JP2010072980A - Apparatus, system and method for sharing processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus, a system and a method for efficiently applying desired predetermined processing to a property of a client. <P>SOLUTION: In a reprocess equipment sharing apparatus, an order receiving part receives an order for applying predetermined processing to a property of a client from the client such as a clinic 2. An equipment information receiving part receives equipment information on availability of equipment providing institutions such as a hospital 1 which provides equipment for applying the predetermined processing. An order allocation part distributes each order to the equipment providing institutions on the basis of the order, the equipment information and geographic relation between the requester and the equipment providing institutions. The order allocation part distributes the order to respective equipment providing institutions on the basis of a condition that processing to be applied to the order allocated to respective equipment providing institutions does not exceed the processing capability of the equipment providing institutions, which is calculated from the equipment information, and total transport time to be required when the properties are received from the client and received by one of the equipment providing institutions to which the order are allocated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for efficiently executing a predetermined process to be performed on a client's property, and more particularly to a technique for efficiently using a processing facility.

In medical facilities such as hospitals, various medical devices such as disposable types and reusable types are used. A medical device that can be used repeatedly requires reprocessing steps such as cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization after being used for inspection and surgery and before being used next time. Conventionally, techniques for renting medical equipment have been proposed. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a medical device rental system that rents expensive medical devices such as endoscopes to medical institutions. In this medical equipment rental system, the medical equipment rental center ships the endoscope equipment desired by the hospital in the stock room at the designated date and time, collects it after inspection in the hospital laboratory, and rents it in the reprocess room. After the mirror device is cleaned and disinfected, it is stored in the stock room.
JP 2004-362164 A

  Equipment used for the reprocessing of medical equipment is expensive and requires installation space. It is not easy to purchase and maintain these devices in a small hospital or clinic. Even in a large hospital, a certain amount of reprocessing work is not always required, and a full operation state is not maintained, which is a problem in terms of cost effectiveness. This problem is not limited to equipment used for reprocessing of medical equipment, and processing equipment for performing some kind of processing on an object is expensive, or it is more efficient to process intensively. In case, it is a common issue.

  The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and an object thereof is to provide an apparatus, a system, and a method for efficiently using a processing facility that executes a predetermined process to be performed on the client's property. There is.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a processing facility sharing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes an order receiving unit that receives an order requesting to perform predetermined processing on the property of the requester from one or more requesters. A facility information receiving unit for receiving facility information relating to availability of one or more facility providing organizations that provide facilities for processing the client's property, an order, facility information, and a requester and facility providing organization; And an order assigning unit that distributes each order to the facility providing organization based on the geographical relationship. The order allocator receives the property belonging to the order from each client, and the processing for the order assigned to each equipment provider does not exceed the processing capacity of the equipment provider calculated from the equipment information. The order is distributed to each equipment providing organization so that the total transport time is minimized when the equipment is delivered to one of the equipment providing organizations to which the order is assigned.

  According to this aspect, for example, a request from a client who does not have a processing facility can be received, and the property of the client can be processed in the engine having the processing facility by using the free time of the facility. .

  Another aspect of the present invention is a processing equipment share system. The processing equipment sharing system includes an order input unit that obtains an order for requesting a client to perform a predetermined process on the client's property, and an order reception unit that receives an order transmitted via a network. Sent from one or more equipment providers that provide equipment for processing the client's property, via a network, and an equipment information acquisition unit that acquires equipment information related to the availability of the equipment provider. A facility information receiving unit that receives facility information, and an order assigning unit that distributes each order to the facility providing organization based on the order, the facility information, and the geographical relationship between the requester and the facility providing organization. The order allocator receives the property belonging to the order from each client, and the processing for the order assigned to each equipment provider does not exceed the processing capacity of the equipment provider calculated from the equipment information. The order is distributed to each equipment providing organization so that the total transport time is minimized when the equipment is delivered to one of the equipment providing organizations to which the order is assigned.

  Yet another aspect of the present invention is a processing equipment sharing method. This method accepts an order requesting to perform predetermined processing on the property of the requester from one or more requesters, stores the order in the storage unit, and processes the property of the requester. Receiving facility information relating to availability of one or more facility providing organizations that provide facilities to perform, storing the information in the storage unit, order, facility information, and geographic information between the client and the facility providing organization And a step of allocating the processing relating to each order to the facility providing organization. In the distribution step, the time required for processing at each facility provider does not exceed the available time specified in the information on the availability status, and the property belonging to the order is received from each client and the order is assigned. Orders are allocated to each facility providing organization so that the total transport time when transporting to one facility providing organization is minimized.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a conversion of the expression of the present invention between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, etc. are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently use equipment for executing a predetermined process to be performed on the client's property.

  First, the outline of the present invention will be described. The following description will focus on the reprocessing of medical equipment. In the present invention, a request is received from a medical institution such as a small hospital or clinic that does not have its own reprocessing equipment, and the free time of the reprocessing equipment is used in a medical institution such as a large hospital having the reprocessing equipment. To reprocess. For convenience of explanation, a medical institution that provides reprocessing equipment is simply referred to as a “hospital”, and a medical institution that does not have its own reprocessing equipment is also referred to simply as “clinic office”.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an outline of a reprocess equipment share system 10 according to the present invention. A hospital 1a to a hospital 1c, a clinic 2a to a clinic 2h, a reprocessing facility share center 6 and a transport center 4 existing in a certain area are connected to each other via a network 5 so as to communicate with each other. Here, the certain area may be, for example, a medical area, and in that case, the hospitals 1a to 1c may be regional core hospitals. The network 5 is, for example, a network such as a public line, a dedicated line, and the Internet. Although FIG. 1 shows a hospital that is a medical institution that provides three reprocessing facilities, and eight clinics that do not have their own reprocessing facilities, the number of hospitals and clinics is not limited to this. However, it may be determined arbitrarily according to local circumstances.

  The hospitals 1a to 1c transmit, to the reprocess facility share center 6 via the network 5, facility information relating to the availability status indicating the operation schedule of each reprocess processing facility, the schedule of free time, and the like. The clinics 2a to 2h transmit orders for requesting reprocessing processing to the reprocessing equipment share center 6 via the network 5 when the reprocessing processing becomes necessary. The reprocess facility share center 6 distributes the orders to the hospitals 1a to 1c based on the geographic information of the hospital or clinic, the processing capability, the schedule of free time, and the like. At the same time, a delivery route, a reprocess schedule, etc. may be created.

  Information relating to order assignment is transmitted to the hospitals 1 a to 1 c and the transport center 4. The transport center 4 is dispatched according to the received order assignment information, and each transport vehicle sequentially follows the designated clinics to receive medical equipment that requires reprocessing and delivers it to the designated hospital. In each hospital, the reprocessing process is executed, and after the completion, the transport vehicle dispatched again from the transport center 4 receives the reprocessed medical equipment from the hospital, and sequentially follows the designated clinic to perform the reprocess. Deliver used medical equipment to each clinic.

  The time period during which reprocessing facilities can be used in each hospital varies from day to day, and the amount of reprocessing requests from clinics varies from day to day. Therefore, the reprocess equipment share center 6 creates the order flexibly every day without fixing them in order assignment, route creation, and reprocess schedule creation. When allocating orders, a proposal for allocating multiple orders is created, and the amount of reprocessing work for the orders allocated to each hospital does not exceed the amount that can be processed in that hospital, and Select a route that shortens the transfer time.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the reprocess equipment share system 10 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows a configuration of the reprocess equipment share system 10. The reprocess equipment share system 10 includes a clinic management system 20 provided in the clinics 2a to 2h connected via the network, a reprocessing equipment share apparatus 100, and a hospital management system 30 provided in each of the hospitals 1a to 1c. Prepare. As shown in FIG. 1, the reprocess facility sharing system includes a plurality of hospitals and clinics, and thus may include a plurality of clinic management systems 20 and a plurality of hospital management systems 30. Only one clinic management system 20 and one hospital management system 30 are shown.

  The clinic management system 20 includes a clinic information management server 22, a clinic information storage unit 24, a reprocess order acquisition unit 26, and a router 28. These are connected so as to be able to communicate with each other via a network such as a LAN. The reprocess order acquisition unit 26 is, for example, a stationary personal computer or a portable terminal.

  The reprocess order acquisition unit 26, for example, determines that a reprocess request is required by a clinic staff and inputs a reprocess order for requesting reprocess processing from a keyboard or the like. get. The reprocess order may be created by a staff member and input from an input device such as a keyboard, or may be generated by software or the like when a schedule, a medical device usage record, or the like is input.

  For example, an order may be created by schedule management software when a schedule for surgery or examination is determined and a schedule for surgery or examination is input by a clinic staff or the like. In this case, the reprocess order obtaining unit 26 obtains an order created by the schedule management software. In addition, when a usage record of medical equipment is input during preparation for surgery or examination, an order may be created by medical equipment management software or the like. For example, when opening a sterilized surgical kit containing forceps, a scalpel, etc., the usage record may be input by the clinic staff reading the mark attached to the kit by optical or electromagnetic means. . In this case, the reprocess order obtaining unit 26 obtains an order created by the medical instrument management software.

  The clinic information management server 22 transmits the order acquired by the reprocess order acquisition unit 26 to the reprocess equipment sharing apparatus 100 via the router 28 and the network 5 and records it in the clinic information storage unit 24. The clinic information management server 22 may, for example, transmit the orders for one day at a fixed time once a day, for example, and each time an order is input to the reprocess order acquisition unit 26, the order is received. May be transmitted. A configuration may be adopted in which these transmission methods can be selected depending on the priority of the order, that is, whether or not the reprocessing process is urgently required.

  The hospital management system 30 includes a hospital information management server 32, a router 34, and a reprocess processing management system 40. The hospital information management server 32 manages the entire hospital management system 30 in an integrated manner. Although the hospital management system 30 can include a plurality of subsystems, only the reprocess processing management system 40 which is one of the subsystems is shown here. These are connected so as to be able to communicate with each other via a network such as a LAN, and are also connected to be able to communicate with the outside via the router 34.

  The reprocess process management system 40 includes a reprocess process management server 42, a reprocess process storage unit 44, a reprocess facility 48, and a reprocess facility control terminal 46. These are connected so as to be able to communicate with each other in the system via a network such as a LAN. The reprocessing equipment 48 is equipment for performing reprocessing processing of medical equipment such as cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization. The reprocess facility control terminal 46 controls the reprocess facility 48. The reprocess facility control terminal 46 also acquires facility information related to the availability of facilities such as the availability of reprocess facilities or the reprocess processing scheduled amount of the hospital itself, which is input by hospital staff or the like. When the reprocess facility 48 has a schedule management function, the reprocess facility 48 itself may acquire facility information by inputting by a staff, reading a mark attached to a medical device, or the like.

  The reprocess processing management server 42 transmits the facility information acquired by the reprocess facility control terminal 46 or the reprocess facility 48 to the reprocess facility share apparatus 100 via the router 34 and the network 5. In addition, information related to orders distributed to the hospital is received from the reprocess equipment sharing apparatus 100. The reprocess processing storage unit 44 records facility information, information related to the distributed order, and the like.

  FIG. 3 shows a configuration of the reprocess equipment sharing apparatus 100. The reprocess equipment share apparatus 100 includes an equipment information reception unit 110, an order reception unit 120, an order allocation unit 130, an allocation information notification unit 140, a router 150, a geographic information storage unit 160, an equipment information storage unit 170, an order storage unit 180, An allocation information storage unit 190 is provided. These are communicably connected to each other via a network such as a LAN, but the network is not shown. Note that the reprocessing equipment sharing system 10 in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 excluding a part of the clinic management system 20 and the hospital management system 30 may be used as the reprocessing equipment sharing system. Further, a combination of the reprocessing equipment sharing apparatus 100 and the network 5, a part of the clinic management system 20, and a part of the hospital management system 30 may be used as the reprocessing equipment sharing apparatus.

  The geographic information storage unit 160 stores, in advance, geographic information indicating the time required for transportation between hospitals and clinics, distance, distance, and the like. FIG. 4 shows an example of the geographic information table 162 stored in the geographic information storage unit 160. In the example of FIG. 4, the time taken for transportation between each hospital and clinic is recorded. For example, the time required between the hospital 1c and the clinic 2b is 66 minutes, as shown in the intersecting square of the row “Hospital 1c” and the column “Clinical clinic 2b”. Geographic information can be stored in various other formats. For example, it may be stored in the form of a map. In this case, it is also possible to update the required transport time between each hospital and clinic at every predetermined time interval by reflecting traffic jam information acquired via a network, for example.

  The facility information receiving unit 110 receives facility information on the reproducible service time, the processing capability of the reprocess facility, and the like from the hospital management system 30 via the router 150 and the network 5. Record in the facility information storage unit 170. The facility information receiving unit 110 may transmit a request for requesting each hospital to send the facility information once a day, for example, at a predetermined time, and receive the facility information transmitted as a result.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the equipment information table 172 stored in the equipment information storage unit 170. The equipment information table 172 includes an equipment providing organization field 173, a sterilization equipment type field 174, a processing amount field 175 per time, a required time field 176 per time, and an available time field 177. In the facility providing organization column 173, the name of the reprocessing facility providing organization is described.

  The sterilization facility type column 174 describes the types of sterilization facilities that are owned by each reprocessing facility providing organization and that can be provided for processing external medical equipment. In general, the reprocessing process is a combination of a series of processes of cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization. In this specification, the description will focus on the sterilization process for convenience. In other words, assuming that sterilization is the most time consuming and bottleneck part of the reprocessing process, the reprocessing process work is based on the amount of sterilization that can be handled by each facility, the processing time, etc. Is assumed to be distributed to each reprocessing equipment provider.

  Here, the autoclave is a method of sterilization under high temperature and high pressure using steam, and is used for sterilization of stainless steel scalpels and forceps. Plasma sterilization is a method of sterilization by generating plasma and generating radicals with extremely high reactivity, such as endoscopes and other medical devices that deteriorate with high-temperature and high-pressure sterilization methods, etc. Used for.

  As described above, since the sterilization method is determined depending on the type of medical equipment, the type of sterilization equipment that can be provided for the processing of external medical equipment described in the sterilization equipment type column 174 is, that is, the medical equipment that can be processed. It is the information which shows the kind of. In addition to the equipment information table 172, the equipment information storage unit 170 stores a table (not shown) that associates the types of sterilization equipment with the types of medical equipment that can be processed by the sterilization equipment. Instead, the facility information table 172 may include a “processable medical equipment column” that lists the types of medical equipment that can be directly processed. In this case, the equipment information table 172 may not include the sterilization equipment type column 174.

  The processing amount per time column 175 describes the processing capacity per time for each sterilization equipment of each reprocessing equipment providing organization. The required time per time column 176 describes the time required for one sterilization operation for each sterilization equipment of each reprocessing equipment providing organization. Generally, the processing amount per one time and the required time per one time are determined by the specifications of the processing equipment and do not change frequently. Therefore, only when there is a change, update information may be transmitted from each reprocess facility providing organization to the reprocess facility share apparatus 100.

  The available time column 177 describes a time zone in which the reprocess facility providing organization can provide the reprocess facility for external reprocess processing. Generally, depending on the number of operations at the reprocessing equipment provider, the time it takes for the reprocessing equipment provider to use the reprocessing equipment for itself also changes. . Therefore, the information regarding the time zone that can be provided is transmitted from each reprocess facility providing organization to the reprocess facility share apparatus 100 at a certain frequency such as once a day, and the facility information table 172 is updated. However, when it is possible to predict in advance from the schedule of surgery, etc., the schedule of available time for one week is sent from the reprocessing equipment provider, and only when there is a change, it is sent each time. May be. In this case, the facility information receiving unit 110 updates the facility information table 172 only for the portion related to the transmitted matter.

  When the information described in the processing amount column 175, the required time column 176, and the provisionable time column 177 is combined, the maximum amount of medical equipment that can be processed by the equipment (hereinafter referred to as “processing amount”). Can also be calculated. In other words, the processable amount can be calculated by dividing the available time by the required time per time and multiplying it by the process amount per time. Conversely, if the processable amount can be calculated, the facility information does not necessarily have to be in the above format. For example, instead of the provisionable time column 177, for example, a “necessary medical equipment quantity column” may be provided to describe the quantity of medical equipment that the facility providing organization itself needs to process. Then, the substantial provisionable time may be calculated by subtracting the time required for the reprocess processing for the reprocessing facility providing organization itself from the provisionable time set to a certain value in advance.

  Returning to FIG. The order reception unit 120 receives an order requesting reprocessing from the clinic management system 20 via the router 150 and the network 5 and records the order in the order storage unit 180. The order includes information on the requester and the type and quantity of medical equipment for which reprocessing is requested.

  FIG. 6 shows an order information table 182 stored in the order storage unit 180. The order information table 182 includes an order ID column 183, a request source column 184, a type column 185, a quantity column 186, and a priority column 187. In the order ID column 183, an order identifier uniquely given for each order is described. The request source column 184 describes the name and identifier of the medical institution that issued the order, that is, requested the reprocessing process. The type column 185 describes the type of medical equipment for which reprocessing is requested. Here, “forceps” refers to, for example, a surgical kit including stainless steel forceps, a scalpel, and the like, and refers to medical equipment that can be sterilized by a high-temperature, high-pressure sterilization method using an autoclave. An “endoscope” is an example of a medical device that is not suitable for high-temperature, high-pressure sterilization using an autoclave.

  The quantity field 186 describes the quantity of medical equipment for which reprocessing is requested. Here, for simplicity, the number of containers is shown for forceps. Actually, there are various sizes of containers that contain medical equipment used in surgery, so the requester describes the size and model number in addition to the number of containers, and the order reception department receives the order. In this case, a configuration may be adopted in which the unit is converted into a common unit.

  The priority column 187 describes the priority of the order designated by the requesting medical institution. FIG. 6 shows an example in which the priorities are described using symbols “A”, “B”, and “C”. “A” indicates that the reprocessing process must be completed and delivered by the morning of the next day, “B” indicates that the delivery may be delivered by the morning of the next day, and “C” indicates that the next 3 days. The case where it is possible to be up to morning.

  Returning to FIG. The order assigning unit 130 refers to the geographic information stored in the geographic information storage unit 160, the facility information stored in the facility information storage unit 170, the information related to the order recorded in the order storage unit 180, and the like. Then, based on these, each order is assigned to any of the hospitals that are equipment providing organizations, and the assignment status of the order to each hospital as a result is recorded in the assignment information storage unit 190. At this time, in addition to order distribution, the route for receiving medical equipment to be processed from each clinic and transporting it to the hospital, the route for delivery after processing, and the schedule for reprocessing, etc. are also created, and the allocation information is stored. It may be recorded in the unit 190. The allocation information notification unit 140 refers to the allocation information storage unit 190, and transmits information regarding the order allocated to the hospital to each hospital, and a reprocessing schedule if created. The allocation information notification unit 140 also transmits the allocation information read from the allocation information storage unit 190, information about the route, and the like to the reprocess equipment share center 6.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a distribution processing procedure for distributing the reprocess processing requested by the order allocation unit 130 to each hospital. This process is executed after the order reception deadline. For example, in the case where a facility providing organization provides reprocess facilities for external processing at night, 18:00 is determined as the order reception deadline every day, and then the order allocation unit 130 distributes the orders to each hospital. It is good also as performing.

  The order assigning unit 130 refers to the reprocess order information recorded in the order storage unit 180, and calculates a necessary total processing amount that combines all unprocessed orders. The order allocating unit 130 also refers to the facility information stored in the facility information storage unit 170, and calculates the total processable amount that is the sum of the processable amounts of each facility providing facility (S10).

  Subsequently, the order assigning unit 130 compares the required total processing amount with the total processable amount (S12), and if the required total processing amount is equal to or greater than the total processable amount (N in S12), the required total processing is performed. Until the amount becomes less than the total processable amount, the low priority order is distributed to the next day (S14). If the required total processing amount is less than the total processing possible amount (Y in S12), the process proceeds to the next step as it is. The calculation and comparison of the required total processing amount and total processing amount are performed for each type of sterilization equipment to be used. In addition, when comparing the required total processing amount and the total processable amount, instead of simply determining the magnitude relationship, for example, the necessary total processing amount is determined as the total processing amount in order to give a margin to the processing amount. It may be based on whether it is within 90% of the possible amount.

  Next, the order assigning unit 130 assigns an order (hereinafter, also referred to as a limited order) related to medical equipment for which the facilities that can be processed are limited to the equipment providing organization having the equipment (S16). At this time, other orders by the client who has issued the limited order are first assigned to the equipment providing organization. As a result, it is possible to reduce waste on the transportation surface such that a plurality of transportation vehicles stop at one clinic. However, in the event that inconvenience occurs as a result of allocating other orders, only the limited order may be assigned to the equipment providing organization having the equipment first. Although the number of facility providing organizations that can be processed is limited, when there are two or more, it may be assigned to a facility providing organization close to the client of the limited order among the facility providing organizations that can be processed.

  For example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, the hospital 1b is the only facility providing organization having plasma sterilization facilities. Therefore, orders for medical equipment that is not suitable for autoclave sterilization, such as an endoscope, and orders from requesters of limited orders are first assigned to the hospital 1b. In FIG. 6, since it is the clinic 2h and the clinic 2f that request the reprocessing of the “endoscope”, orders of order IDs 0001, 0004, and 0005 are assigned to the hospital 1b. However, in the case where inconvenience occurs as a result of allocating other orders, the order of the order ID 0005 may not be fixed at the initial stage.

  Next, the order assigning unit 130 creates a plurality of order distribution plans in which other orders are distributed to the facility providing organization (S18). The order assigning unit 130 selects and adopts an order distribution plan having the shortest total transport time from among the plurality of created order distribution plans (S20). Then, the order distribution process ends.

  Various methods can be used as an algorithm for creating a plurality of order distribution plans in step S18. The number of order distribution plans to be created may be appropriately determined in consideration of calculation time, resources such as memory and CPU. When a large number of distribution plans are created, a distribution plan may be created using a plurality of algorithms.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of the order distribution plan creation process in step S18 of FIG. In this example, start from one equipment provider, and assign an order to one equipment provider by connecting with the nearby clinics and the nearby clinics within the range that does not exceed the processing capacity. Create a draft. When selecting “neighboring” clinics, multiple order assignment proposals are made by allowing the selection of a plurality of clinics and further allowing the selection of a plurality of nearby clinics. Is created. Further, for each order allocation plan, one or more order allocation plans for other equipment providing organizations are created. After one or more order allocation proposals, which are a set of order allocation proposals, are created for all equipment providers, all orders are assigned to one of the hospitals by excluding the order allocation proposals with unassigned orders remaining. One or more order distribution plans are created.

  Hereinafter, it will be described in detail along the flowchart of FIG. In this flowchart, the order allocation plan, which is a set of order allocation plans, is created for all equipment providing institutions by repeatedly executing the order assigning processes of S32 to S40 for each equipment providing agency (S30, S42). Can do. If the order of the equipment providing institutions is different when executing the order assignment process, generally, the order distribution plan created as a result is different. Therefore, it is desirable that the order assignment procedure of S32 to S40 is repeatedly executed for all the permutations of the facility providing organization. In this embodiment, since there are three equipment providing organizations of hospitals 1a to 1c, 1a → 1b → 1c, 1a → 1c → 1b, 1b → 1a → 1c, 1b → 1c → 1a, 1c → 1a → 1b The order assignment processing of S32 to S40 is executed in six repetition orders of 1c → 1b → 1a.

  Next, if all the orders have not been assigned (n in S32), the order assigning unit 130 temporarily selects a clinic that is in the vicinity of one facility providing organization and is a request source of unselected orders ( S34). In determining whether it is “neighboring”, for example, referring to the geographic information table 162 in FIG. 4, it may be determined that it is near if the required time is equal to or less than a threshold value. For example, when the threshold is set to 30 minutes and one facility providing organization that first assigns an order is the hospital 1a, the order assigning unit 130 refers to the geographic information table 162, and the required time is 30 minutes or less. The office 2a, clinic 2d, and clinic 2e are temporarily selected. In this case, there are three allocation proposal candidates, and the allocation process is executed independently for each of these. By changing this threshold, it is possible to adjust the number of order distribution plans to be created. If the number of distribution proposals finally created does not reach the desired number, the threshold is adjusted. The distribution plan creation process may be executed again.

  Next, the order assigning unit 130 refers to the equipment information table 172 and the order information table 182 and confirms whether the processing amount is within the allowable range. Further, it is also confirmed whether the transport time is within a predetermined allowable range (S36). If it is within the allowable range (Y in S36), the provisional selection is confirmed (S38). The selection / non-selection of the order may be recorded in the form of a flag for each clinic or order. Returning to step S32 again, if all the orders have not been assigned (n in S32), a clinic near the selected clinic is selected (S34). As a result, when the processing amount or the transport time is not within the allowable range (N in S36), the temporary selection selected immediately before is canceled and the allocation plan for the hospital is determined (S40). Further, when the assignment destination hospital is determined for all orders (y in S32), the assignment process for the hospital is ended. In this case, the assigned order for a hospital that has not yet been assigned an order is 0.

  In addition, although it demonstrated as selecting an order per clinic here, it is good also as selecting per order. Thereby, for example, it is possible to cope with a case where there is no margin in the total processable amount.

  The order assigning unit 130 repeats the order assigning process described above for all hospitals that are equipment providing organizations. That is, one or more order distribution plans that are a set of order allocation plans for all hospitals are created (S42). Further, as described above, the order of hospitals at the time of processing is changed, and the procedures of S32 to S40 are repeated to create a plurality of order distribution plans. Then, the order allocation unit 130 excludes the order distribution plan in which an order that is not allocated to any hospital remains (S44), and ends the order allocation process.

  Note that, as described above, depending on the type of medical equipment, the facility providing organizations that can be processed are limited, and therefore, in step S16 in FIG. 7, one or more orders may be assigned to a specific hospital. In this case, for example, a clinic where the required time from the hospital and the clinic that is the request source of the limited order already assigned to the hospital is both equal to or less than a threshold value may be temporarily selected. Then, when the processing amount or the conveyance time is within the allowable range, an order allocation plan may be created by confirming the provisional selection.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of an order distribution plan and a delivery route at that time. The order of the clinic 2b, clinic 2a, and clinic 2d is assigned to the hospital 1a. The transport vehicle travels in the order of the clinic 2b, the clinic 2a, and the clinic 2d, receives the medical equipment on the order, and transports it to the hospital 1a. Referring to the geographic information table 162, the time required from the clinic 2b to the clinic 2a is 23 minutes, the time required from the clinic 2a to the clinic 2d is 30 minutes, and the time from the clinic 2d to the hospital 1a is The travel time is 16 minutes. Therefore, it takes 69 minutes to receive the medical equipment and transport it to the hospital 1a. When the processed medical equipment is taken out from the hospital 1a after completion of the reprocessing process and delivered around each clinic, this route is reversed.

  Similarly, the hospital 1b is assigned the order of the clinic 2f, clinic 2h, clinic 2g, and clinic 2c. The time required for receiving the medical equipment and transporting it to the hospital 1b in this order is 116. Minutes. The hospital 1c is assigned the order of the clinic 2e, and the time required for transportation to the hospital 1c is 16 minutes. Therefore, according to this order distribution plan, the time required for one-way transport is 201 minutes in total.

  FIG. 10 shows another example of an order distribution plan and a delivery route at that time. The hospital 1a is assigned the order of the clinic 2c, clinic 2b, and clinic 2a. The time required for receiving the medical equipment and transporting it to the hospital 1a in this order is 61 minutes. The hospital 1b is assigned the order of the clinic 2f, clinic 2h, and clinic 2g, and it takes about 78 minutes to receive the medical equipment in this order and transport it to the hospital 1b. The hospital 1c is assigned the order of the clinic 2d and clinic 2e, and it takes 37 minutes to receive the medical equipment and transport it to the hospital 1c in this order. Therefore, according to this order distribution plan, the time required for one-way transport is 176 minutes in total.

  Comparing FIG. 9 with the order distribution plan of FIG. 10, the time required for one-way transport is shorter for the order distribution plan of FIG. Therefore, when there are only two order distribution plans, the order allocation unit 130 selects the order distribution plan of FIG. 10 in step S20 of the flowchart of FIG.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of an allocation information table 192 that is determined by the order allocation unit 130 according to the above procedure and stored in the allocation information storage unit 190. The allocation information table 192 includes an equipment providing institution field 193, a sterilization equipment type field 194, a handling order ID field 195, a handling amount field 196, a processing time field 197, a transport time field 198, and a transport route field 199.

  In the facility providing organization column 193, the name of the facility providing organization such as a hospital that provides the reprocess facility is described. In the sterilization facility type column 194, the type of sterilization facility possessed by the facility providing organization is described. In the handling order ID column 195, the identifier of the order allocated to the equipment provision time is described. In the handling amount column 196, a handling amount that is the sum of the processing amounts for the assigned order is described. The required processing time column 197 describes the required processing time when the handling amount is processed by the equipment. In the time required for transportation field 198, it is necessary to turn around each clinic in order to receive the medical equipment on the order and carry it to the hospital, or to deliver to each clinic from the hospital after completion of the reprocessing process. Time is described. In the transport route column 199, the transport order is described.

  In the above, this invention was demonstrated based on the Example. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that this embodiment is an exemplification, and that various modifications can be made to combinations of the respective components and processing processes, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. By the way.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the example in which the present invention is applied to the medical device reprocessing service has been described. The present invention can be applied to a system used for a service that performs some kind of processing in a collective manner and delivers it. For example, the present invention can be applied to a cleaning service system that has one or more processing centers and performs a collection and delivery service.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, it has been described on the assumption that it is collected and delivered once a day from evening to night, reprocessed, and delivered in the next morning. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Can be run at any interval. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which distributes an order and determines a schedule, when the process concerning an order is accumulate | stored more than predetermined amount, without fixing a time interval. As a result, when the order suddenly increases, etc., it is possible to respond flexibly.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the order is distributed within a predetermined area. However, it is possible to connect to other areas via a network and distribute the order across a plurality of areas if necessary. It is good also as a structure which can be performed. As a result, it is possible to average the variation in the order amount from each client and the availability of the facility providing facility over a wider range, so that the processing facility can be used more efficiently.

It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of the reprocessing equipment share system concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the reprocessing equipment share system concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the reprocessing equipment share apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the geographic information table stored in the geographic information storage part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the equipment information table memorize | stored in the equipment information storage part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the order information table memorize | stored in the order memory | storage part of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the allocation processing procedure at the time of the order allocation part of FIG. 3 allocating an order to each hospital. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the order distribution plan creation process of step S18 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of an order distribution plan, and the delivery route in that case. It is a figure which shows another example of an order distribution plan, and the delivery route in that case. It is a figure which shows the example of the allocation information table which an order allocation part determines by the procedure of FIG. 8, and stores in an allocation information storage part.

Explanation of symbols

  10 reprocess equipment share system, 26 reprocess order acquisition part, 42 reprocess processing management server, 46 reprocess equipment control terminal, 48 reprocess equipment, 100 reprocess equipment share equipment, 110 equipment information reception part, 120 order reception part 130 Order allocation unit.

Claims (6)

An order receiving unit that receives orders from one or more requesters to perform predetermined processing on the property of the requesters;
A facility information receiving unit that receives facility information relating to availability of one or more facility providing organizations that provide facilities for processing the client's property;
An order assigning unit that distributes each order to the equipment providing organization based on the order, the equipment information, and a geographical relationship between the requester and the equipment providing organization;
The order allocating unit does not exceed the processable amount of the equipment providing organization calculated from the equipment information, and the processing assigned to each equipment providing organization is owned by each client. A processing equipment sharing apparatus, wherein an order is distributed to each equipment providing organization based on a total transport time when an object is received and delivered to one of the equipment providing organizations to which the order is assigned.   The processing equipment sharing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the order allocating unit creates a plurality of order distribution plans, and adopts an order distribution plan that minimizes the total transport time. The client's property is medical equipment,
The processing equipment sharing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined process is a reprocessing process of medical equipment. The order includes information indicating the type of medical equipment,
The facility information includes information indicating the types of medical equipment that can be processed,
When the order receiving unit receives an order related to medical equipment for which the facility providing organization that can be processed is limited, the order allocating unit provides equipment that can process the medical equipment for the order from the requester of the order. 4. The processing equipment sharing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein after the assignment to the engine, another order is assigned. An order input unit that obtains an order for requesting a client to perform predetermined processing;
An order accepting unit that accepts the order transmitted via the network;
A facility information acquisition unit that acquires facility information related to the availability of the facility providing organization from a facility providing organization that provides facilities for processing the client's property; and
A facility information receiving unit for receiving the facility information transmitted via the network;
An order assigning unit that distributes each order to the equipment providing organization based on the order, the equipment information, and a geographical relationship between the requester and the equipment providing organization;
The order allocating unit does not exceed the processable amount of the equipment providing organization calculated from the equipment information, and the processing assigned to each equipment providing organization is owned by each client. A processing equipment sharing system, wherein an order is allocated to each equipment providing organization based on a total transport time when the goods are received and delivered to one of the equipment providing organizations to which the order is assigned. Receiving an order requesting to perform predetermined processing on the property of the requester from one or more requesters, and storing the order in a storage unit;
Receiving facility information relating to availability of one or more facility providing organizations that provide facilities for processing the client's property, and storing the information in a storage unit;
Allocating the processing for each order to the facility providing organization based on the order, the facility information, and geographic information between the requester and the facility providing organization,
In the distribution step, the time required for processing in each facility providing organization does not exceed the available time specified in the information on the available status, and the property belonging to the order is received from each client and the order is received. A processing equipment sharing method, wherein an order is allocated to each equipment providing organization based on a total transport time when carrying in one of the assigned equipment providing organizations.

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