Drug delivery management system

Abstract

To provide a composition that can quickly determine whether the medicine medicated to a patient is correctly delivered.SOLUTION: A box ID is read from a box tag 21 by a read unit 44 while an inner box 20 is accommodated in an accommodation unit 30, upon which information including the box ID is transmitted to a cloud server 60 via a communication unit 45. In the cloud server 60, a box ID corresponding to an inner box 20 received from the sender when delivering the inner box 20 to a patient and a delivery date and time are stored in a storage unit 62 in association with patient information and medicine information. Meanwhile, when the box ID stored in the storage unit 62 in association with delivery date-time information is not received even after the elapse of a prescribed time from the delivery date-time information, it is determined that the inner box 20 has not been correctly delivered to the patient.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a medicine delivery management system. [Background technology]

[0002] Traditionally, patients would visit a doctor in person at a hospital, receive a prescription from the doctor, and then a pharmacy would dispense the medicine based on the prescription and provide the medicine to the patient. Currently, to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, etc., medicines prescribed based on previous prescriptions are delivered to the pharmacy without the patient having to visit the pharmacy.

[0003] A known example of technology for providing medicines by delivery is the gift delivery system disclosed in Patent Document 1 below. In this gift delivery system, a product is purchased over the Internet using pre-registered purchaser information, and the product is then delivered to a specified delivery address. This delivery system eliminates the need to enter purchaser information each time a product is purchased, thereby improving the efficiency of delivery operations. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4937434 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Unlike general merchandise, medications cannot be expected to be effective unless taken correctly. It is also necessary to correctly understand the type of medication and the time of day that medication should be taken to prevent incorrect administration. However, when medications are delivered without meeting the patient face-to-face, the pharmacy or other delivery point cannot confirm whether the patient has correctly received the medication. Therefore, if a delivery error occurs, such as when at least some medications are not delivered or when the wrong medications are delivered (hereinafter simply referred to as an erroneous delivery), the erroneous delivery cannot be quickly resolved. When such an erroneous delivery occurs, the amount of medication available for administration does not increase as expected, and depending on the amount of medication, the patient may not be able to take the medication correctly.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a configuration that can quickly determine whether the medication to be taken by the patient has been delivered correctly. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 of the claims is as follows: A drug delivery management system (1) for managing drugs (10) delivered to patients, a cloud server (60) in which patient information about a patient and drug information about drugs taken by the patient are stored in association with each other; an inner box (20) containing a plurality of medicines to be taken by the patient and having a wireless tag (21) recorded with a unique box ID attached thereto; a receiving section (30) in which the inner box is received by the patient; a reading unit (40) that reads the box ID from the wireless tag when the inner box is housed in the housing unit; a communication unit (40, 70) that, when acquiring the box ID read by the reading unit, transmits information including the box ID to the cloud server; Equipped with The cloud server a storage unit (62) in which the box ID corresponding to the inner box received from the delivery source when delivering the inner box to the patient and delivery date and time information relating to the delivery date and time are stored in association with the patient information and the drug information; a determination unit (61) that determines whether the inner box has been correctly delivered to the patient based on the information received from the communication unit and the information stored in the storage unit; a notification unit (61, 65) capable of notifying the determination result of the determination unit; Equipped with The determination unit is characterized in that it determines that the inner box has not been delivered correctly to the patient if the box ID stored in the memory unit in association with the delivery date and time information is not received from the communication unit even after a predetermined time has passed since the delivery date and time information. The symbols in parentheses above indicate the correspondence with the specific means described in the embodiments to be described later. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] In the invention of claim 1, an inner box containing multiple medications to be taken by a patient and having a wireless tag with a unique box ID attached thereto is placed in a storage unit by the patient. With the inner box placed in the storage unit, a reading unit reads the box ID from the wireless tag, and a communication unit, which acquires the box ID read by the reading unit, transmits information including the box ID to a cloud server. In the cloud server, when the inner box is delivered to the patient, the box ID corresponding to the inner box and delivery date and time information relating to the delivery date and time received from the delivery source are stored in a storage unit in association with patient information and medication information. If the box ID stored in the storage unit in association with the delivery date and time information is not received from the communication unit even after a predetermined time has passed since the delivery date and time information was received, a determination unit determines that the inner box has not been correctly delivered to the patient.

[0009] As a result, if the inner box has not arrived at the patient, the box ID is not read by the reading unit, and the cloud server does not receive the box ID from the communication unit. Therefore, if the cloud server does not receive the associated box ID even after a predetermined time has passed since the delivery date and time information, it can determine that the inner box has not been delivered correctly to the patient (an abnormality determination). When an abnormality is determined, the delivery source, etc., receives a notification from the notification unit in accordance with the determination result, and can check the delivery status with the patient or delivery company, etc., and deliver a new inner box if necessary. Therefore, not only can it be quickly determined whether the medication to be taken by the patient has been delivered correctly, but if an incorrect delivery occurs, the condition can be quickly resolved.

[0010] In the invention of claim 2, the communication unit transmits information including the box ID and patient information to the cloud server. The determination unit further determines whether the inner box has been correctly delivered to the patient based on whether the patient information received from the communication unit and the box ID are associated in the storage unit.

[0011] As a result, for example, if an inner box that should be delivered to another patient is delivered by mistake, the patient information received by the cloud server from the communication unit differs from the patient information stored in the storage unit in association with the box ID received at the same time, so it can be determined that the inner box was not delivered correctly to the patient (abnormality determination). Therefore, if an incorrect inner box is stored in the storage unit, an abnormality determination is immediately reported, and the sender or the like who receives the abnormality determination result can prevent the patient from taking the incorrect medicine by, for example, contacting the patient not to take the medicine stored in the inner box.

[0012] In the invention of claim 3, the box ID is generated in a predetermined format indicating that it is information recorded on a wireless tag attached to the inner box, and when only information different from the box ID generated in the predetermined format is read by the reading unit, the communication unit does not transmit the different information to the cloud server.

[0013] As a result, when the inner box is properly stored in the storage section, its box ID and other information are sent to the cloud server, and even if other objects with wireless tags are stored in the storage section, information read from the wireless tags is not sent to the cloud server. As a result, the cloud server can receive the box ID and other information at the required timing, and can avoid receiving unnecessary information.

[0014] In the invention of claim 4, a wireless tag recording a unique drug ID is attached to each drug. Then, the communication unit transmits information including the box ID and multiple drug IDs read by the reading unit at predetermined intervals to a cloud server. In the cloud server, the storage unit stores the multiple drug IDs received from the communication unit in association with the box ID as untaken drug IDs.

[0015] As a result, the drug IDs of drugs that have not been taken are stored in the cloud server as untaken drug IDs, and the drug IDs of drugs that the patient has taken from the inner box are no longer transmitted to the cloud server. As a result, the cloud server can not only determine which drugs the patient is taking, but also the time periods during which the drugs were taken according to the predetermined intervals.

[0016] In the invention of claim 5, the notification unit issues a predetermined notification when the number of untaken medicine IDs stored in the storage unit falls below a predetermined number.

[0017] In this way, when the number of stored unadministered drug IDs falls below a predetermined number, i.e., when the number of drugs remaining with the patient is small, a predetermined notification is issued by the notification unit, and the delivery source or the like that receives this notification can encourage the patient to purchase the drug. Furthermore, by issuing the predetermined notification to the patient himself or herself, it is possible to directly encourage the patient to purchase the drug.

[0018] In the invention of claim 6, the storage unit stores information related to the time of taking the medication that the patient should take, associated with the patient information, and the cloud server transmits the information related to the medication to a display terminal managed by the patient, in accordance with the time of taking the medication, based on the information stored in the storage unit in association with the patient information. The display terminal displays the information received from the cloud server on a screen as information related to the medication that should be taken.

[0019] This allows patients to easily understand the medication they should take based on the information displayed on the screen of the display terminal, thereby preventing them from forgetting to take medication or taking the wrong medication.

[0020] In the invention of claim 7, the inner box is partitioned so that different types of medicines are stored in different locations, and the cloud server transmits information about the medicines to the display terminal, including the location where the medicines are stored. The display terminal displays information about the medicines to be taken on the screen, including the information about the location where the medicines are stored.

[0021] This allows patients to easily understand not only the medication they are about to take but also where that medication is stored, based on the information displayed on the screen of the display terminal, thereby more reliably preventing them from taking the wrong medication.

[0022] In the invention of claim 8, the reading unit includes a temporary storage unit that temporarily stores, when the communication unit is unable to acquire the drug ID read by the reading unit, the drug ID that the communication unit was unable to acquire as unacquired information together with date and time information when the drug ID was read, and transmits information including the unacquired information and the box ID stored in the temporary storage unit to the cloud server when the unacquired state is resolved.

[0023] As a result, even if the above-mentioned acquisition impossible state occurs because, for example, the reading unit and the communication unit are temporarily separated and data communication is impossible, the drug ID etc. read during that time is temporarily stored and transmitted to the cloud server when the acquisition impossible state is resolved. As a result, the cloud server can accurately grasp the drug administration status of the patient without any omissions.

[0024] In the invention of claim 9, the cloud server notifies the request destination that has made the predetermined request of at least a part of the information stored in the storage unit.

[0025] This allows, for example, a patient's relatives to receive notifications of the patient's medication status, etc. directly or indirectly from the cloud server by making the above-mentioned specified request.

[0026] In the invention of claim 10, the reading unit allows one communication unit that has been set in advance to obtain the reading result, and does not allow other communication units that have not been set to obtain the reading result.

[0027] This means that, for example, if a mobile terminal owned by a patient is configured to function as a communication unit and to obtain the reading results of the reading unit for the inner box for that patient, the reading results cannot be obtained using other people's mobile terminals, etc., thereby increasing the confidentiality of the patient's medication status, etc. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0028] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a medicine delivery management system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2(A) is a perspective view showing an inner box, and FIG. 2(B) is an explanatory view showing a state in which the inner box of FIG. 2 is wrapped using a cover or the like. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of the information processing device. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a cloud server. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating patient information, box ID, delivery date and time information, and receipt date and time information registered in the database of the cloud server. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which a drug tag is attached to a drug in the second embodiment. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of medication state management processing performed by a control unit of a cloud server in the second embodiment. [Figure 8] An explanatory diagram showing the patient information, storage unit ID, box ID, and medication status for each medication ID registered in the cloud server database, where Figure 8(A) shows the registration status at the time of initial setup, and Figure 8(B) shows the registration status after some medications have been taken since the initial setup. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating patient information and drug IDs registered in the database of the cloud server and the timing of drug administration identified from the drug IDs. [Figure 10] 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which a display terminal relays between an information processing device in a storage unit and a cloud server. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0029] [First embodiment] A first embodiment of a medicine delivery management system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The medicine delivery management system 1 according to this embodiment is configured as a system for managing, for each patient, one or more types of medicines delivered by delivery based on a previous prescription. Specifically, the medicine delivery management system 1 is based on the premise that an inner box 20 containing medicines 10 to be taken by a patient is prepared according to the prescription at a delivery source such as a pharmacy and delivered to the patient's home, and the patient places the inner box 20 in a storage unit 30 installed in advance at the patient's home. The medicine delivery management system 1 is configured to manage information, etc. related to the medicines 10 delivered to the patient by managing, on a cloud server 60, information, etc., read from a wireless tag attached to the inner box 20. For convenience, the medicines in a packaged state will also be described simply as medicines 10.

[0030] As shown in Fig. 2(A), the inner box 20 can accommodate a predetermined number of medications 10 to be taken by a patient, separated into multiple compartments 22a to 22d and oriented in a predetermined direction, and is configured to function as a packaging box when delivered from a pharmacy or the like to a patient by being wrapped using a cover C or the like, as shown in Fig. 2(B). The inner box 20 is divided into compartments 22a to 22d so that the storage location of each type of medication 10 can be changed. A wireless tag such as an RF tag (hereinafter also referred to as box tag 21) that records a unique box ID for distinguishing the inner box 20 from other inner boxes 20 is attached to the inner box 20.

[0031] In this embodiment, the box ID is generated in a predetermined format, making it easy to distinguish it from information recorded in other wireless tags different from the box tag 21. Specifically, as the predetermined format, for example, the box ID can be generated with "IB" added to the beginning, as exemplified in Fig. 5 described later.

[0032] The storage section 30 functions as a medicine box in which the patient stores the inner box 20. As shown in Fig. 1, the storage section 30 includes a main body section 31 with an opening on the front side and a drawer section 32 that can be inserted and removed through the opening. The main body section 31 is formed so as to be roughly box-shaped together with the front side of the drawer section 32 when the main body section 31 is set so that the drawer section 32 is pushed into the interior through the opening (hereinafter also referred to as the set state). The drawer section 32 is formed with a rectangular opening at the top to match the outer shape of the inner box 20 so that the inner box 20 can be stored from above.

[0033] An information processing device 40 is also attached to the storage section 30, and this information processing device 40 is configured as an electronic unit for transmitting the box ID read from the box tag 21 when the set state is detected to the cloud server 60. As shown in Fig. 3, the information processing device 40 is configured to mainly include a control section 41 that is responsible for overall control, a storage section 42 consisting of a semiconductor memory or the like, a detection section 43, a reading section 44, and a communication section 45. Information about the patient (hereinafter also referred to as patient information) is pre-stored in the storage section 42.

[0034] The detection unit 43 is a contact sensor or the like for detecting the set state, and is installed at the innermost part of the main body 31, and is configured to detect the set state in which the drawer unit 32 is pushed into the main body 31, and to output a predetermined detection signal to the control unit 41. Note that the detection unit 43 is not limited to being configured as a contact sensor or the like, and may be any sensor or the like that can detect the set state.

[0035] The reading unit 44 functions as a known radio tag reading means for reading specified radio tags, including the box tag 21, and is configured to be controlled by the control unit 41 to communicate with the radio tag via electromagnetic waves via an antenna (not shown) and to read and write data stored in the radio tag.

[0036] The communication unit 45 is controlled by the control unit 41 and configured to have a function as a communication means for communicating with other external devices such as the cloud server 60 via the Internet N or the like.

[0037] In the information processing device 40 configured as described above, when the set state is detected by the detection unit 43, a read information transmission process is started by the control unit 41. In this read information transmission process, if the information read by the reading unit 44 immediately after the set state is detected is a box ID generated in the predetermined format, the box ID is transmitted to the cloud server 60 via the communication unit 45 together with the patient information stored in the storage unit 42.

[0038] For this reason, when a patient receives an inner box 20 from a pharmacy or the like and places it in the storage unit 30, the box ID read from the box tag 21 of the stored inner box 20 is transmitted together with the patient information by the information processing device 40 to the cloud server 60. On the other hand, even if a wireless tag is attached to an object other than the inner box 20 when the object is stored in the storage unit 30, the information read from the wireless tag will not be transmitted to the cloud server 60 unless the information read from the wireless tag is generated in the above-mentioned predetermined format. In the present embodiment, the information processing device 40 is configured to operate by receiving power from a battery or the like (not shown), but the present invention is not limited to this and may be configured to operate by receiving power from a commercial power source, for example.

[0039] A storage device 50 for the source of delivery, which has functions equivalent to the storage unit 30 and the information processing device 40, is installed in a pharmacy or the like that serves as a delivery source for delivering the drug 10. When an inner box 20 is prepared containing the drug 10 to be delivered to a patient, the inner box 20 is stored in the storage device 50, and a box ID read from the box tag 21 of the inner box 20 is transmitted to the cloud server 60 together with drug information and patient information related to the drug 10 stored in the inner box 20. The storage device 50 may acquire the drug information and patient information to be transmitted, for example, by reading them from a separately prepared wireless tag, or by using other acquisition means.

[0040] The cloud server 60 is an information processing terminal that stores patient information about patients and drug information about the drugs 10 taken by the patients in a database so that the information is associated with each other. As shown in Fig. 4, the cloud server 60 is mainly configured to include a control unit 61 that handles overall control, a storage unit 62 that is made up of a semiconductor memory or the like, a display unit 63, an operation unit 64, and a communication unit 65.

[0041] In the cloud server 60 configured as described above, when the inner box 20 prepared as described above is delivered to a patient at a pharmacy or the like, the box ID and patient information are received from the storage device 50 of the pharmacy or the like via the communication unit 65. The received date and time information is associated with the box ID and patient information as delivery date and time information and is registered and stored in a database constructed in the storage unit 62. For example, when patient information "Patient I" and box ID "IB00009" are received from the storage device 50 at the date and time "2022 / 1 / 20 13:20," the received date and time is added to the database as delivery date and time information together with the box ID, etc., as illustrated in FIG. 5. Note that the delivery date and time information is not limited to the date and time information when the box ID and patient information are received, and may be, for example, date and time information separately specified by the pharmacy or the like. Also, for convenience, drug information is omitted from FIG. 5.

[0042] Then, when the cloud server 60 receives the box ID and patient information from the information processing device 40, the received date and time information is associated with the box ID and patient information as receipt date and time information, and is registered and stored in the database. For example, when patient information "Patient B" and box ID "IB00002" are received from the information processing device 40 at the date and time "2022 / 1 / 15 11:10", the receipt date and time is additionally registered in the database as receipt date and time information in association with the box ID etc. that has already been registered, as shown in the example of Fig. 5.

[0043] In particular, in the cloud server 60, the control unit 61 performs a delivery success determination process using information stored in the memory unit 62, etc., to determine whether the inner box 20 has been correctly delivered to the patient. Specifically, if the time difference between the delivery date and time information and the receipt date and time information is within a predetermined time, it is determined that the inner box 20 has been correctly delivered to the patient. For example, for box ID "IB00002" in FIG. 5, the time difference between the delivery date and time information "2022 / 1 / 13 15:45" and the receipt date and time information "2022 / 1 / 15 11:10" is within a predetermined time (e.g., 72 hours), so it is determined that the inner box 20 has been correctly delivered to patient B.

[0044] On the other hand, in the delivery correctness determination process, if the erroneous delivery state occurs and the box ID stored in the storage unit 62 in association with the delivery date and time information is not received from the information processing device 40 even after the predetermined time has passed since the delivery date and time information, it is determined that the inner box 20 has not been delivered correctly to the patient (an abnormality determination). For example, for box ID "IB00009" in Fig. 5, if box ID "IB00009" is not received from the information processing device 40 even after the predetermined time has passed since the delivery date and time information "2022 / 1 / 20 13:20", an abnormality determination is made that the inner box 20 has not been delivered correctly to the patient.

[0045] Furthermore, in the delivery correctness determination process, if the received box ID and patient information are not associated in the storage unit 62, it is determined that the inner box 20 that should be delivered to another patient has been mistakenly delivered, and an abnormality is determined that the inner box 20 has not been delivered correctly to the patient. That is, in the delivery correctness determination process, it is determined whether or not the inner box 20 has been delivered correctly to the patient based on whether or not the patient information and box ID received from the information processing device 40 are associated in the storage unit 62.

[0046] When an abnormality is determined as described above, the control unit 61 performs an abnormality determination notification process, and notification information indicating that the inner box 20 has not been delivered correctly to the patient is sent via the communication unit 65 to the pharmacy or other device that is the delivery source of the inner box 20, including patient information, a box ID, etc. Note that the control unit 61 that performs the delivery success / failure determination process corresponds to an example of a "determination unit" that determines whether the inner box 20 has been delivered correctly to the patient, and the control unit 61 and communication unit 65 that perform the abnormality determination notification process can correspond to an example of an "notification unit" that can notify the result of the determination by the "determination unit".

[0047] The notification information received by a predetermined terminal 51 installed in a pharmacy or the like is displayed on a screen, allowing a pharmacist or the like to easily understand which patient and when the inner box 20 scheduled for delivery has not been delivered correctly. In this case, the pharmacist or the like can check the delivery status with the patient or delivery company, and if necessary, deliver a new inner box 20, thereby quickly resolving the incorrect delivery situation.

[0048] When the cloud server 60 determines that the box ID has not been received as scheduled, it may first notify the patient of information urging them to store the inner box 20 in the storage unit 30, and if the box ID is not received from the patient's storage unit 30 after a certain period of time has passed since the notification, it may send the notification information to the pharmacy, etc. Furthermore, when it determines that the inner box 20 has been correctly delivered to the patient, it may send a message to that effect to the pharmacy, etc. that is the delivery source of the inner box 20.

[0049] As described above, in the medicine delivery management system 1 according to this embodiment, the inner box 20, which contains multiple medications 10 to be taken by the patient and has a box tag 21 recorded with a unique box ID, is placed in the storage unit 30 by the patient. When the inner box 20 is placed in the storage unit 30, the box ID is read from the box tag 21 by the reading unit 44, and information including the box ID is transmitted to the cloud server 60 via the communication unit 45. In the cloud server 60, the box ID and delivery date and time information corresponding to the inner box 20 received from the delivery source when delivering the inner box 20 to the patient are stored in the storage unit 62 in association with the patient information and medicine information. Then, if the box ID stored in the storage unit 62 in association with the delivery date and time information is not received even after a predetermined time has passed since the delivery date and time information was received, it is determined that the inner box 20 has not been correctly delivered to the patient.

[0050] As a result, if the inner box 20 has not arrived at the patient, the box ID is not read by the reading unit 44, and therefore the cloud server 60 does not receive the box ID. Therefore, if the cloud server 60 does not receive the associated box ID even after a predetermined time has passed since the delivery date and time information, it can be determined that the inner box 20 has not been delivered correctly to the patient (an abnormality determination). When an abnormality is determined, the delivery source, etc., receiving a notification according to the determination result can check the delivery status with the patient or the delivery company, etc., and deliver a new inner box 20 if necessary. Therefore, not only can it be quickly determined whether the medication 10 to be taken by the patient has been delivered correctly, but also, if an incorrect delivery occurs, the condition can be quickly resolved. Note that information regarding the abnormality determination result may be sent to a display terminal 70 managed by the patient, which will be described later, to notify the abnormality.

[0051] Then, the information processing device 40 transmits information including the box ID and the patient information to the cloud server 60. In the delivery success / failure determination process performed by the control unit 61 of the cloud server 60, it is determined whether the inner box 20 has been correctly delivered to the patient based on whether the patient information received from the information processing device 40 and the box ID are associated in the storage unit 62.

[0052] As a result, for example, if an inner box 20 that should be delivered to another patient has been delivered by mistake, the patient information received by the cloud server 60 differs from the patient information associated with the box ID received at the same time and stored in the storage unit 62, making it possible to determine that the inner box 20 has not been delivered correctly to the patient (abnormality determination). Therefore, if the incorrect inner box 20 is stored in the storage unit 30, an abnormality determination is immediately reported, and the sender or the like who has received the abnormality determination result can prevent the patient from taking the incorrect drug by, for example, informing the patient not to take the drug stored in the inner box 20. Note that by transmitting information about the abnormality determination result from the cloud server 60 to a display terminal 70 managed by the patient (described later), the patient can also be directly notified not to take the drug stored in the inner box 20.

[0053] In particular, the box ID is generated in a predetermined format that indicates that it is information recorded on the box tag 21 attached to the inner box 20, and when only information different from the box ID generated in the predetermined format is read by the reading unit 44, the information processing device 40 does not transmit the different information to the cloud server 60.

[0054] As a result, when the inner box 20 is properly stored in the storage section 30, its box ID and the like are transmitted to the cloud server 60, and even if another object with a wireless tag is stored in the storage section 30, the information read from the wireless tag is not transmitted to the cloud server 60. Therefore, the cloud server 60 can receive the box ID and the like at the required timing, and can avoid receiving unnecessary information.

[0055] [Second embodiment] Next, a medicine delivery management system according to a second embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment mainly in that a wireless tag recording a drug ID is attached to each drug 10. Therefore, components that are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0056] In this embodiment, when the cloud server 60 determines that the inner box 20 has been correctly delivered to the patient, it performs processing to manage the medication status, including the remaining amount, of each drug 10 contained in the inner box 20. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 6 , each drug 10 contained in the inner box 20 is attached with a wireless tag (hereinafter also referred to as drug tag 11) that records a unique drug ID such as a serial number. In this embodiment, in order to protect the patient's privacy, etc., a random value (a unique value that does not overlap) such as a serial number is used as the unique drug ID so that it is not possible to determine what drug is contained just by looking at the drug ID. Note that the drug ID may be generated in a predetermined format so that drug information regarding the drug 10 to which the drug tag 11 recording the drug ID is attached can be identified from at least a part of the drug ID.

[0057] In addition, at the pharmacy or other delivery point, the inner box 20 is stored in a storage device 50, and the box ID read from the box tag 21 of the inner box 20 and the drug ID read from each drug tag 11 are sent to the cloud server 60 along with patient information, etc.

[0058] In the read information transmission process performed by the information processing device 40 in this embodiment, a process for reading the box ID and multiple drug IDs is performed at predetermined intervals, and information including the read box ID and multiple drug IDs is transmitted to the cloud server 60. In particular, in this embodiment, the predetermined interval is the detection timing at which the set state is detected. Therefore, the read box ID and multiple drug IDs are transmitted to the cloud server 60 together with patient information not only at the initial set time when the inner box 20 is first stored in the storage section 30, but also every time the patient pulls out the drawer section 32 from the main body section 31, removes the drugs 10 to be taken from the inner box 20, and then pushes the drawer section 32 back again. That is, every time the patient takes a drug 10, the drug IDs of the remaining drugs 10 are transmitted to the cloud server 60.

[0059] The control unit 61 of the cloud server 60 performs a medication status management process that uses the box ID and multiple drug IDs received from each information processing device 40 to manage the medication status, including the remaining amount of drug 10, for each inner box 20. The storage unit 62 of the cloud server 60 stores, as delivery information, the box ID and each drug ID received when the inner box 20 is delivered from the storage device 50 installed in a pharmacy or the like. Based on this delivery information, the number of drugs 10 scheduled to be delivered (hereinafter also referred to as the number of drugs scheduled to be delivered) can be calculated. The storage unit 62 of the cloud server 60 also stores, in advance, information regarding the type, dosing time, and dosage of the drug 10 identified from the drug ID for each of all drugs 10 to be managed. These drug IDs and information regarding the drugs 10 are stored in a database in the storage unit 62 so that they are associated with each other using information received from the storage device 50 when the inner box 20 is delivered from the pharmacy or the like.

[0060] The medication state management process performed by the control unit 61 will be described in detail below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the medication state management process is started in the control unit 61, a determination process in step S101 in Fig. 7 determines whether or not a box ID and multiple drug IDs have been received via the communication unit 65. Then, when a box ID and multiple drug IDs are received from any of the information processing devices 40 (Yes in S101), a determination process in step S103 determines whether or not the received box ID, etc. are those set for the first time.

[0061] Here, if the patient has placed the inner box 20 in the storage section 30 for the first time and set it therein, and the box ID etc. from the initial set-up has been received (Yes in S103), the judgment process in step S105 determines whether the number of drugs to be delivered (the number of drugs 10 to be delivered using the inner box 20) calculated from the delivery time information stored in the memory section 62 in association with the received box ID matches the number of drug IDs received.

[0062] If the number of medications scheduled for delivery matches the number of medication IDs received (Yes in S105), it is determined that the inner box 20 has been delivered correctly without any medications 10 being missing. In this case, in the medication ID, etc. storage process in step S107, the received box ID and medication ID, etc. are registered and stored in the database so that the medication status can be ascertained. For example, if patient information "Patient A," box ID "IB00001," and 60 medication IDs "MD00001" to "MD00060" are received from the information processing device 40 with a storage unit ID of "MB00001," and the number of received medication IDs matches the number of medications scheduled for delivery (60), the data is stored in the database in an associated manner, as shown in FIG. 8(A). At this time, the medication status for all medication IDs is set to "not taken." During this process, the date and time of receipt of the box ID, etc., is associated with the box ID, etc., and stored in the database as delivery date and time information, and then the processes from step S101 onward are performed.

[0063] On the other hand, if the number of drugs to be delivered does not match the number of drug IDs received (No in S105), it is determined that an abnormal situation has occurred, such as a shortage of some of the drugs 10 between delivery from the pharmacy, etc. and receipt by the patient. In this case, in the delivery number error notification process shown in step S109, notification information indicating the occurrence of the abnormal situation is sent via the communication unit 65 to the pharmacy, etc. that is the delivery source of the inner box 20, including patient information, box ID, etc.

[0064] The notification information received by a predetermined terminal 51 set in the pharmacy or the like is displayed on a screen, allowing the pharmacist or the like to easily understand which inner box 20 was delivered to which patient and when a shortage has occurred. In this case, the pharmacist or the like can quickly resolve the incorrect delivery situation by checking the delivery status with the patient or the delivery company, and delivering a new inner box 20.

[0065] Furthermore, if a previously received box ID has been received (No in S103), it is assumed that the patient has taken the drug 10, and the medication status update process shown in step S111 is performed. In this process, it is assumed that the patient has taken the drug 10 with a drug ID that has not been received, and the medication status of that drug ID is updated and registered as "taken." For example, if the registration is performed as shown in FIG. 8(A) at the time of initial setup, and the patient has taken the drug ID "MD00001," and therefore patient information "Patient A," storage unit ID "MB00001," box ID "IB00001," and 59 drug IDs "MD00002" to "MD00060" are received, it is assumed that the patient has taken the drug 10 with drug ID "MD00001," and the medication status of that drug ID is updated and registered as "taken," as shown in FIG. 8(B). On the other hand, for the drug IDs "MD00002" to "MD00060", the registration state in which the medication status is set to "not taken" is maintained.

[0066] Thereafter, in the determination process of step S113, it is determined whether the number of unadministered drug IDs is equal to or less than a predetermined number. If the number of unadministered drug IDs is greater than the predetermined number (No in S113), it is determined that a sufficient number of drugs 10 remain with the patient, and the process from step S101 is carried out without performing the notification process described below.

[0067] On the other hand, if the patient continues to take the medication 10 as scheduled and the number of unadministered medication IDs falls below the predetermined number (Yes in S113), it is determined that the number of medications 10 at the patient's side is decreasing, and a remaining number notification process shown in step S115 is performed. In this process, notification information indicating that the remaining number of medications 10 is decreasing is transmitted as a predetermined notification via the communication unit 65 to the pharmacy or the like identified as the delivery source from the box ID or the like, including the patient information, the box ID, etc.

[0068] The notification information received by a predetermined terminal 51 installed in a pharmacy or the like is displayed on a screen, allowing a pharmacist or the like to easily grasp the extent to which the number of medicines 10 delivered to which patient using which inner box 20 has decreased. In this case, the pharmacist or the like can encourage the patient to purchase the medicines 10 that are running low.

[0069] As described above, in the medicine delivery management system 1 according to this embodiment, a medicine tag 11 recording a unique medicine ID is attached to each medicine 10. Then, the information processing device 40 transmits information including the box ID and the plurality of medicine IDs read at predetermined intervals to the cloud server 60. In the cloud server 60, the storage unit 62 stores the received plurality of medicine IDs as untaken medicine IDs, associated with the box ID.

[0070] As a result, the drug ID of the drug 10 that has not been taken is stored in the cloud server 60 as an untaken drug ID, and the drug ID of the drug 10 that the patient has taken after removing it from the inner box 20 is no longer transmitted to the cloud server 60. As a result, the cloud server 60 can not only know which drug 10 the patient has taken, but also know the time period during which the drug was taken according to the above-mentioned predetermined interval.

[0071] In particular, in the medication status management process performed by the control unit 61, when the number of unadministered medication IDs stored in the memory unit 62 on a box ID basis falls below a predetermined number, the above-mentioned remaining quantity notification process (S115) makes the above-mentioned predetermined notification.

[0072] As a result, when the number of stored untaken drug IDs falls below a predetermined number, i.e., when the number of drugs 10 in the patient's possession is small, a predetermined notification as described above is made, and the delivery source, etc. that receives this notification can encourage the patient to purchase the drug.

[0073] As a modification of this embodiment, the cloud server 60 may notify the patient by transmitting at least a part of the information to be notified to the pharmacy, etc., to a display terminal 70 (see FIG. 10 described later) such as a smartphone managed by the patient via the Internet N, etc. For example, when the number of untaken drug IDs stored as described above falls below a predetermined number (Yes in S113), the predetermined notification can be sent to the patient himself / herself using the screen display of the display terminal 70, thereby directly encouraging the patient to purchase the drug.

[0074] In this way, when using a display terminal 70 capable of receiving and displaying notification information and the like from the cloud server 60, for example, information regarding the drug 10 that the patient should take during that time period may be transmitted from the cloud server 60 to the display terminal 70. In this case, information regarding the administration time of the drug 10 that the patient should take, associated with patient information and the like, is acquired from a pharmacy or the like and stored in the storage unit 62 of the cloud server 60, and the control unit 61 of the cloud server 60 transmits information regarding the drug 10 to the display terminal 70 via the communication unit 65 in accordance with the time of the drug 10 that the patient should take, based on the information associated with the patient information and stored in the storage unit 62. The display terminal 70 displays the information received from the cloud server 60 on a screen as information regarding the drug to be taken.

[0075] 9, for example, when patient information, a drug ID, and the administration time of the drug 10 identified from the drug ID are compiled into a database in advance and stored in the storage unit 62, the control unit 61 transmits information about the drug 10 identified from the drug ID whose administration time is approaching and the administration time to the display terminal 70. This allows the patient to easily know the drug 10 that should be taken now based on the information displayed on the screen of the display terminal 70, thereby preventing forgetting to take the drug 10 or taking the wrong drug 10.

[0076] When notifying the time to take the medicine as described above, the location where the medicine 10 to be taken is stored in the inner box 20 may also be notified. In this case, information on the location where the medicine 10 to be taken by the patient is stored, associated with patient information, etc., acquired from a pharmacy, etc., is stored in the storage unit 62 of the cloud server 60. Specifically, since the inner box 20 is divided into four sections 22a to 22d, the cloud server 60 transmits information on the medicine 10 to the display terminal 70 so as to include information identifying the sections 22a to 22d in which the medicine 10 to be taken is stored (storage location information) and the time to take the medicine.

[0077] This allows the patient to easily grasp not only the drug 10 that he or she is about to take but also the location where the drug 10 is stored, based on the information displayed on the screen of the display terminal 70, thereby more reliably preventing the patient from taking the wrong drug 10.

[0078] Furthermore, when a display terminal 70 capable of receiving and displaying notification information and the like from the cloud server 60 is used, the Internet communication function of the information processing device 40 may be excluded, and the display terminal 70 may relay transmission of a box ID and the like between the information processing device 40 and the cloud server 60, as illustrated in FIG. 10 . In this case, the display terminal 70 acquires information such as the box ID read by the information processing device 40 using the reading unit 44, using Bluetooth (registered trademark) or NFC (Near Field Communication), and transmits the acquired box ID and the like to the cloud server 60 at a predetermined timing. In the above-described configuration, the information processing device 40 corresponds to an example of a "reading unit" that reads the box ID from the box tag 21 when the inner box 20 is housed in the housing unit 30, and the display terminal 70 may correspond to an example of a "communication unit" that, upon acquiring the box ID read by the "reading unit," transmits information including the box ID to the cloud server 60.

[0079] In this manner, in a configuration in which the display terminal 70 relays between the information processing device 40 and the cloud server 60, for example, if the display terminal 70 and the information processing device 40 become temporarily separated, data communication between the display terminal 70 and the information processing device 40 may become impossible.

[0080] For this reason, when the control unit 41 of the information processing device 40 enters a communication-disabled state (hereinafter also referred to as an acquisition-disabled state) in which the display terminal 70 cannot acquire the drug ID read by the reading unit 44, the control unit 41 performs a process of temporarily storing the drug ID that the display terminal 70 was unable to acquire together with the date and time information of the reading as unacquired information in the storage unit 42. Then, when the acquisition-disabled state is resolved, the display terminal 70 transmits information including the unacquired information and the box ID stored in the storage unit 42 to the cloud server 60. Note that the storage unit 42 may correspond to an example of a "temporary storage unit."

[0081] As a result, even if the above-mentioned acquisition impossible state occurs because, for example, the information processing device 40 and the display terminal 70 are temporarily separated and are unable to communicate data, the drug ID and the like read during that time are temporarily stored and transmitted to the cloud server 60 via the display terminal 70 when the acquisition impossible state is resolved. Therefore, the cloud server 60 can accurately grasp the drug administration status of the patient without any omissions.

[0082] In addition, in a configuration in which the display terminal 70 relays between the information processing device 40 and the cloud server 60, the information processing device 40 can allow one pre-configured display terminal 70 to obtain the reading results, and not allow other unconfigured mobile terminals, etc., to obtain the reading results.

[0083] As a result, if the display terminal 70 owned by the patient is made to function as a communication unit and is pre-configured to obtain the reading results of the information processing device 40 for the inner box for that patient, the reading results cannot be obtained on other people's mobile terminals, etc., thereby increasing the confidentiality of the patient's medication status, etc.

[0084] For example, when Bluetooth communication is used between the display terminal 70 and the information processing device 40, the following system configuration can be adopted. By logging in to the cloud server 60 using a display terminal 70 with a dedicated application program installed during system registration, a Bluetooth address and authentication information that identify the storage unit 30 and the information processing device 40 are acquired. As a result, the display terminal 70 becomes the master and automatically initiates connection with the information processing device 40. When the display terminal 70 searches for an information processing device 40 that is advertising the Bluetooth address acquired as described above, it issues a connection request to that information processing device 40. Then, upon receiving a request to send authentication information from the information processing device 40, the display terminal 70 transmits the authentication information acquired as described above to the information processing device 40, thereby becoming capable of acquiring the read results of the information processing device 40. In this case, a mobile terminal or the like of another person that cannot acquire the authentication information cannot connect to the information processing device 40 and therefore cannot acquire the read results, thereby improving the confidentiality of the patient's medication status, etc.

[0085] Furthermore, the cloud server 60 may notify a request destination that has made a predetermined request with legitimate authority of at least a portion of the information stored in the storage unit 62. Specifically, for example, by making the predetermined request, a patient's relatives can receive notification of the patient's medication status, etc. directly or indirectly from the cloud server 60. This allows the patient's relatives to easily understand the patient's medication status, etc.

[0086] Furthermore, in the read information transmission process performed by the information processing device 40, the predetermined interval for reading the box ID and multiple drug IDs is not limited to the detection timing at which the set state is detected, but may also be, for example, a detection timing that is a predetermined specified time.

[0087] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be embodied as follows, for example. (1) The present invention is not limited to being adopted in a system in which a pharmacy is the source of delivery of drug 10 based on a previous prescription, but may also be adopted in a system in which, for example, a hospital or a facility capable of dispensing drug 10 is the source of delivery of drug 10 based on a previous prescription.

[0088] (2) The inner box 20 is not limited to being configured so that the storage area for the drugs 10 is divided into four compartments 22a to 22d, but may be divided into two, three, or five or more compartments. In particular, when a drug tag 11 is attached to each drug 10, each compartment may be formed so that the orientation of the drugs 10 stored in each compartment is suitable for the information processing device 40 to read the drug tag 11.

[0089] (3) The storage section 30 is not limited to being configured to store the inner box 20 in a drawer-type manner using the main body section 31 and the drawer section 32, but may be configured so that the box tag 21, etc. of the inner box 20 stored so that it is placed in a specified position can be read by the information processing device 40.

[0090] (4) The inner box 20 may be configured so that, instead of the box tag 21, an information code such as a QR code (registered trademark) on which an optically readable box ID is recorded is attached in an easily readable position on the surface. In this case, the patient can manually transmit the box ID, etc. to the cloud server 60 using an information processing terminal that has the function of reading the information code and has an application program for this system installed. Similarly, the drug 10 may be configured so that, instead of the drug tag 11, an information code such as a QR code on which an optically readable drug ID is recorded is printed together with other text information, etc. In this case, by transmitting the drug ID and box ID, etc. read from the information code attached to the taken drug 10 to the cloud server 60, the cloud server 60 can manage the received drug ID as "taken."

[0091] 1. Medication delivery management system 10. Drugs 11...Drug tag (wireless tag) 20...Inner box 21...Box tag (radio tag) 30...Storage section 40... Information processing device (reading unit, communication unit) 50...Containment device 60...Cloud server 61...Control unit (determination unit, notification unit) 62...Storage section 65...Communications Department (Notification Department) 70...Display terminal (communication unit)

Claims

1. A drug delivery management system that manages drugs delivered to patients, a cloud server that stores patient information about patients and drug information about drugs taken by the patients in association with each other; an inner box containing a plurality of medications to be taken by the patient and having a wireless tag recorded with a unique box ID attached thereto; a storage section in which the inner box is stored by the patient; a reading unit that reads the box ID from the wireless tag in a state where the inner box is accommodated in the accommodation unit; a communication unit that, when acquiring the box ID read by the reading unit, transmits information including the box ID to the cloud server; Equipped with The cloud server a storage unit in which the box ID corresponding to the inner box received from a delivery source when delivering the inner box to the patient and delivery date and time information relating to the delivery date and time are stored in association with the patient information and the drug information; a determination unit that determines whether the inner box has been correctly delivered to the patient based on the information received from the communication unit and the information stored in the storage unit; a notification unit capable of notifying a determination result of the determination unit; Equipped with The drug delivery management system is characterized in that the judgment unit determines that the inner box has not been delivered correctly to the patient if the box ID stored in the memory unit in association with the delivery date and time information is not received from the communication unit even after a predetermined time has passed since the delivery date and time information.

2. the communication unit transmits information including the box ID and the patient information to the cloud server; The drug delivery management system described in claim 1, characterized in that the judgment unit further determines whether the inner box has been correctly delivered to the patient based on whether the patient information received from the communication unit and the box ID are associated in the memory unit.

3. the box ID is generated in a predetermined format that indicates that the box ID is information recorded in a wireless tag attached to the inner box, The drug delivery management system described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that when only information different from the box ID generated in the specified format is read by the reading unit, the communication unit does not send the different information to the cloud server.

4. A wireless tag recording a unique drug ID is attached to each of the drugs, The reading unit performs a process for reading the box ID and the plurality of drug IDs at predetermined intervals, The communication unit transmits information including the box ID and the plurality of drug IDs read by the reading unit to the cloud server, A drug delivery management system as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the memory unit stores multiple drug IDs received from the communication unit in association with the box ID as untaken drug IDs.

5. 5. The medicine delivery management system according to claim 4, wherein the notification unit issues a predetermined notification when the number of the untaken medicine IDs stored in the storage unit falls below a predetermined number.

6. The storage unit stores information related to the patient information and the time at which the patient should take the medicine, The cloud server transmits information about the drug to a display terminal managed by the patient, based on information associated with the patient information and stored in the storage unit, in accordance with the time when the drug is to be taken by the patient; The medicine delivery management system according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the display terminal displays the information received from the cloud server on a screen as information relating to medicines to be taken.

7. The inner box is partitioned so that different types of medicines are stored in different locations, the cloud server transmits information about the medicine to the display terminal, the information including the location of the medicine; 7. The medicine delivery management system according to claim 6, wherein the display terminal displays information about the medicine to be taken on a screen, including information about a storage location of the medicine.

8. The reading unit includes a temporary storage unit in which, when the communication unit is unable to acquire the drug ID read by the reading unit, the drug ID that the communication unit was unable to acquire is temporarily stored as unacquired information together with date and time information when the drug ID was read, A drug delivery management system as described in any one of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that the communication unit transmits information including the unacquired information and the box ID stored in the temporary memory unit to the cloud server when the unacquirable state is resolved.

9. The drug delivery management system according to any one of claims 4 to 8, characterized in that the cloud server notifies the requestor that made the specified request of at least a portion of the information stored in the memory unit.

10. A drug delivery management system as described in any one of claims 4 to 9, characterized in that the reading unit allows one of the communication units that has been pre-set to obtain the reading results, and does not allow other communication units that have not been pre-set to obtain the reading results.

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