Medical Dose Image Acquisition With Automatic Cropping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional pharmacy management techniques face inefficiencies and errors in medical dose preparation due to reliance on physical labels, manual record-keeping, and lack of reliable documentation, leading to unprepared, lost, or duplicate doses, and increased administrative overhead.
Innovation Solution
A medical dose preparation management system that automates the tracking and documentation of medical doses using digital image processing to identify regions of interest in images, reducing the size of image data without compromising resolution, and allowing for high-speed, accurate documentation and verification of medical doses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If digital image processing is used to document medical doses, then documentation accuracy is improved, but image data size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and stores only the essential visual information needed for dose verification. The system captures images of medication bottles, preparation processes, and labeling, then processes them to retain only critical verification data, reducing overall image data storage requirements while maintaining documentation accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the documentation process into distinct phases: initial dose order capture, preparation process documentation, and verification imaging. Each phase generates targeted images of specific relevance, avoiding unnecessary image data accumulation while ensuring complete and accurate documentation.
2Productivity
If automated image processing is implemented, then administrative overhead is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service automation where the imaging system automatically captures, processes, and stores dose preparation documentation without requiring manual administrative intervention. The automated image processing system handles verification, archiving, and compliance documentation independently, reducing administrative overhead while managing system complexity through standardized workflows.
3Reliability
If high-resolution images are stored for verification, then verification reliability is improved, but storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality enhancement by storing high-resolution images only for critical verification points such as medication identification, dose preparation steps, and final product verification. Less critical images are stored at lower resolutions, optimizing storage utilization while maintaining verification reliability for essential documentation.
Data Source
AI summary
Use of improved image acquisition for a medical dose preparation system. The medical dose preparation system may include a work station for capturing medical dose preparation images (e.g., to document preparation of a mediation dose). The medical dose preparation image may be captured by a video data stream processor capable of performing an auto cropping technique on a video data stream received from an image device. Accordingly, memory resources may be more efficiently employed while maintaining high quality medical dose preparation images.