JP2012078265A - Pill inspection device and pill inspection method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a conventional pill inspection device leaves a part of a display label in an inspection image even when removal of the display label by binarization is attempted to be performed.SOLUTION: A pill inspection device 11 is constituted by being provided with: a placement base 12 for loading a chartula cartridge 21 to which a display label with transparency is applied; a reflection illumination part 13; a transparent illumination part 14 which illuminates the placement base 12 from the opposite side of the reflection illumination part 13; a camera part 15 which photographs a reflected image and photographs a transmission image; a differential image generation part 18 which takes difference between the reflected image and the transmission image to generate a differential image; a separation degree calculation part 16 which calculates a separation degree showing whether or not a pill area and a label area of the differential images are clearly separated from each other when the differential image is binarized; and a brightness adjustment part 17 which changes a level value of a transparent illumination level of the transparent illumination part 14 to be adjusted to a level value of an operation level at which the separation degree to be obtained from the separation degree calculation part 16 is equal to or less than a predetermined value or the minimum value.

Description

  The present invention relates to a tablet supervision inspection apparatus and a tablet inspection method for supporting an inspection of a tablet enclosed in a medicine package.

  In hospital facilities, pharmacies, etc., accurate dispensing work must be performed on prescriptions. Therefore, the dispensing audit is performed after the dispensing operation. For example, a tablet inspection apparatus that removes a display label from a light-transmitting medicine package has been proposed for a medicine package in which tablets are enclosed by a tablet packaging machine.

  FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a conventional tablet inspection apparatus.

  The tablet inspection apparatus 1 binarizes the transmission image of the medicine package 2 taken by the camera 3 to remove the display label applied to the medicine package 2 and generate an inspection image.

  The tablet inspection device 1 performs image processing on a camera 3 that captures the medicine pack 2 at the inspection position, an illuminator 6 that is disposed below the camera 3, and a shaded transmission image captured by the camera 3. And a display 5 connected to the image processing unit 4.

  Then, the image processing unit 4 captures the transmission image captured by the camera 3, and then binarizes the transmission image with a predetermined threshold value to obtain a binary image. Subsequently, a noise removal process including contraction and expansion is performed on the binarized image, and the display label applied to the medicine package 2 is removed. Then, the inspection image from which the display label is removed is displayed on the display 5.

  Here, when a specific threshold value is adopted when binarizing the transmission image, it may be difficult to appropriately binarize depending on the type of medicine-wrapping paper used for the medicine package and the illumination state.

  Therefore, in the binarization process of the transmission image, the tablet inspection apparatus 1 performs labeling on the binarized image, compares the number of labels obtained by this with a predetermined reference value, and the number of labels becomes the reference value. If it exceeds the threshold, the threshold for binarization is changed in the direction of decreasing the number of labels. For example, if several to 20 tablets are normally enclosed in the medicine package, the reference value of the image processing device 4 is 20.

  As a result, when the number of labels exceeds the reference value, the threshold value is corrected by changing the number of labels in a decreasing direction. An appropriate threshold value is set by correcting the threshold value until the number of labels becomes equal to or less than the reference value. And the tablet inspection apparatus 1 can produce | generate the test | inspection image which removed the display label, if the transmission image image | photographed using the camera 3 is binarized with this threshold value (for example, refer patent document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-231342

  However, when the transmission image is binarized by the conventional tablet inspection apparatus 1, a part of the display label may remain in the inspection image or the outer shape of the tablet may be chipped. It is considered that the lack of the outer shape of the tablet is caused by the fact that the brightness of the tablet region in the transmission image is higher at the periphery than at the center. The reason why a part of the display label remains is considered that the brightness of the peripheral edge of the tablet and the display label may be the same.

  That is, the conventional tablet inspection apparatus 1 has a problem that when the display label is removed by binarization, a part of the display label remains in the inspection image or the outer shape of the tablet is missing. It was.

  The present invention is to solve the above-described conventional problems, and when removing a display label, a tablet inspection apparatus for generating a differential image capable of preventing the remainder of the display label and chipping of the tablet, and An object is to provide a tablet inspection method.

  In order to solve the above problems, a tablet inspection apparatus according to the present invention includes a mounting table on which a medicine package with a display label having transparency is mounted, a reflective illumination unit that illuminates the mounting table, and the mounting table. A transmission illumination unit that illuminates the mounting table from the opposite side of the reflection illumination unit across the camera, a camera unit, a reflection image obtained by photographing the medicine pack illuminated by the reflection illumination unit with the camera unit, and the transmission A difference image generation unit that generates a difference image from a difference between the transmission image obtained by photographing the medicine pack illuminated by the illumination unit with the camera unit, and a tablet region and a label region of the binarized difference image A degree-of-separation calculation unit, and the transmission illumination unit, the reflection illumination unit, the camera unit, and the differential image generation so that the degree of separation obtained from the degree-of-separation calculation unit is a predetermined value or less. Adjust at least one operating state of the part Characterized by comprising a brightness adjusting unit.

  In order to solve the above problems, the tablet inspection method of the present invention includes a mounting table on which a medicine package with a display label having transparency is mounted, a reflective illumination unit that illuminates the mounting table, and a front And a transmission illumination unit that illuminates the previous mounting table from the opposite side of the reflective illumination unit across the mounting table, the tablet inspection method using a tablet inspection device, wherein the medicine in the state illuminated by the reflective illumination unit A reflection image acquisition step of acquiring a reflection image obtained by photographing the package with the camera unit; a transmission image acquisition step of acquiring the transmission image by photographing the medicine package with the camera unit in a state illuminated by the transmission illumination unit; A difference image generation step of generating a difference image by a difference image generation unit from a difference between the reflected image and the transmission image; and a degree of separation calculation step of calculating a degree of separation between the binarized tablet region and the label region of the difference image; , The degree of separation To be equal to or less than the predetermined value, the transmitting illumination unit, the reflection illumination unit, characterized by having a a brightness adjustment step of adjusting at least one operating condition of the camera unit and the difference image generation unit.

  In the present invention, the binarization process is performed using the difference image, whereby the display label can be removed without the lack of the outer shape of the tablet or the remaining display label.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tablet inspection device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The figure which shows the histogram of the difference image in this Embodiment 1. It is a figure which shows the change of the tablet brightness and label brightness with respect to the illumination level in this Embodiment 1, (a) The figure which shows the brightness change of a transmitted image, (b) The figure which shows the brightness change of a reflected image It is a figure which shows the image of the medicine package which was image | photographed with the camera in this Embodiment 1, (a) The figure which shows a reflected image, The figure which shows a (b) transmission image The figure which shows the difference image of the medicine package in this Embodiment 1. It is a figure which shows the lightness in each image of the tablet with a curved surface in this Embodiment 1, (a) The figure which shows a capsule-type tablet, (b) The figure which shows the lightness for every pixel in the reflective image of a tablet, (c ) A diagram showing the brightness for each pixel in the transmission image of the tablet, (d) a diagram showing the brightness for each pixel in the difference image of the tablet The figure which shows the difference binarization image which binarized the difference image of the medicine pack in this Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the transmission binarized image of the medicine pack which binarized the transmission image of the medicine pack in this Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure which shows the cross | intersection area | region image produced | generated from the difference binarized image and transparent binarized image of the medicine pack in this Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the synthetic | combination image of the medicine pack which synthesize | combined the reflection image and intersection area | region image in this Embodiment 1. FIG. The flowchart which shows the illumination adjustment procedure of the tablet inspection apparatus in this Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the sample medicine pack in this Embodiment 1. The flowchart which shows the procedure of the tablet test | inspection performed using the tablet test | inspection apparatus in this Embodiment 1. The figure which shows the conventional tablet inspection device

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the same component and description may be abbreviate | omitted. In addition, for easy understanding, the drawings schematically show each component mainly.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tablet inspection apparatus 11 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The tablet inspection apparatus 11 is an apparatus that generates a test image by removing a display label from an image obtained by photographing a medicine pack 21 having a display label. And in order to remove a display label from the image which image | photographed the medicine package 21, the tablet test | inspection apparatus 11 adjusts the permeation | transmission illumination part 14 to a suitable permeation | transmission illumination level value so that the degree of separation may become small in a difference image.

  Here, the degree of separation is an index indicating whether the brightness distribution of the tablet area and the label area can be clearly separated in the difference image.

  The transmitted illumination level is a value indicating the intensity of the illumination light. The minimum intensity of the transmitted illumination unit 14 is assumed to be a transmitted illumination level of level 1, and the maximum intensity of the transmitted illumination unit 14 is assumed to be a transmitted illumination level of level 16. When the transmitted illumination level is changed, the intensity of the illumination light increases linearly.

  In addition, the tablet area is an area of a portion indicating a tablet in a photographed image. The label area is an area of a portion indicating a display label in the photographed image.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the tablet inspection apparatus 11 includes a mounting table 12 on which a medicine package 21 on which a display label is formed is mounted, a reflective illumination unit 13 that illuminates the mounting table 12 with white light, and a reflective illumination unit 13. A transmissive illumination unit 14 that illuminates the mounting table 12 with white light from the opposite side, a camera unit 15, a difference image generation unit 18, a separation degree calculation unit 16, and a brightness adjustment unit 17.

  The medicine package 21 according to the first embodiment is obtained by encapsulating a tablet between a transparent film and a thin white film. And a white film is provided with the printing part which printed the display label with the transparent black ink. Here, the display label includes a patient name, a medicine taking time, a medicine package number, a barcode, and the like.

  The mounting table 12 is a table for placing the medicine pack 21 at the time of inspection. The mounting table 12 includes a guide unit 20 provided at an end, and a transparent acrylic plate 22 positioned between the camera unit 15 and the transmission illumination unit 14.

  The guide part 20 has a driving roller and a guide roller (not shown) inside. Then, the end portion of the medicine pack 21 is sandwiched between the drive roller and the guide roller, and the drive roller is rotated to move the medicine pack 21 along the guide portion 20.

  Moreover, the transparent acrylic board 22 is a transparent board, and lets the light which generate | occur | produces in the transmission illumination part 14 below. The position of the transparent acrylic plate 22 is also a position where the medicine pack 21 photographed by the camera unit 15 is placed.

  The camera unit 15 shoots a reflected image by illuminating the medicine package 21 placed on the transparent acrylic plate 22 of the mounting table 12 with the reflection illumination unit 13. Further, the camera unit 15 captures a transmission image by illuminating with the transmission illumination unit 14.

  At this time, the transparent film of the medicine pack 21 faces the camera unit 15 side. The photographing lens of the camera unit 15 is above the opening of the cylindrical reflection illumination unit 13. The camera unit 15 is located at a position facing the transmission illumination unit 14 with the mounting table 12 interposed therebetween.

  The difference image generation unit 18 takes the difference between the reflection image and the transmission image and generates a difference image. The brightness of the pixels forming the difference image is a brightness difference obtained by subtracting the pixels of the transmission image from the pixels of the reflection image.

  The degree-of-separation calculating unit 16 calculates a degree of separation indicating whether the tablet area and the label area of the difference image have been clearly separated when the difference image is binarized.

  The brightness adjustment unit 17 changes the transmitted illumination level, which is the operation level of the transmitted illumination unit 14, and changes the intensity of the illumination light from the transmitted illumination unit 14, thereby changing the brightness of the tablet region and the display label region of the transmitted image. Change. Thereby, the brightness of a difference image also changes. Based on this characteristic, the transmitted illumination level is adjusted so that the degree of separation obtained from the degree-of-separation calculating unit 16 is the minimum value from the brightness distribution of the difference image.

  Note that the degree of separation between the tablet area and the label area in the difference image is the degree of separation between the distribution indicating the tablet and the distribution indicating the display label in the brightness histogram of the difference image. Here, the degree of separation is generally a value obtained by dividing the variance within a class by the variance outside the class when a certain set is divided into two classes. When the above two classes are completely separated, the variance within the class is small and the variance outside the class is large, so the degree of separation is small, and when the two classes are not completely separated, the variance within the class is large and the class Since the outer dispersion is reduced, the degree of separation is increased.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a histogram of the difference image in the first embodiment. In FIG. 2, the horizontal axis indicates the lightness in the region, and the vertical axis indicates the number of pixels in the region.

  When calculating the degree of separation, a threshold value for dividing the class is required. However, in order to increase the dynamic range of each class, when the threshold value for binarization is 0, the degree-of-separation calculating unit 16 Then, a multiplication value obtained by multiplying the tablet brightness, which is the average value of the pixel brightness in the tablet area, and the label brightness, which is the average value of the pixel brightness in the label area, is calculated from the difference image.

  When this multiplication value is minimum, the degree of separation between the tablet area and the label area in the difference image is minimum. This is because the brightness adjustment unit 17 adjusts the transmission illumination level of the transmission illumination unit 14 so that the tablet brightness of the reflection image is lower than the tablet brightness of the transmission image, and the label brightness of the reflection image is higher than the label brightness of the transmission image. Can be adjusted. Therefore, when this multiplication value is the minimum, it means that the value is largely separated from the positive and negative with the lightness 0 as the center, and the variance outside the class is the maximum, so the binarization threshold is set to the lightness 0. The degree of separation is minimal.

  Next, the reason why the tablet brightness of the reflected image can be adjusted lower than the tablet brightness of the transmitted image and the label brightness of the reflected image can be adjusted higher than the label brightness of the transmitted image by adjusting the transmitted illumination level of the transmitted illumination unit 14 is shown in FIG. This will be described with reference to 3 (a) and 3 (b).

  FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing changes in tablet brightness and label brightness with respect to the illumination level in the first embodiment. FIG. 3A is a diagram showing a change in the brightness of the transmitted image, and FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a change in the brightness of the reflected image.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the tablet brightness in the transmission image increases in proportion to the transmission illumination level. On the other hand, the label brightness in the transmission image is rapidly higher than the tablet brightness. This is because the display label is formed of a transparent ink, whereas the tablet does not transmit light. Therefore, there is a large difference between label brightness and tablet brightness.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3B, the tablet brightness in the reflected image increases in proportion to the reflected illumination level. Similarly, the label brightness in the reflected image also increases with the same slope in proportion to the reflected illumination level.

  As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, changes in tablet brightness and label brightness with respect to the illumination level differ depending on the transmission image and the reflection image. Here, it is noted that when the transmitted illumination level is low in the transmitted image, the label brightness is high even if the tablet brightness is low. Then, there is an optimum reflected illumination level in the reflected image. The optimum reflected illumination level is a tablet brightness that is lower than the tablet brightness of the transmission image and higher than the label brightness of the transmission image.

  For example, when the transmitted illumination level is level 4 and the reflected illumination level is level 16, the tablet brightness of the reflected image is lower than the tablet brightness of the transmitted image, and the label brightness of the transmitted image is lower than the tablet brightness of the reflected image. Lower.

  That is, by adjusting the transmission illumination level and the reflection illumination level, the tablet brightness of the transmission image becomes lower than the tablet brightness of the reflection image, and the label brightness of the transmission image can be adjusted higher than the label brightness of the reflection image. And the tablet brightness of the difference image produced | generated from these reflected images and a transmission image becomes a positive value, a label brightness becomes a negative value, and a tablet brightness and a label brightness are divided | segmented largely.

  Therefore, the separation degree between the tablet lightness and the label lightness of the display label in the difference image becomes small, and the display label can be removed using image processing by binarization.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the tablet inspection apparatus 11 further includes a binarization processing unit 25 and an intersection area calculation unit 26. Then, the display label and specular reflection of the medicine pack 21 are removed from the difference image, and an inspection image that facilitates tablet inspection is generated. By displaying this inspection image on the display unit 29 connected to the tablet inspection apparatus 11, the tablets in the medicine package 21 can be audited more accurately.

  In addition, since the tablet inspection device 11 includes the tablet counting unit 27, the number of tablets can be calculated from the inspection image, and whether or not an appropriate tablet is contained in the medicine package 21 can be mechanically inspected.

  Moreover, the tablet inspection apparatus 11 can adjust to the illumination level which makes the isolation | separation degree obtained from a difference image the minimum by using the sample arrangement | positioning medicine tablet body whose tablet arrangement | positioning location and tablet lightness are known. In this case, the tablet inspection apparatus 11 further includes a sample position information recording unit 28 that stores the tablet position information and label position information of the sample medicine pack, and the separation degree calculation unit 16 includes the tablet position information and label position information. The tablet region and the label region of the sample medicine package are specified based on the above, and the degree of separation is calculated using the brightness of the tablet region and the label region. Therefore, the tablet and the display label in the sample medicine pack are not mistaken, and the transmission illumination level can be adjusted by accurately identifying the tablet and the display label in the reflection image and the transmission image. In order to make the tablet location known, it is conceivable to fix the tablet to the sample medicine pack. In order to make the tablet lightness known, it is conceivable that the outer shape of the tablet is accurately obtained in advance and the lightness based on it is calculated.

  Next, an image used when generating the inspection image by removing the display label using the reflection image and the transmission image described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing images of the medicine pack 21 taken by the camera unit 15 according to the first embodiment. 4A is a diagram showing the reflected image 31, and FIG. 4B is a diagram showing the transmitted image 32.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, the reflection image 31 includes a tablet region 33 showing a tablet enclosed in the medicine pack 21 and an image of a label region 34 showing a display label of the medicine pack 21 in color. It is shown as an image. Further, the reflected image 31 has a whiteout portion 35 that is mirror-reflected by the transparent film of the medicine pack 21. The whiteout portion 35 is a region generated by specular reflection in which the illumination light is totally reflected on the transparent film surface by the light from the reflective illumination portion 13. In the whiteout portion 35, since the illumination light does not reach the inside of the medicine package 21 through the transparent film, it is not possible to see the lightness information of the tablets existing in the whiteout portion 35. The reflection illumination unit 13 is ring-shaped illumination, and the medicine illumination body 21 is irradiated with light from the surroundings by the reflection illumination unit 13. A tablet (for example, a capsule) has a curved surface. Therefore, the peripheral edge of the tablet region 33 is slightly brighter than the center of the tablet region 33.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, in the transmission image 32, the images of the tablet region 33 and the label region 34 are shown as gray images. Since the display label is made of transmissive ink, a thin shadow appears in the label area 34. Since the tablet does not transmit light, the tablet region 33 has a dark shadow. The tablet region 33 in FIG. 4B is shaded without shading, but since the tablet (for example, capsule) actually has a curved surface, the periphery of the tablet region 33 is in the center of the tablet region 33. The brightness is slightly higher than that. Further, in the transmission image 32, since the illumination light enters from the white film side, the whiteout portion 35 caused by specular reflection does not exist unlike the reflection image 31.

  Here, when the label is to be removed by the conventional method, there is a high possibility that the peripheral portion is shaved during binarization. On the other hand, when the difference image between the reflection image 31 in FIG. 4A and the transmission image 32 in FIG. 4B is used as in the first embodiment, the lightness at the center of the tablet region 33 and the lightness at the peripheral portion. Since the difference is reduced, the influence of the peripheral edge of the tablet region 33 can be reduced.

  FIG. 5 is a difference image 36 of the medicine pack 21 in the first embodiment. In the difference image 36, the degree of separation between the tablet region 33 and the label region 34 is small. In the difference image 36, the brightness of the tablet area 33 is a positive value, and the brightness of the label area 34 is a negative value. This is because the tablet lightness of the transmission image 32 is lower than the tablet lightness of the reflection image 31 and the label lightness of the transmission image 32 is higher than the label lightness of the reflection image 31. This is because the lighting level is adjusted.

  Further, the brightness of each pixel in the tablet area 33 in the difference image 36 is smaller than the variation in brightness of the tablet area 33 in the transmission image 32. Since a tablet (for example, a capsule) has a curved surface, the brightness in the tablet region 33 of the transmission image 32 is higher in the peripheral pixels than in the central portion of the tablet region 33 due to the reflection of illumination light.

  FIGS. 6A to 6D are diagrams showing the lightness in each image of the tablet 10 having a curved surface. 6A is a diagram showing the capsule-type tablet 10, FIG. 6B is a diagram showing the brightness for each pixel in the reflection image of the tablet 10, and FIG. 6C is a transmission image of the tablet 10. FIG. 6D is a diagram illustrating the brightness for each pixel in the difference image of the tablet 10.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, the brightness of each pixel in the reflected image of the capsule tablet 10 varies. Specifically, the pixels in the peripheral part have higher brightness than the pixels in the central part of the tablet 10. As shown in FIG. 6C, the brightness of the tablet region of the transmission image of the tablet 10 is also higher in the peripheral portion than in the central portion of the tablet 10. However, this variation is suppressed in the difference image as shown in FIG.

  As a result, the separation degree of the tablet region 33 in the difference image 36 tends to be smaller than the separation degree of the tablet region 33 in the transmission image 32.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a difference binarized image 37 obtained by binarizing the difference image 36 of the medicine pack 21 according to the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the label region 34 can be removed by setting the lightness threshold value to a predetermined value between the tablet lightness and the label lightness.

  However, the whiteout portion 35 remains in the difference binarized image 37. If the overburden part 35 does not exist without the medicine pack 21 being affected by the specular reflection, the difference binarized image 37 can be used as an inspection image. However, when the whiteout portion 35 remains, it is necessary to remove the whiteout portion 35. In the actual inspection, it is difficult to make the state of the transparent film uniform. Therefore, when the medicine pack 21 is inspected continuously, the overexposed portion 35 is generated.

  In order to remove the whiteout portion 35, first, the transmission image 32 shown in FIG. 4B is binarized to obtain a transmission binary image.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a transmission binarized image 46 of the medicine pack 21 obtained by binarizing the transmission image 32 of the medicine pack 21 in the first embodiment. Since the transmission image 32 is not affected by the specular reflection, the transmission binarized image 46 obtained by binarizing the transmission image 32 is not affected by the specular reflection. Therefore, the whiteout portion 35 does not exist in the transmission binary image 46, and only the tablet region 33 and the label region 34 exist.

  Next, the density of the transmission binary image 46 is inverted. That is, the shadows of the tablet region 33 and the label region 34 are white (increased brightness), and the other portions are black (lower brightness). Note that since the whiteout portion 35 is not present in the transmission binary image 46, there is no portion corresponding to the whiteout portion 35 in the image obtained by inverting the density of the transmission binary image 46.

  Then, an intersecting area where the inverted image obtained by inverting the transparent binarized image 46 and the white portion of the difference binarized image 37 shown in FIG. 7 overlap is calculated, and an intersecting area image is generated.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an intersecting region image 47 generated from the difference binarized image 37 and the transmission binarized image 46 of the medicine pack 21 in the first embodiment.

  A white portion in the intersecting region image 47 shown in FIG. This is because the tablet region 33 is a white portion in the difference binarized image 37 and the image obtained by inverting the density of the transparent binarized image 46. Thus, in addition to the removal of the label area 34, the intersection area image 47 has the whiteout portion 35 removed, and the number of the tablet areas 33 in the inspection image is counted so that it is in the medicine pack 21. You can count the number of tablets. Furthermore, the shape of the tablet can also be determined.

  In addition, in order to discriminate the color of the tablet region 33, a composite image 48 of the medicine pack 21 obtained by combining the reflection image 31 and the cross region image 47 may be generated.

  FIG. 10 is a view showing a combined image 48 of the medicine pack 21 obtained by combining the reflected image 31 and the intersecting region image 47 in the first embodiment.

  A composite image 48 illustrated in FIG. 10 is obtained by superimposing the reflection image 31 and the intersecting region image 47 and capturing the portion corresponding to the tablet region 33 of the intersecting region image 47 from the reflected image 31. By generating the composite image 48 in this way, it is possible to determine the color of the tablet region 33 after removing the label region 34 and the whiteout portion 35.

  The tablet inspection method according to the first embodiment includes a reflected image acquisition step of illuminating the medicine package 21 with the display label with the reflection illumination unit 13 and taking a photograph with the camera unit 15 to obtain a reflected image 31; A transmission image acquisition step of illuminating 21 with the transmission illumination unit 14 and capturing the transmission image 32 by photographing with the camera unit 15. Further, the difference image generation step for creating the difference image 36 by the difference image generation unit 18 from the reflected image 31 and the transmission image 32, and when the difference image 36 is binarized, the tablet area 33 and the label area 34 of the difference image 36 are displayed. A separation degree calculation step for calculating a separation degree indicating whether the separation is clearly performed, and at least one operation state (operation level) of the transmission illumination unit 14, the reflection illumination unit 13, the camera unit 15, and the difference image generation unit 18 are changed. And a brightness adjustment step of adjusting the illumination level so that the separation obtained from the separation degree calculation step is a predetermined value or less or a minimum value.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an illumination adjustment procedure of the tablet inspection apparatus 11 according to the first embodiment.

  First, in order to adjust the illumination level, the reflected illumination level of the reflected illumination unit 13 is set to the maximum level (step S01). And the transmitted illumination level of the transmitted illumination part 14 is set to the maximum level (step S02). Next, the sample medicine package 51 is placed at the inspection position of the placement table 12.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a sample medicine pack 51 according to the first embodiment. The sample medicine package 51 is the same size as the ordinary medicine package 21, and a sample tablet 52 is enclosed between a transparent film and a thin white film. However, the sample tablet 52 is fixed to a white film so as not to move in the sample medicine package 51. Further, the sample display label 53 and the sample number 54 are printed on the white film with a transparent black ink.

  As the sample medicine pack 51, tablets and display labels having various conditions are used according to the medicine pack 21 to be actually inspected. Tablet types include capsules and coated tablets. There are also different colors of tablets. There are also two tablets that overlap. Moreover, it arrange | positions so that the direction of a tablet may differ. The display label includes a barcode and a design.

  When “102” which is the sample number 54 is input to the sample position information recording unit 28, the sample position information recording unit 28 sends the tablet position information and label position information of the sample medicine pack 51 to the separation degree calculation unit 16. . Then, as shown in FIG. 11, the degree-of-separation calculation unit 16 acquires the tablet position information and label position information of the sample medicine pack 51 (step S03).

  Thereafter, the reflective illumination unit 13 illuminates the sample medicine package 51 by irradiating illumination light at the illumination level set in step S01. The sample medicine pack 51 is photographed by the camera section 15 in a state where the sample medicine pack 51 is irradiated with light from the reflection illumination section 13. And the difference image generation part 18 acquires the reflected image 31 of the sample medicine pack 51 from the camera part 15 (step S04).

  Thereafter, the illumination light of the reflection illumination unit 13 is turned off, and the illumination light is irradiated from the transmission illumination unit 14 at the illumination level set in step S02, and the sample medicine package 51 is illuminated. The sample medicine pack 51 is photographed by the camera section 15 in a state where the sample medicine pack 51 is irradiated with light from the transmission illumination section 14. And the difference image generation part 18 acquires the transmission image 32 of the sample medicine pack 51 from the camera part 15 (step S05).

  Then, after the illumination light from the transmission illumination unit 14 is turned off, the difference image generation unit 18 calculates the difference between the reflection image 31 and the transmission image 32 and generates a difference image 36 of the sample medicine package 51 (step S06). Then, the degree-of-separation calculation unit 16 calculates the degree of separation for the difference image 36 generated in step S06 (step S07).

  The degree of separation calculated by the degree-of-separation calculating unit 16 is the average value of the tablet brightness in the plurality of tablets in the sample medicine pack 51 and the label brightness in the plurality of display labels in the sample medicine pack 51. This is the product of the average value. In the sample medicine package 51, since the position information of the five tablets and the position information of the two display labels are acquired in step S03, the brightness of the tablet region 33 and the label region 34 in these position information is set. By measuring, the tablet lightness of five tablets and the label lightness of two display labels can be measured. Then, a value obtained by multiplying the average value of the tablet lightness of the five tablets by the average value of the label lightness of the two labels is defined as the degree of separation. In this way, it is possible to accurately identify the tablet and the display label without mistaking the tablet of the sample medicine package 51 and the display label.

  The degree of separation calculated in step S07 and the transmitted illumination level at this time are recorded in the degree of separation calculation unit 16.

  After the separation degree is calculated, the separation degree calculation unit 16 determines whether or not the transmission illumination level is level 1, which is the minimum level (step S09). If the transmission illumination level is not level 1, transmission is performed. The illumination level is lowered by 1 (step S10).

  Then, in a state in which the transmitted illumination level is lowered by 1 (for example, in a state in which the transmitted illumination level is changed from level 16 to level 15), Steps S04 to S07 are performed. 17 is recorded.

  The transmitted illumination level is lowered one level at a time, and step S10 and steps S04 to S09 are repeated until level 1 is reached. When the transmitted illumination level reaches level 1, which is the minimum level, the transmitted illumination level that minimizes the separation degree is extracted from the plurality of separation degrees recorded in the brightness adjustment unit 17 in step S08. The transmission illumination level for measurement is set (step S11).

  As described above, by using the sample medicine package 51, the tablet inspection apparatus 11 can automatically set an optimal transmitted illumination level.

  In the illumination adjustment procedure of the tablet inspection apparatus 11 described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 11, the optimum illumination level is calculated by changing the transmitted illumination level while fixing the reflected illumination level. However, the optimal illumination level may be calculated by fixing the transmitted illumination level and changing the reflected illumination level. It is desirable to determine which one to use by examining in advance the effect of changing each illumination level.

  Further, without adjusting the illumination levels of the reflected illumination unit 13 and the transmitted illumination unit 14, the operating level of the camera unit 15 is adjusted when taking the reflected image and the transmitted image, so that the tablet brightness of the reflected image 31 can be obtained. The tablet brightness of the transmission image 32 may be lowered, and the label brightness of the transmission image 32 may be higher than the label brightness of the reflection image 31. Similarly, the operation level of the difference image generation unit 18 may be adjusted. Here, the operation level of the camera unit 15 is a reduction, shutter speed, or gain value of the camera unit 15. The operation level of the difference image generation unit 18 is a set value in the difference image generation unit 18.

  In the above description, the operation level is adjusted so that the degree of separation of the difference image 36 is minimized, but the degree of separation may be set to a predetermined value or less.

  In the first embodiment, the illumination lights of the reflection illumination unit 13 and the transmission illumination unit 14 are the same color. With such a configuration, it is possible to set an appropriate threshold for binarization without varying the brightness of the tablet and display label depending on the color of the tablet and display label.

  In the first embodiment described above, a method for adjusting the illumination level of the tablet inspection apparatus 11 using the sample medicine package 51 and performing the tablet inspection at the set illumination level will be described with reference to FIG. .

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a procedure of tablet inspection performed using the tablet inspection apparatus 11 according to the first embodiment.

  First, after placing a medicine bandage in which a plurality of medicine packages 21 are connected to the mounting table 12, the reflected illumination unit 13 generates illumination light at the illumination level set as described above, and the medicine package located at the inspection position. Illuminate the body 21. The medicine pack 21 is photographed by the camera unit 15 in a state in which the medicine pack 21 is irradiated with the illumination from the reflection illumination unit 13. And the difference image generation part 18 acquires the reflection image 31 of the medicine pack 21 from the camera part 15 (step S21).

  Thereafter, the reflective illumination unit 13 extinguishes the illumination light, and the transmission illumination unit 14 illuminates the medicine package 21 by generating illumination light at the already set illumination level. The medicine pack 21 is photographed by the camera unit 15 in a state in which the medicine pack 21 is irradiated with light from the transmission illumination unit 14. And the difference image generation part 18 acquires the transmission image 32 of the medicine pack 21 from the camera part 15 (step S22).

  Then, after the illumination light of the transmission illumination unit 14 is turned off, the difference image generation unit 18 takes the difference between the reflection image 31 and the transmission image 32 and generates a difference image 36 of the medicine pack 21 (step S23). Then, the difference image 36 is binarized by the binarization processing unit 25 (step S24), and the label area 34 is removed. At this time, since the illumination level is set to an appropriate value, the degree of separation between the tablet region 33 and the label region 34 is large. Therefore, by performing binarization of the difference image 36, a difference binarized image 37 from which the display label is removed from the difference image 36 can be generated.

  However, the overburden part 35 may occur in the difference binarized image 37 due to the influence of the specular reflection on the medicine pack 21. In order to remove the whiteout portion 35, the transmission image 32 acquired in step S22 is binarized (step S25).

  Then, the transmission binarized image 46 obtained by binarizing the transparent image 32 in step S25 is inverted to calculate an intersecting region where the inverted image and the white portion of the difference binarized image 37 overlap to generate an intersecting region image 47. (Step S26).

  A white portion in the intersecting region image 47 shown in FIG. As described above, the crossing area image 47 is obtained by removing the whiteout portion 35 in addition to the removal of the label area 34 and measuring the number and size of the tablet areas 33 in the medicine pack 21 as the inspection image. be able to. Then, the tablet counting unit 27 counts the number of tablet regions 33 in the intersecting region image 47. The number of tablet regions 33 is calculated as the number of tablets (step S27).

  Furthermore, the total number of tablets that should be enclosed in the medicine pack 21 is recorded in the tablet counting unit 27 based on the prescription. Then, the tablet counting unit 27 checks whether or not the total number of tablets based on the recorded prescription is the same as the number of tablets calculated in step S27 (step S28).

  If the total number of tablets based on the prescription is different from the number of tablets calculated in step S27, a message indicating that the number of tablets enclosed in the medicine pack 21 is different is displayed on the display unit 29. If the total number of tablets based on the prescription and the number of tablets calculated in step S27 are the same, the display unit 29 displays a message indicating that the number of tablets enclosed in the medicine pack 21 is the same.

  Thereafter, the guide part 20 of the mounting table 12 moves, and another medicine pack 21 is moved to the inspection position below the camera part 15. And in order to perform the tablet test | inspection of another medicine pack 21, step S21-step S28 are repeated and the medicine pack 21 is test | inspected.

  In the inspection method using the tablet inspection apparatus 11 described above, the tablet counting unit 27 automatically checks whether the number of tablets in the medicine pack 21 is an appropriate number of tablets. The crossing region image 47 may be displayed on the unit 29 to check the medicine pack tablet with the eyes of the inspector.

  In addition, the reflective illumination part 13 is good in the structure used as the dome shape illumination. This is because the medicine pack 21 can be irradiated with uniform light, the influence of the specular reflection of the medicine pack 21 can be suppressed, and the occurrence of the overexposure portion 35 of the difference image 36 can be prevented.

  The camera unit 15 may have a configuration having a polarizing filter. This is because the influence of specular reflection on the medicine pack 21 can be suppressed and the occurrence of the overexposed portion 35 of the difference image 36 can be prevented.

  Note that the display label is not limited to a printed matter using transmissive ink, and even if it is a permeable seal, the display label can be removed using the first embodiment.

  The tablet inspection apparatus of the present invention can accurately remove the display label, so that it can be used in pharmacies, hospital facilities, etc. that must perform accurate dispensing work that enables accurate tablet counting even when there is a display label. It is useful as a tablet inspection device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Tablet test | inspection apparatus 12 Mounting stand 13 Reflection illumination part 14 Transmission illumination part 15 Camera part 16 Separation degree calculation part 17 Lightness adjustment part 18 Difference image generation part 20 Guide part 21 Medicine package 22 Transparent acrylic board 25 Binarization process part 26 Crossing region calculation unit 27 Tablet counting unit 28 Sample position information recording unit 29 Display unit 31 Reflected image 32 Transparent image 33 Tablet region 34 Label region 35 Overexposure portion 36 Difference image 37 Difference binarized image 46 Transparent binarized image 47 Crossing Area image 48 Composite image 51 Sample medicine pack 52 Sample tablet 53 Sample display label 54 Sample number

Claims (10)

A mounting table for mounting a medicine package with a display label having permeability;
A reflective illumination unit for illuminating the mounting table;
A transmission illumination unit that illuminates the mounting table from the opposite side of the reflective lighting unit across the mounting table;
A camera unit;
Difference from a difference between a reflected image obtained by photographing the medicine pack illuminated by the reflected illumination unit by the camera unit and a transmitted image obtained by photographing the medicine package illuminated by the transmitted illumination unit by the camera unit. A difference image generation unit for generating an image;
A degree-of-separation calculating unit for calculating the degree of separation between the tablet region and the label region of the binarized difference image;
Brightness adjustment for adjusting at least one operating state of the transmission illumination unit, the reflection illumination unit, the camera unit, and the difference image generation unit so that the separation degree obtained from the separation degree calculation unit is equal to or less than a predetermined value. And a tablet inspection device. The brightness adjustment unit adjusts an illumination level that is at least one operating state of the transmission illumination unit or the reflection illumination unit,
The separation degree calculation unit calculates a separation degree from a multiplication value obtained by multiplying a tablet lightness that is an average value of pixel brightness in the tablet area and a label brightness that is an average value of pixel brightness in the label area. Item 2. The tablet inspection device according to Item 1. A sample position information recording unit for storing the tablet position information and label position information of the sample medicine pack;
The degree-of-separation calculation unit calculates the degree of separation by using the brightness of the tablet region and the label region in the difference image of the sample medicine pack specified based on the tablet position information and the label position information of the sample medicine pack. The tablet inspection device according to claim 1 or 2. The tablet inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein illumination light of the reflection illumination unit and the transmission illumination unit is the same color. The tablet inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reflected illumination unit is a dome-shaped illumination. The tablet inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the camera unit includes a polarizing filter. A mounting table on which a medicine package with a display label having transparency is mounted, a reflective illumination unit that illuminates the previous mounting table, and an illumination of the previous mounting table from the opposite side of the reflective lighting unit across the previous mounting table A tablet inspection method using a tablet inspection device comprising a transmission illumination unit,
A reflected image acquisition step of acquiring a reflected image obtained by photographing the medicine pack with a camera unit in a state illuminated by the reflected illumination unit;
A transmission image acquisition step of photographing the medicine pack with the camera unit in a state illuminated by a transmission illumination unit and acquiring a transmission image;
A difference image generation step of generating a difference image in a difference image generation unit from the difference between the reflection image and the transmission image;
A degree-of-separation calculation step for calculating the degree of separation between the tablet region and the label region of the binarized difference image;
A brightness adjustment step of adjusting at least one operating state of the transmission illumination unit, the reflection illumination unit, the camera unit, and the difference image generation unit so that the degree of separation is a predetermined value or less. Method. The separation degree calculation step calculates a separation degree from a multiplication value obtained by multiplying a tablet brightness which is an average value of pixel brightness in the tablet area and a label brightness which is an average value of pixel brightness in the label area. Item 8. The tablet inspection method according to Item 7. The degree-of-separation calculation unit step calculates the degree of separation using the brightness of the tablet region and the label region in the difference image of the sample medicine pack specified based on the tablet position information and label position information of the sample medicine pack stored in advance. The tablet inspection method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the tablet inspection method is calculated. The tablet inspection method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein illumination light of the reflection illumination unit and the transmission illumination unit is the same color.

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