cassette Ca placed on the cassette holding unit 130 present at the processing position 132) is shorter than when the position identifying camera 122 is provided on the ceiling of the injection drug dispensing device 100.

[0147] In the conventional injection drug dispensing device, the position identifying camera is provided on the ceiling of the injection drug dispensing device, and the injection drug to be identified for its drug type is placed directly below the position identifying camera. In other words, in the injection drug dispensing device 100, the above distance is shorter than that in the conventional injection drug dispensing device, so it is necessary to increase the viewing angle of the lens used for the position identifying camera 122. For example, the above distance is about 465 mm in the injection drug dispensing device 100, whereas the above distance is about 1.1 to 1.2 m in the conventional injection drug dispensing device.

[0148] Generally, the viewing angle of a lens becomes smaller as the lens diameter becomes larger. Since the above distance is relatively large, a lens having a relatively large lens diameter (e.g., 16 mm) can be used in a conventional injection drug dispensing device. However, when such a lens is used in the injection drug dispensing device 100, the viewing angle becomes too small for the above distance, and the entire cassette Ca placed at the processing position 132 cannot be photographed. Therefore, in consideration of the above distance, it is necessary to use a lens having a relatively small lens diameter for the position identification camera 122.

[0149] When the distance is about 465 mm, it is possible to use a lens with a lens diameter of, for example, 8 mm. However, in this case, in order to capture the entirety of each of the processing positions 132a to 132d, it is necessary to provide one position identification camera 122 for each of the processing positions 132a to 132d (i.e., a total of four position identification cameras 122 are required for the entire device). Therefore, in this embodiment, a lens with a lens diameter of 6 mm is used. This makes it possible to capture the entirety of each of the processing positions 132a to 132d simply by providing one position identification camera 122a common to the processing positions 132a and 132b, or one position identification camera 122b common to the processing positions 132c and 132d (i.e., a total of two position identification cameras 122 are provided for the entire device).

[0150] However, the smaller the lens diameter, the greater the degree of distortion in the captured image. This distortion causes an error between the actual position of the injection drug in the cassette Ca and the position of the injection drug in the image. Therefore, if the suction position of the injection drug is specified without correcting this distortion, there is a possibility that the suction mechanism 121a will be placed at a position different from the actual position of the injection drug.

[0151] In addition, since the position identification camera 122 is provided so as to be common to the two processing positions 132, the cassette Ca placed at the processing position 132 is photographed from an oblique direction. Since the injection drug has a certain width, when the injection drug is photographed from an oblique direction, the position of the injection drug in the image may differ from the actual position of the injection drug. In addition, the expected suction position of the actual injection drug may be a position different from the suction position in the image. Therefore, if these possibilities are not taken into consideration, there is a possibility that the suction mechanism 121a may be lowered at a position different from the actual position of the injection drug, as described above.

[0152] Therefore, the suction position determination unit 194 analyzes the image captured by the position identification camera 122, and corrects the suction position (suction coordinates) in the image, taking into account the positional deviation in the image described below.

[0153] (Correction of position deviation caused by lens distortion) As described above, a lens has its own inherent distortion. In this embodiment, a convex lens is used as the lens of the position identification camera 122. Therefore, barrel distortion occurs in the image.

[0154] FIG. 23(a) shows an ideal image Ii without lens distortion. In this case, the positional relationship of each target (four circles in the figure) in the image Ir is proportional to the positional relationship of each target in real space. However, barrel distortion actually occurs. In this case, an image Ir as shown in FIG. 23(b) is captured. In the image Ir, the target located farther from the center position of the image Ir is more affected by lens distortion. When compared with the image Ii shown in FIG. 23(a), it can be seen that the target is closer to the center position. Therefore, in order to correct the positional deviation caused by the lens distortion, it is necessary to perform a correction to move the image located at the corresponding position from the center position to the outside according to each position in the image.

[0155] As described above, the intrinsic parameters define the degree of distortion specific to the lens. In other words, by referring to the intrinsic parameters, the degree of distortion at each position of the image can be specified, and the amount of correction for moving the image from the center position to the outside can be calculated for each position.

[0156] Furthermore, the center position in the image Ir depends on the orientation of the lens of the position identification camera 122. Therefore, the center position in the image Ir can be identified by referring to external parameters that define the orientation. In other words, an accurate correction amount can be calculated by calculating the above correction amount after identifying the center position.

[0157] In the process of SE9 in FIG. 21, the pickup position determination unit 194 calculates the pickup position in the world coordinate system using the calculated internal parameters and external parameters in order to shift the pickup position in the image coordinate system by the above-mentioned correction amount.

[0158] (Correction of position deviation caused by the width of the injection drug) Furthermore, even if an injection drug is placed at the same position, its position in the image will differ depending on the width of the injection drug (the height of the injection drug when placed at the processing position 132). As shown in Fig. 24, consider a case where two injection drugs DA and DB with different widths are placed at a position other than directly below the position identification camera 122. In this case, the position in the image that corresponds to the position of the injection drug farthest from the placement surface Fa differs depending on the width of the injection drug.

[0159] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 24, the position DAi in the image corresponding to the position PA of the injection drug DA farthest from the placement surface Fa is a position distant by a distance d(A) from the position where the injection drug DA is placed. Also, the position DBi in the image corresponding to the position PB of the injection drug DB farthest from the placement surface Fa is a position distant by a distance d(B) from the position where the injection drug DB is placed. In other words, it can be seen that the larger the width of the injection drug, the more distant the above position in the image is from the position where the injection drug is actually placed. Therefore, in order to correct the positional deviation caused by the width of the injection drug, it is necessary to perform a correction to move the image present at the corresponding position inward from the center position according to each position in the image.

[0160] As described above, injection width information is registered in the medicine master for each of the multiple types of injection drugs. Therefore, the above distance can be calculated using the width of the injection drug indicated by the injection drug width information and the position of the injection drug in the image. In other words, the correction amount for moving the image inward from the center position can be calculated for each position. Also, as described above, the center position can be specified by referring to external parameters. Therefore, the correction amount can also be accurately calculated.

[0161] In the processing of SE9 in FIG. 21, the suction position determination unit 194 calculates the suction position in the world coordinate system using the calculated external parameters and the registered injection drug width information in order to shift the suction position in the image coordinate system by the above-mentioned correction amount.

[0162] From the above, it can be said that the chucking position in the world coordinate system is the chucking position resulting from correction of the positional deviation caused by the lens distortion and correction of the positional deviation caused by the width of the injection drug.

[0163] (Correction of position deviation related to projection) In addition, the position in the image corresponding to the position of the injection drug farthest from the placement surface Fa differs depending on where the injection drug is placed in the processing position 132. As shown in FIG. 25(a), consider a case where the injection drug DC is placed in a position other than directly below the position identification camera 122. In this case, the position Pr1 in the image corresponding to the position Pa of the injection drug DC farthest from the placement surface Fa is a position different from the center position Pr2 in the projection image DCi1 of the injection drug in the image. That is, as shown in FIG. 25(b), when the injection drug is viewed from directly above, the position Pa is the center position of the injection drug, but as shown in FIG. 25(c), in the projection image DCi1, the position Pa is a position shifted from the center of the injection drug.

[0164] Since the position Pa of the injection drug is the closest position to the opposing suction mechanism 121a, it is preferable to specify the position Pa as the suction position of the injection drug. However, if the center position Pr2 in the projection image DCi1 is specified as the suction position of the injection drug, the position will be shifted from the actual center position of the injection drug (i.e., the position Pa). In particular, if the shift is large, the suction mechanism 121a may not be able to suction the injection drug. Therefore, it is necessary to correct this shift.

[0165] Therefore, as shown in (a) of Fig. 25, the suction position determination unit 194 converts the projection image DCi1 into a projection image DCi2 that is moved by the radius of the injection drug DC in the direction (vertical direction) of the position identification camera 122. Since the width of the injection drug DC is registered in the drug master as injection drug width information, the suction position determination unit 194 can identify the radius of the injection drug DC. Note that injection drug radius information indicating the radius of the injection drug may be registered in the drug master.

[0166] By converting the projection image DCi1 into the projection image DCi2 using the radius of the injection drug DC, the center position Pc of the projection image DCi2 becomes substantially the same as the position Pa. In other words, the above conversion generates the projection image DCi2 as a result of rotating the projection image DCi1 shown in Fig. 25(c) so that it becomes substantially the same as the injection drug DC shown in Fig. 25(b). The calculation of the adsorption position in the image coordinate system in the processing of SE8 in Fig. 21 means performing the above conversion.

[0167] (others) When a relatively expensive lens is used for the position identification camera 122, position deviation due to lens distortion and the height of the injection drug is unlikely to occur. Therefore, when a relatively expensive lens is used, the suction position determination unit 194 only needs to correct at least the position deviation related to the projection. However, in this embodiment, correction of the position deviation due to the lens distortion and the height of the injection drug is also performed, making it possible to use a relatively inexpensive lens.

[0168] In the above, a case where a lens having a lens diameter of 6 mm is used has been described as an example, but this is not limited thereto. It is possible to use a lens having a lens diameter capable of capturing an image of the entire cassette Ca placed at each processing position 132. For example, by making the distance greater than 465 mm, it is also possible to use a lens having a lens diameter of 8 mm.

[0169] (effect) As described above, the injection drug dispensing device 100 of the present embodiment can automatically determine the type and expiration date of an injection drug to be administered to one patient based on input prescription data, and dispense the drug. This can improve the efficiency of injection drug dispensing operations in hospitals and the like.

[0170] In particular, in the medicine cassette handling device 200 included in the injection drug dispensing device 100, the injection drug is moved together with the cassette Ca or is moved while being adsorbed by an adsorption mechanism. Therefore, in the injection drug dispensing device 100, the risk of the injection drug being damaged in the process of being dispensed is reduced compared to the conventional random type injection drug dispensing device.

[0171] In addition, in the injection drug dispensing device 100, the drug transport unit 121 and the drug moving unit 153 are provided separately. Therefore, (i) the removal of the injection drug from the cassette Ca and (ii) the dispensing of the injection drug to the transport tray 151a can be performed in parallel. Therefore, the injection drug dispensing device 100 can realize high-speed dispensing of the injection drug.

[0172] [Another expression of the above configuration] In the medicine sorting device of Patent Document 1, one of a plurality of sorting trays is moved to a medicine removal position, and the medicine to be identified is removed from the sorting tray. Therefore, even if there is a request to remove medicine from each of the plurality of sorting trays, the sorting trays are moved to the removal position one by one. Therefore, under the premise that the medicine is removed by moving the sorting tray to the removal position, the medicine cannot be removed efficiently in this configuration. One aspect of the present invention aims to realize a medicine cassette handling device that can efficiently dispense medicines. The configuration of the medicine cassette handling device can be expressed as follows.

[0173] [1] In order to solve the above problems, a drug cassette handling device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a cassette shelf for storing m cassettes containing drugs, a specific processing unit for performing specific processing on the drugs contained in the cassettes, a cassette holding unit capable of temporarily holding up to n cassettes (m>n≧2) among the cassettes to undergo the specific processing, and a cassette transfer unit for transferring the cassettes between the cassette shelf and the cassette holding unit in order to replace the cassette held in the cassette holding unit.

[0174] For example, when performing a specific process on a cassette shelf where a large number (m) of cassettes are stored, it is necessary to move a transport mechanism that extracts and transports medicines to each cassette storage position on the cassette shelf. Therefore, in this case, the mechanism of the medicine cassette extracting device becomes complicated, and it takes time to move the transport mechanism.

[0175] According to the above configuration, a part (n pieces) of the many cassettes can be temporarily held in the cassette holding section, and specific processing can be concentrated in that area, which makes it possible to perform the specific processing efficiently.

[0176] In addition, since the cassette holder can hold two or more cassettes, a cassette can be replaced while a specific process is being performed on another cassette, thereby reducing the wait time between the specific process on one cassette and the specific process on another cassette.

[0177] Therefore, according to the medicine cassette handling device according to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently dispense medicines.

[0178] [2] Furthermore, in a drug cassette handling device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the cassette holding unit may move the cassette back and forth between a cassette receiving position where the cassette is received from the cassette transport unit and a processing position where the cassette undergoes the specific processing.

[0179] According to the above configuration, interference between the operation of the specific processing section and the operation of the cassette transport section can be avoided.

[0180] [3] Furthermore, in a drug cassette handling device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the cassette shelf may store the cassettes in a matrix in a vertical plane, the cassette transfer unit may pull the cassette out of the cassette shelf, transfer it vertically and place it on the cassette holding unit located at the cassette receiving position, and the cassette holding unit may move the cassette horizontally toward the processing position.

[0181] According to the above-mentioned configuration, unnecessary operations are unlikely to occur in the cassette transport operation, so that cassette replacement can be performed efficiently, and the space of the medicine cassette handling device can be effectively utilized.

[0182] [4] Furthermore, a drug dispensing device according to one embodiment of the present invention is a drug dispensing device including a drug cassette handling device described in any of [1] to [3] above, and the specific processing unit may include a drug transport unit that removes the drug contained in the cassette from the cassette and transports it in order to dispense the drug.

[0183] According to the above configuration, the medicines in the cassette removed by the medicine cassette handling device can be taken out and transported to another location.

[0184] [5] Furthermore, in the medicine dispensing device according to an aspect of the present invention, the identification processing unit may include a first imaging unit that takes an image to identify the medicine to be removed from the cassette.

[0185] According to the above configuration, the medicine to be removed from the cassette can be identified based on the captured image data.

[0186] [6] Furthermore, in a drug dispensing device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the identification processing unit may include a reading unit that reads first identification information attached to the drug, and a first discrimination processing unit that determines whether or not the drug can be dispensed based on the result of comparing the first identification information read by the reading unit with input unique information of the drug.

[0187] According to the above configuration, it is possible to determine whether or not the medicine can be dispensed based on the first identification information. Note that the first identification information may be, for example, a barcode for reading the type of the medicine.

[0188] [7] Furthermore, in a drug dispensing device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the identification processing unit may include a second photographing unit that photographs second identification information attached to the drug, and a second discrimination processing unit that determines whether or not the drug can be dispensed based on the second identification information photographed by the second photographing unit.

[0189] According to the above configuration, it is possible to determine whether or not the medicine can be dispensed based on the second identification information. Note that the second identification information may be, for example, the expiration date of the medicine.

[0190] [8] Furthermore, in a drug dispensing device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the specific processing unit may include a drug rotation unit that receives the drug transported by the drug transport unit and rotates the received drug in an axial direction for reading by the reading unit or photographing by the second photographing unit.

[0191] In order for the reading unit or the second imaging unit to acquire the first identification information or the second identification information, the position on the drug to which the first identification information or the second identification information is attached must be faced toward the reading unit or the second imaging unit.

[0192] According to the above configuration, the drug rotation unit can rotate the drug in the axial direction, so that the above position can be opposed to the reading unit or the second imaging unit so that the first identification information or the second identification information can be obtained by the reading unit or the second imaging unit.

[0193] [9] Furthermore, in one embodiment of the drug dispensing device of the present invention, the device may have a plurality of mounting units for mounting received drugs, at least one of the plurality of mounting units may include the drug rotation unit, and the specific processing unit may include a position change unit for changing the position of each of the plurality of mounting units between a drug receiving position for receiving the drug from the drug transport unit and a drug delivery position for delivering the drug for dispensing.

[0194] In order to obtain the first identification information or the second identification information by the reading unit or the second imaging unit, the medicine taken out from the cassette needs to be transported to the mounting unit and accepted by the mounting unit. On the other hand, the medicine for which the dispensing possibility has been determined based on the first identification information or the second identification information is delivered to another location by being transported from the mounting unit to another location. When there is only one mounting unit that is the subject of this medicine receiving operation and delivery operation, the next medicine is received by the mounting unit after the medicine received by the mounting unit is transported to another location. In other words, in this case, interference occurs between the receiving operation and the delivery operation.

[0195] According to the above configuration, since the position of each mounting part is changed between the medicine receiving position and the medicine delivering position, it is possible to avoid the interference between the receiving operation and the delivering operation as described above. In addition, as a result of being able to avoid the interference, it is possible to improve the dispensing operation speed.

[0196]

[10] Furthermore, in a drug dispensing device according to one embodiment of the present invention, correspondence data indicating a correspondence between each of the m cassettes and the drugs contained in each of the m cassettes is stored, and when the received prescription data for administration to a single patient includes two or more types of drugs, the cassette transfer unit may transfer each of the cassettes containing the drugs to the cassette holding unit based on the prescription data and the correspondence data.

[0197] According to the above configuration, when prescription data for administration to one patient includes two or more kinds of drugs, cassettes containing the drugs are transported to the cassette holders, and specific processing can be performed on the drugs contained in each cassette. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently dispense the drugs based on the prescription data.

[0198] The correspondence data is not limited to data indicating the correspondence between each of the m cassettes Ca and the medicines contained in each of the m cassettes Ca. When the m cassettes are composed of the cassette Ca and the large returned medicine cassette 163 and / or the small and medium returned medicine cassette 164, the correspondence data may be data indicating the correspondence between each of the m cassettes composed of the cassette Ca and the large returned medicine cassette 163 and / or the small and medium returned medicine cassette 164 and the medicines contained in each of the m cassettes.

[0199] <Other configurations> The following mainly describes further configurations and processes of the injection drug dispensing device 100. However, please note that the following description may overlap with the above contents or may be specifically described.

[0200] [Injection drug dispensing system] As described above with reference to Fig. 2, the injection drug dispensing system 1 has been described as a system in which the printer device 13 prints information indicating the type of injection drug and the like indicated in the prescription data on the conveyance tray 151a, but is not limited to this. The printer device 13 may function as an infusion label issuing device that issues an infusion label to be affixed to an infusion container (infusion bag). In this case, the injection drug dispensing system 1 is a system including the injection drug dispensing device 100 and the infusion label issuing device (printer device 13).

[0201] An infusion container may be placed on the transport tray 151a transported from the supply lifter 11. The infusion container contains a liquid such as glucose solution or saline, or a mixture of a drug and a liquid. The mixture is injected into the patient's body through a tube. The drug to be mixed with the liquid may be dispensed from a device other than the injection drug dispensing device 100. However, if the drug is contained in a cassette Ca of the injection drug dispensing device 100, the drug may be dispensed from the injection drug dispensing device 100.

[0202] The printer device 13 specifies the contents of the infusion container based on the prescription data, and issues an infusion label on which information about the contents is printed. The printer device 13 places the issued infusion label on the transport tray 151a on which the infusion container corresponding to the infusion label is placed. As described later, when an infusion label placement area for placing an infusion label is set on the transport tray 151a, the printer device 13 places the infusion label on the infusion label placement area. In this case, the injection drug dispensing device 100 and the printer device 13 store information about the position of the infusion label placement area preset on each transport tray 151a.

[0203] The printer device 13 may have at least one of a function of printing information indicating the type of injection drug, etc., on the carrier tray 151a and a function of issuing an infusion label.

[0204] [Injection drug dispensing device] Next, the process of the injection drug dispensing device 100 will be mainly described.

[0205] [Cassette transfer process] <Example of cassette identification> First, a specific example of the cassette Ca will be described. Fig. 26 is a diagram showing an example of the cassette Ca, where (a) is a diagram showing a state before the partition member SP (partition plate) is attached, and (b) is a diagram showing a state after the partition member SP is attached. Fig. 27 (a) and (b) are detailed views of the cassette transporter 140.

[0206] As shown in (a) of Fig. 26, a first barcode BC1 and a second barcode BC2 are attached to the cassette Ca. Also, as shown in (a) and (b) of Fig. 27, the cassette transporter 140 is provided with a barcode reader 146 for reading the first barcode BC1 attached to the cassette Ca.

[0207] Each of the cassettes Ca stored on the cassette shelf 110 is assigned cassette-specific information (cassette identifier) ​​(e.g., cassette number) for identifying the cassette Ca. The first barcode BC1 indicates the cassette-specific information attached to the cassette Ca. The first barcode BC1 is attached to the outer surface of the cassette Ca that faces the cassette transporter 140 when stored on the cassette shelf 110 (specifically, at a position that can be read by the barcode reader 146).

[0208] Moreover, the cassette unique information of the cassette Ca is linked to information indicating the type of the injection drug contained in the cassette Ca (injection drug identification information, drug unique information) and stored in the storage unit 180. The control unit 190 links the cassette unique information of the cassette Ca with the injection drug identification information of the injection drug contained in the cassette Ca, for example, in accordance with a user input.

[0209] Further, the cassette unique information of the cassette Ca and storage position information indicating the storage position (cassette storage position) where each of the multiple cassettes Ca is stored on the cassette shelf 110 are linked and stored in the memory unit 180. For example, the cassette transport unit 140 scans the cassette shelf 110, and if the cassette Ca is stored at the storage position, the cassette transport unit 140 reads the first barcode BC1 of the cassette Ca with the barcode reader 146. Specifically, the cassette removal mechanism including the claw 141, the claw movement mechanism 142, and the shock absorbing plate 145 of the cassette transport unit 140 scans the cassette shelf 110, and the barcode reader 146 reads the first barcode BC1 of the cassette Ca stored at each storage position. The position of the cassette removal mechanism and the storage position are linked in advance and stored in the memory unit 180. Therefore, the transfer control unit 191 can link the cassette unique information of the cassette Ca with the storage position information by identifying the position of the cassette removal mechanism when the first barcode BC1 is read.

[0210] In this way, the cassette-specific information of the cassette Ca, information indicating the type of the injection drug contained in the cassette Ca, and storage position information of the cassette Ca are stored in association with each other in the memory unit 180. Therefore, even if an arbitrary injection drug is contained in an arbitrary cassette Ca and the cassette Ca is stored in an arbitrary storage position, the control unit 190 can specify the injection drug contained in the arbitrary cassette Ca and the storage position of the cassette Ca by referring to the memory unit 180, by linking each piece of information. In other words, it is possible to freely contain an arbitrary injection drug in an arbitrary cassette Ca and freely store the cassette Ca in an arbitrary storage position. In other words, the degree of freedom of storage of the cassette Ca in the cassette shelf 110 can be increased.

[0211] As described above, the cassette transporter 140 is provided with the barcode reader 146. Specifically, the barcode reader 146 is provided at a position facing the cassette shelf 110 (in this example, above the cassette removal mechanism). Therefore, the following processing can be realized.

[0212] Based on the received prescription data, the transfer control unit 191 reads out cassette specific information and storage location information linked to information indicating the type of injection drug indicated by the prescription data, which are stored in the storage unit 180. The transfer control unit 191 moves the cassette removal mechanism to the storage location indicated by the read storage location information.

[0213] When the movement of the cassette removal mechanism to the storage position is completed, the transfer control unit 191 reads the first barcode BC1 (i.e., the cassette unique information) with the barcode reader 146. The transfer control unit 191 collates the read cassette unique information with the cassette unique information read from the memory unit 180 before the movement of the cassette removal mechanism.

[0214] If the cassette unique information matches, the transfer control unit 191 identifies the cassette Ca whose cassette unique information has been read as the cassette Ca containing the injection drug to be dispensed, and removes the cassette Ca from the cassette shelf 110. On the other hand, if the cassette unique information does not match, the transfer control unit 191 does not remove the cassette Ca from the cassette shelf 110, but, for example, moves the cassette removal mechanism to another storage position and performs a second comparison by reading the cassette unique information of the cassette Ca at that storage position. The transfer control unit 191 may also notify the user that the cassette Ca containing the injection drug based on the prescription data cannot be removed.

[0215] When the degree of freedom in storing the cassette Ca on the cassette shelf 110 is increased, for example, the possibility that the user will store the cassette Ca in a position other than the specified storage position increases. In other words, compared to when the degree of freedom is low, the possibility that the user will take out a cassette Ca other than the cassette Ca containing the injection drug to be dispensed increases.

[0216] As described above, by determining whether the injection drug contained in the cassette Ca to be removed is the injection drug to be dispensed (i.e., whether the cassette Ca can be removed) based on the cassette specific information, the occurrence of the above-mentioned possibility can be reduced. In other words, the degree of freedom in storing the cassette Ca on the cassette shelf 110 can be guaranteed.

[0217] As shown in (a) of Fig. 26, the cassette Ca may be provided with a second barcode BC2 used when filling the cassette Ca with an injection drug. The second barcode BC2 is used to check whether the cassette Ca is suitable for filling an injection drug. The user checks whether the cassette Ca is suitable for filling an injection drug by reading the second barcode BC2 with a dedicated barcode reader (not shown).

[0218] Moreover, the cassette unique information does not need to be provided to the cassette Ca in the form of the first barcode BC1, but may be provided in a form that can be read by the cassette transporting unit 140. In this case, a cassette unique information reading member, instead of the barcode reader 146, may be provided in the cassette transporting unit 140.

[0219] 26(a) and 26(b), the cassette Ca may be divided into a plurality of injection drug containing regions by a dividing member SP (partition plate) that is detachable from the cassette Ca. In this case, each of the divided injection drug containing regions can contain a different type of injection drug. This can improve the efficiency of use of the cassette Ca.

[0220] The divided member SP may be provided with a third barcode BC3. The third barcode BC3 has the same function as the second barcode BC2. By providing the third barcode BC3 to the divided member SP, it becomes possible to provide support for filling each of the multiple injection drug storage areas with injection drugs.

[0221] <Example of identifying cassette storage location> Next, an example of specifying the storage position of the cassette Ca will be described. Fig. 28 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the injection drug dispensing device 100. Fig. 29 is a flow chart showing an example of processing for specifying the storage position of the cassette Ca.

[0222] (Configuration of the injection drug dispensing device 100) As shown in FIG. 28, the injection drug dispensing device 100 includes a storage position determination unit 198, a notification control unit 199, and a touch panel 210 when performing a process of identifying the storage position of the cassette.

[0223] In this example, the cassette unique information of any cassette Ca is linked to storage position information indicating the storage position of the cassette Ca and stored in the storage unit 180. In particular, in this example, it is assumed that the cassette unique information is linked to the storage position information in advance. That is, in this example, the storage position of the cassette Ca is set in advance. In addition, a first barcode BC1 is given to the cassette Ca, and a barcode reader 146 is provided in the cassette transport unit 140.

[0224] The touch panel 210 includes an operation unit that accepts various user inputs and a display unit that displays various information. The touch panel 210 may be provided in the injection drug dispensing device 100 shown in FIG. 1 in order to accept various user inputs or display various information.

[0225] The storage position determination unit 198 determines whether or not each of the multiple cassettes Ca is stored in a predetermined storage position based on the storage position information and the cassette specific information.

[0226] For a cassette Ca that the storage position determination unit 198 has determined is not stored in the specified storage position, the cassette transfer unit 140 transfers the cassette Ca from the storage position in which the cassette Ca is stored to the storage position in which the cassette Ca should originally be located.

[0227] In addition, for a cassette Ca that the storage position determination unit 198 has determined is not stored in the specified storage position, the notification control unit 199 causes the notification unit, which is the touch panel 210, to notify the user to store the cassette Ca in the storage position where it should be.

[0228] In this example, the injection drug dispensing device 100 is described as having both the function of transferring the cassette to the storage position where it should be and the function of notifying the user that the cassette will be stored in the storage position where it should be. However, the invention is not limited to this, and the injection drug dispensing device 100 may have only one of these functions.

[0229] The storage position determination unit 198 causes the transfer control unit 191 to scan the cassette removal mechanism of the cassette transfer unit 140 with respect to the cassette shelf 110, thereby reading the first barcode BC1 at each of the storage positions.

[0230] If the cassette Ca is present in the storage position, the barcode reader 146 reads the first barcode BC1. The storage position determination unit 198 identifies the storage position indicated by the storage position information linked to the cassette unique information indicated by the read first barcode BC1, by referring to the memory unit 180. The storage position determination unit 198 determines whether the identified storage position coincides with the position of the cassette removal mechanism that read the cassette unique information.

[0231] If the storage position determination unit 198 determines that there is a mismatch, it determines that the cassette Ca is not stored in the preset storage position. In this case, the storage position determination unit 198 refers to the memory unit 180 to identify the storage position indicated by the storage position information linked to the cassette unique information of the cassette Ca. The transfer control unit 191 moves the cassette Ca to the identified storage position. On the other hand, if there is a match, no particular process is performed.

[0232] Furthermore, when the cassette unique information cannot be read at any storage position, the storage position determination unit 198 determines that the cassette Ca is not present at that storage position. The storage position determination unit 198 determines whether or not the cassette Ca was stored at that storage position by referring to the memory unit 180. When it is determined that the cassette Ca was stored at that storage position, the storage position determination unit 198 determines whether or not the cassette Ca is not present at another storage position. When it is determined that the cassette Ca is not present on the cassette shelf 110, the notification control unit 199 notifies via the touch panel 210 that the cassette Ca that should originally be stored at that storage position should be stored.

[0233] If the storage position determination unit 198 determines that there is a mismatch, it may link the cassette unique information read at this time with the storage position information and store it in the memory unit 180 as information indicating the cassette Ca in the incorrect storage position. In this case, during the cassette Ca replacement operation, the transfer control unit 191 can identify the cassette Ca in the incorrect storage position by having the cassette removal mechanism scan all storage positions, and then refer to the information, thereby removing the cassette Ca and returning it to the correct storage position.

[0234] This process may be performed at any timing. However, this process is to check whether the cassette Ca is properly stored in the storage position of the cassette Ca set by the user, and to store the cassette Ca in its original storage position. Considering this, this process may be performed during a time period when the injection drug dispensing process is not performed (e.g., once a day, at night). This process may be performed when a user input is received to check the storage position of the cassette Ca.

[0235] (Processing of the injection drug dispensing device 100) An example of a process for identifying the storage position of the cassette Ca will be described. When this process is to be performed, the transfer control unit 191 causes the cassette removal mechanism to scan the cassette shelf 110. As shown in Fig. 29, the storage position determination unit 198 determines whether the barcode reader 146 has read the cassette unique information of the cassette Ca at an arbitrary storage position (SF1).

[0236] When the barcode reader 146 reads the cassette unique information (YES in SF1), the storage position determination unit 198 determines whether the current position of the cassette removal mechanism is the specified storage position indicated by the storage position information linked to the read cassette unique information (SF2).

[0237] When the storage position determination unit 198 determines that the current position of the cassette removal mechanism is a predetermined storage position (YES in SF2), it determines that the cassette Ca is in the storage position where it should be. In this case, the storage position determination unit 198 does not perform a movement process for the cassette Ca that is in the storage position. On the other hand, when the storage position determination unit 198 determines that the current position of the cassette removal mechanism is not a predetermined storage position (NO in SF2), it determines that the cassette Ca is not in the storage position where it should be. In this case, the transfer control unit 191 controls the cassette transfer unit 140 to move the cassette Ca to the storage position indicated by the storage position information linked to the cassette unique information of the cassette Ca (SF3).

[0238] If the cassette unique information cannot be read in SF1 (NO in SF1), the storage position determination unit 198 determines that the cassette Ca is not present in the storage position where the cassette unique information was read. In this case, the storage position determination unit 198 determines whether or not the cassette Ca was stored in the storage position. If the storage position determination unit 198 determines that the cassette Ca was stored in the storage position, it scans the cassette removal mechanism to determine whether or not the cassette Ca having the cassette unique information linked to the storage position information indicating the storage position is present in another storage position (SF4). Note that if the cassette Ca was not originally stored in the storage position where the cassette unique information was read (if the cassette unique information is not linked to the storage position information indicating the storage position), this process is terminated.

[0239] If the cassette Ca that should be stored in the storage location where the cassette unique information was read is in another storage location (YES in SF4), the process of SF3 is performed. On the other hand, if the cassette Ca is not in another storage location (NO in SF4), the storage location determination unit 198 determines that the cassette Ca has been removed from the cassette shelf 110. In this case, the notification control unit 199 notifies via the touch panel 210 that the cassette Ca should be stored (returned) in the storage location where it should be (SF5).

[0240] In SF3, the storage position determination unit 198 may determine whether or not another cassette Ca (second cassette Ca) is present in the storage position to which the cassette Ca (first cassette Ca) is to be moved (i.e., the storage position where the cassette Ca should originally be located). If the storage position determination unit 198 determines that the second cassette Ca is stored in the storage position to which the first cassette Ca is to be moved, it performs, for example, the following process.

[0241] The transfer control unit 191 temporarily evacuates the second cassette Ca to a storage position (a storage position where the cassette Ca was not originally placed) (evacuation position) in the cassette shelf 110 where the cassette unique information is not linked to the storage position information. After that, the transfer control unit 191 moves the first cassette Ca to the storage position where it should originally be located.

[0242] In addition, the determination as to whether the second cassette Ca is stored in the storage position to which the first cassette Ca is moved is made based on whether the cassette unique information of the second cassette Ca can be read. In other words, when the second cassette Ca is evacuated, the cassette unique information of the second cassette Ca is read before the evacuation. Therefore, the transfer control unit 191 may use the cassette unique information to move the second cassette Ca to the storage position where it should originally be located.

[0243] <Example of support mechanism operation> Next, an example of the operation of the support mechanism 147 provided in the cassette transfer section 140 will be described. As shown in (a) and (b) of Fig. 27, the support mechanism 147 is provided on the side facing the cassette shelf 110, and supports (holds) the cassette Ca when the cassette Ca is removed from the cassette shelf 110 or stored in the cassette shelf 110. The support mechanism 147 moves up and down depending on the size (height) of the cassette Ca. The support mechanism 147 is also provided with rollers. This allows the cassette Ca to move smoothly in the support mechanism 147.

[0244] A plurality of types of cassettes Ca may be stored on the cassette shelf 110. In this case, for example, cassettes Ca of different heights (e.g., two types of cassettes Ca of different heights) are stored on the cassette shelf 110. If the support mechanism 147 does not move up and down, a cassette Ca that is relatively tall will collide with the cassette removal mechanism when the cassette Ca is removed, and the cassette transport unit 140 will not be able to hold the cassette Ca.

[0245] Since the support mechanism 147 has a function of ascending and descending, a plurality of types of cassettes Ca having different heights can be held by the cassette transport unit 140 and transported to the cassette holding unit 130. That is, in the injection drug dispensing device 100, a plurality of types of cassettes Ca having different heights can be used.

[0246] The transfer control unit 191 raises and lowers the support mechanism 147 in accordance with the type of the cassette Ca. For example, lift amount information indicating the amount of lift of the support mechanism 147 is linked to the cassette unique information and stored in the storage unit 180. Note that when cassette height information indicating the height of the cassette Ca is linked to the cassette unique information, the lift amount information may be linked to the cassette height information.

[0247] When the cassette unique information attached to the cassette Ca to be removed is read by the barcode reader 146, the transfer control unit 191 identifies the lift amount information linked to the read cassette unique information by referring to the storage unit 180. The transfer control unit 191 raises and lowers the support mechanism 147 according to the lift amount indicated by the identified lift amount information.

[0248] [Processing from photographing injections to dispensing] <Example of determining pickup position> In the injection drug dispensing device 100, the injection drug to be taken out from the cassette Ca is identified by the position identifying camera 122, and the identified injection drug is adsorbed by the adsorption mechanism 121a. The adsorption position determining unit 194 determines the adsorption position by analyzing the image captured by the position identifying camera 122, and the transport control unit 193 controls the adsorption mechanism 121a to adsorb the determined adsorption position.

[0249] Here, the suction position determination unit 194 may determine the center of gravity of the injection drug as the suction position. In this case, the medicine master registers information indicating the center of gravity and the total length of the injection drug in association with the injection drug identification information. The center of gravity of the injection drug is registered, for example, as the distance from the bottom of the injection drug.

[0250] The suction position determination unit 194 analyzes the image to identify the bottom of the injection drug in the image. The suction position determination unit 194 identifies the suction position of the injection drug in the image by using information indicating the center of gravity of the injection drug linked to the injection drug identification information included in the prescription data. For example, the suction position determination unit 194 converts the distance from the bottom stored in the medicine master to a distance in the image, and then identifies a position on the injection drug that is away from the bottom by the converted distance in the image as the suction position. In other words, the suction position determination unit 194 determines the center of gravity of the injection drug or its vicinity as the suction position. Note that this suction position determination process does not go as far as identifying the direction of the injection drug.

[0251] <Example of identifying the placement position of an injection drug using a sensor> Next, an example of specifying the placement positions of the injection drug on the first mounting portion 126a and the second mounting portion 126b of the position changer 126 will be described.

[0252] The transport control unit 193 identifies the bottom and adsorption position of the injection medicine in the image based on image analysis and information indicating the center of gravity position or total length of the injection medicine registered in advance. The transport control unit 193 also places the adsorbed injection medicine on the first mounting unit 126a or the second mounting unit 126b, taking into consideration the identified bottom position and adsorption position. The transport control unit 193 places the adsorbed injection medicine, for example, so that the bottom of the injection medicine is close to the end of the first mounting unit 126a or the second mounting unit 126b.

[0253] Here, it is assumed that the transport control unit 193 erroneously recognizes the head of the injection medicine as the bottom as a result of image analysis. Since the transport control unit 193 places the injection medicine on the first mounting unit 126a or the second mounting unit 126b taking into consideration the position of the bottom, the injection medicine may be placed at a position displaced from the position where it should actually be placed due to the erroneous recognition of the bottom. In some cases, the injection medicine may be placed at a position protruding from the first mounting unit 126a or the second mounting unit 126b. If the injection medicine is, for example, a glass vial, the injection medicine may collide with the first mounting unit 126a or the second mounting unit 126b, resulting in breakage.

[0254] In this example, as shown in (a) and (b) of Figure 30, the injection drug dispensing device 100 is equipped with sensors 171a and 171b and reflectors 172a and 172b for detecting injection drugs that may collide with the ends E1 or E2 of the first mounting portion 126a or the second mounting portion 126b.

[0255] The sensors 171a and 171b are mechanisms that emit light for detecting an injection drug and receive the light reflected by the reflectors 172a and 172b, respectively.

[0256] The sensor 171a and the reflector 172a are arranged so that the light emitted from the sensor 171a and the light reflected by the reflector 172a pass along the dotted line L1 shown in FIG. 30(b). The dotted line L1 is a straight line that passes outside the first mounting portion 126a and the second mounting portion 126b and near the end E1 of the first mounting portion 126a or the second mounting portion 126b. Similarly, the sensor 171b and the reflector 172b are arranged so that the light emitted from the sensor 171b and the light reflected by the reflector 172b pass along the dotted line L2 shown in FIG. 30(b). The dotted line L2 is a straight line that passes outside the first mounting portion 126a and the second mounting portion 126b and near the end E2 of the first mounting portion 126a or the second mounting portion 126b.

[0257] When the injection drug adsorbed to the adsorption mechanism 121a passes over the dotted line L1 or L2, the light is blocked by the injection drug, and the sensor 171a or 171b cannot receive the light emitted by the sensor 171a or 171b. In this case, the transport control unit 193 controls the adsorption mechanism 121a to change the position of the injection drug in the direction of the straight line connecting the ends E1 and E2 (Y-axis direction) until the sensors 171a and 171b can receive the light.

[0258] Specifically, the transport control unit 193 determines whether the sensors 171a and 171b are receiving light. When the sensors 171a and 171b are receiving light, the transport control unit 193 places the injection drug adsorbed by the adsorption mechanism 121a on the first mounting unit 126a or the second mounting unit 126b. On the other hand, when the transport control unit 193 determines that the sensor 171a or 171b is not receiving light, it changes the position of the injection drug in the Y-axis direction as described above.

[0259] In this manner, by arranging the sensors 171a and 171b and the reflectors 172a and 172b, it is possible to detect an injection drug that may collide with the end E1 or E2 of the first mounting part 126a or the second mounting part 126b. Furthermore, the transport control part 193 controls the position of the suction mechanism 121a in the Y-axis direction based on the detection results of the sensors 171a and 171b. This allows the injection drug to be placed on the first mounting part 126a or the second mounting part 126b without colliding with the end E1 or E2 of the first mounting part 126a or the second mounting part 126b.

[0260] That is, even if the suction position determination unit 194 erroneously recognizes the direction of the injection medicine (head direction) (in other words, whether the direction of the injection medicine is the +Y axis direction or the -Y axis direction), it is possible to avoid the injection medicine colliding with the end E1 or E2. Therefore, it is possible to avoid stopping the dispensing operation due to a collision, and the injection medicine can be intermittently dispensed.

[0261] As long as the injection drug present on the dotted lines L1 and L2 can be detected, the configuration is not limited to the above. For example, a light-emitting element may be placed at the position of the sensor 171a or 171b, and a light-receiving element may be placed at the position of the reflectors 172a and 172b. In other words, a sensor consisting of a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element may be used without providing the reflectors 172a and 172b. Also, the positions of the reflectors 172a and 172b in the X-axis direction may be approximately the same.

[0262] <Example of suction mechanism operation> Next, an example of the operation of the adsorption mechanism 121a will be described. First, adjustment of the movement speed of the adsorption mechanism 121a will be described.

[0263] In the injection drug dispensing device 100, for example, the speed of the transfer of the cassette Ca by the cassette transfer unit 140 and the movement of the cassette holding unit 130 are increased as much as possible. Also, for example, the speed of the movement of the adsorption mechanism 121a and the movement mechanism 121b of the drug delivery unit 121, and the movement of the adsorption mechanism 153a and the movement mechanism 153b of the drug movement unit 153 are increased as much as possible. This increases the dispensing speed of the injection drug.

[0264] However, if the cassette Ca or the injection drug is transferred or moved at a uniform speed regardless of the type of injection drug, the injection drug may not be transported properly. For example, the longer the injection drug is and the lighter the weight is, the more likely inertia is to act on the injection drug when the suction mechanism 121a is stopped on the position change unit 126. In other words, the injection drug shakes more when it is stopped. If inertia is large, the injection drug may fall from the suction mechanism 121a.

[0265] Therefore, in this example, the transport control unit 193 adjusts the moving speed of the suction mechanism 121a according to the type of injection drug. Specifically, the moving speed of the suction mechanism 121a in the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction, and / or the Z-axis direction is set according to the type of injection drug (e.g., the length, diameter, weight, or material (e.g., glass, plastic) of the injection drug). That is, the storage unit 180 stores moving speed information indicating the moving speed of the suction mechanism 121a in association with type information related to the type of the injection drug. FIG. 31 is a table showing an example of moving speed information associated with type information. In the example of FIG. 31, the moving speed in the X-axis direction, in which inertia is likely to act, is set to be different depending on the type of injection drug.

[0266] The transport control unit 193 reads out type information linked to the injection drug identification information included in the prescription data, for example, by referring to the storage unit 180. Type information indicating the length, weight, material, etc. of the injection drug may be linked to the injection drug identification information and registered in the medicine master. The transport control unit 193 moves the injection drug adsorbed by the cassette Ca of the cassette holding unit 130 (i.e., the adsorption mechanism 121a that adsorbs the injection drug) to the position changing unit 126 at a moving speed indicated by the moving speed information linked to the read-out type information.

[0267] This makes it possible to reduce the inertia acting on the injection drug during, for example, movement or when stopped, thereby realizing stable movement of the injection drug.

[0268] The moving speed of the suction mechanism 153a can be controlled in the same manner. However, the suction mechanism 153a is mainly required to move stably from the position changing unit 126 to the transport tray 151a. Therefore, the moving speed in the Y-axis direction in particular is set according to the type of injection drug.

[0269] In addition, if the cassette Ca is suddenly stopped while moving in the Z-axis direction by the cassette transport unit 140, the lighter the weight of the injectable drug, the more likely it is to jump up due to inertia. In addition, if the cassette Ca is suddenly stopped moving in the X-axis direction, the lighter the weight of the injectable drug and the more approximately circular the cross-sectional shape is, the more likely the injectable drug is to roll inside the cassette Ca. Therefore, if the injectable drug is made of glass, it may break as a result of colliding with the cassette Ca or other injectable drugs.

[0270] As with the suction mechanism 121a, the transport speed of the cassette Ca by the cassette transport unit 140 can be controlled according to the type of injection drug (particularly the transport speed in the X-axis direction and / or Z-axis direction), thereby preventing, for example, the injection drug from breaking.

[0271] Next, adjustment of the movement amount of the adsorption mechanism 121a in the Z-axis direction will be described. Fig. 32(a) is a diagram showing a configuration example of the movement mechanism 121b, and (b) and (c) are diagrams showing an operation example of the adsorption mechanism 121a.

[0272] As shown in (a) of FIG. 32, the moving mechanism 121b of this example includes a photosensor 121d and a plate 121e. The photosensor 121d and the plate 121e function as limit sensors that detect an object having a diameter larger than a predetermined diameter (e.g., the diameter of the injection drug indicated by the injection drug identification information included in the prescription data). In other words, the photosensor 121d and the plate 121e function as limit sensors for detecting an object other than the predetermined injection drug. The suction mechanism 121a moves up and down in the Z-axis direction by the ball screw 121f.

[0273] The photosensor 121d is, for example, a groove-type photosensor. When the plate 121e passes between the light-emitting element and the light-receiving element provided in the groove of the photosensor 121d, the light-receiving element cannot receive the light from the light-emitting element. At this time, the transport control unit 193 determines that the suction mechanism 121a has detected an object other than the predetermined injection drug, and adjusts the amount of movement.

[0274] Here, the medicine master registers diameter information indicating the diameter of the injection drug in association with each injection drug identification information. In addition, the storage unit 180 stores movement amount information indicating the movement amount of the suction mechanism 121a in the Z-axis direction in association with the diameter information.

[0275] The distance (distance in the Z-axis direction) between the initial position of the suction mechanism 121a (the position when the suction mechanism 121a is farthest from the processing position 132) and the processing position 132 is constant. Therefore, the first movement amount of the suction mechanism 121a when moving toward the processing position 132 can be set in advance according to the diameter of the injection drug so as not to collide with the injection drug on the processing position 132. In this case, it is possible to move the suction mechanism 121a to an appropriate position where it can adsorb the injection drug without calculating the first movement amount for each injection drug. In addition, it is possible to move the suction mechanism 121a to the appropriate position at high speed.

[0276] Further, the cassette Ca used in the injection drug dispensing device 100 is determined in advance. That is, the height of the side wall of the cassette Ca is determined in advance. Therefore, the height of the suction mechanism 121a when the injection drug is transported from the processing position 132 to the position changing unit 126 can be set in advance so that the injection drug does not collide with the side wall of the cassette Ca during transportation. Therefore, the second movement amount of the suction mechanism 121a when the suction mechanism 121a that has adsorbed the injection drug is lifted can be set in advance according to the diameter of the injection drug. In this case, it is possible to move the suction mechanism 121a to a position where the injection drug can be transported efficiently without colliding with the side wall of the cassette Ca without calculating the second movement amount for each injection drug. Also, it is possible to move the suction mechanism 121a to that position at high speed.

[0277] The control unit 190 specifies the type of injection drug contained in the cassette Ca when the cassette Ca is removed by the cassette transfer unit 140. Therefore, the transport control unit 193 specifies movement amount information for each cassette Ca. For example, the transport control unit 193 specifies diameter information linked to the injection drug identification information included in the prescription data by referring to the medicine master when removing the first drug from the cassette Ca. The transport control unit 193 specifies movement amount information (information indicating the first movement amount or the second movement amount) linked to the specified diameter information by referring to the storage unit 180. The specified movement amount information may be stored in the storage unit 180 in association with cassette specific information.

[0278] The transport control unit 193 moves the suction mechanism 121a toward the processing position 132 by the specified first movement amount for each cassette Ca. Also, the transport control unit 193 moves the suction mechanism 121a from the processing position 132 toward the initial position by the specified second movement amount for each cassette Ca.

[0279] In addition, the movement amount information may be directly linked to the injection drug identification information. In this case, the transport control unit 193 refers to the storage unit 180 to identify the movement amount information linked to the injection drug identification information included in the prescription data.

[0280] 32(b), when the diameter of the injection drug in the cassette Ca placed at the processing position 132 is φa, the transport control unit 193 moves the suction mechanism 121a to the suction position Ap (stop position) according to the first movement amount when the diameter is φa. After that, the transport control unit 193 raises the suction mechanism 121a by a distance Da according to the second movement amount when the diameter is φa.

[0281] 32(c), it is assumed that the cassette Ca contains an injection drug (diameter: φb>φa) different from the injection drug (diameter: φa) assumed to be contained in the cassette Ca. In this case, when the injection drug with the diameter φb is the object to be transported, the transport control unit 193 moves the suction mechanism 121a by a first movement amount based on the injection drug with the diameter φa, and the suction mechanism 121a collides with the injection drug with the diameter φb at the collision position Cp.

[0282] In response to this reaction, the suction mechanism 121a moves (rises) in the +Z-axis direction, and the plate 121e enters the groove of the photosensor 121d. As a result, the transport control unit 193 determines that the injection drug to be transported is an injection drug having a diameter (φb) larger than the predetermined diameter (φa) of the suction mechanism 121a.

[0283] In this case, the transport control unit 193 lifts the injection drug by the distance Dmax according to the second movement amount indicated by the movement amount information linked to the injection drug identification information indicating the injection drug having the maximum diameter (diameter: φmax) instead of the second movement amount of the diameter φa. Note that the second movement amount corresponding to the distance Dmax may be set to an extent that the injection drug having the maximum diameter among the injection drugs assumed to be handled by the injection drug dispensing device 100 can be transported from the processing position 132 to the position changing unit 126 without colliding with the side wall of the cassette Ca.

[0284] Even though the injection medicine to be adsorbed is larger in diameter than φa, if the injection medicine is pulled up according to the second movement amount of the diameter φa, the amount of pulling is insufficient, and the injection medicine may collide with the side wall of the cassette Ca. However, when an injection medicine with a diameter φb larger than the diameter φa is to be removed from a cassette Ca that contains an injection medicine with a diameter φa, the transport control unit 193 pulls up the injection medicine based on the second movement amount corresponding to the injection medicine with the maximum diameter, thereby avoiding collision with the side wall of the cassette Ca.

[0285] In addition, when the diameter of the injection drug to be removed is larger than the expected diameter of the injection drug, the second movement amount corresponding to the injection drug with the largest diameter is used, but this is not limited to this, and for example, the injection drug may be pulled up using the second movement amount corresponding to the injection drug to be removed.

[0286] Next, a process for determining the completion of the release of the injection drug by the adsorption mechanisms 121a and 153a will be described. The drug transport unit 121 and the drug moving unit 153 have a vacuum source (not shown) for adsorbing the injection drug. When the injection drug is released onto the position changing unit 126 or the transport tray 151a, the transport control unit 193 turns off the vacuum source.

[0287] The transport control unit 193 may turn the vacuum source off to release the injection drug, and then turn it on again. When the vacuum source is turned on, the transport control unit 193 determines whether or not the load (e.g., the pressure in the air tube, or the amount of air flowing through the air tube) in the air tube connecting the vacuum source and the suction pad 121g (see FIG. 32(a)) changes. Note that the structures related to suction of the drug transport unit 121 and the drug moving unit 153 are the same.

[0288] If the load has not changed, the transport control unit 193 determines that nothing is adsorbed on the suction pad 121g. In other words, in this case, the transport control unit 193 determines that the suction mechanisms 121a and 153a are able to properly release the injection drug. On the other hand, if the load has changed, the transport control unit 193 determines that something is adsorbed on the suction pad 121g. In other words, in this case, the transport control unit 193 determines that the suction mechanisms 121a and 153a are not able to properly release the injection drug.

[0289] In this way, by controlling the vacuum source to be turned on and off when the injection drug is released, it is possible to check whether the suction mechanisms 121a and 153a are properly releasing the injection drug.

[0290] <Example of image processing timing adjustment> Next, a description will be given of an example of timing adjustment of image processing by expiration date reading camera 125. (a) and (b) of Figure 33 are diagrams for explaining an example of timing adjustment of image processing by expiration date reading camera 125.

[0291] When the injection drug is placed on the first mounting section 126a by the drug delivery section 121, the drug rotation section 127 rotates the injection drug. When the barcode on the injection drug faces the barcode reader 123 due to this rotation, the barcode reader 123 reads the barcode. This allows the first discrimination processing section 195 to discriminate the type of the injection drug.

[0292] The barcode is expressed by varying the thickness of each of the multiple lines and the spacing between the lines for each type of injection drug. Therefore, the first discrimination processing unit 195 can recognize the sequence of numbers or letters shown in the barcode as injection drug identification information by analyzing the barcode read by the barcode reader 123. In other words, since the first discrimination processing unit 195 can recognize the sequence of numbers or letters shown in the barcode, it can also recognize in which direction the head or bottom of the injection drug is facing by linking the sequence with the orientation of the injection drug (the direction in which the injection drug is placed).

[0293] In addition, the second discrimination processing unit 196 analyzes the image captured by the expiration date reading camera 125 to recognize the expiration date attached to the injection drug.

[0294] Here, the barcode is instantly read by the barcode reader 123. Therefore, when reading the barcode, the medicine rotation unit 127 can rotate the injection medicine at a relatively high speed. On the other hand, the expiration date is read by photographing it with the expiration date reading camera 125. Therefore, when reading the expiration date, the medicine rotation unit 127 needs to rotate at a slower speed than when reading the barcode.

[0295] Therefore, after the barcode is read by the barcode reader 123, the medicine rotation unit 127 reduces the rotation speed and then starts photographing the injection medicine with the expiration date reading camera 125. The expiration date reading camera 125 photographs the injection medicine multiple times (e.g., about 20 times) while the injection medicine rotates about once. The second discrimination processing unit 196 recognizes the expiration date by analyzing all of the images photographed multiple times. In this case, images that do not include the expiration date are also analyzed, so that unnecessary processing occurs for the analysis of those images.

[0296] In this example, the second discrimination processing unit 196 determines a recognition area (expiration date written area) for performing processing to recognize the expiration date attached to the injection drug based on the position of the barcode attached to the injection drug and the orientation of the injection drug. In other words, the second discrimination processing unit 196 determines a expiration date photographing area Pha where the expiration date reading camera 125 will photograph to read the expiration date based on the position of the barcode attached to the injection drug and the orientation of the injection drug.

[0297] Here, the medicine master stores the orientation of the injection drug and the orientation of the barcode (the order of the alphanumeric characters attached to the barcode) in association with each other for each injection drug identification information. In addition, the medicine master stores first distance information indicating a first distance in the circumferential direction of the injection drug from the position where the barcode is attached to the position where the expiration date is attached for each injection drug identification information.

[0298] For example, when the barcode reader 123 reads the barcode attached to the injection drug, the second discrimination processing unit 196 temporarily stops the rotation of the drug rotation unit 127 at that point in time. After that, the second discrimination processing unit 196 determines the deadline photography area Pha based on the information indicating the orientation of the injection drug registered in the drug master and the first distance information.

[0299] Specifically, the second discrimination processing unit 196 identifies the orientation of the injection drug by comparing the read barcode with the drug master. Also, the second discrimination processing unit 196 determines the expiration photography area Pha according to the orientation of the injection drug by referring to the first distance information of the drug master.

[0300] For example, when the rotation direction of the injection drug is the direction of the arrow as shown in (a) and (b) of Fig. 33, the second discrimination processing unit 196 identifies the direction of the injection drug as shown in (a) of Fig. 33. In this case, the second discrimination processing unit 196 determines the area from the vicinity of the position where the barcode is attached to the vicinity of the position where the expiration date is attached as the expiration date photography area Pha based on the first distance information. More specifically, as shown in (a) of Fig. 33, the second discrimination processing unit 196 determines the photography start position Pha1 (reading start position) and the photography end position Pha2 (reading end position).

[0301] On the other hand, when the second discrimination processing unit 196 identifies the direction of the injection drug as shown in (b) of Fig. 33, it also determines the limit photography region Pha as in (a) of Fig. 33. However, as shown in (b) of Fig. 33, the second discrimination processing unit 196 determines the photography start position Pha1 and the photography end position Pha2.

[0302] After the expiration photographing area Pha is determined, the medicine position control unit 197 rotates the medicine rotating unit 127 at a rotation speed for photographing the injection medicine. With the injection medicine rotated, the expiration reading camera 125 starts photographing when it faces the photographing start position Pha1, and ends photographing when it faces the photographing end position Pha2. As shown in (a) and (b) of FIG. 33, the expiration reading camera 125 photographs the expiration photographing area Pha indicated by the solid arrow, but does not photograph the area indicated by the dotted arrow.

[0303] That is, the expiration date reading camera 125 captures only the determined expiration date photographing area Pha (in other words, not the entire circumference of the injection drug, but only a part of it) to read the expiration date. In this way, by excluding areas that are not expected to have an expiration date (areas other than the expiration date photographing area Pha) from the photographing target, the number of photographs can be reduced. This makes it possible to efficiently perform image processing for recognizing the expiration date.

[0304] In addition, the rotation speed of the medicine rotation unit 127 may be the rotation speed at the time of reading the barcode until the expiration date reading camera 125 faces the shooting start position Pha1. In this case, the recognition process of the expiration date can be performed more efficiently (faster).

[0305] Also, it is sufficient that the deadline shooting area Pha is set so as to include the expiration date. Therefore, it is not necessary to set the shooting start position Pha1 near the position to which the barcode is attached. For example, the second discrimination processing unit 196 may determine a position a predetermined distance away from a position to which an expiration date is attached using the first distance information as the shooting start position Pha1. However, it is necessary that the shooting start position Pha1 is determined so that the expiration date is included in the deadline shooting area Pha.

[0306] Furthermore, if the first distance information is not registered, the expiration date reading camera 125 captures an image of the entire circumference of the injection drug. The second discrimination processing unit 196 analyzes the captured image to read the expiration date attached to the injection drug. At this time, since the second discrimination processing unit 196 also identifies the position of the barcode attached to the injection drug, it analyzes the captured image to determine the first distance information (i.e., the position of the expiration date photographing area Pha) based on the position of the barcode and the position of the expiration date. The second discrimination processing unit 196 links the determined first distance information to the injection drug identification information indicating the injection drug and registers it in the medicine master. This allows the registered first distance information to be used from the next time the expiration date is read.

[0307] Furthermore, instead of the first distance, photographing area information (information on the expiration date written area) indicating the expiration photographing area Pha (including the photographing start position Pha1 and the photographing end position Pha2) may be registered in the medicine master.

[0308] <Example of what to do if you have an injectable drug that cannot be dispensed> Next, a processing example when an injection drug that cannot be dispensed is present will be described. (a) to (f) of Fig. 34 are diagrams for explaining an example of processing when an injection drug that cannot be dispensed is present. When the first discrimination processing unit 195 or the second discrimination processing unit 196 judges that the injection drug cannot be dispensed, there is a possibility that dispensing of the injection drug will be stopped at that point.

[0309] In the injection drug dispensing device 100, in order to recognize the type and expiration date of the injection drug, the drug transport unit 121 side (processing position 132 side) of the position changing unit 126 reads the barcode attached to the injection drug and photographs the expiration date attached to the injection drug. The first discrimination processing unit 195 performs a process of recognizing the type of injection drug based on the read barcode, and the second discrimination processing unit 196 performs a process of recognizing the expiration date by analyzing the captured image. These processes (especially the process of recognizing the expiration date) require a certain amount of time.

[0310] Therefore, when the reading of the barcode and the photographing of the expiration date are completed on the medicine transporting unit 121 side, the medicine position control unit 197 rotates the position changing unit 126 without waiting for the result of the recognition process of the type of injection drug and the expiration date. As a result, the injection drug is positioned on the medicine moving unit 153 side (the non-dispensed medicine storage unit 152 side). This allows the next injection drug to be placed on the medicine transporting unit 121 side, which is the target of the recognition process of the type of injection drug and the expiration date. In this way, it is possible to efficiently dispense the injection drug (i.e., to increase the dispensing speed of the injection drug). The result of the recognition process of the type of injection drug and the expiration date is obtained while the injection drug is positioned on the medicine moving unit 153 side.

[0311] That is, in order to efficiently dispense the injection drugs in sequence, the injection drugs are waiting to be dispensed at the following locations. The suction mechanism 121a (position P1) of the medicine delivery unit 121. That is, the suction mechanism 121a is in a state in which the injection medicine is absorbed. The medicine transport unit 121 side of the position change unit 126 (position P2). That is, the state where the injection medicine is in a position where the barcode attached to the injection medicine is read and the expiration date attached to the injection medicine is photographed. The medicine moving unit 153 side of the position change unit 126 (position P3). That is, the state before the medicine moving unit 153 moves the injection medicine to the transport tray 151a or the non-dispensed medicine storage unit 152.

[0312] Here, the injection drug dispensing device 100 stores injection drugs to be dispensed for one patient in the same transport tray 151a. In other words, if an injection drug to be dispensed and the next injection drug to be dispensed are not injection drugs to be dispensed for the same patient, the injection drug dispensing device 100 stores these injection drugs in different transport trays 151a.

[0313] In this case, if the first discrimination processing unit 195 or the second discrimination processing unit 196 judges that the injection drug cannot be dispensed and judges that the injection drug and the next injection drug to be dispensed are not injection drugs indicated in the prescription data related to administration to the same patient, the injection drug cannot be dispensed. Specifically, in this case, the injection drug judged to be undispensable and the next injection drug to be dispensed are stored in different transport trays 151a. Therefore, the next injection drug to be dispensed cannot be dispensed unless the same type of injection drug as the injection drug judged to be undispensable is dispensed. In other words, in this case, it is not possible to dispense the injection drug by overtaking the previous injection drug. As a result, the dispensing of the injection drug is stopped.

[0314] Therefore, even if an injection drug that is determined to be unable to be dispensed is moved from position P3 to the non-dispensing drug storage section 152, the next injection drug to be dispensed will remain at position P2 or P3, and the injection drug after that will remain at position P1 or P2.

[0315] In particular, the injection drug dispensing system 1 operates in conjunction with various devices in addition to the injection drug dispensing device 100. Therefore, the stop of the injection drug dispensing device 100 affects the processing of the injection drug dispensing system 1.

[0316] In addition, if the injection drug determined to be undispensable and the injection drug to be next dispensed are injection drugs indicated in the prescription data for administration to the same patient, as described above, they are generally stored in the same transport tray 151a. Therefore, the injection drug to be next dispensed may be dispensed without waiting for the dispensing of the same type of injection drug as the injection drug determined to be undispensable.

[0317] In this example, when the first discrimination processing unit 195 and the second discrimination processing unit 196 determine that an injection drug cannot be dispensed, they function as a dispensing possibility determination unit that determines whether or not drugs of the same type as the injection drug can be dispensed until the injection drug is determined to be dispensable. Also, when the transport control unit 193 determines that an injection drug cannot be dispensed, it functions as a dispensing control unit that waits for the dispensing of the next injection drug to be dispensed after the injection drug.

[0318] In particular, as described above, when the first discrimination processing unit 195 and the second discrimination processing unit 196 make the following judgments (1) and (2), the transport control unit 193 keeps the second injection drug on standby. (1) If it is determined that the injectable drug cannot be dispensed. (2) When it is determined that the injection drug in question (first injection drug) and the injection drug dispensed next after the injection drug in question (second injection drug, next drug) are drugs indicated in prescription data for administration to different patients.

[0319] In order to realize the above-mentioned process, the injection drug dispensing device 100 is provided with a temporary storage unit for temporarily storing the second injection drug. The temporary storage unit may be provided, for example, in a part of the non-dispensed drug storage unit 152, or may be provided separately from the non-dispensed drug storage unit 152 and in the vicinity thereof.

[0320] A processing example in the case where injection drugs MA, MB, and MC are dispensed will be described with reference to Fig. 34. In this example, it is assumed that the first discrimination processing unit 195 and / or the second discrimination processing unit 196 have determined that the injection drug MA is an injection drug that cannot be dispensed in (a) of Fig. 34. Specifically, for the injection drug MA, the first discrimination processing unit 195 has determined that the injection drug identification information indicated by the read barcode does not match the injection drug identification information indicated by the prescription data, or the second discrimination processing unit 196 has determined that the expiration date of the injection drug MA has expired.

[0321] In this case, as shown in (b) of Fig. 34, the medicine moving unit 153 moves the injection medicine MA to the non-dispensing medicine storage unit 152, and then the position changing unit 126 rotates to move the injection medicine MB from position P2 to position P3. In this state, the medicine transport unit 121 places the injection medicine MC on the position changing unit 126 to move it from position P1 to position P2. Thereafter, the medicine moving unit 153 moves the injection medicine MB to the temporary placement unit, and then the position changing unit 126 rotates to move the injection medicine MC from position P2 to position P3.

[0322] 34(c), the medicine transport unit 121 takes out the same type of injection drug MA (here, injection drug MA') as the injection drug MA determined not to be dispensed from the cassette Ca at the processing position 132, and places it on the position changing unit 126. That is, the injection drug MA' is moved from position P1 to position P2. Thereafter, the first discrimination processing unit 195 and the second discrimination processing unit 196 determine whether the injection drug MA' can be dispensed.

[0323] Next, as shown in (d) of FIG. 34, the position change unit 126 rotates to move the injection drug MA' from position P2 to position P3 (the injection drug MC from position P3 to position P2). If it is determined that the injection drug MA' cannot be dispensed, the drug moving unit 153 moves the injection drug MA' to the non-dispensing drug storage unit 152, and then returns to the process shown in (c) of FIG. 34. That is, the injection drugs MB and MC to be dispensed next are in a waiting state for dispensing until the injection drug MA is dispensed to the transport tray 151a. On the other hand, if it is determined that the injection drug MA' can be dispensed, the drug moving unit 153 moves the injection drug MA' to the transport tray 151a.

[0324] When it is determined that the injection drug MA' can be dispensed, after the injection drug MA' is dispensed, the drug moving unit 153 returns the injection drug MB, which has been waiting for the dispensing of the injection drug MA in the temporary storage unit, to the position changing unit 126 (specifically, position P3), as shown in (e) of Fig. 34. Thereafter, the position changing unit 126 rotates to move the injection drug MB from position P3 to position P2 (the injection drug MC from position P2 to position P3). This allows the first discrimination processing unit 195 and the second discrimination processing unit 196 to determine whether the injection drug MB, which is the next target to be dispensed after the injection drug MA, can be dispensed.

[0325] When the reading of the barcode and expiration date attached to the injection drug MB at position P2 is completed, the position change unit 126 rotates to move the injection drug MB from position P2 to position P3 (the injection drug MC from position P3 to position P2). If it is determined that the injection drug MB can be dispensed, the drug moving unit 153 moves the injection drug MB to the transport tray 151a. Thereafter, as shown in (f) of FIG. 34, the first discrimination processing unit 195 and the second discrimination processing unit 196 determine whether the injection drug MC can be dispensed, and if it is determined that the injection drug MC can be dispensed, the drug moving unit 153 moves the injection drug MC to the transport tray 151a.

[0326] On the other hand, in (e) of FIG. 34, when it is determined that the injection drug MB cannot be dispensed, the drug moving unit 153 moves the injection drug MB to the non-dispensing drug storage unit 152, and then the position changing unit 126 rotates to move the injection drug MC from position P2 to position P3. Thereafter, the drug transport unit 121 takes out an injection drug MB of the same type as the injection drug MB determined to be non-dispensable (here, an injection drug MB') from the cassette Ca at the processing position 132, and places it on the position changing unit 126 (specifically, position P2). Then, the first discrimination processing unit 195 and the second discrimination processing unit 196 determine whether the injection drug MB' can be dispensed. This process is repeated until the injection drug MB is dispensed. That is, the next injection drug MC to be dispensed is in a waiting state for dispensing until the injection drug MB is dispensed to the transport tray 151a.

[0327] Also, in (f) of Fig. 34, when it is determined that the injection drug MC cannot be dispensed, the drug moving unit 153 moves the injection drug MC to the non-dispensing drug storage unit 152. Thereafter, the drug transport unit 121 takes out an injection drug MC of the same type as the injection drug MC determined to be undispensable (here, an injection drug MC') from the cassette Ca at the processing position 132, and places it on the position changing unit 126 (specifically, position P2). Then, the first discrimination processing unit 195 and the second discrimination processing unit 196 determine whether the injection drug MC' can be dispensed. This process is repeated until the injection drug MC is dispensed.

[0328] When the dispensing process for the injection drugs MA, MB, and MC is completed, the injection drug next to the injection drug MC is transported to the position change unit 126 in accordance with the prescription data. Then, if it is determined that the injection drug cannot be dispensed, the above-mentioned process is performed.

[0329] In this way, when it is determined that an injection drug cannot be dispensed, the next injection drug to be dispensed is temporarily evacuated to the temporary storage section (evacuation position), and the same type of injection drug as the injection drug determined to be undispensable is automatically dispensed again. Therefore, it is possible to continuously dispense injection drugs.

[0330] In the example of Fig. 34, the injection drugs MA, MB, and MC are injection drugs indicated in prescription data for administration to different patients (injection drugs MA, MB, and MC are different prescriptions). As for injection drugs indicated in prescription data for the same patient, as described above, the injection drug next to the injection drug determined to be non-dispensable may be dispensed.

[0331] In the above, the dispensing of the next injection medicine is in a standby state until the arbitrary injection medicine is dispensed to the transport tray 151a. However, the dispensing of the next injection medicine may be in a standby state until the shortage of the arbitrary injection medicine is confirmed (for example, until the cassette Ca that contains the injection medicine MA is emptied).

[0332] <Example of placing injections on a transport tray> Next, an example of the process of placing an injection drug on the carrier tray 151a (small tray 151b) for storing different kinds of drugs will be described. In the description of this example, the printer device 13 will be described as an infusion label issuing device.

[0333] (Example of small tray structure) First, as a configuration on which an example of placing an injection drug is based, the small tray 151b placed on the carrier tray 151a will be described. Fig. 35 is a diagram showing the state in which the small tray 151b is placed on the carrier tray 151a. Fig. 36(a) is a perspective view showing an example of the small tray 151b, (b) is a plan view showing an example of the small tray 151b, and (c) is an A-A' cross-sectional view showing an example of the small tray 151b.

[0334] As described above, in the injection drug dispensing system 1, the transport tray 151a is transported from the supply lifter 11 to the discharge lifter 14 via the injection drug dispensing device 100 and the printer device 13. That is, the transport tray 151a in this example is a tray that contains multiple types of injection drugs dispensed by the injection drug dispensing device 100 and infusion labels printed by the printer device 13.

[0335] As shown in Fig. 35, the small tray 151b can be placed on the transport tray 151a of this example. In this case, for example, an injection drug indicated in prescription data for administration to one patient can be divided and dispensed according to the time of use of the injection drug (for example, morning, midday, evening, and before going to bed). In the example of Fig. 35, four small trays 151b can be provided in the direction in which the transport tray 151a is transported.

[0336] 36(a) to 36(c), a protrusion 151c is provided on the bottom of small tray 151b. Protrusion 151c divides the bottom into a plurality of divided regions 151d.

[0337] 36(b), the width 151w of the divided region 151d is long enough to accommodate, for example, one or two injections when the injection medicine is placed on the medicine moving section 153 so that the injection medicine faces the extension direction of the protruding section 151c. In this case, for example, if the injection medicine is a relatively thick vial, one injection medicine can be placed, and if the injection medicine is a relatively thin vial, two injection medicines can be placed.

[0338] In the injection drug dispensing device 100, the injection drug adsorbed by the adsorption mechanism 153a of the drug moving section 153 is placed on the transport tray 151a. Therefore, the position of the injection drug on the transport tray 151a can be specified and placed. In other words, the adsorbed injection drug can be placed aiming at each divided area 151d of the small tray 151b. In addition, since it is possible to place the injection drug with the same orientation, the injection drug can be placed in a relatively orderly manner on the divided area 151d.

[0339] In addition, as the transport tray 151a moves, the injection medicine may move in the width direction. If the amount of movement is large, the injection medicines may collide with each other and break as a result. By providing the dividing region 151d, the amount of movement of the injection medicine in the width direction can be reduced. Therefore, the possibility of the injection medicines colliding with each other can be reduced. Even if a collision occurs, the amount of movement is small, so the possibility of the injection medicine breaking can be reduced.

[0340] Also, as shown in FIG. 36(c), the bottom of the small tray 151b has an inclined portion 151s inclined from the protruding portion 151c toward the side wall of the small tray 151b (in the width direction from the protruding portion 151c). The inclined portion 151s is lower on the side wall side of the small tray 151b than on the protruding portion 151c side. This allows the injection medicine to be placed in order from the side wall side of the small tray 151b due to its own weight, as shown in FIG. 36(c). Therefore, if the injection medicine can be placed in a predetermined divided area 151d, it is not necessary to specify the placement position more precisely. Also, when the injection medicine is placed, it is possible to prevent the injection medicines from colliding with each other and breaking.

[0341] A mechanism for preventing the injection medicine from moving may be provided at the bottom of the small tray 151b. Examples of the mechanism for preventing the injection medicine from moving include a sponge or a fine, substantially V-shaped member. The mechanism for preventing the injection medicine from colliding with the injection medicine and breaking it when the carrier tray 151a moves can be more reliably prevented by the mechanism for preventing the injection medicine from colliding with the injection medicine when the carrier tray 151a moves.

[0342] Also, as shown in (b) of Figure 36, in the small tray 151b, at least a portion of one of the multiple divided areas 151d is provided with an infusion label placing area 151r on which an infusion label printed by the printer device 13 is placed.

[0343] As described above, the injection drug dispensing device 100 and the printer device 13 store information on the position of the infusion label placement area 151r preset in each small tray 151b. Therefore, the injection drug dispensing device 100 can place the injection drug in an area other than the infusion label placement area 151r, and the printer device 13 can place the infusion label in the infusion label placement area 151r. Therefore, the infusion label is not placed on the injection drug. As a result, the possibility that the infusion label will be blown off can be reduced. In addition, the user can easily check the infusion label. Furthermore, the protruding portion 151c can prevent the infusion label from being pushed out of the small tray 151b by the moving injection drug.

[0344] In addition, since the protrusion 151c is provided and the infusion label and the injection drug can be placed in different areas, the infusion label is prevented from being pushed out of the small tray 151b, so there is no need to place the injection drug on the infusion label as a weight. Therefore, it is possible to place the infusion label on the small tray 151b after placing the injection drug. In other words, by using the small tray 151b, it is possible to construct an injection drug dispensing system 1 in which the injection drug dispensing device 100 and the printer device 13 are provided in order from the side where the transport tray 151a is transported. However, the order of installation of the injection drug dispensing device 100 and the printer device 13 may be reversed.

[0345] In this example, the small tray 151b is provided with a plurality of divided areas 151d and an infusion label placement area 151r, but the present invention is not limited to this, and these elements may be provided directly on the transport tray 151a. In other words, in this case, the transport tray 151a itself has the function of the small tray 151b, and the small tray 151b is not placed on the transport tray 151a.

[0346] The printer device 13 also has an infusion label transport mechanism that transports and places the printed infusion label on the infusion label placement area 151r based on information about the position of the infusion label placement area 151r. The infusion label transport mechanism includes, for example, a gripping mechanism that grips or releases the printed infusion label, and a moving mechanism that moves the gripping mechanism between the issuing mechanism that issues the infusion label and the transport tray 151a.

[0347] (Example of placing and processing injection drugs) Next, an example of the process of placing an injection drug on the transport tray 151a will be described. In the following, the injection drug is transported to the small tray 151b, but the invention is not limited to this, and the injection drug may be transported directly to the transport tray 151a.

[0348] As described above, the control unit 190 can specify the orientation of the injection drug by acquiring the barcode with the barcode reader 123. By the same principle, the control unit 190 can specify the orientation of the injection drug by acquiring the barcode with the barcode reader 124.

[0349] In addition, the medicine master may register second distance information indicating a second distance in the circumferential direction of the injection medicine from the position of the barcode attached to the injection medicine to the approximate center position of the injection medicine label on which the injection medicine name (medicine name) and the like are written, in association with each injection medicine identification information. The medicine position control unit 197 determines the amount of rotation of the medicine rotation unit 127 based on the orientation of the injection medicine, the position of the barcode when the barcode reader 124 reads the barcode, and the second distance indicated by the second distance information. The medicine position control unit 197 rotates the medicine rotation unit 127 by the determined amount of rotation to make the injection medicine label attached to the injection medicine face up (in the +Z axis direction).

[0350] That is, in this example, the medicine position control unit 197 functions as a position specifying unit that specifies the position of the injection medicine name attached to the injection medicine based on the position of the injection medicine identification information (information for matching with the injection medicine identification information included in the prescription data) attached to the injection medicine. The medicine position control unit 197 controls the medicine rotation unit 127 to rotate the injection medicine in the axial direction so that the position of the injection medicine name faces upward.

[0351] After adsorbing the injection medicine with the injection medicine label facing upward, the transport control unit 193 places it in a predetermined position on the small tray 151b as it is. That is, the transport control unit 193 controls the medicine moving unit 153 to move the injection medicine rotated by the medicine rotating unit 127 to the small tray 151b without changing the direction, and places it on the small tray 151b.

[0352] As described above, since the direction of the injection medicine is also specified, the transport control unit 193 places the injection medicine on the small tray 151b so that the injection medicine faces a predetermined direction. In this case, the injection medicine can be placed on the small tray 151b with the direction of the characters on the injection medicine label aligned in a certain direction.

[0353] By placing the injection medicine on the small tray 151b in this way, the user does not need to lift or rotate the injection medicine when visually inspecting the contents of the small tray 151b. This makes it easy to perform visual inspection. In addition, by providing the injection medicine dispensing system 1 with a photographing mechanism (not shown) that photographs the contents of the small tray 151b, it becomes possible to perform visual inspection using the image photographed by the photographing mechanism.

[0354] Although the injection medicine is placed on the small tray 151b with the injection medicine label facing up, the invention is not limited to this and may be placed with the barcode facing up, for example. It is sufficient that the injection medicine is placed in a direction that makes it easy for the user to perform image inspection using a portable barcode reader (not shown).

[0355] Furthermore, the barcode reader 124 identifies the direction of the injection drug and orients the injection drug facing upward, but this is not limiting, and these processes may be performed on the barcode reader 123 side.

[0356] The transport control unit 193 may place the injection medicine in the divided area 151d, for example, as follows. For example, the order of the divided areas 151d on which the injection medicine is to be placed and the order of the placement positions of the injection medicine in any divided area 151d may be determined in advance. In this case, the medicine moving unit 153 places the injection medicine according to that order. Also, for example, the transport control unit 193 may specify the placement positions of the injection medicine by sorting the identified injection medicine according to type or shape.

[0357] Moreover, the orientation of the injection drug can be specified by reading the barcode with the barcode reader 123 or 124. Using this orientation of the injection drug, the drug transfer unit 153 may determine the suction position when transferring the injection drug to the transfer tray 151a.

[0358] For example, as described above, it is assumed that information indicating the center of gravity of the injection drug as the distance from the bottom of the injection drug is registered in the medicine master. Also, it is assumed that the injection drug is placed on the first mounting part 126a or the second mounting part 126b so that the bottom of the injection drug is near the end of the first mounting part 126a or the second mounting part 126b. In this case, the suction position determination unit 194 specifies the end of the first mounting part 126a or the second mounting part 126b on the side where the bottom of the injection drug is located by specifying the orientation of the injection drug. The suction position determination unit 194 specifies a position away from the end by a distance obtained by adding a preset distance between the end and the bottom to the distance from the bottom of the injection drug as the center of gravity of the injection drug. The suction position determination unit 194 determines the specified center of gravity position as the suction position.

[0359] [Additional information regarding returns] An example of the operation of the injection drug dispensing device 100 at the time of return has been described with reference to Fig. 15. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the drug transport unit 121 and the drug moving unit 153 may return the injection drug to the cassette Ca by transferring the injection drug from the transport tray 151a side to the cassette Ca side.

[0360] Here, the medicine transport unit 121 and the medicine moving unit 153 transport the injection medicine from the cassette Ca side to the transport tray 151a side during dispensing. That is, in the above example, the injection medicine is returned to the cassette Ca in the reverse order of the transfer order of the injection medicine during dispensing. If the mode during dispensing is called the first mode, the mode during return can also be called the second mode.

[0361] In the second mode, for example, the following process is performed. For example, the medicine moving unit 153 takes out the injection medicine (returned medicine) returned by the user to the transport tray 151a from the transport tray 151a and places it on the position changing unit 126. The control unit 190 recognizes the type and expiration date of the injection medicine by reading the barcode with the barcode reader 123 and photographing the expiration date with the expiration date reading camera 125.

[0362] If it is determined that the expiration date has passed, the medicine moving unit 153 places the returned medicine in the non-dispensed medicine storage unit 152. On the other hand, if it is determined that the expiration date is within the expiration date, the cassette transport unit 140 takes out a cassette Ca containing an injection medicine of the same type as the returned medicine based on the recognized type of returned medicine, and holds it in the cassette holding unit 130. The medicine transport unit 121 stores the returned medicine placed in the position changing unit 126 in the cassette Ca moved to the processing position 132. The cassette transport unit 140 stores the cassette Ca containing the returned medicine back in the cassette shelf 110.

[0363] This process is performed for all returned medicines. If there is no cassette Ca containing the same type of injection medicine as the returned medicine, the returned medicine may be stored in an empty cassette Ca or may be placed in the non-dispensed medicine storage unit 152.

[0364] <Another expression of the above configuration> The above configuration can be expressed as follows:

[0365] [A] <Overall configuration of drug handling device> A medicine handling device (injection medicine dispensing device 100) according to one aspect of the present invention is as follows: a cassette shelf for storing m cassettes each containing the same type of drug; a cassette holding unit capable of temporarily holding n of the m cassettes (m>n≧2); A drug discrimination unit that temporarily holds a drug and discriminates the type of the drug; a tray holder for holding a tray for containing different kinds of medicines; a cassette transfer unit that transfers the cassette between the cassette shelf and the cassette holding unit; a first drug transfer unit that transfers a drug between the cassette held in the cassette holding unit and the drug determining unit; and a second medicine transfer section which transfers medicine between the medicine determining section and the tray held by the tray holding section.

[0366] According to the above configuration, a part (n) of a large number (m) of cassettes is temporarily held in the cassette holding section, and the medicines contained in the cassettes are subjected to type identification and to transfer to a tray. Therefore, in a medicine handling device storing a large number of cassettes, the type of medicine can be identified and the medicine can be efficiently transported to a tray.

[0367] The medicine discrimination unit in the above configuration may be a mechanism including barcode readers 123, 124, expiration date reading camera 125, position change unit 126, first mounting unit 126a, second mounting unit 126b, and medicine rotation unit 127. The first medicine transport unit corresponds to medicine transport unit 121, and the second medicine transport unit corresponds to medicine moving unit 153. The tray corresponds to transport tray 151a or small tray 151b.

[0368] Furthermore, the above configuration is mainly based on the matters explained before the "Other Configurations" section above.

[0369] Furthermore, in the medicine handling device according to one aspect of the present invention, The first drug delivery section and the second drug delivery section may operate in a first mode in which they deliver the drug from the cassette side to the tray side.

[0370] According to the above configuration, in the first mode, the medicines in the cassette can be stored in the tray. Note that the above configuration is mainly based on the matters explained before the section "Other Configurations" above.

[0371] Furthermore, in the medicine handling device according to one aspect of the present invention, The first drug delivery section and the second drug delivery section may operate in a second mode in which they deliver the drug from the tray side to the cassette side.

[0372] According to the above configuration, in the second mode, it is possible to return the medicines contained in the tray to the cassette.

[0373] [B] <What to do if there is a drug that cannot be dispensed> A drug dispensing device (injection drug dispensing device 100) according to one aspect of the present invention is When it is determined that the medicine cannot be dispensed, a dispensing possibility determination unit (first discrimination processing unit 195, second discrimination processing unit 196) determines whether or not the medicine can be dispensed, for other medicines of the same type as the medicine, until it is determined that the medicine can be dispensed; and a dispensing control unit (transport control unit 193) that, when it is determined that the medicine cannot be dispensed, waits for the dispensing of the medicine to be dispensed next.

[0374] A drug dispensing device sequentially dispenses drugs based on prescription data for administration to a single patient, for example. Therefore, if a drug is determined to be non-dispensable, dispensing of the drug stops at that point. If the drug dispensing device is linked to other devices, the processing of the entire system stops, so the impact of stopping dispensing of the drug becomes greater.

[0375] According to the above configuration, when it is determined that a medicine cannot be dispensed, the dispensing of the next medicine is put on hold until it is determined that a medicine of the same type as the medicine can be dispensed. Therefore, even if there is a medicine that cannot be dispensed, dispensing of medicines can be continued.

[0376] Furthermore, in a drug dispensing device according to one embodiment of the present invention, if the dispensing eligibility determination unit (1) determines that the drug cannot be dispensed, and (2) determines that the drug and the next drug to be dispensed after the drug are drugs indicated in prescription data for administration to different patients, the dispensing control unit may cause the next drug to wait.

[0377] Medicines dispensed based on prescription data for administration to the same patient are generally stored in the same tray. Therefore, it is difficult to change the order of medicines indicated in prescription data for administration to different patients because this would mean changing the order of the trays. On the other hand, for medicines indicated in prescription data for administration to the same patient, there is no need to change the order of the trays, so the order in which they are dispensed may be arbitrary.

[0378] According to the above configuration, even if it is determined that a drug cannot be dispensed, if the drug and the next drug are drugs indicated in the prescription data for administration to the same patient, the next drug can be dispensed without waiting. Therefore, it is possible to speed up the dispensing process when it is determined that a drug cannot be dispensed.

[0379] [C] <Processing when placing the drug on the tray with the drug name facing up> A medicine handling device (injection medicine dispensing device 100) according to one aspect of the present invention is as follows: A position identification unit (medicine position control unit 197) that identifies the position of the medicine name attached to the medicine based on the position of the identification information attached to the medicine; A medicine rotation unit that rotates the medicine in an axial direction so that the position of the medicine name identified by the position identification unit faces upward; The device is also equipped with a drug transport section (drug moving section 153) that transports the drug to a tray for containing different types of drugs and places it on the tray without changing the orientation of the drug rotated by the drug rotation section.

[0380] For example, when drugs are dispensed onto a tray based on prescription data for administration to a patient, a medical professional such as a doctor or pharmacist (i.e., a user) visually inspects the drugs on the tray. If drugs are randomly placed on the tray without considering the position of the drug name, the user must pick up the drug and check the drug name.

[0381] According to the above configuration, the medicines can be dispensed into the tray so that the medicine names on the medicines face upward. In addition, since the medicines are placed on the tray in this manner, the medicines in the tray can be photographed, and the photographed image can be used as an image for visual inspection, and an audit history can be kept. In other words, according to the above configuration, the user's effort during visual inspection can be reduced.

[0382] The identification information is information (first identification information) that indicates the type of injection drug. An example of the identification information is a barcode that indicates injection drug identification information.

[0383] [D] <Check cassette position> A drug cassette handling device according to one aspect of the present invention (injection drug dispensing device 100, drug cassette handling device 200) includes: a storage position determination unit that determines whether each of the plurality of cassettes is stored in a predetermined storage position based on storage position information indicating a storage position in which each of the plurality of cassettes is stored and cassette specific information for identifying the cassette; For a cassette that the storage position determination unit determines is not stored in the specified storage position, a cassette transfer unit is provided which transfers the cassette from the storage position where the cassette is stored to the storage position where the cassette should be located.

[0384] Furthermore, a drug cassette handling device according to one aspect of the present invention is a storage position determination unit that determines whether each of the plurality of cassettes is stored in a predetermined storage position based on storage position information indicating a storage position in which each of the plurality of cassettes is stored and cassette specific information for identifying the cassette; For cassettes that the storage position determination unit determines are not stored in the designated storage position, an alarm unit (alarm control unit 199, touch panel 210) is provided that notifies the user to store the cassette in the storage position where it should be.

[0385] For example, if the storage location of each cassette is predetermined by the user, if the cassette is not stored in the storage location where it should be, the user will have to spend more time searching for the desired cassette when taking it out, which may reduce the efficiency of the work of filling the cassette with medicines, etc.

[0386] According to the above-mentioned configuration, even if a cassette is not present in the storage position where it should be, the cassette can be stored in the storage position, thereby preventing a decrease in work efficiency.

[0387] [E] <Tray structure> The tray according to one aspect of the present invention comprises: A tray that contains multiple types of medicines dispensed by a medicine dispensing device that dispenses medicines and infusion labels printed by an infusion label issuing device (printer device 13) that issues infusion labels to be affixed to infusion containers, A protrusion is provided on a bottom of the tray to divide the bottom into a plurality of divided regions; At least a part of one of the divided regions is an infusion label placement region on which an infusion label issued by the infusion label issuing device is placed.

[0388] When an infusion container is placed on the tray, an infusion label that the user attaches to the infusion container is also placed on the tray. Since the infusion label is thin, it is likely to fly off the tray when placed on the tray, for example, when the tray is moved. In particular, when the infusion label is placed on the tray after a medicine is placed on the tray, the infusion label is placed on top of the medicine, and therefore the infusion label is likely to fly off the tray.

[0389] If an infusion label gets transferred from one tray to another, the contents of the infusion container and the information written on the infusion label may not match, which could lead to a serious accident.

[0390] Therefore, it is common to place the infusion label on a tray and then place the medication (specifically, the container in which the medication is contained, such as a vial) on top of the infusion label to prevent the infusion label from being blown away.

[0391] According to the above configuration, the infusion label can be placed in the infusion label placement area, and the medicine can be placed in the other area. Therefore, the infusion label is not placed on the medicine. As a result, the possibility of the infusion label being blown away can be reduced. In addition, the medicine can be prevented from being placed on the infusion label. Therefore, it is easy for the user to check the infusion label, and the infusion label can be prevented from being pushed out of the tray due to the medicine moving on top of the infusion label.

[0392] In addition, since the infusion label is placed in the infusion label placement area, it is not necessary to place a medicine on the infusion label as a weight. Therefore, it is possible to place the infusion label after placing the medicine on the tray. In other words, by using a tray having the above configuration, a medicine dispensing system can be constructed in which a medicine dispensing device and an infusion label issuing device are provided in order from the side where the tray is transported.

[0393] The tray may be a small tray (151b). In this case, a plurality of small trays having the protruding portion are placed on a large tray (transport tray 151a) that contains a plurality of types of medicines.

[0394] [F] <Returns function> The drug dispensing device according to one aspect of the present invention (injection drug dispensing device 100, drug cassette handling device 200) is A cassette shelf for storing m cassettes each containing a medicine; a cassette holder capable of temporarily holding a first cassette containing a plurality of types of medicines and a second cassette containing a medicine whose type has been identified, among the m cassettes; a medicine discrimination unit that temporarily holds the medicine contained in the first cassette and discriminates the type of the medicine; The device further includes a drug transport section which transports the drug contained in the first cassette to the drug determining section, and transports the drug, the type of which has been determined by the drug determining section, to the second cassette.

[0395] According to the above configuration, it is possible to sort medicines from the first cassette containing a plurality of types of medicines into a plurality of second cassettes containing medicines whose types have been identified.

[0396] The medicine discrimination section in the above configuration includes mechanisms including barcode readers 123, 124, expiration date reading camera 125, position change section 126, first mounting section 126a, second mounting section 126b, and medicine rotation section 127. The medicine transport section corresponds to medicine delivery section 121. The first cassette corresponds to returned medicine receiving cassette 161, and the second cassette corresponds to large returned medicine cassette 163 or small / medium returned medicine cassette 164.

[0397] Furthermore, the above configuration is mainly based on the matters explained before the "Other Configurations" section above.

[0398] <Other configuration 2> The following mainly describes further configurations and processes of the injection drug dispensing device 100, and further configurations and processes of the printer device 13, which is a peripheral device of the injection drug dispensing device 100. However, please note that the following description includes some parts that overlap with the above content or some parts that are specifically described.

[0399] [Another example of processing in an injection drug dispensing device] First, a description will be given of another example of the process in the injection drug dispensing device 100. Fig. 50(a) is a diagram showing an example of a cassette Ca when a separation member SP is attached, and Fig. 50(b) is a diagram showing an example of a data table when the cassette Ca is used after being separated into two.

[0400] As described above with reference to Fig. 26, the cassette Ca can be divided into two by attaching a dividing member SP to the cassette Ca. As shown in Fig. 50(a), the cassette Ca is divided into a first divided area CaA and a second divided area CaB by being partitioned by the dividing member SP. In this example, the divided area on the front side of the injection drug dispensing device 100 (the side where the cassette transporting unit 140 is arranged) is referred to as the first divided area CaA.

[0401] Here, the size of the first division area CaA and the second division area CaB may be changed by changing the mounting position of the division member SP depending on the shape (size) or number of the injection drug or solvent to be stored.

[0402] Further, each cassette Ca is provided with cassette specific information that can uniquely identify the cassette Ca. As shown in (b) of Fig. 50, the cassette specific information (cassette barcode) is linked to cassette area information for identifying the area in which the injection drug is stored and information indicating the type of injection drug stored in the cassette Ca (information (drug code) that can uniquely identify the type of injection drug). By referring to this data table, the transfer control unit 191 can determine what type of injection drug is stored in which area of ​​which cassette Ca.

[0403] 50(b), in this example, "0," "1," and "2" are set as the cassette area information. "0" indicates that the entire cassette Ca is intended to contain the injection drug, "1" indicates that the first divided area CaA is intended to contain the injection drug, and "2" indicates that the second divided area CaB is intended to contain the injection drug.

[0404] The cassette area information may be any information that can identify these three storage patterns. Also, the number of divisions of the cassette Ca is not limited to two, and may be three or more. In this case, the cassette area information may be information that can identify the storage pattern according to the number of divided areas.

[0405] When one cassette Ca is divided into two in this manner and has the above data table, the cassette Ca can contain injection drugs and the like as follows. (A) Pattern for storing different types of injection drugs. In this case, injection drugs of the same type are divided and stored in a first divided area CaA and a second divided area CaB. (B) A pattern in which the same type of injection drug is stored. In this case, the injection drug is stored in a first divided area CaA and a second divided area CaB based on the expiration date. (C) A pattern for storing an injection drug with a solvent. In this case, the solvent and the injection drug are separately stored. For example, when the injection drug is stored in the first divided area CaA, the solvent is stored in the second divided area CaB.

[0406] <(A) Patterns for storing different types of injection drugs> In the case of this pattern, data is stored in the data table in the form shown in data pattern DP2. That is, different types of injection drugs are contained in the first division area CaA and the second division area CaB (the same type of injection drug is contained in the same division area), and the state of the drugs contained is reflected in the data table. In the example of (b) of FIG. 50, it is shown that in the cassette Ca of "00005", the injection drug "CCC01" is contained in the first division area CaA, and the injection drug "DDD03" is contained in the second division area CaB.

[0407] When the injection drug dispensing device 100 receives a dispensing instruction of prescription data related to administration to one patient from a control device (not shown) that comprehensively controls the entire injection drug dispensing system 1, the transfer control unit 191 takes out the injection drug from the cassette Ca based on the prescription data and the above data table. In the above example, when the injection drug indicated in the above prescription data is the injection drug "CCC01", the transfer control unit 191 refers to the above data table to identify that the injection drug "CCC01" is contained in the first division area CaA of the cassette Ca of "00005". With this identification, the transfer control unit 191 can take out the injection drug "CCC01" from the first division area CaA of the cassette Ca of "00005".

[0408] Furthermore, the first discrimination processing unit 195 discriminates whether or not the injection drug can be dispensed based on the information indicating the type of the injection drug read by the barcode reader 123 in the position changing unit 126. Therefore, even if an injection drug different from the injection drug to be dispensed is taken out, the first discrimination processing unit 195 can discriminate not to dispense the injection drug. For example, even if there is a discrepancy between the injection drugs actually contained in the first division area CaA and the second division area CaB and the information shown in the data table, it is possible to prevent the wrong injection drug from being dispensed.

[0409] Even if the cassette Ca is divided into three or more regions, it is sufficient that the same type of injection drug is contained in the same divided region, and different types of injection drugs are contained in multiple divided regions.

[0410] <(B) Patterns containing the same type of injection drug> As described above, in this case, the injection drug is divided and stored in the first divided area CaA and the second divided area CaB based on the expiration date. Since a lot number or a manufacturing number is assigned to each injection drug, the expiration date may be identified from these numbers.

[0411] In the case of this pattern, data is stored in the data table in the form shown in data pattern DP1. That is, the same type of injection drug is physically divided and stored in the first division area CaA and the second division area CaB based on the expiration date, but is not divided in the data table. In the example of FIG. 50(b), even if the injection drug "AAA03" is divided and stored in the cassette Ca of "00003" based on the expiration date, the data table only indicates that the injection drug is stored in both the first division area CaA and the second division area CaB.

[0412] When the transfer control unit 191 removes the injection drug from the cassette Ca based on the dispensing instruction, it transfers the cassette Ca to the cassette holding unit 130. Thereafter, the cassette Ca placed on the cassette holding unit 130 is imaged by the position identification camera 122 at the processing position 132. The suction position determination unit 194 recognizes that the cassette Ca has been divided by analyzing the image captured by the position identification camera 122. In other words, the suction position determination unit 194 can recognize that the injection drug, which has been divided by the expiration date and contained in the cassette Ca, has been removed only when it is determined that the cassette Ca is physically divided and that the cassette area information of the cassette Ca is "0" on the data table.

[0413] The transport control unit 193 takes out the injection medicine from the cassette Ca in a predetermined order. In the initial state, the area from which the injection medicine is taken out by the transport control unit 193 is set to the first divided area CaA. In this case, the transport control unit 193 takes out the injection medicine in order starting from the injection medicine contained in the first divided area CaA. Thereafter, when the first divided area CaA is out of stock, the transport control unit 193 takes out the injection medicine from the second divided area CaB.

[0414] In this way, by dividing the cassette Ca, storing the same kind of injection drugs in the first division area CaA and the second division area CaB based on the expiration date, and determining the order of removal, the transport control unit 193 can remove the injection drugs in the order in which they were stored. In other words, the injection drug dispensing device 100 can dispense the injection drugs in the order in which they were stored in the cassette Ca (performing the so-called "first in, first out").

[0415] In addition, by storing relatively old injection drugs in the first division area CaA and storing relatively new injection drugs in the second division area CaB, the transport control unit 193 can take out the injection drugs in order starting from the oldest.

[0416] When the first divided area CaA runs out of stock or is filled with an injection drug, the injection drug contained in the second divided area CaB is moved to the first divided area CaA, and then the second divided area CaB is filled with an injection drug newer than the one moved. At this time, the control unit 190 returns the injection drug removal area to its initial state. This makes it possible to remove an injection drug from the first divided area CaA again (removal of an old injection drug).

[0417] For example, the control unit 190 returns the injection drug removal area to the initial state when it recognizes that the state of the first division area CaA has changed from an empty state to a state in which an injection drug is contained, based on an image captured by the position identification camera 122. In addition, the control unit 190 may return the injection drug removal area to the initial state when it detects that the dispensing process has been interrupted by a user input and that the cassette Ca has been removed.

[0418] Here, in an injection drug dispensing device that stores injection drugs in an aligned manner in a cassette, the injection drugs can be stored in order of age. However, in an injection drug dispensing device that stores injection drugs randomly (i.e., in a non-aligned state) in a cassette, it is difficult to store injection drugs in order of age from one cassette. By performing the above-mentioned process and storing injection drugs, the injection drug dispensing device 100 can realize the so-called "first in, first out".

[0419] In addition, even if the cassette Ca is divided into three or more regions, each region may contain the same type of injection drug with a different expiration date. In this case, the order of removal of the three or more divided regions may be determined in advance, and the injection drugs may be stored in each divided region so that the injection drugs stored first are removed first, thereby realizing the so-called "first in, first out" system.

[0420] In addition, the order in which the injections are taken out can be set arbitrarily. For example, the order in which the injections are taken out may be set to the second divided area CaB in the initial state, and when the second divided area CaB is out of stock, the injections may be taken out from the first divided area CaA.

[0421] <(C) Pattern for storing injectable drugs with dissolving solution> Among the injection drugs, there are some that come with a solvent, which is dissolved in the solvent before use. In this case, the injection drug and the solvent are stored in different containers, but the injection drug and the solvent must be dispensed as a set onto the transport tray 151a.

[0422] In the case of this pattern, data is stored in the data table in the form shown in data pattern DP2. That is, an injection drug is contained in either the first division area CaA or the second division area CaB, and a solvent is contained in the other. The state of the containers is reflected in the data table. For example, consider a case where an injection drug is contained in the first division area CaA and a solvent is contained in the second division area CaB. In this case, the example of (b) in FIG. 50 shows that in the cassette Ca of "00005", an injection drug "CCC01" is contained in the first division area CaA and a solvent "DDD03" is contained in the second division area CaB. By referring to the data table, the injection drug dispensing device 100 can take out the injection drug from the first division area CaA and the solvent from the second division area CaB, respectively, in the same manner as in the case of (A) above.

[0423] Injectable drugs and solvents are often delivered in the same package, and are always dispensed as a set, so it is easy to divide the cassette Ca into two and store the injection drugs and solvents separately in each divided area. Also, by storing the injection drugs and solvents separately in this way, the injection drugs and solvents can be taken out as a set with one removal operation of the cassette Ca. In other words, by storing the injection drugs and solvents in the same cassette Ca, the injection drugs and solvents can be dispensed more efficiently than when the injection drugs and solvents are stored in separate cassettes Ca.

[0424] Generally, a medicine is provided with medicine identification information for uniquely identifying the medicine. For example, an injection medicine is provided with injection medicine identification information (e.g., GS1 code as an injection medicine code). On the other hand, unlike the medicine, a dissolving solution is not provided with medicine identification information (e.g., GS1 code). In other words, a container in which the dissolving solution is stored is not provided with a barcode that can be read by the barcode reader 123.

[0425] Therefore, when the above-mentioned control device analyzes prescription data received from a higher-level system (not shown) and the prescription data includes an injection drug with a solvent, the control device refers to master data related to drugs in which predetermined drug codes are registered for the injection drug and the solvent. Then, these drug codes are added to the prescription data. Also, the drug code corresponding to the solvent and cassette-specific information are linked and stored in the data table. This allows the injection drug dispensing device 100 to analyze the prescription data received from the control device and to identify the cassette Ca containing the injection drug and solvent by referring to the data table.

[0426] For injection drugs, a drug code is linked to the injection drug identification information in the prescription data. Also, the shape model is registered linked to the drug code. Furthermore, for injection drugs, the injection drug identification information may be used as is, and a drug code linked to the injection drug identification information may be assigned to the solvent. In other words, it is sufficient that at least the solvent identification information for identifying the solvent is assigned to the solvent.

[0427] Here, the injection medicine is provided with injection medicine identification information, which can be read by the barcode reader 123. Therefore, the first discrimination processing unit 195 can determine whether or not the injection medicine placed on the position changing unit 126 is the injection medicine to be dispensed before actually dispensing the injection medicine onto the transport tray 151a. On the other hand, as described above, the dissolving liquid is not provided with information that can be read by the barcode reader 123. Therefore, the first discrimination processing unit 195 cannot determine whether or not the dissolving liquid placed on the position changing unit 126 is the dissolving liquid to be dispensed, based on the reading result of the barcode reader 123.

[0428] Therefore, when the received prescription data related to administration to one patient includes an injection drug with a solvent and no reading result is received from the barcode reader 123 for a predetermined period of time (i.e., when it is determined that the object is not provided with injection drug identification information), the first discrimination processing unit 195 discriminates that the object placed on the position change unit 126 is a solvent to be dispensed. This allows the solvent to be dispensed onto the transport tray 151a as well.

[0429] Here, the suction position determination unit 194 refers to the shape model when identifying the suction position at the processing position 132, thereby identifying the shape of the injection drug to be absorbed (actually, the container in which the injection drug is stored). In addition, since the shape model is linked to the medicine code, the suction position determination unit 194 identifies the shape of the solvent to be absorbed (actually, the container in which the solvent liquid is stored) for the solvent liquid as well as the injection drug. In this way, the suction position determination unit 194 identifies the solvent liquid to be absorbed based on the shape model linked to the medicine code. Therefore, it can be inferred that the solvent liquid to be dispensed has been accurately identified at this point.

[0430] That is, in the injection drug dispensing device 100, the dispensing liquid to be dispensed is placed on the position changing unit 126 based on the prescription data related to administration to one patient, the data table, the shape model, etc. Therefore, even if the first discrimination processing unit 195 does not discriminate based on the reading result of the barcode reader 123, the dispensing of the dispensing liquid based on the prescription data can be performed.

[0431] In this example, the first discrimination processing unit 195 discriminates whether the injection drug can be dispensed based on the injection drug identification information, and discriminates whether the solvent can be dispensed based on whether information equivalent to the injection drug identification information can be read. Specifically, as described above, when the received prescription data related to administration to one patient includes an injection drug with a solvent, and information equivalent to the injection drug identification information cannot be read for an object to be dispensed together with the injection drug, the first discrimination processing unit 195 discriminates that the object is the solvent to be dispensed. This allows the solvent to be dispensed in a simple manner.

[0432] The suction position determination unit 194 identifies the injection drug and the solvent to be taken out of the cassette Ca based on the shape model, etc., as described above. Therefore, the injection drug dispensing device 100 can be said to determine the injection drug and the solvent to be dispensed in two stages: identification based on the shape model, etc., and determination by the first discrimination processing unit 195. When dispensing an injection drug with a solvent, the control unit 190 can be said to be equipped with a first determination unit that determines whether or not the solvent can be dispensed based on at least the shape, and a second determination unit that determines whether or not the injection drug can be dispensed based on at least the drug type. Furthermore, for the solvent, it can be said that the determination by the first discrimination processing unit 195 is complemented by identification based on the shape model.

[0433] [Outline of the Printer Device] Next, the printer device 13 will be described. The printer device 13 functions as a printer that prints information about an injection drug contained in a carrier tray 151a (tray) or a small tray 151b (tray) that carries the injection drug (medicine). In the above, the printer device 13 has been described as having at least one of a function of printing information indicating the type of injection drug on the carrier tray 151a and a function of issuing (dispensing) an infusion label (label) on which content information indicating the content of an infusion container is printed. In the following, a configuration in which the printer device 13 has a function of dispensing a contained item print sheet (prescription (e.g., injection prescription)) on which contained item information is printed, and a function of dispensing a non-contained item print sheet (e.g., missing item prescription) on which non-contained item information is printed, in addition to these two functions, will be described. In other words, in the following, a configuration in which the printer device 13 has the above four functions (a printer device 13 in which four devices each having the above four functions are provided in one housing) will be described.

[0434] Providing the above four devices in one housing can save space in the injection drug dispensing system 1. As described later, in addition to the above four devices, a transport mechanism for transporting the infusion label and the content print sheet can be provided, thereby making it possible to efficiently process the printer device 13.

[0435] Fig. 37 is a perspective view showing an example of the printer device 13. Fig. 38 is a block diagram showing an example of the printer device 13.

[0436] Specifically, as shown in Figures 37 and 38, the printer device 13 includes a transport tray printing device 300 (tray writing unit), an infusion label dispensing device 400 (label dispensing unit, infusion label dispensing unit), an injection prescription dispensing device 500 (first sheet dispensing unit), and a missing item prescription dispensing device 600 (second sheet dispensing unit). The printer device 13 also includes an infusion label transport mechanism 700 (label transport unit), an injection prescription transport mechanism 800, and a tray transport mechanism 900. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 38, the printer device 13 includes a control unit 1000 that controls each of these devices or mechanisms.

[0437] Before describing the specific configuration of each device and mechanism, the flow of operations in the printer device 13 will be described below. In the following description, the contained item print sheet is an injection prescription, and the non-contained item print sheet is a missing item prescription.

[0438] [Operation in the Printer Device] The flow of operations in the printer device 13 will be described. Fig. 39 is a diagram for explaining the flow of operations in the printer device 13. Specifically, Fig. 39 is a plan view showing an example of the bottom of the printer device 13 for explaining the order in which the carrier tray 151a is carried.

[0439] In the printer device 13, the transport tray 151a transported from the injection drug dispensing device 100 provided in the previous stage is transported to the discharge lifter 14 provided in the subsequent stage by the tray transport mechanism 900. The tray transport mechanism 900 first moves the transport tray 151a transported from the injection drug dispensing device 100 to the first position P101 to the second position P102. In other words, the first position P101 is a tray receiving position that receives the transport tray 151a from the injection drug dispensing device 100.

[0440] The transport tray printer 300 writes destination information on the transport tray 151a arranged at the second position P102 based on the prescription data. Examples of the destination information include the patient's name and the hospital ward name. The destination information may include information indicating the type of injection drug. The infusion label transport mechanism 700 transports the infusion label dispensed by the infusion label dispenser 400 based on the prescription data to the transport tray 151a arranged at the second position P102 and places it thereon. In other words, the second position P102 is the position where the destination information is written on the transport tray 151a and where the infusion label is placed on the transport tray 151a.

[0441] Above the second position P102, two infusion label dispensers 400a and 400b are disposed, and a through-hole 400h is formed between them (see FIG. 42). Specifically, the through-hole 400h is provided at a position facing at least a part of the second position P102. The infusion labels dispensed from the two infusion label dispensers 400a and 400b are placed on the conveyor tray 151a by the infusion label conveyor mechanism 700 through the through-hole 400h.

[0442] In this embodiment, since the printing of the destination information and the placement of the transportation label are performed at a single location, the second position P102, these processes can be performed efficiently, thereby improving the processing speed of the printer device 13.

[0443] In this embodiment, the transport tray 151a is moved from the first position P101 to the second position P102, but if possible in terms of the design of the injection drug dispensing system 1, the second position P102 may function as the first position P101 (tray receiving position). For example, the printer device 13 may receive the transport tray 151a transported from the injection drug dispensing device 100 from the front side of the printer device 13 and move the transport tray 151a to the second position P102. In this configuration, in the injection drug dispensing system 1 that dispenses printed matter such as an infusion label and an injection prescription after dispensing an injection drug, the maintenance of the injection drug dispensing device 100 can be easily performed and the discharge lifter 14 can be made smaller. In addition, in this configuration, in the injection drug dispensing system 1, the transport tray printing device 300 can efficiently print on the side of the transport tray 151a.

[0444] When printing of the destination information and placement of the transport label at the second position P102 are completed, the tray transport mechanism 900 moves the transport tray 151a to the third position P103. The injection prescription transport mechanism 800 transports the injection prescription dispensed by the injection prescription dispensing device 500 based on the prescription data to the transport tray 151a arranged at the third position P103 and places it there.

[0445] In addition, above the third position P103, a missing-medicine dispenser 600 is disposed. When an injection drug that should be contained in the transport tray 151a is not contained therein, the missing-medicine dispenser 600 dispenses a missing-medicine note on which missing-medicine information indicating the injection drug is printed, to the transport tray 151a.

[0446] When the placement of the injection prescription, or the placement of the missing prescription in some cases, is completed at the third position P103, the tray transport mechanism 900 transports the transport tray 151a to the discharge lifter 14.

[0447] In this way, the printer device 13 of this example dispenses, onto the transport tray 151a, an infusion label corresponding to the infusion container placed (or placed) on the transport tray 151a, and an injection prescription corresponding to the injection drug placed on the transport tray 151a. The printer device 13 also writes, onto the transport tray 151a, the patient name, etc. of the patient corresponding to the injection drug, etc. placed on the transport tray 151a. The printer device 13 also dispenses missing prescriptions onto the transport tray 151a as the case may be.

[0448] In the above example, the injection prescription is placed on the top surface of the transport tray 151a. The injection prescription is placed after the destination information is printed and after the infusion label is placed. Placing the injection prescription on the top surface improves the convenience of the user who visually inspects the injection drug, etc. However, if this point is not taken into consideration, the printing and placement order is not limited to the above example. In other words, the printing of the destination information and the order of dispensing (the position of printing or dispensing) the infusion label and injection prescription (or missing prescription in some cases) are not limited to the above order.

[0449] Here, the control unit 1000 receives, for example, prescription data related to administration to one patient for which dispensing of the injection drug has been completed by the injection drug dispensing device 100 from a control device (not shown) that comprehensively controls the entire injection drug dispensing system 1. When receiving the prescription data related to administration to the one patient, the control unit 1000 also receives the transport tray 151a from which the injection drug has been dispensed, from the injection drug dispensing device 100.

[0450] For example, when the injection drug dispensing device 100 completes dispensing of the injection drug indicated in the prescription data for administration to one patient, it transmits dispensing completion information indicating the completion of the dispensing to the control device. Also, when the injection drug indicated in the prescription data for administration to the one patient is out of stock, for example, the injection drug dispensing device 100 links the out-of-stock information indicating the out-of-stock injection drug to the dispensing completion information and transmits it to the control device. By confirming this dispensing completion information, the control device transmits the prescription data (and in some cases, out-of-stock information) for administration to the one patient for which dispensing has been completed to the printer device 13. Also, by this confirmation, the control device instructs the injection drug dispensing device 100 to transport the transport tray 151a on which the injection drug indicated in the prescription data for administration to the one patient is placed to the printer device 13.

[0451] This allows the control unit 1000 to print destination information based on prescription data related to administration to one patient on the transport tray 151a without misidentifying the transport tray 151a to be printed. Also, the control unit 1000 can dispense an infusion label and an injection prescription (or a missing part prescription in some cases) based on prescription data related to administration to one patient onto the transport tray 151a to be dispensed without misidentifying the transport tray 151a to be dispensed.

[0452] The control unit 1000 may directly receive prescription data for administration to one patient for which dispensing has been completed, as dispensing completion information, from the injection drug dispensing device 100. In this case, the injection drug dispensing device 100 transports the transport tray 151a to the printer device 13 when transmitting the dispensing completion information.

[0453] [Tray transport mechanism] As shown in Fig. 39, the tray transport mechanism 900 transports the transport tray 151a transported from the injection drug dispensing device 100 to the first position P101 to the discharge lifter 14 via the second position P102 and the third position P103 based on the control of the control unit 1000. The tray transport mechanism 900 is provided at the bottom of the printer device 13 in order to transport the transport tray 151a. In this embodiment, the tray transport mechanism 900 has a first moving mechanism that moves the transport tray 151a between the first position P101 and the second position P102, and a second moving mechanism that moves the transport tray 151a between the first position P101 and the third position P103.

[0454] The control unit 1000 controls the tray transport mechanism 900 to move the transport tray 151a, which was transported to the first position P101 when prescription data for administration to one patient was received, from the first position P101 to the second position P102.

[0455] When the control unit 1000 determines that the infusion label dispensed by the infusion label dispenser 400 has been transported to the transport tray 151a, it controls the tray transport mechanism 900 to transport the transport tray 151a to the third position P103. The control unit 1000 may determine that the transport is completed, for example, when the infusion label transport mechanism 700 places the infusion label on the transport tray 151a and then returns the infusion label gripper 701 to a standby position (described later).

[0456] Thereafter, when the control unit 1000 determines that the transport of the injection prescription dispensed by the injection prescription dispensing device 500 to the transport tray 151a is completed, it controls the tray transport mechanism 900 to transport the transport tray 151a to the discharge lifter 14. For example, the control unit 1000 may determine that the transport is completed when the injection prescription transport mechanism 800 places the injection prescription on the transport tray 151a and then returns the injection prescription gripper 801 to a standby position (described later).

[0457] In the above-mentioned configuration in which the conveyance tray 151a is received from the front of the printer device 13, the control unit 1000 moves the conveyance tray 151a to the third position P103 via the first position P101 after completing printing of destination information and storage of the infusion label on the conveyance tray 151a received at the second position P102. That is, in this case, the tray conveyance mechanism 900 conveys the conveyance tray 151a conveyed from the injection drug dispensing device 100 to the second position P102 to the discharge lifter 14 via the first position P101 and the third position P103 under the control of the control unit 1000.

[0458] [Transport tray printing device] Next, a description will be given of the carrier tray printing device 300. Figure 40 is a front view showing an example of the carrier tray printing device 300.

[0459] The transport tray printing device 300 prints destination information (e.g., patient name and ward name) indicating the destination of the transport tray 151a at a predetermined position on the transport tray 151a. When the control unit 1000 recognizes that the transport tray 151a has been placed at the second position P102, it controls the transport tray printing device 300 to print, on the transport tray 151a, the destination information included in the received prescription data related to administration to one patient or linked to the prescription data. The transport tray printing device 300 prints the destination information approximately near the center of one side of the transport tray 151a transported before the transport tray printing device 300.

[0460] For example, a plurality of sensors (not shown) may be provided on the path of the transport tray 151a, so that the control unit 1000 may recognize whether the transport tray 151a is placed at the first position P101, the second position P102, or the third position P103 based on the output of each sensor.

[0461] The transport tray printing device 300 is a device capable of printing destination information on the transport tray 151a in a non-contact manner. In this embodiment, the transport tray printing device 300 is a laser marker that prints information on an object by emitting a laser Ls.

[0462] However, the transport tray printing device 300 is not limited to a laser marker, and may be any transport tray writing device capable of writing destination information on the transport tray 151a. For example, the transport tray writing device includes a transmitting unit for transmitting the destination information, and the transport tray 151a is provided with an electronic card (or electronic paper) and a receiving unit for receiving the destination information. This allows the destination information transmitted by the transport tray writing device to be displayed on the electronic card. Also, a magnetic card may be removably provided on the transport tray 151a, and the transport tray writing device may be a device capable of writing the destination information on the magnetic card. Furthermore, the transport tray writing device may write the destination information on the transport tray 151a using heat.

[0463] For example, if a magnetic card is used, the destination information is written on the magnetic card after it is removed. In this case, when the magnetic card is removed from the carrier tray 151a, the magnetic card may get caught on a part of the carrier tray 151a. In addition, if an electronic card is used, such a problem does not occur, but the cost is relatively high.

[0464] By using a laser marker as the transfer tray printing device 300, the transfer destination information can be printed on the transfer tray 151a inexpensively and without the trouble of using magnetic cards.

[0465] [Infusion label dispenser and infusion label transport mechanism] Next, an infusion label dispensing device 400 and an infusion label transport mechanism 700 will be described. Fig. 41 (a) is a perspective view showing an example of the infusion label dispensing device 400 and the infusion label transport mechanism 700, and (b) and (c) are perspective views showing an example of the infusion label receiving section 403 provided in the infusion label dispensing device 400. Fig. 42 is a plan view showing an example of the infusion label dispensing device 400.

[0466] The infusion label dispenser 400 dispenses infusion labels to be affixed to infusion containers. The infusion label transport mechanism 700 holds the infusion labels dispensed by the infusion label dispenser 400 and transports them to the transport tray 151a. The infusion label dispenser 400 and the infusion label transport mechanism 700 function as a label dispenser that dispenses infusion labels to the transport tray 151a.

[0467] <Details of the infusion label dispenser> As shown in Fig. 41(a) and Fig. 42, in this embodiment, two infusion label dispensing devices 400a and 400b are provided as the infusion label dispensing device 400. As shown in Fig. 42, the two infusion label dispensing devices 400a and 400b are arranged on a pedestal 450 provided above the second position P102. As described above, a through hole 400h is formed in the pedestal 450 at a position facing the second position P102 (a position facing the transport tray 151a transported to the second position P102).

[0468] As shown in (a) of Fig. 41, the infusion label dispensing device 400 includes a print sheet storage unit 401, a first main body unit 402, an infusion label receiving unit 403, and a receiving unit rotating mechanism 404. The print sheet storage unit 401 stores a print sheet on which content information is to be printed. The first main body unit 402 issues an infusion label by printing content information indicated in received prescription data related to administration to one patient on the print sheet stored in the print sheet storage unit 401.

[0469] The infusion label receiving section 403 receives the infusion label issued by the first main body section 402 and temporarily stores it therein. As shown in FIG. 41(b), a space for storing the infusion label is formed in the infusion label receiving section 403 by a side wall 403c erected from a bottom section 403b. The side wall 403c also forms an opening 403a for receiving the infusion label from the first main body section 402 and for the infusion label gripping section 701 of the infusion label transport mechanism 700 to extract the infusion label. The side wall 403c also forms a gap section 403d for enabling the opening and closing operation of a pair of claws 702 provided on the infusion label gripping section 701.

[0470] As shown in (b) of Fig. 43, the pair of claws 702 open when gripping an infusion label stored in the infusion label receiving section 403. In this embodiment, as shown in (b) of Fig. 41, the side wall 403c has a shape having a gap 403d in the center. Therefore, when gripping an infusion label, the pair of claws 702 can perform an opening and closing operation via the gap 403d without colliding with the side wall 403c.

[0471] On the other hand, if the gap 403d is not formed, it is necessary to form a space inside the infusion label receiving part 403 that allows the pair of claws 702 to open when gripping the infusion label. In this case, the thickness W10 needs to be thick enough to form the space. However, since the infusion label is thin and the number of infusion labels accommodated at one time is only a few (e.g., about 1 to 5), it is not necessary to make the thickness W10 so thick. As described above, the side wall 403c has the gap 403d, so that the infusion label receiving part 403 can be made relatively small. If this point is not taken into consideration, the infusion label receiving part 403 does not need to have the gap 403d.

[0472] The infusion label receiving part 403 is provided so that the orientation of the opening 403a can be changed. Specifically, the infusion label receiving part 403 is fixed in a state in which the opening 403a faces the first main body part 402 at the label receiving position (the state of (a) in FIG. 43). The label receiving position is the position of the infusion label receiving part 403 when the infusion label receiving part 403 receives the infusion label issued from the first main body part 402. On the other hand, the infusion label receiving part 403 is fixed in a state in which the opening 403a faces the infusion label holding part 701 (Z-axis direction; upward) at the label gripping position (the state of (b) and (c) in FIG. 43). The label gripping position is the position of the infusion label receiving part 403 when the infusion label holding part 701 holds the infusion label stored in the infusion label receiving part 403.

[0473] As shown in FIG. 41(c), an attachment 403e may be attached to the infusion label receiving portion 403. The attachment 403e adjusts the height of the bottom of the infusion label receiving portion 403 and is fitted into the infusion label receiving portion 403 through the opening 403a. If the attachment 403e is not attached, when a relatively small infusion label is stored in the infusion label receiving portion 403, the infusion label holding portion 701 may not be able to hold the infusion label. By attaching the attachment 403e to the infusion label receiving portion 403, the bottom of the infusion label receiving portion 403 can be raised. Therefore, even if the infusion label is dispensed, the infusion label holding portion 701 can hold the infusion label.

[0474] The receiving part rotating mechanism 404 includes an axis extending in the Y-axis direction and a drive mechanism for rotating the axis. The infusion label receiving part 403 (e.g., side wall 403c) is attached to the axis. The receiving part rotating mechanism 404 rotates the infusion label receiving part 403 around the axis by rotating the axis using the drive mechanism. This allows the infusion label receiving part 403 to move between the label receiving position and the label gripping position so that the orientation of the opening 403a at each of the label receiving position and the label gripping position is as described above.

[0475] 43(a), at the label receiving position, the opening 403a of the infusion label receiving part 403 and the label dispensing outlet 402a (or its vicinity) of the first main body part 402 from which the infusion label is dispensed are positioned to face each other. That is, the infusion label receiving part 403 and the receiving part rotating mechanism 404 are disposed so as to have the above positional relationship at the label receiving position. In other words, the infusion label receiving part 403 is a member that can be positioned to face the label dispensing outlet 402a (or its vicinity) by rotating.

[0476] Further, a label counting unit (not shown) for counting the infusion labels (infusion labels dispensed by the first main body unit 402) contained in the infusion label receiving unit 403 may be provided near the infusion label receiving unit 403 or at the label dispensing outlet 402a of the first main body unit 402. Upon receiving a notification from the label counting unit (e.g., a sensor), the control unit 1000 can determine whether a specified number of infusion labels have been dispensed.

[0477] <Details of the infusion label transport mechanism> Next, a description will be given of the infusion label transport mechanism 700. (a) and (b) of Figure 49 are perspective views showing an example of the infusion label gripper 701.

[0478] As shown in (a) of Figure 41, in this embodiment, the infusion label transport mechanism 700 includes infusion label holding portions 701a, 701b (collectively referred to as infusion label holding portions 701), a first support portion 711, a second support portion 712, and a third support portion 713.

[0479] The infusion label gripping section 701 grips (holds) the infusion label dispensed to the infusion label receiving section 403. The infusion label gripping section 701 also releases the infusion label on the transport tray 151a in order to place the gripped infusion label on the transport tray 151a. To achieve this gripping and releasing action, the infusion label gripping sections 701a and 701b are provided at their tips with a pair of claws 702a and 702b, respectively, that can perform opening and closing actions (see also (a) and (b) of FIG. 49). The pair of claws 702a and 702b are also collectively referred to as a pair of claws 702.

[0480] As shown in (a) and (b) of Figures 49, the infusion label gripping portion 701 is provided with a fixing device 703, a gripping portion driving mechanism 704 that opens and closes a pair of claw portions 702, and a support pillar 705 that is supported by the gripping portion driving mechanism 704 and supports the fixing device 703.

[0481] The fixture 703 is fixed to the gripper drive mechanism 704 via a support 705. The fixture 703 is provided facing the surface of one of the pair of claws 702 (referred to as one claw 7021 here) opposite the side that grips the infusion label. In addition, since the fixture 703 is supported by the support 705, even if the gripper drive mechanism 704 executes the opening and closing operation of the pair of claws 702, the fixture 703 does not move together with the pair of claws 702 in association with the opening and closing operation.

[0482] The fixture 703 is provided with a rod-shaped member 703a extending toward one of the claws 7021. The one of the claws 7021 is provided with an opening 7021a through which the rod-shaped member 703a can pass. When the pair of claws 702 are closed, the rod-shaped member 703a is located at a position where it does not pass through the opening 7021a (a position where the entire rod-shaped member 703a faces the surface on the opposite side). On the other hand, when the pair of claws 702 are open, the rod-shaped member 703a is located at a position where its tip protrudes from the opening 7021a toward the inside of the pair of claws 702, as shown in (a) and (b) of FIG.

[0483] As a result, even if the infusion label held by the pair of claws 702 is attached to one of the claws 7021 due to static electricity or the like when the pair of claws 702 are opened, the rod-shaped member 703a protruding from the opening 7021a can physically peel the infusion label from one of the claws 7021. Therefore, by providing the fixing device 703, the infusion label held by the pair of claws 702 can be reliably released when the pair of claws 702 are opened. In other words, the fixing device 703 functions as a label peeling unit that peels off the infusion label attached to the pair of claws 702.

[0484] The fastener 703 may be provided on the other claw portion 7022. In other words, the fastener 703 may be provided on one claw portion 7021 and / or the other claw portion 7022.

[0485] The infusion label gripping part 701 is attached to the third support part 713 so as to be movable in the Z-axis direction. In other words, the third support part 713 is a moving mechanism that supports the infusion label gripping part 701 and moves the infusion label gripping part 701 in the Z-axis direction.

[0486] The third support section 713 moves the infusion label gripping section 701 between the standby position and the infusion label receiving section 403 at the label gripping position. The third support section 713 also moves the infusion label gripping section 701 between a position above the transport tray 151a (a position at the same height as the standby position) and a position near the transport tray 151a (label release position). The standby position is above the infusion label receiving section 403 and is a position where the infusion label gripping section 701 waits to grip the infusion label stored in the infusion label receiving section 403.

[0487] The first support part 711 is a moving mechanism that supports the infusion label gripping part 701 and moves the infusion label gripping part 701 in the Y-axis direction. Specifically, the third support part 713 to which the infusion label gripping part 701 is attached is attached to the first support part 711 so as to be movable in the Y-axis direction. This allows the infusion label gripping part 701 to move between a standby position and near the center of the first support part 711.

[0488] The second support part 712 is a moving mechanism that supports the infusion label gripping part 701 and moves the infusion label gripping part 701 in the X-axis direction. Specifically, the first support part 711 to which the third support part 713 is attached is attached to the second support part 712 so as to be movable in the X-axis direction. This allows the infusion label gripping part 701 to move between the vicinity of the center of the first support part 711 and a position above the transport tray 151a.

[0489] <Operation of the infusion label dispenser and the infusion label transport mechanism> Next, a description will be given of the gripping and transporting operations of the infusion label by the infusion label transport mechanism 700. (a) to (d) of Fig. 43 are diagrams for explaining an example of the gripping operation of the infusion label La by the infusion label transport mechanism 700. (a) to (d) of Fig. 44 are diagrams for explaining an example of the transporting operation of the infusion label La by the infusion label transport mechanism 700.

[0490] As shown in (a) of Fig. 43, in the infusion label dispensing device 400, when the first main body 402 dispenses the infusion label La based on the control of the control unit 1000, the infusion label La is stored in the infusion label receiving unit 403. When the control unit 1000 determines that a specified number of infusion labels La have been stored, it rotates the infusion label receiving unit 403 so that the opening 403a of the infusion label receiving unit 403 in which the infusion label La is stored faces the infusion label holding unit 701, as shown in (b) of Fig. 43. In this state, the control unit 1000 moves the infusion label holding unit 701 from the standby position to the infusion label receiving unit 403.

[0491] As shown in (b) of Fig. 43, the control unit 1000 opens the pair of claws 702 at the label gripping position, and then closes the pair of claws 702 as shown in (c) of Fig. 43 to grip the infusion label La stored in the infusion label receiving unit 403. As shown in (d) of Fig. 43, the control unit 1000 pulls up the infusion label gripping unit 701 to the standby position while gripping the infusion label La. At this time, the control unit 1000 rotates the infusion label receiving unit 403 so that the opening 403a faces the original direction (towards the first main body unit 402) after the infusion label La is removed.

[0492] By providing a sensor (not shown) inside the infusion label receiving section 403, the control section 1000 can determine whether or not an infusion label La is present therein. Also, by providing a sensor, for example, in the pair of claws 702 (not shown), the control section 1000 can determine whether or not the pair of claws 702 are gripping the infusion label La.

[0493] The control unit 1000 may start the gripping operation by the infusion label gripping unit 701 when it receives a notification from a sensor provided in the infusion label receiving unit 403 and a label counting unit provided in the label dispensing outlet 402a. Specifically, the control unit 1000 may start the gripping operation when it recognizes that a specified number of infusion labels La have been dispensed from the first main body unit 402 and that the infusion labels La are present in the infusion label receiving unit 403. At this time, the control unit 1000 rotates the infusion label receiving unit 403 so that the opening 403a faces the infusion label gripping unit 701. In this configuration, the gripping operation can be started earlier than when the gripping operation is performed upon receiving a notification from the infusion label dispensing device 400 indicating that the dispensing of the infusion labels La has been completed.

[0494] FIG. 44(a) shows a state in which the infusion label gripping part 701 grips the infusion label La at the standby position. From this state, as shown in FIG. 44(b), the control part 1000 moves the infusion label gripping part 701, which has moved to each standby position, to the vicinity of the center of the first support part 711. After moving the infusion label gripping part 701 to the vicinity of the center, the control part 1000 moves the first support part 711 to above the through-hole 400h (i.e., the second position P102 where the carrier tray 151a is placed). Specifically, the control part 1000 moves the infusion label La gripped by the infusion label gripping part 701 to above the position (infusion label placement area) in the carrier tray 151a where the infusion label La should be placed.

[0495] Then, as shown in (d) of Figure 44, the control unit 1000 lowers the infusion label holding portion 701 holding the infusion label La and places the infusion label La on the transport tray 151a by opening the pair of claw portions 702 at the label release position.

[0496] Next, the placement position of the infusion label La on the transport tray 151a will be described. (a) and (b) of FIG. 45 are diagrams for explaining the placement position of the infusion label La on the transport tray 151a. As described above, it is assumed that four small trays 151b are accommodated inside the transport tray 151a. It is also assumed that each small tray 151b is provided with an infusion label placement area 151r, which is an area where the injection drug is not dispensed and where the infusion label La is dispensed. It is also assumed that the content information indicated in the received prescription data related to administration to one patient includes four pieces of information on a morning administration, a midday administration, an evening administration, and an administration before bedtime.

[0497] Here, in FIG. 45, for convenience of explanation, the four small trays 151b are referred to as small trays 151b1, 151b2, 151b3, and 151b4 in the order from the conveying direction of the conveying tray 151a. Also, it is assumed that injection drugs for morning administration, midday administration, evening administration, and before bedtime administration are dispensed to the small trays 151b1, 151b2, 151b3, and 151b4, respectively. Note that the received prescription data for administration to one patient is linked with information indicating the arrangement position of the injection drug on the conveying tray 151a. Therefore, the control unit 1000 can realize the above-mentioned dispensing (dispensing of the injection drug to a predetermined position) to the small trays 151b1, 151b2, 151b3, and 151b4 by analyzing the prescription data.

[0498] The control unit 1000 specifies which of the infusion label dispensers 400a and 400b will print and dispense the infusion label La for the content information indicated in the received prescription data for administration to one patient. For example, the control unit 1000 causes the infusion label dispenser 400a to dispense the infusion label La for morning administration and evening administration, and causes the infusion label dispenser 400b to dispense the infusion label La for midday administration and before bedtime administration. In other words, the infusion label La dispensed from the infusion label dispenser 400a is dispensed to the small tray 151b1 (the first compartment of the transport tray 151a) and the small tray 151b3 (the third compartment). The infusion label La dispensed from the infusion label dispenser 400b is dispensed to the small tray 151b2 (the second compartment) and the small tray 151b4 (the fourth compartment).

[0499] In addition, the control unit 1000 causes the infusion label dispenser 400a to dispense the infusion label La for the morning administration to the small tray 151b1 during the first dispensing, and causes the infusion label dispenser 400b to dispense the infusion label La for the daytime administration to the small tray 151b2. As shown in FIG. 45(a), in the first dispensing, the infusion label La for the morning administration dispensed from the infusion label dispenser 400a is dispensed by the infusion label holder 701a to the infusion label placement area 151r of the small tray 151b1. In addition, the infusion label La for the daytime administration dispensed from the infusion label dispenser 400b is dispensed by the infusion label holder 701b to the infusion label placement area 151r of the small tray 151b2.

[0500] In addition, at the second dispensing, the control unit 1000 causes the infusion label dispensing device 400a to dispense the infusion label La for the evening administration to the small tray 151b3, and causes the infusion label dispensing device 400b to dispense the infusion label La for the before-bedtime administration to the small tray 151b4. As shown in FIG. 45(b), at the second dispensing, the infusion label La for the evening administration dispensed from the infusion label dispensing device 400a is dispensed by the infusion label gripper 701b to the infusion label placement area 151r of the small tray 151b3. In addition, the infusion label La for the before-bedtime administration dispensed from the infusion label dispensing device 400b is dispensed by the infusion label gripper 701b to the infusion label placement area 151r of the small tray 151b4.

[0501] The above-mentioned method of dispensing the infusion label La is merely an example, and the infusion labels La may be dispensed in any order. For example, the infusion label dispenser 400a may dispense the infusion labels La for the daytime administration and the administration before bedtime, and the infusion label dispenser 400b may dispense the infusion labels La for the morning administration and the evening administration. The first and second dispensing may also be reversed.

[0502] Thus, in this embodiment, each of the multiple infusion label dispensing devices 400 is provided with an infusion label gripping part 701, and a first support part 711 and a third support part 713 for transporting the infusion label gripping part 701. Also, a second support part 712 for transporting the infusion label gripping part 701 is provided. Therefore, as described above, in one dispensing, the multiple infusion label dispensing devices 400 can be operated in parallel, and the infusion label La dispensed from each infusion label dispensing device 400 can be transported to a predetermined position (section) of the transport tray 151a. In other words, the multiple infusion labels La can be efficiently dispensed.

[0503] The printer device 13 also includes a plurality of infusion label dispensers 400. Therefore, even if any of the infusion label dispensers 400 is unable to dispense the infusion label La (the infusion label dispenser 400 has a failure), the remaining infusion label dispensers 400 can dispense the infusion label La dispensed by the infusion label dispenser 400. For example, even if the infusion label dispenser 400a breaks down or runs out of printing sheets and is unable to dispense the infusion label La, the infusion label dispenser 400b can dispense the infusion label La dispensed by the infusion label dispenser 400a. In this case, the control unit 1000 prints each piece of information (e.g., the above four doses) included in the content information indicated in the received prescription data for administration to one patient on the printing sheet in order, thereby dispensing the infusion label La related to each piece of information from the infusion label dispenser 400b.

[0504] If the efficiency of the above-mentioned processing or alternative processing in the event of a failure is not taken into consideration, the number of infusion label dispensing devices 400 may be one. Also, the number of infusion label dispensing devices 400 may be three or more. In this case, however, an infusion label gripper 701 or the like is provided for each infusion label dispensing device 400.

[0505] In the infusion label transport mechanism 700, the infusion label gripper 701 grips the infusion label La and moves the infusion label gripper 701 along the first support part 711, the second support part 712, and the third support part 713. Therefore, the infusion label La can be placed accurately at a predetermined position on the transport tray 151a (for example, the infusion label placement area 151r of each small tray 151b).

[0506] [Injection prescription dispensing device and injection prescription transport mechanism] Next, a description will be given of the injection prescription dispensing device 500. Fig. 46 is a diagram showing an example of the injection prescription dispensing device 500, (a) is a front view showing an example of the injection prescription dispensing device 500, (b) and (c) are perspective views showing an example of the injection prescription receiving unit 512.

[0507] <Details of the injection prescription dispenser> The injection prescription dispensing device 500 dispenses injection prescriptions on which information on the contents indicating the injection medicine contained in the transport tray 151a is printed. As shown in (a) of FIG. 46, the injection prescription dispensing device 500 includes a second main body section 511 and an injection prescription receiving section 512.

[0508] The second main body unit 511 issues an injection prescription by printing content information indicating the injection drug indicated in the received prescription data related to administration to one patient on a stored paper. When out-of-stock information is received, the injection drug indicated in the out-of-stock information has not been dispensed from the injection drug dispensing device 100 to the transport tray 151a. Therefore, the second main body unit 511 may print information on the injection drugs indicated in the prescription data, excluding the injection drug indicated in the out-of-stock information, as content information on a paper. The second main body unit 511 also has an injection prescription dispensing outlet 511a for dispensing the injection prescription to the injection prescription receiving unit 512.

[0509] The injection prescription receiving unit 512 is a place where the injection prescription issued by the second main body unit 511 is received and the injection prescription is temporarily placed. As shown in (b) of Figure 46, the injection prescription receiving unit 512 has a raised portion 512a and a cutout portion 512b.

[0510] The raised portion 512a is for receiving the injection prescription issued by the second main body portion 511 in a state of being lifted from the bottom portion (receiving plate) of the injection prescription receiving portion 512. As shown in (b) of FIG. 46, the raised portion 512a is a plurality of plate-like members having a convex cross-sectional shape (curved shape).

[0511] The height of the plate-shaped member on the injection prescription dispensing opening 511a side is low enough that the injection prescription dispensed from the injection prescription dispensing opening 511a does not collide with the plate-shaped member. Also, the height of the plate-shaped member is maximum on the injection prescription dispensing opening 511a side rather than near the center of the raised portion 512a.

[0512] The position where the height is maximum is the position (or a position close to the position) where the injection prescription gripping part 801 of the injection prescription transport mechanism 800 grips the injection prescription from the cutout part 512b side. Therefore, by providing a plate-like member having the above-mentioned shape as the raised part 512a, it becomes easy to grip the injection prescription gripping part 801. The injection prescription is placed on the raised part 512a as shown in (c) of FIG.

[0513] The raised portion 512a may have any shape as long as it lifts up the injection prescription so as to facilitate gripping of the injection prescription by the injection prescription gripping portion 801. For example, the raised portion 512a does not need to be composed of a plurality of plate-like members, and may be a single member having the same cross-sectional shape as the plate-like members.

[0514] The cutout portion 512b is provided at a position where the injection prescription holding portion 801 approaches. This allows the injection prescription holding portion 801 to hold the injection prescription without coming into contact (colliding) with the injection prescription receiving portion 512 when approaching the injection prescription receiving portion 512.

[0515] In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 37, two injection prescription dispensing devices 500 are provided. The control unit 1000 causes one of the injection prescription dispensing devices 500 to dispense an injection prescription indicating an injection drug indicated in a part of the received prescription data related to administration to one patient (e.g., injection drugs dispensed to small trays 151b1 and 151b2). The control unit 1000 also causes the other injection prescription dispensing device 500 to dispense an injection prescription indicating an injection drug indicated in the remainder of the prescription data (e.g., injection drugs dispensed to small trays 151b3 and 151b4). The number of injection prescription dispensing devices 500 is not limited to two, and may be one or three or more.

[0516] <Details of the injection prescription dispensing and transporting mechanism> Next, a description will be given of the injection prescription transport mechanism 800. (a) and (b) of Figure 47 are perspective views showing an example of the injection prescription transport mechanism 800.

[0517] As shown in (a) of FIG. 47, the injection prescription transport mechanism 800 includes an injection prescription gripping unit 801, a gripping unit rotating mechanism 803, a fourth support unit 811, and a fifth support unit 812.

[0518] The injection prescription gripping unit 801 grips (holds) the injection prescription dispensed to the injection prescription receiving unit 512. In addition, the injection prescription gripping unit 801 releases the injection prescription on the carrier tray 151a in order to place the gripped injection prescription on the carrier tray 151a. The injection prescription gripping unit 801 includes a pair of claws 802 that can perform opening and closing operations in order to realize the gripping and releasing operations.

[0519] The injection prescription gripping part 801 is provided so that the orientation of the pair of claw parts 802 can be changed. For this reason, the injection prescription gripping part 801 is attached to a gripping part rotating mechanism 803. Specifically, the gripping part rotating mechanism 803 includes an axis part extending in the X-axis direction and a drive mechanism for rotating the axis part, and the injection prescription gripping part 801 is attached to the axis part. As a result, the gripping part rotating mechanism 803 rotates the axis part by the drive mechanism, thereby rotating the pair of claw parts 802 around the axis part.

[0520] 47(a), the injection prescription gripping part 801 is in a state in which the pair of claw parts 802 faces the injection prescription receiving part 512 of the injection prescription dispensing device 500 (facing the +Y-axis direction). The injection prescription gripping position P201 is the position of the injection prescription gripping part 801 when the injection prescription gripping part 801 grips an injection prescription placed on the injection prescription receiving part 512. The injection prescription lifting position P202 is the position of the injection prescription gripping part 801 when the fifth support part 812 moves (lifts) the injection prescription gripping part 801 in the Z-axis direction.

[0521] For example, FIG. 47(b) shows a state in which the injection prescription gripping part 801 is rotated from this state so that the pair of claw parts 802 face diagonally downward. The rotation of the injection prescription gripping part 801 to this state is performed, for example, at the injection prescription lifting position P202. In addition, as shown in FIG. 48(d), at the injection prescription dispensing position, the injection prescription gripping part 801 is rotated so that the pair of claw parts 802 face the transport tray 151a placed at the third position P103 (so that they face the -Z axis direction). The injection prescription dispensing position is the position of the injection prescription gripping part 801 when the injection prescription gripping part 801 releases the injection prescription it is holding and places it on the transport tray 151a.

[0522] In this manner, the gripper rotation mechanism 803 rotates the injection prescription gripper 801 so as to change the orientation of the pair of claws 802 between the +Y-axis direction and the -Z-axis direction.

[0523] The fourth support unit 811 supports the injection prescription holding unit 801 via the holding unit rotating mechanism 803. The fourth support unit 811 is a moving mechanism that moves the injection prescription holding unit 801 in the Y-axis direction. When holding an injection prescription placed on the injection prescription receiving unit 512, the fourth support unit 811 moves the injection prescription holding unit 801 and the holding unit rotating mechanism 803 to an injection prescription holding position P201. On the other hand, when lowering the injection prescription holding unit 801 holding the injection prescription to the vicinity of the transport tray 151a, the fourth support unit 811 moves the injection prescription holding unit 801 and the holding unit rotating mechanism 803 to an injection prescription lifting position P202.

[0524] The injection prescription gripping part 801 includes a pair of claw parts 802, as well as an opening / closing mechanism for opening and closing the pair of claw parts 802. The gripping part rotating mechanism 803 includes a drive mechanism for rotating the injection prescription gripping part 801. Therefore, the members including the injection prescription gripping part 801 and the gripping part rotating mechanism 803 attached to the fourth support part 811 have a certain degree of size. Therefore, when the injection prescription gripping part 801 and the gripping part rotating mechanism 803 are lowered from the injection prescription gripping position P201 directly to the conveyance tray 151a side, there is a possibility that the injection prescription gripping part 801 or the gripping part rotating mechanism 803 may come into contact (collide) with the injection prescription receiving part 512.

[0525] When the injection prescription holding unit 801 and the holding unit rotating mechanism 803 are raised and lowered, contact between the injection prescription holding unit 801 or the holding unit rotating mechanism 803 and the injection prescription receiving unit 512 can be avoided by moving them from the injection prescription holding position P201 to the injection prescription raising and lowering position P202.

[0526] The fifth support section 812 supports the fourth support section 811 which supports the injection prescription gripping section 801. The fifth support section 812 is a moving mechanism which moves the fourth support section 811 (i.e., the injection prescription gripping section 801) in the Z-axis direction. As shown in FIG. 37, the fifth support section 812 stands upright from the vicinity of the third position P103 of the printer device 13, and enables the injection prescription gripping section 801 to move between the vicinity of the third position P103 and two injection prescription dispensing devices 500 provided above the infusion label dispensing device 400. That is, as shown in FIG. 37, the two injection prescription dispensing devices 500 are provided above the infusion label dispensing device 400 along the fifth support section 812.

[0527] <Operation of the injection prescription transport mechanism> Next, a description will be given of the transport operation of the injection prescription Pr by the injection prescription transport mechanism 800. (a) to (d) of Fig. 48 are diagrams for explaining an example of the transport operation of the injection prescription Pr by the injection prescription transport mechanism 800. Note that, when the injection prescription gripper 801 does not transport the injection prescription Pr, it waits at a position shown in (c) of Fig. 48 (a position between the lower injection prescription dispenser 500 and the third position P103; a waiting position), for example.

[0528] When the printing on the transport tray 151a and the placement of the infusion label are completed at the second position P102, the control unit 1000 controls the tray transport mechanism 900 to move the transport tray 151a to the third position P103. Thereafter, the control unit 1000 causes the injection prescription dispensing device 500 to dispense the injection prescription Pr on which the content information is printed. Note that the control unit 1000 may cause the injection prescription dispensing device 500 to dispense the injection prescription Pr before the transport tray 151a is transported to the third position P103 (for example, while the transport tray 151a is placed at the second position P102 and the above printing and placement of the transport label are being performed).

[0529] When the injection prescription dispensing device 500 completes dispensing of the injection prescription Pr, the control unit 1000 controls the fifth support unit 812 to move the injection prescription holding unit 801 from the standby position to the injection prescription dispensing device 500 that has dispensed the injection prescription Pr.

[0530] In addition, the injection prescription dispensing port 511a of the second main body 511 may be provided with an injection prescription counting unit (not shown) that counts the injection prescriptions Pr dispensed to the injection prescription receiving unit 512. In this case, the control unit 1000 can determine whether or not a specified number of injection prescriptions Pr have been dispensed by a notification from the injection prescription counting unit (e.g., a sensor). In addition, the control unit 1000 may use the notification as a trigger to start the movement of the injection prescription gripping unit 801 from the standby position to the injection prescription dispensing device 500 that dispensed the injection prescription Pr (i.e., the injection prescription gripping unit 801 grips the injection prescription Pr). In this configuration, the start of the movement can be made earlier than when the above movement is performed upon receiving a notification indicating that the injection prescription dispensing device 500 has completed dispensing the injection prescription Pr.

[0531] The control unit 1000 moves the injection prescription gripping unit 801 to the injection prescription dispensing device 500 that has dispensed the injection prescription Pr, and then controls the fourth support unit 811 to move it from the injection prescription lifting position P202 to the injection prescription gripping position P201, as shown in (a) of Fig. 48. The control unit 1000 controls the injection prescription gripping unit 801 to grip the injection prescription Pr placed on the injection prescription receiving unit 512. The control unit 1000 determines whether or not the pair of claws 802 are gripping the injection prescription Pr by providing a sensor (not shown) on the pair of claws 802, for example.

[0532] In order to transport the injection prescription holding portion 801 holding the injection prescription Pr to the third position P103, the control portion 1000 controls the fourth support portion 811 to move the injection prescription holding portion 801 from the injection prescription holding position P201 to the injection prescription lifting position P202, as shown in (b) of Figure 48.

[0533] The control unit 1000 moves the injection prescription gripping unit 801 gripping the injection prescription Pr to the injection prescription lifting position P202, and then controls the fifth support unit 812 to move the injection prescription gripping unit 801 to the standby position and temporarily stop (decelerate) it at the standby position, as shown in (c) of Fig. 48. By temporarily decelerating at this position, it is possible to prevent the injection prescription gripping unit 801 from colliding with the transport tray 151a.

[0534] As shown in (d) of FIG. 48, the control unit 1000 controls the fifth support unit 812 to move the injection prescription gripper 801 from the standby position to the vicinity of the transport tray 151a placed at the third position P103. After that, the control unit 1000 controls the gripper rotation mechanism 803 to rotate the injection prescription gripper 801 so that the pair of claws 802 face the transport tray 151a, and controls the injection prescription gripper 801 to open the pair of claws 802 gripping the injection prescription Pr. This allows the injection prescription Pr to be placed on the transport tray 151a. In addition, by opening the pair of claws 802 while rotating them, the injection prescription Pr can be placed quietly (i.e., reliably) on the transport tray 151a.

[0535] Thereafter, the control unit 1000 controls the gripping unit rotating mechanism 803 to orient the pair of claws 802 in the Y-axis direction, and then controls the fifth support unit 812 to move the injection prescription gripping unit 801 to the standby position. The injection prescription dispensing device 500 remains in a standby state until it dispenses the injection prescription Pr.

[0536] In this embodiment, the gripper rotation mechanism 803 rotates the injection prescription gripper 801 so that the pair of claws 802 face diagonally downward at the injection prescription lifting position P202. After that, the fifth support portion 812 lowers the injection prescription gripper 801 from the injection prescription lifting position P202 to the standby position. In other words, the injection prescription gripper 801 is lowered with the injection prescription Pr facing diagonally downward.

[0537] The injection prescription Pr is generally a sheet of paper of about A4 size. If the injection prescription gripping unit 801 is lowered while holding the injection prescription Pr, the entire surface of the injection prescription Pr will be subjected to air pressure. Therefore, the injection prescription Pr may bend due to the received air pressure. As described above, by lowering the injection prescription Pr in a state in which it is facing diagonally downward, it is possible to prevent the injection prescription Pr from being bent due to the air pressure during descent.

[0538] In this way, the printer device 13 can place the injection prescription dispensed by the injection prescription dispensing device 500 on the conveying tray 151a placed at the third position P103 by including the injection prescription conveying mechanism 800. In particular, even when a plurality of injection prescription dispensing devices 500 are included, the injection prescription can be dispensed without moving the conveying tray 151a to each position where the plurality of injection prescription dispensing devices 500 are provided.

[0539] Furthermore, similarly to the infusion label dispensing device 400, by providing multiple injection prescription dispensing devices 500, even if any of the injection prescription dispensing devices 500 becomes unable to dispense injection prescriptions, the remaining injection prescription dispensing devices 500 can still dispense the injection prescriptions dispensed by the any of the injection prescription dispensing devices 500.

[0540] Moreover, in the injection prescription transport mechanism 800, the injection prescription gripping portion 801 grips the injection prescription and moves the injection prescription gripping portion 801 along the fourth support portion 811 and the fifth support portion 812. Therefore, the injection prescription can be reliably placed on the transport tray 151a.

[0541] [Out-of-stock label dispenser] The missing-item dispenser 600 dispenses missing notes to the transport tray 151a under the control of the control unit 1000. Specifically, when an injection drug that should be contained in the transport tray 151a is not contained in the transport tray 151a, the missing-item dispenser 600 dispenses a missing note on which non-contained item information indicating that the injection drug is not contained is printed to the transport tray 151a. In this embodiment, the missing-item dispenser 600 is a thermal printer, but any printer may be used as long as it is capable of dispensing missing notes.

[0542] For example, when out-of-stock information is linked to received prescription data relating to administration to a patient, the out-of-stock label dispensing device 600 drops the out-of-stock label with the out-of-stock information printed on it as non-contained item information, and places the out-of-stock label on the transport tray 151a transported to the third position P103.

[0543] [Another express...

Claims

1. a cassette shelf for storing a plurality of cassettes each containing a medicine; a plurality of cassette holders capable of temporarily holding a first cassette containing a plurality of types of medicines and a second cassette containing the medicines transferred from the first cassette, among the plurality of cassettes; a cassette transfer unit that transfers the cassette between the cassette shelf and the cassette holding unit; the first cassette is held in one cassette holding section of the plurality of cassette holding sections, and the second cassette is held in another cassette holding section; and a drug transfer section that transfers the drug contained in the first cassette from the first cassette to the second cassette when the first cassette is held in one cassette holding section of the plurality of cassette holding sections, and the second cassette is held in another cassette holding section.

2. a medicine discrimination unit that temporarily holds the medicine taken out from the first cassette and discriminates the type of the medicine; The device described in claim 1, wherein the drug transport unit transports drugs removed from the first cassette held in one of the cassette holding units to the drug discrimination unit, and transports drugs whose type has been identified by the drug discrimination unit to the second cassette held in the other cassette holding unit.

3. A cassette shelf for storing a plurality of cassettes in which medicines are contained; a plurality of cassette holders capable of temporarily holding a first cassette containing a plurality of types of medicines and a second cassette containing the medicines transferred from the first cassette, among the plurality of cassettes; a cassette transfer unit that transfers the cassette between the cassette shelf and the cassette holding unit; a drug transfer unit that transfers the drug contained in the first cassette to the second cassette in a state in which the first cassette is held in one cassette holding unit of the plurality of cassette holding units and the second cassette is held in another cassette holding unit, At least one of the plurality of cassette holding units is a cassette / drug holding unit having a function of holding the cassette and a function of holding the drug removed from the first cassette.

4. a medicine discrimination unit that temporarily holds the medicine taken out from the first cassette and discriminates the type of the medicine; an imaging unit that images the medicine held in the cassette / medicine holding unit; A control unit that identifies the shape and size of the drug based on the image captured by the imaging unit, In a state in which the first cassette is held in one cassette holding portion of the plurality of cassette holding portions and the second cassette is held in another cassette holding portion, The drug delivery unit includes: The drug taken out from the first cassette is transferred to the cassette / drug holding section; The medicine held in the cassette / medicine holding unit and having a specified shape and size is transferred to the medicine discrimination unit; The device according to claim 3 , wherein the drug, the type of which has been identified by the drug identification section, is transferred to the second cassette held in the separate cassette holding section.

Images