JP2020121057A - Medicine inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a medicine inspection device capable of minimizing a time required for inspection, while performing inspection focusing on whether external appearances of the front face and the rear face of medicines stored in a package are same or not.SOLUTION: A medicine inspection device 10 includes an inspection part 30, an imaging part 40, and a control unit 60, derives external appearance information relating to external appearance of medicines in a package on the basis of images obtained by the imaging part 40, and can inspect whether the types of the medicines are as prescribed or not on the basis of the external appearance information. When inspecting a package group including common medicines to be packaged in common in the respective packages, on the condition that external appearance information of a first surface of the medicine subjected to the external appearance inspection is derived from at least one image of packages constituting a package group, and external appearance information of a second surface is derived on an image of the residual packages, it is determined that the medicine subjected to the external appearance inspection is packaged in each of the packages constituting the package group.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 12

Description

The present invention relates to a medicine inspection device for inspecting the quantity of medicines.

Conventionally, a tablet inspection system as disclosed in Patent Document 1 below has been provided. In the tablet inspection system disclosed in Patent Document 1 below, it is possible to package and supply a solid medicine in the form of granules, capsules, or the like into a wrapping paper. Further, in the tablet inspection system according to Patent Document 1 below, it is possible to take an image of the solid medicine in a state in which the solid medicine is packaged and to inspect the quantity of the solid medicine based on the image obtained thereby. Has been done.

JP-A-7-200770

Here, the present inventors have studied to further improve the inspection accuracy, and many drugs have markings such as engraved marks and identification codes on the front surface and the back surface. We obtained the knowledge that it can contribute to the improvement of. Specifically, in the tablet inspection system and the like according to Patent Document 1 described above, for example, a medicine packaged based on an image obtained by photographing a sachet in which a solid medicine is formed by a sachet paper. It is said that the color, shape, and quantity of can be derived and inspected. However, in the tablet inspection system and the like of Patent Document 1, for example, an inspection focusing on the difference in the appearance of the front surface and the back surface of the drug, such as the difference in the appearance due to markings such as engraved marks and identification codes on the front surface and the back surface, is performed. Not done. Therefore, in the conventional technology, there is a tendency that the number of cases in which manual inspection must be performed increases.

Here, for the drug contained in all the sachets, the present inventors tried to perform an inspection focusing on the appearance of the front and back surfaces of the drug, and there is a concern that the time required for the inspection will be long. occured. Based on such knowledge, a new problem has arisen, in which it is desired to further reduce the time required for inspection while performing inspection while paying attention to the appearance of the front and back surfaces of the drug.

Therefore, the present invention has an object to provide a drug inspection device capable of suppressing the time required for the inspection to a minimum while performing an inspection focusing on the difference in the appearance of the front surface and the back surface of the drug contained in the sachet. ..

(1) The medicine inspection device of the present invention provided to solve the above-mentioned problem can photograph the inspection unit in which the sachet containing the medicine is arranged and the sachet arranged in the inspection unit. Appearance information on the appearance of the medicine contained in the sachet based on the image obtained by the photographing section, the medicine information database accumulating information about the medicine to be inspected, and the photographing section. It is possible to perform an appearance inspection to inspect whether or not the type and quantity of the packaged drug is as prescribed based on the appearance information and the information registered in the drug information database. An inspection processing unit is provided, which is composed of a plurality of sachets, and in the case of inspecting a sachet group containing a common drug to be commonly packaged in each of the sachets, The inspection processing unit uses the common drug as an object of the appearance inspection, and the sachets forming the sachet group are each photographed by the photographing unit from one direction with respect to the inspection unit. The appearance inspection is performed based on the appearance information derived as described above and the information registered in the drug information database about the drug that may be packaged, and was subjected to inspection. From the image of at least one of the sachets forming the sachet group, the appearance information about the first orientation of the common drug that is the subject of the appearance inspection is derived, and the remaining contents The common drug constitutes the sachet group, provided that appearance information about the second direction of the common drug other than the first direction of the common drug is derived in the image of the packaging bag. It is characterized in that it is determined that each of the sachets is packaged.

In the drug inspection device of the present invention, in the case of inspecting a drug having a common type packaged in each of the sachets as a target of the appearance inspection, the sachets forming a sachet group to be inspected. From at least one of the images, the appearance information about the first orientation (for example, the surface) of the common drug subjected to the appearance inspection is derived, and from the images of the remaining sachets, the above-mentioned first That the external appearance information is derived for the second direction (for example, the back side) except the direction of the medicine, the medicine that is the target of the appearance inspection is packaged in each of the sachets forming the sachet group. Is used as a determination condition for making a determination. Further, in the drug inspection device of the present invention, out of the information registered in the drug information database, the appearance inspection is performed by referring to the information about the drug that may be packaged, and the appearance inspection is performed at high speed. It is possible to secure high inspection accuracy while converting. Therefore, according to the present invention, while paying attention to the difference in appearance between the first direction and the second direction regarding the drug contained in the sachet, while performing a highly credible inspection, the time required for the inspection is minimized. It is possible to provide a drug inspection device that can be suppressed.

Further, in the medicine inspection device of the present invention, the image photographed by the photographing unit from the one direction with respect to the inspection unit is used to derive the appearance information. Therefore, in the medicine inspection device of the present invention, even if the medicine is packaged in a sachet whose one surface is transparent and the other surface is opaque, the image is taken from the transparent surface side of the sachet. By performing the above, it is possible to inspect whether or not the medicine subjected to the appearance inspection is packaged in each of the sachets forming the sachet group.

In the present invention and the following description, the “appearance” refers to colors, shapes, sizes, patterns (including print information, information such as markings, marking lines, and the like attached to a medicine).

(2) The medicine inspection device of the present invention can be suitably used in an inspection of the sachet group consisting of a plurality of sachets in which the quantity and type of the medicines packaged are the same.

(3) In the medicine inspection device of the present invention, it is preferable that the appearance information is information about the shape of the medicine to be inspected, information about a pattern, information about color, or information about a combination thereof.

According to this configuration, it is possible to perform an appearance inspection focusing on the difference in the shapes, patterns, colors, or combinations of the front surface and the back surface of the medicine contained in the sachet. Therefore, according to the medicine inspection device of the present invention, the appearance inspection can be performed with higher accuracy. In addition, the "pattern" attached to the medicine refers to, for example, a marking or a dividing line attached to the medicine, a character, a figure, a symbol, a code or the like attached by printing, and is a two-dimensional object (three-dimensional) or a three-dimensional object. Includes physical (three-dimensional) objects. Further, the "shape" refers to the overall shape of the drug, such as the drug form and size.

In the medicine inspection device of the present invention, the appearance information may be a mark attached to the medicine to be inspected.

According to this configuration, it is possible to perform an appearance inspection focusing on the difference in markings such as markings and identification codes attached to the medicine to be inspected. Therefore, according to the medicine inspection device of the present invention, the appearance inspection can be performed with higher accuracy.

(4) In the medicine inspection device of the present invention, as the packaging bag, the one disposed on the inspection section on condition that one surface is transparent and the other surface is opaque. An image obtained by photographing the packaging bag from the transparent surface side is preferably used for the appearance inspection.

According to such a configuration, one side is transparent, and even if the other side is a medicine packaged in an opaque sachet, the drug subjected to the appearance inspection is a sachet group. It is possible to accurately inspect whether each of the eggplant sachets is packaged.

(5) In the drug inspection device of the present invention, the inspection processing unit inspects whether the quantity of the drug contained in the sachet is as prescribed based on the image obtained by the imaging unit. It is desirable that the quantity inspection can be performed.

According to such a configuration, the inspection can be performed from the viewpoint of the number of pieces packaged in the sachet, so that the inspection accuracy can be further improved.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the chemical|medical agent inspection apparatus which can suppress the time required for inspection to the minimum while performing the inspection which paid attention to the difference in the external appearance of the front surface and the back surface about the chemical|medical agent accommodated in the sachet.

(A) is a perspective view of a medicine inspection device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and (b) is a block diagram showing a control device. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of the medicine inspection device shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2. It is an image diagram showing an example of an image obtained at each stage of drug information detection control. It is a flow chart which concerns on drug information detection control. It is the flowchart which showed an example of the inspection method about the sachet group containing a common medicine. It is the flowchart which showed an example of the implementation method of type inspection. It is the flowchart which showed an example of the implementation method of the pattern inspection. It is the flowchart which showed an example of the implementation method of comprehensive determination processing. (A) is a schematic diagram showing an example of master data registered in the drug information database, and (b) is a schematic diagram showing a relationship between an adopted drug and a non-adopted drug in the drug information database. It is an explanatory view for explaining an inspection method about a sachet group containing a common medicine. It is an explanatory view for explaining an inspection method about a sachet group containing a common medicine.

Hereinafter, a drug inspection device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the configuration of the drug inspection device 10 and the drug inspection process will be roughly described, and then the parts of the drug inspection device 10 that require detailed description will be separately described.

<<About the configuration of the drug inspection device 10>>
The medicine inspection device 10 is a device for inspecting the quantity and type of the medicine to be inspected, which is supplied in a state of being packaged in a package paper one dose at a time, one package at a time. As shown in FIG. 1, the medicine inspection device 10 has an introduction portion 10b for introducing a medicine to be inspected on a side surface of a housing 10a, and an operation panel 10c on the front surface. The medicine is packaged in a translucent packaging paper, and is supplied to the medicine inspection device 10 in a state where it is visible from the outside. In addition, the medicine inspection device 10 supplies the sachets in the state of a plurality of sachets formed by continuously packaging the medicine for one dose, and continuously supplies each sachet. An inspection can be conducted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the drug inspection device 10 includes a transportation unit 20, an inspection unit 30, an imaging unit 40, an illumination device 50, a control device 60, and the like. The conveying means 20 is for taking in and conveying the continuous body of sachets in which the medicine is packaged. The conveying means 20 can be formed by a conventionally known belt conveyor, roller conveyor, or the like. In the present embodiment, a belt conveyor is used as the transporting means 20. The transporting means 20 will be described in detail later when a continuous body of sachets formed by a sachet is detected by a supply detection device (not shown) provided on the upstream side in the transport direction with respect to the inspection unit 30. It operates under the control of the control device 60 for carrying out the continuous body of sachets sequentially toward the downstream side. Further, in the transporting means 20, it is confirmed by the discharge detection device (not shown) provided at the downstream end that the end of the continuous body of the packaging sachet of the packaging paper has been discharged to the downstream side of the inspection unit 30. If it does, the operation is stopped.

The inspection unit 30 is a portion arranged in a state where the medicine to be inspected is contained in the sachet. As shown in FIG. 3, the inspection unit 30 has an imaging stage 32 on which a sachet is arranged. The imaging stage 32 is formed of a translucent plate, and has a size capable of mounting a sachet for one packet. The photographing unit 40 is for photographing the sachet arranged in the inspection unit 30 and the medicine contained in the sachet. As shown in FIG. 2, the imaging unit 40 is arranged right above the inspection unit 30.

The illumination device 50 is for illuminating the sachet arranged in the inspection unit 30. The lighting device 50 includes a front lighting device 52 (see FIG. 2) and a back lighting device 54 (see FIG. 3). The front illumination device 52 is for irradiating the sachet arranged in the inspection unit 30 from the imaging unit 40 side, that is, from the upper side of the inspection unit 30. The front side lighting device 52 may be composed of any lighting device, but in the present embodiment, a lighting device capable of generating diffused light is used. The back side illumination device 54 is for irradiating the sachet arranged in the inspection unit 30 from the back side, that is, the side opposite to the imaging unit 40 (below) via the inspection unit 30. The back side illumination device 54 has substantially the entire shooting stage 32 as an illumination area, and can illuminate the entire packaging bag mounted on the shooting stage 32 from the back side.

The control device 60 is realized on a computer by installing software in the computer. The control device 60 can exert a function as an inspection processing unit that executes processing of a drug inspection processing that inspects whether the medicine contained in each sachet is as prescribed. That is, the control device 60 can derive the number of medicines contained in the sachet based on the image obtained by the imaging unit 40, for example. In addition, the control device 60 derives appearance information regarding the appearance of the medicine contained in the sachet, and performs an appearance inspection to inspect whether the type of the medicine contained in the sachet is as prescribed based on the appearance information. It is possible to inspect whether or not the prescribed type of drug is packaged.

Specifically, the control device 60 includes a drug information database 62 that stores drug images as master images. The control device 60 executes a process (image matching process) of matching the master image registered in the drug information database 62 with the image of the drug acquired by the imaging unit 40, and the drug is packaged in the sachet according to the prescription. A drug inspection process for inspecting whether or not is packaged can be executed. There are various types of drug inspection processing, such as inspection of the types of drugs packaged in sachets (drug type verification) and inspection of the quantity of drugs packaged in sachets (quantity verification). Any one of the viewpoint inspections may be performed alone or a plurality of inspections may be performed in combination.

In the drug inspection process, the image of the drug contained in the sachet that is required for the image matching process and the information about the drug (size, shape, stamp, etc.) are acquired by various methods. However, for example, a method such as the drug information detection control exemplified below may be performed.

<<Control of drug information detection>>
The medicine information detection control includes a front side illumination image captured by the image capturing unit 40 with the front side illumination device 52 turned on and a back side illumination image captured by the image capturing unit 40 with the back side illumination device 54 turned on. It is carried out using. The front side illumination image is an image of the sachet as viewed from the front as shown in FIG. 4A, and is an image in which the medicine and the print attached to the sachet are reflected. The back side illumination image is an image in which the shadow of the medicine and the print attached to the sachet are shown, as shown in FIG. 4(b). The control device 60 extracts the image of the medicine contained in the sachet based on the front side illumination image and the back side illumination image, and detects the medicine information based on the image of the medicine.

As shown in FIG. 5, the drug information detection control is roughly classified into a drug candidate area extracting step (step 1-1), a print candidate area extracting step (step 1-2), a print area specifying step (step 1-3), It is carried out through each process of the medicine region deriving process (step 1-4) and the inspection region defining process (step 1-5).

The drug candidate region extraction step performed in step 1-1 is a process of extracting a region containing a drug as a drug candidate region A (see FIG. 4C) from the image acquired by the imaging unit 40. .. The drug candidate region extracting step may be realized by using various image processing techniques such as using an image obtained by converting the back side illumination image into a gray image. Further, the print candidate area extraction step performed in step 1-2 is a step of extracting the area including the print attached to the sachet as the print candidate area B. The print candidate area extraction step may be realized by various image processings, for example, by utilizing the front side illumination image.

The print area specifying step performed in step 1-3 is a step of specifying the area corresponding to the print included in the print candidate area B (see FIG. 4E) as the print area C. The printing area specifying step may be performed by, for example, image processing based on the brightness distribution in the back side illumination image. Further, the medicine region deriving step performed in step 1-4 is a step of deriving the medicine region X. The drug area X may be derived by, for example, a process of subtracting the print area C derived in step 1-3 from the drug candidate area A derived in step 1-1. Further, the inspection area defining step performed in step 1-5 is a step of defining an area to be inspected based on the medicine area X derived in the medicine area deriving step.

As described above, by defining the image area of the medicine contained in the sachet to be inspected from the image photographed by the photographing unit 40, the image of the medicine and information on the medicine (size and shape) can be obtained. , Information such as stamps) can be acquired. The drug inspection process can be performed by performing an image matching process or the like based on the image or information obtained in this way.

Hereinafter, parts of the medicine inspection device 10 that require detailed description will be described in order.

The medicine inspection device 10 is composed of a plurality of sachets, and performs inspection on a sachet group containing a common medicine to be commonly packaged in each sachet, for example, the medicine information described above. This can be performed according to the flow shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 while utilizing the result of the detection control. Such an inspection method is suitable, for example, for inspecting a sachet group consisting of a plurality of sachets in which the quantity and type of medicines to be packaged are the same. Hereinafter, further details will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

(Step 2-1)
When the inspection is performed according to the flow shown in FIG. 6 described above, first, in step 2-1, the sachets of N packages (N is a natural number of 2 or more) forming the sachet group to be inspected. Among them, the control device 60 sets the variable n indicating the number of packages (n is a natural number of 1 or more and N or less) to 1 in order to recognize the first package. The number N of sachets forming the sachet group is set based on information acquired from the medicine packaging device and prescription information. After that, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 2-2.

(Step 2-2)
In Step 2-2, the control device 60 performs a quantity inspection on the medicine contained in the nth package sachet. In the quantity inspection, the quantity of the medicine contained in the n-th sachet is derived and compared with the prescription data to perform the inspection. The method of deriving the quantity of the medicine in the quantity inspection in step 2-2 may be performed by any method. For example, by calculating the number of areas defined as the medicine image area by the medicine information detection control described above. It is good to derive by. When the quantity inspection is completed in step 2-2, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 2-3.

(Step 2-3)
In step 2-3, the control device 60 inspects the type of the drug contained in the nth package sachet. The inspection regarding the kind of the medicine can be performed by various methods. For example, the front side illumination image captured by the image capturing unit 40 with the front side illumination device 52 in the ON state is used and shown in FIG. By performing according to the flow, it is preferable to perform the type inspection (type inspection) by utilizing the inspection of the type of the drug (appearance inspection) based on the appearance of the drug. Further, in the case of performing a type inspection, the appearance inspection is performed by limiting the reference range to the information about the drug (adopted drug) that may be packaged, among the information registered in the drug information database 62. It is advisable to perform the appearance inspection by removing the information about the drug (non-adopted drug) that is not possibly packaged from the reference range (see the conceptual diagram of FIG. 10B). As a specific inspection flow, for example, it is preferable to inspect the type of drug according to the control flow of FIG. 7 described in detail later. When the inspection regarding the type of drug is completed, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 2-4.

(Step 2-4)
In step 2-4, the control device 60 confirms whether the variable n indicating the number of packages has reached N corresponding to the number of packages forming the sachet group. The controller 60 advances the flow to step 2-5 when the variable n is less than N, and advances the flow to step 2-6 when the variable n reaches N.

(Step 2-5)
In step 2-5, the control device 60 performs a process of adding 1 to the variable n. After that, the control device 60 returns the flow to step 2-2. This shifts to the inspection of the next package.

(Step 2-6)
In step 2-4 described above, when the variable n is N, the quantity inspection and the type inspection have been completed for all the sachets forming the sachet group to be inspected. Therefore, in step 2-6, the control device 60 determines the inspection result for the entire sachet group (hereinafter, also referred to as “total determination process”) based on the inspection result of the sachets for N packages. .. The comprehensive determination process can be performed by various methods, but for example, it is preferable to perform it according to the flow of FIG. 9 described in detail later. When the comprehensive determination process is completed in step 2-6, the series of control flows shown in FIG. 6 is completed.

Subsequently, in step 2-2 described above, an example of the control flow of the type inspection for inspecting whether or not the type of the packaged drug is as prescribed by performing the appearance inspection of the drug is shown in FIG. Follow the instructions below.

In the inspection flow shown in FIG. 7, of the information registered in the drug information database 62, the reference range is limited to the information on the drug (adopted drug) that may be packaged, and the package is packaged. Information regarding drugs that are not likely to be taken (non-adopted drugs) is excluded from the reference range for inspection (see the conceptual diagram in FIG. 10B). Further, the “medicine that may be packaged” may be, for example, a drug prepared for packaging in a separately provided drug packaging device (not shown).

(Step 3-1)
When performing the type inspection according to the flow of FIG. 7, first, in step 3-1, the control device 60 performs an inspection (shape inspection) on the shape such as the shape and size of the medicine contained in the sachet. )I do. Although the shape inspection may be performed by any method, for example, the medicine information database 62 as data regarding the shape of the area defined as the medicine image area by the medicine information detection control described above and the shape of the prescribed medicine. It is advisable to conduct an inspection by collating it with the information registered in. When the shape inspection is completed in step 3-1, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 3-2.

(Step 3-2)
In step 3-2, the control device 60 performs an inspection (color inspection) on the color of the medicine contained in the sachet. The color inspection may be performed by any method, for example, by using the front side illumination image and deriving color information in the area defined as the image area of the medicine by the medicine information detection control described above, the packaging is performed. The color of the drug contained in the bag may be specified, and the specified color may be compared with the information registered in the drug information database 62 for inspection. When the color inspection is completed in step 3-2, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 3-3.

In step 3-3, the control device 60 performs an inspection (pattern inspection) on the pattern attached to the medicine stored in the sachet. Here, the “pattern” refers to, for example, a marking or a dividing line attached to a medicine, a character, a figure, a symbol, a code or the like attached by printing, and a two-dimensional (two-dimensional) one or a three-dimensional one. It includes things (three-dimensional things). The pattern inspection may be performed by any method, for example, by extracting the elements forming the pattern in the area defined as the image area of the medicine by the medicine information detection control described above, the pattern inspection is performed on the medicine. It is recommended that the attached pattern be specified, and the specified pattern and the information relating to the pattern registered in the drug information database 62 be collated for inspection. The pattern inspection in step 3-3 is performed using the front side illumination image captured by the image capturing unit 40 with the front side illumination device 52 turned on. The pattern inspection in step 3-3 is performed according to the flow shown in FIG. 8 described in detail later. When the pattern inspection is completed in step 3-3, the series of control flow shown in FIG. 7 is completed.

Next, the flow of the pattern inspection performed in step 3-3 described above will be described with reference to FIG.

(Step 4-1)
In the case of performing the pattern inspection of step 3-3 described above, first, in step 4-1, the front side of each drug stored in the sachet that is actually arranged in the inspection unit 30 as the inspection target. Image processing is performed to derive the pattern appearing in the illumination image. When step 4-1 is completed, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 4-2.

(Step 4-2)
In step 4-2, the control device 60 determines whether the pattern of each drug derived in step 4-1 is a pattern in which the prescribed drug is visible in the first direction (first direction). A process for verifying whether or not it is performed (first direction verification process) is performed. For example, when the drug to be inspected is a drug having a front side and a back side, it is checked whether or not the pattern is attached to the front side. Further, for example, in the case of a drug having no front and back such as a capsule, it is checked whether or not the drug can be seen in a front view in a predetermined posture. Although such a process may be performed by any method, for example, referring to the drug information database 62 in which the prescription data and the master images related to the appearance of various drugs are registered, the pattern determined from the front side illumination image is displayed. It is advisable to perform a matching process. When the first direction matching process in step 4-2 is completed, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 4-3.

(Step 4-3)
In step 4-3, the control device 60 determines that the pattern of each drug derived in step 4-1 is the second direction (second one) different from that in step 4-2 for the prescribed drug. The process (second direction matching process) is performed to check whether or not the pattern is visible in the direction. For example, when the drug to be inspected is a drug having a front side and a back side, it is checked whether or not the pattern is attached to the back side. Further, for example, in the case of a drug having no front and back such as a capsule, it is checked whether or not the pattern is attached to the surface having a different appearance from the surface checked in step 4-2. Although such a process may be performed by any method, for example, referring to the drug information database 62 in which prescription data and master images related to appearances of various drugs are registered, it is possible to determine the pattern determined from the front side illumination image. It is advisable to perform a matching process. When the second direction matching process in step 4-2 is completed, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 4-4.

(Steps 4-4 to 4-6)
In step 4-4, the control device 60 obtains a matching result that is appropriate in either the first direction matching process performed in step 4-2 or the second direction matching process performed in step 4-3. The process of confirming whether or not each drug that has been subjected to inspection has been performed. The control device 60 determines that the inspection result of the pattern inspection is appropriate for the medicine determined to be appropriate for either the first direction verification process or the second direction verification process (step 4-5). On the other hand, the control device 60 determines that the inspection result of the pattern inspection is improper for the medicine determined to be improper in both the first direction collation process and the second direction collation process (step 4-6). When the inspection result of the pattern inspection is obtained in step 4-5 or step 4-6, the series of control flow shown in FIG. 9 is completed.

Subsequently, the determination of the inspection result for the entire sachet group (total determination processing) performed in step 2-6 described above will be described. The comprehensive determination process is performed according to the flow shown in FIG. 9 based on the inspection result performed according to the above-described FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 for each sachet forming the sachet group. Hereinafter, further details will be described with reference to FIG. 9.

(Step 5-1)
When determining the inspection result for the entire sachet bag group in step 2-6 described above, first in step 5-1, the control device 60 performs step 2 for each sachet bag forming the sachet bag group. As a result of the quantity inspection in -2, it is confirmed whether or not there is a sachet that is determined to be defective. After that, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 5-2.

(Step 5-2)
In step 5-2, the control device 60 confirms whether or not there is a sachet that is determined to be defective as a result of the type inspection in step 2-3. After that, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 5-3.

(Step 5-3)
In step 5-3, regarding the common medicine to be commonly packaged in each of the sachets forming the sachet group to be inspected, in step 3-3 of FIG. The result of the pattern inspection conducted according to the flow of 8 will be verified. Specifically, the following four patterns are assumed as the results expected when the execution result of the pattern inspection is verified for the entire sachet group.
(1) Case in which only the sachets for which the first direction matching process was appropriate are included.
(2) A case in which only the sachet that has been properly subjected to the second direction matching process is included.
(3) A case in which sachets for which the first-direction collation processing is appropriate and sachets for which the second-direction collation processing is appropriate are mixed.
(4) A case in which there is a sachet that was improper in the first-direction matching process or the second-direction matching process.

In Step 5-3, the execution result of the pattern inspection performed on the sachets subjected to the inspection is that the pattern inspection is inappropriate in the case of (4) among (1) to (4) described above. This is a case where the inspection result should be output because a certain drug is included. In the case of the above (3), when viewed as the entire sachet group, both the first direction and the second direction of the common drug have been confirmed, and it is possible that drugs other than the common drug are packaged. It is considered to be extremely low. On the other hand, in the cases of (1) and (2) above, when viewed as the entire sachet group, only one of the first direction and the second direction of the common drug has been confirmed. It is considered that it is preferable to perform visual inspection. Therefore, in the cases of (1) and (2) above, it is preferable to give a warning to the pharmacist or the like by, for example, issuing a notification prompting a visual inspection or the like. Further, in the case of (4) above, it is necessary to show the inspection result indicating that the packaged drug is inappropriate. In this way, the control device 60 verifies the execution result of the pattern inspection. After that, the control device 60 advances the flow to step 5-4.

(Step 5-4)
The control device 60 outputs the inspection result in step 5-4. The inspection result is output by, for example, a method such as printing on each sachet or an output device such as a monitor or a printer attached to the medicine inspection device 10 or separately connected thereto. In addition, the output of the inspection result in step 5-4 was confirmed, for example, in the confirmation of the result of the quantity inspection in step 5-1 in which the quantity of the medicine as prescribed was packaged in each sachet. In that case, it is performed by outputting an output to that effect. In addition, when there is a drug whose quantity is different from the quantity to be prescribed, for example, the inspection result is output by outputting which medicine has a different quantity in which sachet. Be seen. Further, in the confirmation of the result of the type inspection in step 5-2, if it is confirmed that the medicine of the type as prescribed is packaged in any of the sachets, the inspection is performed by outputting that effect. The result is output. In addition, when a drug different from the type of drug to be prescribed is packaged, for example, by outputting which type of drug is incorrectly packaged in which sachet, the inspection result is output. Is output.

Further, in the result of the pattern inspection for the common drug performed in step 5-3, the case in which only the sachet bag for which the first direction collation processing is appropriate is included (the above (1)), or the second direction. In the case where only the sachets for which the collation processing is appropriate are included ((2) above), an output indicating that it is preferable to further perform a visual inspection or the like is output. In addition, in the case where there is a sachet that was improper in the first-direction matching process or the second-direction matching process ((4) above), the packaged drug is not appropriate. Is output. Further, in the case where the sachets for which the first-direction matching process was appropriate and the sachets for which the second-direction matching process was appropriate are mixed ((3) above), the pattern regarding the common drug Output that the inspection was performed with the proper implementation result. When the output of the inspection result is completed as described above, the series of control flows shown in FIG. 9 is completed.

As a specific example, for example, each of A drug, B drug, C drug, and D drug is separately packaged into one sachet, and the sachet is divided into 3 doses to be taken after breakfast. A case will be described as an example where the divided sachet group X (see FIG. 11) and the sachet group Y divided into 3 days (see FIG. 12) to be taken after lunch are prescribed. In this example, all of the A drug, the B drug, the C drug, and the D drug are drugs (common drugs) to be commonly packaged in the sachets X1 to X3 forming the sachet group X. .. Similarly, all of A drug, B drug, C drug, and D drug are common drugs in the sachets Y1 to Y3 forming the sachet group Y. The drug inspection device 10 obtains information about A drug, B drug, C drug, and D drug from the drug information database 62 in which information of various drugs including A drug, B drug, C drug, and D drug is registered. refer. The drug information database 62 may be registered with various information including, for example, the name of the drug, the size, shape, color, pattern (marking, printing, etc.) of the drug. The appearance information about the A drug, the B drug, the C drug, and the D drug is as illustrated in FIG. 10A, and is registered as master data in the drug information database 62.

As described above, the medicine inspection device 10 refers to the medicine information database 62, and actually, for each of the sachets X1 to X3 and each of the sachets Y1 to Y3 forming the sachets X and Y, as described above. Inspect whether the quantity and type of packaged medicines are as prescribed. As shown in FIG. 11, in the sachets X1 to X3 forming the sachet group X, the numbers and types of the medicines are as prescribed. In addition, for all of the common medicines A, B, C, and D in the sachets X, the first direction collation process is appropriate in each sachet X1 to X3. There is a mixture of two-way collation processing that was appropriate. Therefore, regarding the packaging bag group X, the execution results of the pattern inspection are appropriate for any of the drugs A, B, C, and D. Therefore, the control device 60 determines that the sachets X are each packaged in the sachets X1 to X3 according to the prescription and the pattern inspection is appropriate. To do.

On the other hand, when the sachets Y1 to Y3 forming the sachet bag group Y are examined, as shown in FIG. 12, with respect to the drug A, in any of the sachets Y1 to Y3, the inspection result regarding the shape and color is It is good. For the sachet Y2, the control device 60 determines that the quantity of the drug A is not as prescribed. Moreover, the pattern inspection in the first direction (front surface) is performed in the sachet bag Y1, and the pattern inspection in the second direction (rear surface) is performed in the sachet bag Y3, and good inspection results are obtained in both cases. Has been. However, the quantity of the drug A is insufficient in the second sachet Y2 (the drug A is not packaged). Therefore, the control device 60, in the sachets Y1 and Y3 among the sachets Y1 and Y3, is packaged with the A drug without making a mistake in the quantity and type as prescribed, but in the sachet Y2, A The inspection result indicating that the drug is insufficient is output.

Further, when focusing on the B medicine in the sachet bag group Y, the inspection results regarding the quantity, shape, and color are good in all the sachet bags Y1 to Y3. However, in any of the pattern inspections of the sachets Y1 to Y3, the pattern inspection can be performed only in the second direction (back surface) of the B medicine, and the pattern inspection can be performed in the first direction (front surface) of the B medicine. Not not. Therefore, the pattern inspection of the B medicine in the sachet group Y corresponds to the case where only the sachets for which the second direction matching process is appropriate are included, as in the case of (2) above. It is in a preferable state to perform confirmation by visual inspection by a pharmacist. Therefore, it is highly possible that the control device 60 can package the B medicine in the packaging bag group Y without making a mistake in the quantity as prescribed, but in one of the first direction and the second direction (in this example, Outputs that pattern inspection can only be performed in the second direction only).

Further, when focusing on the C drug in the sachet bag group Y, the inspection results regarding the quantity, shape, and color are good in all the sachet bags Y1 to Y3. Further, of the sachets Y1 to Y3, pattern inspection is performed in the sachets Y2 in the first direction (front surface) of the C medicine, and in the sachets Y1 and Y3 in the second direction (back surface) of the C medicine. Is being inspected. Therefore, as the whole sachet bag group Y, sachets for which the first-direction collation processing is appropriate as in (3) above and sachets for which the second-direction collation processing is appropriate are mixed. It corresponds to the case. Therefore, the control device 60 outputs that the C drug in the sachet group Y is packaged in the sachets Y1 to Y3 as prescribed.

Further, when focusing on the D drug in the sachet bag group Y, the inspection results regarding the quantity, shape, and color are good in any of the sachet bags Y1 to Y3. Further, in the sachets Y2 and Y3 among the sachets Y1 to Y3, the pattern inspection in the second direction of the D medicine is performed, and it is determined that it is appropriate. However, it is determined that the sachet Y1 is defective in both the pattern inspection in the first direction and the pattern inspection in the second direction of the D medicine. Specifically, when the D drug is viewed from the first direction, the pattern composed of the prints and the markings “RR” should be visible, but actually the pattern composed of the prints and the markings “PP” is seen. Since it is visible, the pattern inspection in the first direction is considered "poor". Also, when the D drug is viewed from the second direction, there should be no pattern of printing or marking, but in reality, the pattern consisting of printing or marking of "PP" is visible. The pattern inspection in the second direction is also "bad". Based on this result, the control device 60 determines that a medicine similar to the D medicine having a different pattern is erroneously packed in the sachet Y1 although the shape and color are the same. Therefore, the control device 60 outputs that the D medicine is packaged according to the prescription in the sachets Y2 and Y3, but that different types of medicines are packaged in the sachet Y1.

As described above, in the medicine inspection device 10 of the present embodiment, the appearance information regarding the appearance of the medicine contained in the sachet is derived based on the front side illumination image obtained by the imaging unit 40, and the appearance. By collating the information with the master data regarding the appearance registered in the medicine information database 62, it is possible to inspect whether the medicine is packaged according to the prescription (appearance inspection). In addition, when inspecting a sachet containing a common medicine, the medicine inspection device 10 uses a front side illumination image of each sachet taken from one direction with respect to the inspection unit 30. Patterns can be derived and inspected. In addition, the execution results of the pattern inspection performed on the sachets forming the sachet group were verified, and the sachets for which the first direction matching process was appropriate and the second direction collating process were appropriate. In the case where the packaging bags are mixed (corresponding to (3) above), it is determined that the prescribed common drug is properly packaged in each packaging bag. Therefore, according to the drug inspection device 10 of the present embodiment, it is possible to minimize the time required for the inspection while performing the inspection focusing on the difference in the appearance of the front surface and the back surface of the medicine stored in the sachet.

Further, in the drug inspection device 10, the front side illumination image captured by the image capturing unit 40 with respect to the inspection unit 30 from one direction is used for deriving the appearance information. Therefore, in the medicine inspection device 10 of the present embodiment, even if the medicine is packaged in a sachet whose one surface is transparent and the other surface is opaque, the transparent surface side of the sachet is provided. By taking an image from the above, it is possible to inspect whether or not the medicine targeted for the appearance inspection is packaged in each of the sachets forming the sachet group.

The medicine inspection device 10 described above can be preferably used for inspection of a sachet group including a plurality of sachets having the same quantity and the same type of medicines as in the above-described example.

Further, the medicine inspection device 10 can execute a quantity inspection to inspect whether the quantity of medicines contained in the sachet is as prescribed, based on the image obtained by the imaging unit 40 as described above. Good things. By doing so, the inspection can be performed from the viewpoint of the quantity, and the inspection accuracy can be further improved. The present invention is not limited to this, and the medicine inspection device 10 may not perform the quantity inspection.

In the drug inspection device 10 of the present embodiment, the type inspection (appearance inspection) is performed based on three points of view: information on the shape of the drug to be inspected, information on the pattern, and information on the color. Therefore, according to the medicine inspection device 10, the type inspection (appearance inspection) can be performed with high accuracy. Incidentally, in the present embodiment, for each element of the shape, pattern, and color of the medicine, an example in which inspection is performed separately is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and some or all elements may be used. It may be possible to conduct a complex inspection.

The medicine inspection device 10 according to the present embodiment is configured to perform inspection using marks such as engraved marks and identification codes attached to the medicine in the pattern inspection as indexes. Thereby, for example, even medicines whose appearances are judged to be the same or similar in terms of shape and color can be inspected as different using the mark as an index. Therefore, the accuracy of inspection can be improved by performing the type inspection (appearance inspection) focusing on the difference in markings such as markings and identification codes attached to the medicine to be inspected as described above. In addition, for example, when an identification mark such as a so-called QR code (registered trademark) or a two-dimensional code is attached to the medicine by printing or the like, a dedicated code reader or the like is provided so that the medicine is not used. The type (medicine type) of may be specified directly from the code information.

Further, in the above embodiment, based on the image obtained by the imaging unit 40, the appearance information regarding the appearance of the medicine stored in the sachet is derived, and both the type and the quantity of the medicine packaged are determined. An example in which whether or not it is as prescribed is inspected based on the appearance information and the information registered in the drug information database 62 has been shown, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the medicine inspection device 10 may inspect whether any one of the type and quantity of the medicine is as prescribed, based on the appearance information and the information registered in the medicine information database 62.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and those shown as modified examples of each embodiment, and there may be other embodiments from the teaching and spirit thereof without departing from the scope of the claims. Will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be suitably used in all drug inspection devices for inspecting whether a drug is packaged as prescribed.

10: Drug inspection device 10b: Introduction part 30: Inspection part 40: Imaging part 60: Control device (inspection processing part)
62: Drug Information Database

Claims (5)

An inspection unit in which a sachet containing the medicine is placed,
A photographing unit capable of photographing the sachet arranged in the inspection unit,
A drug information database that stores information about drugs,
Based on the image obtained by the imaging unit, the appearance information regarding the appearance of the medicine contained in the sachet is derived, and one or both of the type and quantity of the medicine packaged are The external appearance information whether it is as prescribed, and an inspection processing unit capable of performing an external appearance inspection to inspect based on the information registered in the drug information database,
Is equipped with
When consisting of a plurality of sachets, when inspecting a sachet group containing a common drug to be commonly packaged in each of the sachets,
The inspection processing unit,
Targeting the appearance inspection of the common drug,
Each of the sachets forming the sachet group is registered in the medicine information database and the appearance information derived by using the image captured by the imaging unit from the one direction with respect to the inspection unit. Among the information, to perform the appearance inspection based on the information about the drug that may be packaged,
From the image of at least one of the sachets forming the sachet group to be inspected, the appearance information about the first orientation of the common drug that is an object of the appearance inspection is derived. , The common drug is divided into the images of the remaining sachets, on the condition that appearance information about the second direction of the common drug other than the first direction of the common drug is derived. A medicine inspection device, characterized in that it is judged that each of the sachets forming a sachet group is packaged. The medicine inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the sachet group comprises a plurality of sachets in which the quantity and the type of the medicine to be packaged are the same. The medicine inspection device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the appearance information is information about a shape of the medicine to be inspected, information about a pattern, information about a color, or information about a combination thereof. As the sachet, one surface is transparent, provided that the other surface is opaque,
The medicine inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an image obtained by photographing the sachet arranged in the inspection unit from the transparent surface side is used for the appearance inspection. The inspection processing unit is capable of performing a quantity inspection to inspect whether the quantity of the medicine contained in the sachet is as prescribed based on the image obtained by the photographing unit. The drug inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.