JP7470362B2 - Urine collection cup management device - Google Patents

Description

(1) The urine collection cup management device "u-TRIPS V2" was unveiled at the 51st Japanese Society of Clinical Laboratory Automation held at Pacifico Yokohama on October 3, 2019.

(2) October 25, 2019: Sold the urine collection cup management device "u-TRIPS V2" to Keio University Hospital.

The present invention relates to a device for managing Harun cups that have been used to collect urine.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in hospitals and the like, urine is collected from patients and examined to determine the patient's health condition from the amount of sugar, protein, and the like contained in the urine.
The urine is usually collected by the patient in a paper cup called a Harun cup in the toilet. The patient places the Harun cup containing the urine on a designated table.
The urine collected in the Harun Cup is transferred into test tubes called spitz according to the test item, either manually by a doctor, nurse, or laboratory technician, or by an automatic dispensing device, and the urine in these test tubes is subjected to multiple tests.
Incidentally, the patient's name and other information are written on the Harun cup in advance, and patient identification information is printed in the form of a bar code. When dispensing is performed, the patient identification information, such as the patient ID, displayed on the Harun cup is linked to the data of the test tube after dispensing, thereby enabling the test results of the urine in the test tube after dispensing to be accurately linked to the patient.
However, since no data was managed from the time the patient collected the urine in the Harun Cup until the urine was dispensed, there was still room for improvement in the management during that period.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the applicant has already proposed a urine management system that can link a patient to their urine from the stage when the patient submits the Harun cup containing the urine (Patent Document 1).

International Publication No. WO2016/056571A1

The urine management system described above is equipped with a urine collected cup management device that has a rectangular housing that is open at the top, multiple Harun cup mounting sections into which Harun cups can be inserted from above, a weight sensor provided below each Harun cup mounting section, and a reading device provided with an antenna so as to be able to read information from the wireless tags of the Harun cups inserted into all of the Harun cup mounting sections below the weight sensor, and is configured so that a patient can insert a Harun cup that has used urine into any of the Harun cup mounting sections from above. Based on the information read from the wireless tag of the Harun cup by the reading device, the Harun cup identification information is linked to the patient identification information.
As described above, conventional urine management systems are able to link the patient to the urine from the stage when the patient submits the Harun cup in which the urine is collected, making it possible to manage the data from the time the patient collects urine in the Harun cup until it is dispensed.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional urine management system, the urine collected cup management device has a problem that the height dimension is large because the reading device, weight sensor, and Harun cup mounting part are arranged in a stacked manner. In particular, the reading device is configured to be able to read information from the wireless tags of all Harun cups inserted in all Harun cup mounting parts, which makes the antenna large, causing the height dimension to be large.
In addition, the conventional urine collected cup management device described above is open at the top and is configured so that the Harun cup is inserted from above into the Harun cup mounting section, so there needs to be enough space above the device to allow a person to reach in while holding the urine collected Harun cup. As a result, it is necessary to provide sufficient space above the device when installing it, and this, combined with the fact that the height dimension of the urine collected cup management device itself is large as described above, results in the problem that installation locations are significantly limited.
Furthermore, the conventional urine collection cup management device described above requires a weight sensor to be provided below each Harun cup mounting portion, which increases the number of weight sensors, resulting in higher costs and an increased number of possible causes of failure.
Furthermore, since the top of conventional urine collection cup management devices is open, the urine collection Harun Cup submitted by the previous patient is completely exposed. It is therefore desirable to improve this from the perspective of privacy, and there is also the problem that anyone can touch the urine collection Harun Cup, making it impossible to prevent tampering.
The present invention aims to solve the problems of the conventional urine collected cup management devices described above, and to provide a new urine collected cup management device which has a small height dimension of the device itself, does not require a large space above when installed, can be manufactured inexpensively, and also takes privacy issues into consideration.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the urine collected cup management device of the present invention comprises a cup guide member having a plurality of cup insertion holes formed in a circular shape, a base member having a circular cup passage located below the cup insertion holes in the cup guide member and a drive unit for rotating the cup guide member, and a front cover arranged on the front side of the base member and shaped to allow a user to access one of the cup insertion holes in the cup guide member while hiding the other cup insertion holes. The device is characterized in that it comprises a weight sensor provided at a position corresponding to one of the cup insertion holes in the cup passage of the base member, and a reading device provided at a position corresponding to one of the cup insertion holes in the base member for reading patient identification information from a barcode and/or a wireless tag provided on a urine collected cup, and further comprises a first cup detection sensor provided at a position corresponding to the cup insertion position, and when a cup is detected by the first cup detection sensor, the drive unit is controlled to rotate the cup guide member until the next cup insertion hole is at the cup insertion position, and the weight sensor and the reading device are used to measure the weight of the urine collected cup and read the patient identification information, and the read weight and the patient identification information are linked.
A recess may be provided in the base member at a position corresponding to one of the cup insertion holes in the cup passage, and a weight sensor may be provided in the recess so that its upper surface is flush with the cup passage.
Also, the weight sensor may be provided at a position corresponding to any one of the cup insertion holes other than the cup insertion position corresponding to the cup insertion hole accessible to the user in the cup passage of the base member.
Furthermore, the reading device may be provided at a position corresponding to any one of the cup insertion holes other than the cup insertion position corresponding to the user-accessible cup insertion hole of the base member.
The front cover may be provided with an opening for exposing one cup insertion hole at a cup insertion position.
The base member may have a circumferential groove formed in the cup passageway.
A cup guide may be formed in the cup guide member at a position corresponding to each cup insertion hole, the cup guide extending downward from the cup insertion hole.
A second cup detection sensor may be provided at a position corresponding to a cup insertion hole located rearward in the rotational direction of the cup insertion position, and the control device may be configured to output a urine collection cup full signal when a cup is detected by the second cup detection sensor.
A rear cover may be provided on the base member, the rear cover being connected to the front cover and covering the entire cup guide member from above.
The cup guide member is preferably configured as a disk-shaped turntable, but is not limited thereto, and may be configured as, for example, a conveyor arranged in a circumferential shape.
The control device may have a determination means for determining whether or not the collected urine volume exceeds a predetermined urine volume, and in this case, the urine collected cup management device may further be provided with a display device for displaying the determination result by the determination means to the patient who submitted the urine collected cup. The predetermined urine volume corresponds to a urine volume designated by a doctor or the like that is associated in advance with the patient identification information. Furthermore, in this case, the control device may be configured to store the patient identification information in association with the weight and the determination result by the determination means.
The urine collected cup management device may be provided with a host control device connected to the control device by wire and/or wireless connection, the control device may be configured to output patient identification information and the weight of the urine collected cup to the host control device, and the host control device may be provided with a judgment means for judging whether the collected urine volume exceeds a predetermined urine volume. In this case, the host control device may further have a display device for displaying the judgment result by the judgment means. The control device may be configured to output the submission time of the urine collected cup to the host control device in addition to the patient identification information and the weight of the urine collected cup, and the display device of the host control device may be configured to display the submission time of the urine collected cup in addition to the judgment result. Furthermore, the host control device may be configured to store urine collection instruction information for the patient by a doctor or the like in association with the patient identification information, and to judge whether or not the urine collected cup has been submitted based on the urine collection instruction information and the patient identification information input from the control device, and to display the judgment result. The predetermined urine volume corresponds to the urine volume designated by a doctor or the like, which is previously associated with the patient identification information. In this case, the host control device can be configured to store the patient identification information in association with the weight as well as the determination result by the determination means.

The urine collected cup management device according to the present invention comprises a cup guide member in which a plurality of cup insertion holes are formed in a circular shape, a base member provided with a circular cup passage located below the cup insertion holes in the cup guide member and a drive unit for rotating the cup guide member, and a front cover disposed on the front side of the base member and formed in a shape that allows a user to access one of the cup insertion holes in the cup guide member while hiding the other cup insertion holes. A weight sensor is provided at a position corresponding to one of the cup insertion holes in the cup passage of the base member, and a reading device is provided at a position corresponding to one of the cup insertion holes in the base member for reading patient identification information from a barcode and/or a wireless tag provided on a urine collected cup. A first cup detection sensor is further provided at a position corresponding to the cup insertion position, and when a cup is detected by the first cup detection sensor, the drive unit is controlled to rotate the cup guide member until the next cup insertion hole is at the cup insertion position, and the weight sensor and the reading device are used to measure the weight of the urine collected cup and read the patient identification information, and the read weight and the patient identification information are linked. and a control device configured to perform the above steps. Since the reading device is not disposed below the cup insertion hole and the weight sensor, the height dimension of the device itself is small. The cup guide member provided with the cup insertion hole is configured to rotate, and a front cover is provided to fix the position where the patient can submit the urine-collected cup to the front of the device. This allows the patient to submit the urine-collected cup from the front of the device, not from above the device. This, combined with the fact that the height dimension of the entire device is small, does not require a large space above the device when installed. Furthermore, since the weight sensor is provided at a position corresponding to one of the cup insertion holes, the number of weight sensors can be reduced, thereby reducing the cost of the entire device, and the reduction in the number of weight sensors reduces the causes of malfunctions. Furthermore, since the front cover is formed in a shape that allows the user to access one of the cup insertion holes of the cup guide member and hides the other cup insertion holes, it is possible to hide the previously submitted urine-collected cup from the patient who submits it later, which has the effect of taking privacy into consideration and preventing tampering.
In addition, by providing a recess at a position corresponding to one of the cup insertion holes in the cup passage of the base member and providing a weight sensor in the recess so that its upper surface is flush with the cup passage, it becomes possible to smoothly place the urine collection cup on the weight sensor.
Furthermore, by providing the weight sensor at a position corresponding to any one of the cup insertion holes in the cup passage of the base member other than the cup insertion position corresponding to the cup insertion hole accessible to the user, it becomes possible to rotate the cup guide member immediately after the urine-collected cup is submitted until the next cup insertion hole is at the cup insertion position, making it possible for the next patient to immediately submit a urine-collected cup.
Furthermore, by providing the reading device at a position corresponding to any one of the cup insertion holes other than the cup insertion position corresponding to the cup insertion hole accessible to the user of the base member, it becomes possible to rotate the cup guide member immediately after the urine-collected cup is submitted until the next cup insertion hole is at the cup insertion position, making it possible for the next patient to immediately submit a urine-collected cup.
By providing the front cover with an opening that exposes one cup insertion hole at the cup insertion position, it is possible for a user to access one of the cup insertion holes of the cup guide member while hiding the other cup insertion holes.
By forming a circumferential groove in the cup passage of the base member, even if urine spills from the cup, the spilled urine can be collected by the groove. In addition, this groove can reduce the contact area of the bottom surface of the urine collected cup with the cup passage, which reduces the frictional resistance between the urine collected cup and the cup passage when the cup guide member is rotated with the urine collected cup inserted in the cup insertion hole, allowing the cup guide member to rotate smoothly. Furthermore, by reducing the frictional resistance between the urine collected cup and the cup passage, it is possible to suppress vibration of the urine collected cup when the cup guide member is rotated, and it is possible to prevent urine from spilling from the cup.
By forming a cup guide extending downward from the cup insertion hole at a position corresponding to each cup insertion hole in the cup guide member, the posture of the urine-collected cup presented when the cup guide member is rotated can be stabilized, and vibration can be suppressed.
A second cup detection sensor is provided at a position corresponding to the cup insertion hole located on the rear side of the cup insertion position in the rotation direction, and when the second cup detection sensor detects the cup, the control device outputs a urine collected cup full signal, so that a higher-level control device that can be connected to the urine collected cup management device wirelessly or by wire can confirm that the cup is full. This makes it possible to install and operate the urine collected cup management device in a location away from the higher-level control room, for example, in each toilet. The "urine collected cup full signal" does not necessarily have to be a signal indicating that the urine collected cup management device is completely full, but may be a signal that warns the urine collected cup management device that it will be full. Specifically, for example, by arranging the second cup detection sensor at a position corresponding to the cup insertion hole two holes before the cup insertion position, the "urine collected cup full signal" is output as a warning signal before the urine collected cup management device is completely full.
By providing a rear cover on the base member that is connected to the front cover and covers the entire cup guide member from above, it becomes possible to completely hide cups that have been submitted regardless of the installation location.
By providing the control device with a judgment means for judging whether the collected urine volume exceeds a predetermined urine volume, it becomes possible to confirm whether the urine volume in the submitted urine collection cup is sufficient for the urine volume required for the test.
Furthermore, by providing the urine collected cup management device with a display device that displays the judgment result by the judgment means to the patient who has submitted the urine collected cup, it becomes possible to directly inform the patient that the amount of urine is insufficient.
Furthermore, by configuring the control device to store the patient identification information in association with the weight as well as the judgment result by the judgment means, it becomes possible to manage information regarding patients who have insufficient urine volume.
In addition, the urine collected cup management device is provided with a host control device connected to the control device by wire and/or wirelessly, and the control device is configured to output patient identification information and the weight of the urine collected cup to the host control device, and the host control device is provided with a judgment means for judging whether the amount of urine collected exceeds a predetermined amount. For example, by disposing the host control device in a laboratory, it is possible to check whether the amount of urine in the urine collected cup submitted in the laboratory is sufficient for the amount of urine required for the test. In this case, by further providing a display device for displaying the judgment result by the judgment means, it is possible to identify, for example, a patient who does not have enough urine in the laboratory at an early stage, and thus to inform the patient of the need to collect urine again at an early stage. In addition, the control device is configured to output the submission time of the urine collected cup to the host control device in addition to the patient identification information and the weight of the urine collected cup, and the display device of the host control device is configured to display the submission time of the urine collected cup in addition to the judgment result, so that the submission time of the urine collected cup can be managed. Furthermore, by configuring the upper control device to store urine collection instruction information for a patient from a doctor or the like in association with patient identification information, and to determine whether or not a urine collection cup has been submitted based on the urine collection instruction information and the patient identification information input from the control device and to display the result of the determination, it becomes possible to quickly discover and deal with forgetting to submit a urine collection cup, i.e., forgetting to collect urine. Also, by configuring the upper control device to store the patient identification information in association with the weight, as well as the result of the determination by the determination means, it becomes possible to manage information about patients who do not produce enough urine.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the urine collected cup management device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the urine collected cup management device after assembly. 3 is a perspective view of the urine collected cup management device shown in FIG. 2, seen from above and in front. 3 is a perspective view of the urine collected cup management device shown in FIG. 2, seen from above and behind. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the urine collected cup management device shown in FIG. 2, viewed from the upper left. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the urine collection cup management device shown in FIG. 2 . 3 is a schematic plan view of the urine collected cup management device shown in FIG. 2 with a front cover removed. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a rear cover is attached to the urine collected cup management device shown in FIG. 2. FIG.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a urine collected cup management device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is an exploded view of the urine collected cup management device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the urine collected cup management device after assembly, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the urine collected cup management device seen from above the front, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the urine collected cup management device seen from above the rear, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the urine collected cup management device seen from above the left, Fig. 6 is a plan view of the urine collected cup management device, and Fig. 7 shows a schematic plan view of the urine collected cup management device with the front cover removed.

In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes the entire urine collected cup management device, and this device 1 comprises a base member 2, a cup guide member 3 which is constituted by a turntable in this embodiment, and a front cover 4.
The base member 2 is provided with a cylindrical protrusion 2a at its center, and a suitable driving device 5 such as a motor is provided on the circular protrusion 2a. The drive shaft 5a of the drive device 5 is configured to be able to mount a turntable 3. A circumferential cup passage 6 having a width that allows the lower part of the cup to move is formed around the drive shaft 5. A circumferential groove 7 narrower than the cup passage 6 is formed on the bottom surface of the cup passage 6. By providing the circumferential groove 7, it is possible to reduce the area where the bottom surface of the urine-collected cup contacts the cup passage 6, thereby making it possible to reduce the frictional resistance between the urine-collected cup and the cup passage 6. In addition, the bottom surface of the cup passage 6 can be configured to be slightly inclined so as to taper downward toward the circumferential groove 7, thereby making it possible to further reduce the contact area between the bottom surface of the urine-collected cup and the bottom surface of the cup passage 6, and in the unlikely event that urine spills from the urine-collected cup, the spilled urine can enter the circumferential groove 7. 1, a circular recess 8 is provided in the cup passage 6, and a weight sensor 9 (see FIG. 7) is provided in this recess 8. Although not shown in detail in the drawings, the weight sensor 9 is disposed in the recess 8 so that its upper surface is substantially flush with the bottom surface of the cup passage 6, so that the urine-collected cup can be smoothly placed on the weight sensor 9.

The turntable 3 has an engagement portion 10 formed at its center that engages with the drive shaft 5a, and multiple cup insertion holes 11 are formed around the engagement portion 10 at appropriate intervals in a circular pattern. In this embodiment, the number of cup insertion holes 11 is eight, but the number of cup insertion holes 11 can be determined as desired depending on the size of the turntable 3 and the size of the cup. The bottom surface of the turntable 3 has cup guides 12 that extend downward from each cup insertion hole 11. The diameters of the cup insertion holes 11 and cup guides 12 are slightly larger than the diameter of the urine-collected cup to be inserted, so that when the user inserts the urine-collected cup into the cup insertion hole 11, the urine-collected cup rests on the cup passage 6.

As is clear from particular reference to Figures 3, 6 and 7, the front cover 4 is molded in a shape that allows the user to access the cup insertion hole 11 that corresponds to cup position A (hereinafter, this cup position A will be referred to as cup insertion position A) located at the front center of the turntable, while the center portion is recessed so that the cup insertion holes 11 that correspond to the other cup positions B to H are hidden from the user, and an opening 4a is formed in this recessed portion, and the front cover 4 is erected on the front of the base member 2.

The urine collected cup management device 1 configured as described above is configured so that the turntable 3 rotates to the right (i.e., clockwise) when viewed from above.
As shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 7, a first cup detection sensor 13 is provided at a portion of the cylindrical protrusion 2a of the base member 2 corresponding to the cup insertion position A, and a second cup detection sensor 14 is provided at a portion corresponding to the cup position H. Also, as shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 4 and Fig. 7, a reading device 15 is provided at a portion of the base member 2 corresponding to the cup position B (hereinafter, this cup position B is referred to as the cup measurement position B). The reading device 15 is a reading device that reads patient identification information from a barcode or an RFID tag that is provided in advance on a urine-collected cup. The weight sensor 9 is also disposed at the cup measurement position B. Furthermore, a human presence sensor 16 is provided in front of the cup insertion position A on the base member 2, and is configured to be able to detect whether or not the user has put his/her hand into the cup insertion position A. Also, a display panel 17 is provided on the front surface of the base member 2 to indicate whether or not the patient may submit a urine-collected cup.
The operation of each part of the urine collected cup management device 1 configured as described above is controlled by a control device 18.
Furthermore, this urine collection cup management device 1 has a host control device 20 that is connected to the control device 18 by wire and/or wirelessly, and this host control device 20 can be placed, for example, in an examination room or the like.

The operation of the urine collected cup management device 1 configured as above will be described below.
First, the position of the turntable 3 is adjusted so that the cup insertion holes 11 in the turntable 3 are positioned to coincide with the cup positions AH, respectively.
When the second cup detection sensor 14 does not detect a cup, the control device 18 displays on the display panel 17 that a urine-collected cup can be submitted (in this embodiment, the mark on the left in Figure 3 is turned on and the mark on the right is turned off).
When the user places his/her hand in the opening 4a of the front cover 4 in a state in which the urine-collected cup is ready to be submitted and inserts the urine-collected cup into the cup insertion hole 11 at the cup insertion position A, the human presence sensor 16 detects the user's hand, and the first cup detection sensor 13 detects the cup inserted into the cup insertion hole 11 at the cup insertion position A. When the first cup detection sensor 13 detects the cup and the human presence sensor 16 no longer detects the user's hand, the control device 18 drives the drive device 5 to rotate the turntable 3 until the cup insertion hole 11 at the cup insertion position A comes to the cup measurement position B. As a result, the empty cup insertion hole 11 reaches the cup insertion position A, and the cup insertion hole 11 with the urine-collected cup inserted therein reaches the cup measurement position B. At this time, the urine-collected cup rests on the weight sensor 9 at the cup measurement position B, and the weight of the urine-collected cup is measured. At the same time, the reader 15 reads the patient's identification information from a barcode or RFID tag previously provided on the urine collected cup, and the control device 18 associates the weight with the identification information and stores it in a predetermined storage means. This data associating the weight with the identification information may be temporarily stored in a memory provided in the urine collected cup management device 1 and then sent to the upper control device 20 connected by wire or wirelessly, or may be sent directly to the upper control device 20. Preferably, the control device may be configured to determine the submission time of the urine collected cup based on the time when the first cup detection sensor 13 detects the urine collected cup, or based on the time when the weight sensor or the reader measures the weight or reads the identification information, and to associate the submission time with the weight and identification information.
The control device 18 repeats the above operation every time a urine collected cup is submitted (i.e., every time a urine collected cup is inserted into the cup insertion hole 11 at the cup insertion position A), and when the second cup detection sensor 14 detects a urine collected cup, it outputs a "urine collected cup full signal" and displays on the display panel 17 that the urine collected cup cannot be submitted (in this embodiment, the mark on the left side in FIG. 3 is turned off and the mark on the right side is turned on). The cup full signal is sent to a higher-level management room, for example, an examination room. When the manager collects the urine collected cup from the urine collected cup management device 1, the control device 18 displays on the display panel 17 that the urine collected cup can be submitted, and the urine collected cup can be submitted again.
The control device 18 can be preferably configured to output a cup collection signal when the second cup detection sensor 14 does not detect a urine collected cup for a predetermined time or more after the first urine collected cup is submitted. This eliminates the risk of urine collected cups being left uncollected. The urine collected cup collection and management function can be performed by the upper control device 20 instead of being provided in the urine collected cup management device 1.
The upper control device 20 has a judgment means 21 for judging whether the amount of urine in the urine-collected cup exceeds a predetermined amount of urine designated by a doctor or the like based on the patient identification information and weight output from the control device 18. Specifically, the upper control device 20 calls up a predetermined amount of urine designated by a doctor or the like that is linked to the patient identification information based on the patient identification information, and the judgment means 21 compares the predetermined amount of urine with the amount of urine output from the control device 18 to judge whether the amount of urine in the urine-collected cup exceeds the predetermined amount of urine designated by a doctor or the like. The judgment result by the judgment means 21 is displayed on a display device 22, for example, a monitor, provided in the upper control device 20. This makes it possible to check in advance in an examination room whether the amount of urine in the urine-collected cup is sufficient for the examination, and to inform the patient that the amount of urine collected is insufficient, if necessary. In addition to the above, the control device can be configured to output the time of submission of the urine collected cup in addition to the patient identification information and the weight of the urine collected cup to the upper control device, and the display device of the upper control device can be configured to display the time of submission of the urine collected cup in addition to the judgment result, thereby making it possible to manage the submission time of the urine collected cup. Furthermore, the upper control device can be configured to store urine collection instruction information for the patient by a doctor or the like in association with patient identification information, and to judge whether or not the urine collected cup has been submitted based on the urine collection instruction information and the patient identification information input from the control device, and to display the judgment result. By configuring in this way, it becomes possible to discover early on that the urine collected cup has been left unsubmitted.
As shown in FIG. 4, a pause button 23 that can temporarily stop the rotation of the turntable 3 can be provided on the back of the base member 2. When the pause button 23 is pressed by the user, the control device 18 pauses the drive device 5 to temporarily stop the rotation of the turntable 3, and displays on the display panel 17 that the urine-collected cup cannot be submitted. When the pause button 23 is pressed again, the control device 18 returns the drive device 5 to an operable state and displays on the display panel 17 that the urine-collected cup can be submitted. This configuration can prevent the patient from inserting the urine-collected cup into the cup insertion position A while the user is collecting the urine-collected cup from the back side of the urine-collected cup management device 1, which causes the turntable 3 to rotate. If the turntable 3 rotates unexpectedly during collection of the urine-collected cup, the urine-collected cup may hit the turntable 3 and tilt, causing problems such as urine spillage, but the above-mentioned configuration can solve such problems.

According to the urine collection cup management device 1 configured as described above, since the reading device 15 is not disposed below the cup insertion hole 11 and the weight sensor 9, the height dimension of the device itself is reduced.
In addition, by configuring the turntable 3 with the cup insertion hole 11 to rotate and providing the front cover 4 to fix the position where the patient can submit the urine collected cup to the cup insertion position A on the front side of the device, the patient can submit the urine collected cup from the front of the device, not from above the device, and this, combined with the reduction in the height dimension of the entire device, does not require a large space above the device when installed. This makes it possible, for example, to provide an opening in the wall of the toilet at a height just large enough for the urine collected cup management device 1 to enter, and to install the urine collected cup management device 1 in the opening so that the cup insertion position A is on the toilet side. By installing it in this way, the manager can collect the urine collected cup from the back side of the toilet as needed.
Furthermore, by providing the weight sensor 9 only at the cup measurement position B, the number of weight sensors can be reduced, thereby reducing the cost of the entire device, and the reduced number of weight sensors also reduces the causes of malfunctions.
Furthermore, the front cover 4 is formed in a shape that allows the user to access only the cup insertion hole 11 at the cup insertion position A and hides the cup insertion holes 11 at the other cup positions B to H. This makes it possible to hide a previously submitted urine collection cup from a patient who submits a later one, thereby taking into consideration privacy issues and preventing tampering.

In the above embodiment, the weight sensor 9 and the reading device 15 are provided at the cup position B, which is the optimal position. However, it goes without saying that the weight sensor 9 and the reading device 15 may be provided at any other cup position, including the cup insertion position A, although this may not be the optimal position.
In the above embodiment, only the front cover 4 is provided, but if necessary, as shown in FIG. 8, it is also possible to provide a rear cover that is connected to the front cover and covers the entire upper part of the circular turntable.
Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the judgment means 21 and the display device 22 are provided in the upper control device 20, but this is not limited to this embodiment, and the judgment means 21 and the display device 22 can also be provided in the control device 18.
In the above embodiment, an example is described in which one management device 1 is connected to the upper control device 20, but this configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and specifically, it is possible to operate a plurality of urine collected cup management devices 1 connected to one upper control device 20. In this case, each urine collected cup management device 1 is placed in a urine collection location such as a toilet, and the upper control device 20 can be placed in an examination room or the like.
Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the cup guide member is configured as a turntable, but this configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and any configuration that can move the urine collection cup in a circular direction may be used, and for example, it may be configured as a conveyor or the like.
In the above embodiment, the upper control device 20 is provided with a judgment means 21 for judging whether the amount of urine in the urine collected cup is sufficient for the test, and is configured to display the judgment result by the judgment means 21, the time of submission of the urine collected cup, and whether or not the urine collected cup has been submitted in addition to the patient identification information and the weight of the urine collected cup, and to store the information in association with the patient identification information, but the information displayed and stored in association with the patient identification information is not limited to this embodiment, and for example, it is also possible to configure the device to display and store the time of submission of the urine collected cup and/or whether or not the urine collected cup has been submitted in addition to the patient identification information and the weight of the urine collected cup without providing a judgment means. The same applies to the control means 18.

1: Urine-collected cup management device 2: Base member 2a: Cylindrical protrusion 3: Turntable (cup guide member)
Reference Signs List 4: Front cover 4a: Opening 5: Drive device 5a: Drive shaft 6: Cup passage 7: Circumferential groove 8: Recess 9: Weight sensor 10: Engagement portion 11: Cup insertion hole 12: Cup guide 13: First cup detection sensor 14: Second cup detection sensor 15: Reading device 16: Human sensor 17: Display panel 18: Control device 20: Upper control device 21: Determination means 22: Display device 23: Pause button

A Cup position (Cup insertion position)
B Cup position (Cup measurement position)
C Cup position D Cup position E Cup position F Cup position G Cup position H Cup position

Claims (20)

a cup guide member having a plurality of cup insertion holes formed in a circumferential direction;
a base member including a circumferential cup passage located below the cup insertion hole of the cup guide member and a drive device for rotating the cup guide member;
a front cover disposed on a front side of the base member and shaped to allow a user to access one of the cup insertion holes of the cup guide member and to hide the other cup insertion holes;
a weight sensor is provided at a position corresponding to any one of the cup insertion holes in the cup passage of the base member;
and providing a reading device for reading patient identification information from a barcode and/or a wireless tag provided on the urine collection cup at a position corresponding to one of the cup insertion holes of the base member;
Furthermore, a first cup detection sensor is provided in the base member at a position corresponding to one of the cup insertion holes of the cup guide member that is accessible to a user,
A urine collected cup management device characterized by having a control device configured to control the drive device to rotate the cup guide member until the next cup insertion hole reaches the cup insertion position when a cup is detected by a first cup detection sensor, and to use the weight sensor and reading device to measure the weight of the urine collected cup and read the patient identification information, and to link the read weight and the patient identification information. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 1, characterized in that a recess is provided at a position corresponding to any one of the cup insertion holes in the cup passage of the base member, and a weight sensor is provided in the recess so that its upper surface is flush with the cup passage. The urine-collected cup management device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the weight sensor is provided at a position corresponding to any one of the cup insertion holes other than the cup insertion position corresponding to the cup insertion hole accessible to the user in the cup passage of the base member. A urine collected cup management device as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the reading device is provided at a position corresponding to any one of the cup insertion holes other than the cup insertion position corresponding to the cup insertion hole of the base member that is accessible to the user. 5. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 1, wherein the front cover is provided with an opening for exposing one cup insertion hole at a cup insertion position. 6. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 1, wherein the cup passage of the base member has a circumferential groove. A urine-collected cup management device as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a cup guide extending downward from the cup insertion hole is formed at a position corresponding to each cup insertion hole in the cup guide member. a second cup detection sensor is provided at a position corresponding to the cup insertion hole located on the rear side of the cup insertion position in the rotational direction;
8. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 1, wherein when a cup is detected by the second cup detection sensor, the control device outputs a urine collected cup full signal. 9. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 1, wherein a rear cover is provided on the base member, the rear cover being connected to the front cover and covering an entire cup guide member from above. The urine collected cup management device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the cup guide member is made of a disc-shaped turntable. The urine collected cup management device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the control device is provided with a determination means for determining whether or not the amount of collected urine exceeds a predetermined amount of urine. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 11, further comprising a display device for displaying a result of the determination by said determination means to a patient who has submitted a urine collected cup. 13. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined urine volume corresponds to a urine volume designated by a doctor or the like, which is associated in advance with the patient identification information. The urine collected cup management device according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that the control device is configured to associate and store the patient identification information with the weight as well as the judgment result by the judgment means. The urine collected cup management device is provided with a host control device connected to the control device by wire and/or wirelessly, and the control device is configured to output patient identification information and a weight of the urine collected cup to the host control device;
The urine collected cup management device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the upper control device is provided with a determination means for determining whether or not the amount of urine collected exceeds a predetermined amount of urine. 16. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 15, wherein the host control device further comprises a display device for displaying a result of the determination made by the determining means. The control device is configured to output to the upper control device the patient identification information, the weight of the urine-collected cup, and the submission time of the urine-collected cup,
17. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 16, wherein the display device of the host control device displays the time of submission of the urine collected cup in addition to the judgment result. The urine collected cup management device according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that the upper control device has urine collection instruction information for the patient from a doctor or the like associated with patient identification information, and is configured to determine whether or not a urine collected cup has been submitted based on the urine collection instruction information and the patient identification information input from the control device, and to display the result of the determination. The urine collected cup management device according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that the predetermined urine volume corresponds to a urine volume designated by a doctor or the like, which is associated in advance with the patient identification information. The urine collected cup management device according to any one of claims 15 to 19, characterized in that the upper control device is configured to associate and store the patient identification information with the weight as well as the judgment result by the judgment means.

Images