JP7471560B2 - Medicine dispensing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a medicine dispensing device, and in particular to a medicine dispensing device that dispenses powdered medicine.

In recent years, large hospitals and pharmacies have introduced medicine dispensing devices with powdered medicine packaging functions. These medicine dispensing devices are capable of packaging individual doses of powdered medicine based on prescription information, automating most of the powdered medicine packaging work that was previously performed.

Such a medicine dispensing device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-233996.
The medicine dispensing device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a powder medicine packaging device that packages powder medicine individually in single doses.

More specifically, in this powdered medicine packaging device, before carrying out a packaging operation in which powdered medicine is individually packaged for individual doses, it is necessary to load the powdered medicine to be used in the packaging operation into an input hopper.
Here, the powdered medicine is put into the input hopper in the amount required for the packaging operation, but this required amount is measured out manually by the user of the device, such as a pharmacist. That is, the user takes the medicine bottle containing the prescribed powdered medicine from the medicine shelf, measures out the required amount using a scale such as a balance, and puts it into the input hopper.

When powdered medicine is poured into the feeding hopper, the trough is vibrated and the distribution plate (distribution unit) is rotated at the same time.
As a result, the powdered medicine put into the input hopper falls from the bottom opening of the input hopper into the trough. Then, as the medicine moves along the trough toward the tip, the flow of the medicine becomes laminar. In other words, the distribution of the medicine in the cross section perpendicular to the flow becomes constant, and the distance the medicine travels per unit time also becomes constant.

This allows the powdered medicine to be dispersed evenly and to move slowly at a constant speed toward the tip. The powdered medicine moving at the front falls from the tip of the trough into the distribution dish. The powdered medicine following behind falls into the distribution dish at a constant rate per time.
Here, as mentioned above, the distribution plate rotates at a predetermined speed. Therefore, the powdered medicine that falls from the trough onto the distribution plate is evenly distributed on the distribution plate. In other words, the powdered medicine falls onto the distribution plate little by little, and since the distribution plate rotates at a constant speed, the powdered medicine is evenly distributed on the distribution plate.

Once the powdered medicine has finished falling onto the distribution tray, the rotation of the distribution tray is stopped. Then, the scraping device is brought into contact with the top surface of the distribution tray, and the distribution tray is rotated an angle according to the number of divisions. For example, if the powdered medicine is to be divided into three packets, the distribution tray is rotated 120 degrees (one-third of 360 degrees). This action causes one packet of powdered medicine to be collected around the scraping device, and the collected packet of powdered medicine is placed into a packaging hopper by the scraping device. The powdered medicine that has fallen from the packaging hopper is then packaged by the packaging device, completing the packaging operation.

JP 2000-85703 A

However, the powdered medicine packaging device disclosed in Patent Document 1 has room for improvement in terms of speeding up the powdered medicine packaging process.

Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to provide a medicine dispensing device that can speed up powder medicine packaging operations.

One aspect of the present invention developed to solve the above problems is a medicine dispensing device having a main body device with a housing, a container storage unit that holds an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine , a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine , a container mounting device, and a control unit, wherein the container storage unit and the container mounting device are arranged within the housing, the manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on the container mounting device within the housing, the manual medicine container is powdered medicine that is not stored in an automatic medicine container and into which powdered medicine that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device has been introduced, and the medicine dispensing device has a container moving unit controlled by the control unit, and the control unit causes the container moving unit to move the automatic medicine container to the container mounting device and place the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device , and after the container moving unit is retracted to a predetermined position , an operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device is performed.
A preferred aspect is a drug dispensing device that includes a mechanism for enabling a user to place a manual drug container on the container mounting device after the container moving unit has performed the operation of placing an automatic drug container on the container mounting device and it has been confirmed that the container moving unit has retreated to a predetermined position.
Another aspect of the present invention developed to solve the above problems is a medicine dispensing device having a main body device with a housing, a container storage unit that holds an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine , a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine , a container mounting device, and a control unit, wherein the container storage unit and the container mounting device are arranged within the housing, the manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on the container mounting device within the housing, the manual medicine container is powdered medicine that is not stored in an automatic medicine container and into which powdered medicine that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device has been introduced, and the medicine dispensing device further has a window inside the housing and in front of the medicine dividing area in which the container mounting device is provided, and when the window is in an open state, an operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device is performed, and after the operation of placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device, the window is transitioned to a closed state, and an operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device is performed by a control means .
Another aspect of the present invention developed to solve the above problems is a medicine dispensing device having a main body device having a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit, wherein the container storage unit and the container mounting device are arranged within the housing, and the manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on the container mounting device within the housing, the manual medicine container is powdered medicine not stored in an automatic medicine container and contains powdered medicine that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device, and after an operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device is performed by the control unit, an operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device is performed, and the medicine dispensing device further has an automatic medicine container stored on an external management shelf, and when the automatic medicine container is placed on the temporary container placement unit of the main body device by a user, a container moving unit moves the automatic medicine container to the container mounting device and places it on the container mounting device.
Another aspect of the present invention developed to solve the above problems is a medicine dispensing device having a main body device with a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit, wherein the container storage unit and the container mounting device are arranged within the housing, and the manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually mounted on the container mounting device within the housing, the manual medicine container is a powdered medicine not stored in an automatic medicine container and has been previously weighed by a medicine weighing device introduced therein, and the manual medicine container has a container moving unit controlled by the control unit, and the container moving unit moves the automatic medicine container from the container storage unit to the container mounting device and mounts it on the container mounting device,
The drug dispensing device further has a distribution unit, and has three container mounting devices, the three container mounting devices being associated with the distribution unit, a temporary container mounting section being provided in the housing, and includes operations in which a manual drug container is manually mounted on one of the three container mounting devices, an automatic drug container carried from the container storage section by a container moving unit is mounted on one of the remaining two container mounting devices, and an automatic drug container carried from the temporary container mounting section by the container moving unit is mounted on the remaining one container mounting device.
A preferred embodiment is a drug dispensing device in which the control unit causes a container moving unit to move an automatic drug container to a container mounting device, and an operation is performed to place the automatic drug container on the container mounting device, and after the container moving unit has retreated to a predetermined position, the drug dispensing device includes an operation to manually place the manual drug container on the container mounting device.
In an even more preferred embodiment, the drug dispensing device includes an operation in which, when the automatic drug container and the manual drug container are placed on the container mounting device, the control unit determines whether the type of drug provided in the prescription included in the prescription data matches the type of drug stored in the automatic drug container and the manual drug container placed on the container mounting device, and confirms that the automatic drug container and the manual drug container are correctly placed on the container mounting device.
Another aspect of the present invention developed to solve the above problems is a medicine dispensing device having a main body device with a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit, wherein the container storage unit and the container mounting device are arranged within the housing, the manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on the container mounting device within the housing, the manual medicine container is powdered medicine that is not stored in the automatic medicine container and into which powdered medicine that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device has been introduced, and after an operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device is performed by the control unit, an operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device is performed, and the medicine dispensing device includes a recovery notification operation that prompts the user to retrieve the manual medicine container that was left behind.
In a further preferred embodiment, the drug dispensing device performs the recovery notification operation on condition that it detects that the manual drug container used in a packaging operation remains placed on the container mounting device between the end of the packaging operation and the start of the next packaging operation.
An even more preferred aspect is a medicine dispensing device that includes an operation of canceling or temporarily canceling the recovery notification operation when a manual medicine container has not been moved from above the container mounting device before a certain time has elapsed, and then performing a packaging operation.
Another aspect of the present invention developed to solve the above problems is a medicine dispensing device having a main unit having a housing, a container storage unit that holds an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit, in which the container storage unit and the container mounting device are arranged within the housing, and the manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually mounted on the container mounting device within the housing, and the manual medicine container is a powdered medicine not stored in the automatic medicine container and has been previously weighed by a medicine weighing device introduced therein, and the automatic medicine container is moved by the control unit to the container mounting device. and then an operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device, or an operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device, and then an operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device, wherein, depending on the user's selection, the control unit selects either the operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device after the operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device, or the operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device after the operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device, and
Another aspect of the present invention developed to solve the above problems is a medicine dispensing device having a main body device having a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit, in which the container storage unit and the container mounting device are arranged within the housing, and the manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually mounted on the container mounting device within the housing, and the manual medicine container is powdered medicine not stored in the automatic medicine container and previously weighed by a medicine weighing device. This medicine dispensing device introduces powdered medicine into the container mounting device, and after the operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device is performed, the control unit performs an operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device, and depending on the user's selection, the control unit selects either the operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device after the operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device, or the operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device after the operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device.
Another aspect of the present invention developed to solve the above problems is a medicine dispensing device that has a plurality of powder medicine storage containers, a container moving means, a powder medicine dispensing device that dispenses powder medicine, and a plurality of container mounting devices, and is capable of moving the plurality of powder medicine storage containers using the container moving means and mounting them on the plurality of container mounting devices, and discharging powder medicine from the plurality of powder medicine storage containers, and is capable of installing the powder medicine storage containers in all of the container mounting devices, and after the powder medicine storage containers have been installed in all of the container mounting devices, when a predetermined amount of powder medicine has been discharged from any of the powder medicine storage containers installed on all of the container mounting devices, removing the powder medicine storage container that has been discharged and emptying the container mounting device, and moving a different powder medicine storage container using the container moving means and installing the different powder medicine storage container in the vacant container mounting device.
A preferred aspect is a medicine dispensing device that, when performing an operation of dispensing more types of powdered medicine than the number of all of the container mounting devices, when a predetermined amount of powdered medicine has been discharged from any of the powdered medicine storage containers installed in all of the container mounting devices, includes an operation of removing the powdered medicine storage container from which the powdered medicine has been discharged from the container mounting device, moving a separate powdered medicine storage container with a container moving device, and placing the separate powdered medicine storage container on the container mounting device on which the powdered medicine storage container from which the powdered medicine has been discharged was placed.
An even more preferred embodiment is a medicine dispensing device that has an order determination function that estimates the time required for a predetermined amount of powdered medicine to be discharged from a powdered medicine storage container placed on the container mounting device, and changes the order in which the powdered medicine storage containers are placed on the container mounting device, taking into account the length of the time required for the discharge.
In an even more preferred embodiment, the medicine dispensing device is configured so that a user can manually place and remove a powder medicine storage container on the container mounting device without using a container moving means, and if the powder medicine storage container placed by the user remains on the container mounting device even after the powder medicine has been discharged from all of the powder medicine storage containers placed on the container mounting devices, an alarm operation is performed to alert the user of this fact.
In a further preferred embodiment, the medicine dispensing device further has two or more distribution trays, a plurality of container mounting devices are installed in the vicinity of the two or more distribution trays, and powder storage containers containing different types of powdered medicine are placed on the plurality of container mounting devices, thereby enabling a mixed prescription operation in which the different types of powdered medicine are poured into any one of the two or more distribution trays.
In a further preferred embodiment, the cleaning device further includes a cleaning device for cleaning the distribution tray, and the timing for cleaning the distribution tray with the cleaning device is determined to be one of the following conditions (1) to (5):
(1) When the dispensing of powdered medicine according to one prescription is completed,
(2) When a pharmacy is about to start dispensing powdered medicine based on a new prescription,
(3) When the dispensing of powdered medicines based on a prescription that contains a specific powdered medicine is completed,
(4) When the powdered medicine storage container is placed on the container mounting device by the user without using the container moving means and the dispensing of the powdered medicine is completed,
(5) When the user places the powdered medicine storage container on the container mounting device by hand without using the container moving means, and the powdered medicine dispensing is completed and a new powdered medicine dispensing according to a prescription is to be started,
The medicine dispensing device is capable of selecting one or more of the above.
Another aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is a medicine dispensing device having a housing, a plurality of powder medicine storage containers, a container moving means, a powder medicine dispensing device for dispensing powder medicine, a plurality of container mounting devices, and a distribution tray built therein, the container moving means being able to move the plurality of powder medicine storage containers and mount them on the plurality of powder medicine storage containers, and the powder medicine can be discharged from the plurality of powder medicine storage containers, the housing has a door section which allows the powder medicine storage containers inside the housing to be inserted and removed by the door section, the powder medicine storage container can also be placed on the container mounting device by a user without using the container moving means, a prescription operation is possible in which a plurality of powder medicine storage containers containing different types of medicine are mounted on the plurality of container mounting devices and the different types of powder medicine are poured into the distribution tray, and when it is necessary to both place the powder medicine storage container on the container mounting device by the container moving means and place the powder medicine storage container on the container mounting device by the user, it is possible to select which to perform first.
Another aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is a medicine dispensing device which has a plurality of powdered medicine storage containers, a container moving means, a plurality of container mounting devices, and a distribution tray, and which is capable of an automatic mounting method in which the container moving means moves the plurality of powdered medicine storage containers and mounts them on the plurality of container mounting devices, and a manual mounting method in which a user manually mounts the plurality of powdered medicine storage containers on the plurality of container mounting devices without using the container moving means, and which has two or more distribution trays and the plurality of container mounting devices are mounted near two or more distribution trays, and which is capable of a mixed prescription operation in which different types of powdered medicine are stored in the plurality of container mounting devices and the powdered medicine storage containers are mounted to feed the different types of powdered medicine into the distribution tray, and which is capable of a separate arrangement method in which the powdered medicine storage containers are mounted on all container mounting devices near a specific distribution tray by the automatic mounting method and the powdered medicine storage containers are mounted on all container mounting devices near other specific distribution trays by the manual mounting method, and which is capable of selecting a method in which the powdered medicine storage container is mounted on a container mounting device near one distribution tray by the automatic mounting method or the manual mounting method.
Another aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is a medicine dispensing device that discharges a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from a powdered medicine storage container, divides it into a predetermined number, and further packages and discharges it, the medicine dispensing device comprising: a distribution unit that distributes the powdered medicine discharged from the powdered medicine storage container; a scraping device that scrapes out the powdered medicine inputted into the distribution unit; and a container mounting device on which the powdered medicine storage container is placed and which acts on the powdered medicine storage container to discharge the powdered medicine from the powdered medicine storage container, the container mounting device having a vibration table section that vibrates to distribute the powdered medicine from the container mounting device. This medicine dispensing device is characterized in that vibrations can be transmitted to the powder medicine storage container placed on a container mounting device, a plurality of the container mounting devices are installed near the dispensing unit, and the powder medicine storage containers containing different types of powder medicine can be placed on the plurality of container mounting devices to dispense the different types of powder medicine into the dispensing unit, and when this operation is performed, the vibration table section of the container mounting device on which the powder medicine storage container is placed begins to vibrate without waiting until all of the powder medicine storage containers to be placed have been placed on the container mounting devices.
The term "powders" as used herein includes solid medicines such as tablets that have been ground into powder form.

In the medicine dispensing device of this aspect, the vibration table of the container mounting device on which the powder medicine storage container is mounted starts vibrating without waiting until all of the powder medicine storage containers to be mounted are mounted on the container mounting device. Therefore, when multiple powder medicine storage containers are mounted on different container mounting devices, powder medicine can be supplied to the dispensing unit from the powder medicine storage container that has already been mounted. In other words, the powder medicine supply operation from the powder medicine storage container that was previously mounted can be performed in parallel with the operation of mounting the powder medicine storage container to be mounted later on the container mounting device. Therefore, the powder medicine packaging operation can be speeded up compared to a configuration in which the powder medicine supply operation starts after all of the powder medicine storage containers are mounted on the container mounting device. This makes it possible to improve the efficiency of the powder medicine packaging operation.

This aspect is preferably capable of ranking the powdered medicine contained in each of the multiple powdered medicine storage containers based on the length of the discharge time based on information regarding the discharge time required to finish discharging a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from one of the powdered medicine storage containers, and of performing a cassette placement order determination operation that determines the order in which the powdered medicine storage containers are placed on the container mounting device based on the results of the ranking.

According to this preferred aspect, for example, it is possible to sequentially place powder medicine containers containing medicines that require a long discharge time on the container mounting device, and start discharging powder medicines from the powder medicine containers that were placed on the container mounting device first. In other words, by discharging medicines that require a long discharge time first, the overall discharge time for discharging multiple medicines can be shortened.

In addition, in this preferred aspect, it is also possible to place the powdered medicine containers on the container placing device in order starting from the powdered medicine containers that contain medicines that require a short discharge time.
Here, when it is necessary to discharge a large number of medicines to the dispensing unit, when the discharge of medicines from the powder medicine storage container previously placed on the container placement device is completed, this powder medicine storage container is moved from above the container placement device, a new powder medicine storage container is placed on the container placement device on which the moved powder medicine storage container was placed, and an operation of discharging medicines from the new powder medicine storage container is performed. In this case, by placing a powder medicine storage container containing a medicine that requires a short discharge time on the container placement device first, the time from the start of the medicine discharge operation to the replacement operation of the powder medicine storage container can be shortened. In other words, when the replacement operation of the powder medicine storage container is performed, the powder medicine storage containers are placed in order of the shortest discharge time, so that the discharge time of the entire operation of discharging a plurality of medicines can be shortened.

In this aspect, a comparison operation is performed for two or more target powdered medicines, in which each element consisting of the ease of discharging the powdered medicine from the powdered medicine storage container, the amount of powdered medicine contained in the powdered medicine storage container, the specific gravity of the powdered medicine, and the amount of powdered medicine used in packaging is compared element by element, and in the comparison operation, an operation is performed in which elements with higher priority are compared until it is determined whether the discharge time between the powdered medicines being compared is longer or shorter, and it is preferable that the ranking is performed based on the results of the comparison operation.

This aspect is configured so that the powdered medicine storage container can be manually placed on and removed from the container mounting device by the user, and if the powdered medicine storage container placed by the user's hand remains on the container mounting device even after the powdered medicine has been discharged from all of the powdered medicine storage containers placed on the container mounting device, it is preferable that a notification operation is performed to notify information to that effect.

According to this preferable aspect, it is possible to suppress the user from forgetting to retrieve the powdered medicine container, and it is possible to prevent the powdered medicine container from being left inside the medicine dispensing device by mistake.
Here, if the powdered medicine storage container is left inside the medicine dispensing device, it may get in the way of the subsequent packaging operation (powdered medicine packaging work). However, according to this preferable aspect, the powdered medicine storage container can be prevented from being left inside the medicine dispensing device, so that the subsequent packaging operation can be smoothly performed.

In this aspect, the powdered medicine contained in each of the multiple powdered medicine storage containers is classified based on the ease of discharge from the powdered medicine storage container, and a reference value corresponding to the classification is assigned, and when the powdered medicine storage container is placed on the container mounting device and the vibration table unit is vibrated to discharge a predetermined amount of powdered medicine, the vibration table unit vibrates with a vibration pattern corresponding to the reference value of the powdered medicine stored in the powdered medicine storage container, and the vibration pattern at the beginning of discharge is different from the vibration pattern thereafter, and at the beginning of discharge, the vibration table unit vibrates with a vibration pattern corresponding to the reference value corresponding to the powdered medicine that is less easy to discharge than the reference value corresponding to the powdered medicine actually stored in the powdered medicine storage container, and it is preferable that the vibration table unit then vibrates with a vibration pattern corresponding to the reference value corresponding to the powdered medicine actually stored in the powdered medicine storage container.

According to this preferable aspect, when the amount of medicine contained in the powder medicine container is small, the medicine discharge speed can be improved.
Specifically, when a small amount of medicine accumulates in a recessed position of the powdered medicine storage container, the medicine moves to the discharge port of the powdered medicine storage container and is then discharged to the outside. Therefore, compared to when a large amount of medicine is stored in the powdered medicine storage container and the medicine is filled from the recessed position to near the discharge port, it takes a longer time from when the medicine discharge operation starts until the medicine is actually discharged.
Therefore, in this preferred aspect, vibrations corresponding to medicines that are less easily discharged are performed at the beginning of discharge. In other words, by performing a discharge operation corresponding to medicines that are more difficult to discharge, it is possible to speed up the movement from a deep position in the powder medicine storage container to the discharge port. This makes it possible to shorten the discharge time of the medicine.

This invention makes it possible to speed up the process of packaging powdered medicines.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a medicine dispensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a perspective view showing a housing of the main unit of FIG. 1 with a transparent view. 2 is a perspective view showing the main unit of FIG. 1 as viewed from a different angle, with the door part open; FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the container moving device shown in FIG. 2 . 5A and 5B are perspective views showing the tip portion of the arm portion shown in FIG. 4, in which (a) shows a position in which the suction surface of the container holding portion is horizontal, and (b) shows a position in which the suction surface of the container holding portion is upright. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing how the tip portion of the arm portion shown in FIG. 4 moves the automatic medicine container from the container holding stand, and shows how the tip portion of the arm portion is positioned above and away from the automatic medicine container to close the lid member. FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the medicine dividing region of FIG. 2. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a specific structure of the scraping device of FIG. 7 . FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an automatic medicine container employed in the medicine dispensing device of FIG. 1, showing a state in which the container is placed on a container holding table. 10A and 10B are cross-sectional views of the automatic medicine container shown in FIG. 9, in which FIG. 10A shows a state in which the lid member is open, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a manual medicine container employed in the medicine dispensing device of FIG. 1. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing a storage space forming member of the manual medicine container shown in FIG. 11. FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the manual medicine container shown in FIG. 11 , with the lid omitted. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing a bottom forming member of the manually operated medicine container shown in FIG. 11. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing how the storage space forming member is attached to the bottom forming member, with the lid portion omitted. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the manual medicine container shown in FIG. 11 is placed on a temporary placement table, in which the manual medicine container is shown in a see-through manner with the lid portion omitted. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an outline of a procedure for carrying out a fully automatic packaging operation which can be carried out by the medicine dispensing apparatus of FIG. 1 . 7 is an explanatory diagram following Figure 6 showing how the automatic medicine container is moved from the container holding stand by the tip portion of the arm portion, where (a) shows how the tip portion of the arm portion is temporarily moved away from the automatic medicine container, and (b) shows how the tip portion of the arm portion is brought into contact with the automatic medicine container to close the lid member. This is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of scraping a packet of powdered medicine near the scraping plate and then scraping it out of the distribution unit in the medicine dispensing device of Figure 1, in which the powdered medicine is scraped out in the order of (a) to (c). 3 is an explanatory diagram showing how a packaging operation corresponding to one prescription is performed using two dispensing units in the medicine division area of FIG. 2 . FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing how a packaging operation corresponding to one prescription is performed using one dispensing unit in the drug division area of Figure 2, in which (a) shows three drug containers placed on the container mounting device, (b) shows how a drug container from which the drug has been discharged is moved from above the container mounting device, and (c) shows how a new drug container is placed on the container mounting device on which the drug container from which the drug has been discharged was placed. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a powdered medicine cassette selection screen according to the present embodiment. 23 is a diagram showing a state in which input is made to the character input section on the powdered medicine cassette selection screen of FIG. 22. 11A and 11B are diagrams showing a powdered medicine cassette packing amount setting screen of the present embodiment, in which FIG. 11A shows an even display state and FIG.

The following describes in detail the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings. Note that the following embodiments are examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these examples.

As shown in Figure 1, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 (drug dispensing device) of this embodiment is configured to include a main body device 2, an operation display unit 3, a control unit (not shown), a manually operated medicine container 5, a medicine weighing device 6, a journal printer 7, a barcode reader 8, and a temporary placement table 9.
This powdered medicine packaging device 1 is a device that, by operating the operation display unit 3, automatically removes and weighs powdered medicine contained in a medicine container (a powdered medicine storage container, which is the automatic medicine container 4 described below or the manual medicine container 5 described above), divides it into a specified number of portions, and packages it.

The main body device 2 is formed by incorporating various devices into a housing 10. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a medicine container arrangement area 12, a medicine division area 13, and a medicine packaging area 14 are provided inside the housing 10. A dehumidifier (not shown) and a temperature regulator (not shown) are provided inside the housing 10, making it possible to maintain the internal temperature and humidity within a certain range.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, a door portion 16 is provided in a portion of the housing 10 that forms the outer wall surface of the medicine container placement area 12.
The door section 16 is a section for inserting and removing the automatic medicine container 4 into and from the housing 10, and a temporary container placement section 18 for temporarily placing the automatic medicine container 4 is provided inside the door section 16. The door section 16 and the temporary container placement section 18 function as an introduction section when introducing a medicine container into the housing 10, and also function as an removal section when removing a medicine container from the housing 10.

The temporary container placement section 18 is a section that can hold the automatic medicine container 4 by mechanical engagement, and by placing the automatic medicine container 4, the automatic medicine container 4 and the temporary container placement section 18 are engaged. Conversely, when the automatic medicine container 4 and the temporary container placement section 18 are engaged, they are disengaged by lifting the automatic medicine container 4. In other words, it is possible to remove the automatic medicine container 4 from the temporary container placement section 18.

This temporary container placement section 18 is provided with an information reading means for reading information from the automatic medicine container 4 and a weight measuring means for measuring the weight of the automatic medicine container 4.

As shown in Fig. 2, the medicine container placement area 12 is provided with a container storage section 23 that holds the automatic medicine containers 4. Note that in Fig. 2, only some of the automatic medicine containers 4 are labeled with reference numerals, and reference numerals for the other automatic medicine containers 4 are omitted.
The container storage section 23 includes a drum member 25 that is installed in an upright position, and this drum member 25 is rotatable about a rotation axis that extends vertically. In other words, the vertical drum member 25 is rotatable horizontally using a motor or the like as a power source.

A plurality of container mounting portions are provided on the outer peripheral surface of the drum member 25, and the automatic medicine containers 4 are held in these container mounting portions.
Each container mounting part holds the automatic medicine container 4 by mechanical engagement, and the automatic medicine container 4 and the container mounting part are engaged with each other by pushing the automatic medicine container 4 in. Conversely, when the automatic medicine container 4 and the container mounting part are engaged with each other, they are disengaged by pulling the automatic medicine container 4 outward.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the drum member 25 is divided vertically into three sections, and multiple container installation sections are formed in each divided area. In other words, a group of 11 container installation sections is provided across three levels. In other words, the container storage section 23 is capable of holding a total of 33 automated medicine containers 4.

This container installation section is structured with a protruding member that protrudes outward, and when the automatic medicine container 4 is installed in the correct position, this protruding member is retracted.

In addition, optical sensors are provided inside and outside the drum member 25, making it possible to detect whether the protruding member of the container installation section is protruding or not.

In addition, an information reading means (not shown) is provided near the drum member 25 in the medicine container placement area 12. This makes it possible to obtain information from each automatic medicine container 4 held by the drum member 25. More specifically, information can be obtained from a container side information storage means (described in detail below) attached to each automatic medicine container 4.

A container moving unit 28 is provided in the area extending from the drug container placement area 12 to the drug dividing area 13. The container moving unit 28 is structured to include an arm section 30 and a lifting mechanism 31, and the arm section 30 can be moved in the vertical direction by the lifting mechanism 31.
In addition, a magnet is provided at the tip of the arm portion 30, and it is possible to hold the automatic medicine container 4 by attracting an iron plate attached integrally to the automatic medicine container 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the arm unit 30 has a structure including a main arm member 51 attached to the lifting platform 50 of the lifting mechanism 31, an intermediate arm member 52 attached to the tip side of the main arm member 51, and a hand unit 53 attached to the tip side of the intermediate arm member 52.

The main arm member 51 is attached to the lift platform 50 via a vertical shaft (not shown) and is capable of rotating in the horizontal direction around the lift platform 50 .
The intermediate arm member 52 is also attached to the tip of the main arm member 51 via a vertical shaft (not shown), and is capable of rotating horizontally around the tip of the main arm member 51.

The hand portion 53 is broadly composed of a main portion 54 and a container holding portion 55 , which are attached together via a mounting bracket 56 .
The trunk part 54 is attached to the tip of the intermediate arm member 52 via a vertical shaft (not shown) and is capable of rotating in the horizontal direction around the tip of the intermediate arm member 52 .

As shown in FIG. 5, the container holding part 55 is attached to the mounting bracket 56, which is laid horizontally, so that it can rotate freely via a horizontal axis. Therefore, the container holding part 55 can take either a parallel position (see FIG. 5(a)) or a vertical position (see FIG. 5(b)).

The container holder 55 includes an electromagnet (not shown) for attracting the medicine container, and an opening/closing member 57 (see FIG. 6).
Specifically, an opening 58 is provided on the surface of container holder 55 (the lower surface in FIG. 6 ) that is pressed against the drug container when the drug container is attracted, and an opening/closing member 57 is provided on the rear side of this opening 58. Opening/closing member 57 is a substantially "L"-shaped member made up of two contact plates that are connected together so that their shape in side view is substantially "L". This opening/closing member 57 is attached so as to be able to swing freely around the base portions of the two contact plates.
The opening/closing member 57 can be swung by the power of a solenoid, a motor, or the like (not shown).

For this reason, when the automatic medicine container 4 is adsorbed by the container holder 55 (described in detail later), as shown in FIG. 6, the part of the lid member 61 that protrudes outward can be inserted into the opening 58, and this part that protrudes outward can be positioned between the two abutment plates of the opening/closing member 57. Then, by swinging the opening/closing member 57 in this state, the lid member 61 can be opened and closed.

In the drug division area 13, a distribution unit 35, a container holding stand 36 (container mounting device), a scraping device 37, a cleaning device 38, a drug inlet 39, and a camera member 40 are provided in the space located behind the front door 34 (see Figure 1), as shown in Figure 7.
More specifically, in the medicine dividing area 13, two distribution units 35 arranged in parallel are installed in a buried state.

A container holding stand 36, a scraping device 37, and a cleaning device 38 are provided around each distribution unit 35. Three container holding stands 36, one scraping device 37, and one cleaning device 38 are associated with one distribution unit 35.

In addition, around the distribution unit 35 and between the two distribution units 35, a drug inlet 39 is provided for supplying powdered medicine one packet at a time to the drug packaging area 14, and a partition plate device 41 is provided at a position adjacent to this drug inlet 39.
The partition plate device 41 includes a box-shaped main body and a standing plate attached to the main body so as to be able to protrude and retract. The standing plate can be switched between a protruding state in which most of the standing plate protrudes outward from the main body, and a stored state in which the standing plate is stored within the main body.

In each packaging operation (described in detail later), when the powdered medicine distributed by one of the distribution units 35 is scooped up by the scraping device 37 and poured into the medicine inlet 39, depending on the type of powdered medicine to be poured, it is possible that the powdered medicine may fly farther than necessary. In other words, it is possible that the powdered medicine may fly all the way to the distribution unit 35 on the other side.
Therefore, in the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, the partition plate device 41 is in a protruding state to prevent the powdered medicine from flying to the other dispensing unit 35. In other words, the standing plate portion of the partition plate device 41 functions as a blocking wall to prevent the powdered medicine from flying to the other dispensing unit 35.

The distribution unit 35 has a continuous circular drug feed groove and is rotatable by a rotation mechanism (not shown).

The container holding table 36 is structured to include a vibration table section and a weight measuring means.

The vibration table is provided with a container holding means for holding the medicine container (automatic medicine container 4 or manual medicine container 5). In this embodiment, a magnet (electromagnet) is used as the container holding means.

The weight measuring means measures the weight of the medicine container directly or indirectly.

As a result, by placing a medicine container on the container holding stand 36, the medicine container can be vibrated and the powdered medicine contained in the medicine container can be discharged into the dispensing unit 35. The weight measurement means can detect the change in weight of the medicine container that accompanies the discharge of the powdered medicine.

8, the scraping device 37 has an arm member 171 fixed to the upper surface of a disk-shaped turntable 170, and the arm member 171 protrudes outward from the turntable 170. This makes it possible to rotate substantially the entire scraping device 37 by rotating the turntable 170.
Further, a scraping plate 172 , a partition plate 173 , and a scraping plate 174 are attached to the tip side of the arm member 171 .

The scraping plate 172 is a small disk-shaped member made of a thin plate, and is attached so that its thickness direction is perpendicular to the protruding direction of the arm member 171. In other words, the scraping plate 172 is fixed to a surface of the side surface of the arm member 171 that is perpendicular to the protruding direction, and takes an upright position.
A rubber or resin peripheral sealant 175 is provided on the peripheral edge of the scraper plate 172 so as to come into close contact with the upper surface of the distribution unit 35 .

The partition plate 173 is a thin plate-like member arranged parallel to the scraping plate 172, and has a shape close to a fan shape. In other words, the partition plate 173 is a roughly triangular plate formed by an arc with a central angle of about 30 degrees and two straight sides.

The scraping plate 174 is a plate-like member that is in contact with the scraping plate 172 and one straight side that forms the central angle of the partition plate 173, and is disposed so as to be perpendicular to both of them. In other words, it is formed so as to protrude outward from the circular surface of the scraping plate 172.
A rubber or resin scraping seal material 176 is also provided on the edge of this scraping plate 174 so as to be in close contact with the upper surface of the distribution unit 35 .

7, the camera member 40 is installed at a position where it can photograph the periphery of the container holding table 36, and functions as an imaging device that photographs the periphery of the drug discharge portion 67, 315 (described in detail later) of the drug container placed on the container holding table 36. For example, a digital imaging device such as a CCD camera can be suitably adopted for this camera member 40.
In this embodiment, a camera member 40 is separately provided for imaging the area around the container holding table 36 adjacent to the distribution unit 35 on one side, and a camera member 40 is separately provided for imaging the area around the container holding table 36 adjacent to the distribution unit 35 on the other side, and each is capable of performing separate imaging operations.

The medicine packaging area 14 is provided with a known medicine packaging device and a printing means.
The medicine packaging device is a machine for packaging medicines one by one, and is composed of a sheet supplying device and a sealing device. That is, the sheet supplied from the sheet supplying device is formed into a bag shape to create a sachet, and the created sachet is sealed and packaged by a powder medicine sealing device supplied from the medicine dividing area 13 for one dose at a time.
The printing means is a machine for printing predetermined information on the sachet.

As shown in Fig. 9, the automatic medicine container 4 is a container having an external shape of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped, and is provided with a medicine discharge part 67 for discharging powdered medicine or powder-like medicine contained inside to the outside. This medicine discharge part 67 is an opening-like part that communicates between the inside and the outside. This medicine discharge part 67 can be opened larger by removing the surrounding members, and also functions as a medicine input part for introducing medicine.
Moreover, iron plates are attached to two different sides of this automatic medicine container 4. The iron plate (upper iron plate member 63) attached to one side is a part for attracting the automatic medicine container 4 to the magnet of the arm unit 30 when the automatic medicine container 4 is held by the arm unit 30. Moreover, the iron plate (lower iron plate member 62) attached to the other side is a part for attracting the automatic medicine container 4 to the magnet of the container holding table 36 when the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36 described below.
In addition, an RFID tag is provided on the automatic medicine container 4, and information about the medicine contained therein can be stored. That is, the RFID tag functions as a container-side information storage means.

To explain more specifically, this automatic medicine container 4 is structured to include a container body 60, a lid member 61, a bottom iron plate member 62, and a top iron plate member 63. More specifically, two top iron plate members 63 are fixed integrally to one of two opposing faces in the short direction (height direction in Figure 9) of the container body 60, and a bottom iron plate member 62 is fixed integrally to the other. In the following explanation, when explaining the up-down direction of the automatic medicine container 4, the position in Figure 9 will be used as a reference.

The container body 60 is a rectangular parallelepiped container, and its interior is roughly divided into a powdered medicine storage section 65 for storing powdered medicine, and a desiccant storage section 66, as shown in FIG. 10. In addition, a medicine discharge section 67 is provided at one longitudinal end of the container body 60. This medicine discharge section 67 can be opened wider by removing the surrounding members, and functions as a medicine input section for introducing medicine into the container body 60. This medicine discharge section 67 is provided with a medicine discharge port 68 near the bottom end, which connects the inside and outside of the container body 60.

The lid member 61 has a structure including a movable lid portion 70 in the shape of an upright plate, and an engagement piece portion 71 and a pad portion 72 that both protrude inward from the inner surface of the movable lid portion 70. The engagement piece portion 71 protrudes inward from a portion of the inner surface of the movable lid portion 70 that is slightly above the center in the height direction, and the pad portion 72 protrudes inward from near the lower end.
The lid member 61 is attached integrally to the container body 60 such that the movable lid portion 70 covers the end portion of the container body 60 where the drug outlet 68 is located. In addition, while attached to the container body 60, the lid member 61 is in a state in which it can swing around a part of the engagement piece portion 71.

10(a), the upper side of the movable lid part 70 is pressed outward in the longitudinal direction of the container body 60, so that the lower end side of the movable lid part 70 approaches the container body 60. Then, the pad part 72 located on the lower end side of the movable lid part 70 closes the medicine outlet 68, so that the lid is in a closed state (see FIG. 10(b)).
Conversely, when the upper side of the movable lid part 70 is pressed toward the inside in the longitudinal direction of the container body 60 from this closed state, the lower end side of the movable lid part 70 moves outward in the longitudinal direction of the container body 60. Then, the pad part 72 located on the lower end side of the movable lid part 70 moves away from the chemical outlet 68, opening the chemical outlet 68 and bringing the lid into an open state (see FIG. 10(a)).

The operation display unit 3 is a so-called touch panel, and is formed by combining a display device such as a liquid crystal panel with a position input device such as a touch pad.
The powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment displays various screens on the operation display unit 3, and is capable of performing various operations described below by touching specific parts with a dielectric object such as a finger or a touch pen (hereinafter simply referred to as a finger, etc.).

The control unit includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM (EEPROM), and a data storage unit.
The CPU is a processor that executes various types of arithmetic processing, the ROM is a non-volatile memory in which programs such as the BIOS are stored in advance, and the RAM is a volatile or non-volatile memory used for expanding various programs and temporarily storing data.

The data storage unit is a storage device such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) that stores various programs and data. More specifically, various databases are stored, and various information related to drugs, such as "patient names" and "usual doses," are associated and stored.

As shown in FIG. 11, the manual drug container 5 is a container with an open drug inlet, and is composed of a storage space forming member 301 and a bottom forming member 302.

As shown in FIG. 12, the storage space forming member 301 has a main body 303 whose four sides are completely covered by side walls 304 and whose top and bottom sides are open. That is, the main body 303 is rectangular in plan view and has an opening 305 at the top, through which the medicine can be injected.

In addition, an opening 306 is provided in the bottom portion of the main body 303, as shown in FIG. 13. The opening 306 on the lower side has a smaller opening area than the opening 305 on the upper side. These two openings 305, 306 face each other at a distance, and each opening communicates the space surrounded by the side wall 304 with the outside.

An RFID tag is provided on the side of the main body 303, and is capable of storing information about the drug to be dispensed and the ID of the manual drug container 5 (an identifier for identifying a specific drug container from among multiple drug containers). In other words, this RFID tag functions as a container-side information storage means.

As shown in FIG. 12, guide pieces 309 are provided on a pair of side surfaces of the main body 303. The guide pieces 309 are formed integrally with the side wall 304 on the long side of the main body 303, and protrude horizontally from the side wall 304 (based on the position when placed on the container holding table 36). The guide pieces 309 also extend along the long side of the side wall 304. A stopper 307 is formed at one end. The stopper 307 is located at the end portion of the guide pieces 309 and is a portion with a large cross-sectional area.

The storage space forming member 301 also has a lid portion 308 that can be attached to the top of the main body portion 303, and is structured so that the opening 305 located at the upper side can be closed by attaching the lid portion 308.

The bottom forming member 302 is a member formed by processing a steel plate containing magnetic components such as ferrite, and as shown in Figures 13 and 14, both sides of the bottom 310 are bent upward to form an inclined wall 311.

Here, as shown in FIG. 14, at one end in the longitudinal direction of the bottom forming member 302, no vertical wall-shaped portion is formed, and the side is open. This open side constitutes the drug discharge section 315. In contrast, at the other end in the longitudinal direction of the bottom forming member 302, a vertical wall 316 is provided, and the side is closed.

In addition, multiple protrusions 325 are provided on the bottom 310 of the bottom forming member 302 near the drug discharge section 315.

The overall length of the bottom forming member 302 is longer than the overall length of the storage space forming member 301, as shown in FIG. 11 etc.

A guide receiving member 313 is provided on the outer periphery of the inclined wall 311 of the bottom forming member 302.

As shown in FIG. 14, the guide receiving member 313 is composed of a receiving portion forming member 317 and an elastic member 320.

The guide receiving member 313 has a box-like shape that is roughly a rectangular parallelepiped. A cover portion 318 is provided on the top surface of the guide receiving member 313, and a slit portion 319 with which the above-mentioned guide piece 309 engages is formed between the top surface of the box-shaped portion and the cover portion 318. The slit portion 319 is open on the side facing the drug discharge portion 315 and closed on the side facing the vertical wall 316.

Inside the guide receiving member 313, two pins 324 are provided that hang down from the ceiling.

The elastic member 320 is provided on the inclined wall 311 of the bottom forming member 302 and attached to a support base 321 that protrudes outward like a shelf. In other words, a support base 32 is provided on the outer periphery of the inclined wall 311, and two elastic members 320 are erected on this support base.
Specifically, the elastic member 320 is a spring. A receiving member 322 is provided on the upper portion of the elastic member 320, and a recess 323 is formed in the receiving member 322.

The receiving portion forming member 317 is a member that is attached so as to cover the elastic member 320, and the internal pin 324 can engage with the recess 323 of the elastic member 320.

The storage space forming member 301 can be attached integrally to the bottom forming member 302 via the guide receiving member 313. That is, as shown in FIG. 15, the guide piece 309 of the storage space forming member 301 is engaged with the slit portion 319 of the guide receiving member 313, and the two are integrated to form the manual medicine container 5.

Here, since the guide receiving member 313 has the elastic member 320 as described above, the storage space forming member 301 and the bottom forming member 302 are integrated with the elastic member 320 interposed therebetween.
Furthermore, as described above, the side of the slit portion 319 facing the drug discharge portion 315 is open, and the side of the vertical wall 316 is closed, so that the storage space forming member 301 can be removed from the bottom forming member 302 by moving the storage space forming member 301 toward the drug discharge portion 315 along the longitudinal direction of the bottom forming member 302.

As shown in FIG. 13, the opening 306 on the lower side of the storage space forming member 301 is not in contact with the bottom 310 of the bottom forming member 302, and there is a gap between the two.

Here, this manual medicine container 5 can be used in the same manner as the manual medicine container 5 described above.
That is, the medicine is put into the storage space forming member 301, and the manual medicine container 5 is manually carried into the inside of the housing 10 and placed on the desired container holding table 36. Then, the vibration table part of the container holding table 36 is vibrated to discharge the medicine from the medicine discharge part 315.

At this time, in the manual medicine container 5, the storage space forming member 301 and the bottom forming member 302 are integrated via the elastic member 320, so the bottom forming member 302 vibrates to move the medicine, but the vibration amount of the storage space forming member 301 is smaller than that of the bottom forming member 302. In this way, by making the vibration amounts of the storage space forming member 301 and the bottom forming member 302 different, it becomes possible to smoothly move the medicine (drug) put into the storage space forming member 301 from the opening 306 to the bottom forming member 302, and the medicine can be smoothly discharged.

Here, when using this manual medicine container 5, there are cases where the medicine is weighed by the medicine weighing device 6, the weighed medicine is filled into the manual medicine container 5, and the manual medicine container 5 is carried inside the housing 10. In such a case, the manual medicine container 5 is placed on a desk, and the weighed medicine is poured into the storage space forming member 301.
However, although the bottom side of this manual medicine container 5 is formed by the bottom forming member 302, the cross-sectional shape of the bottom forming member 302 is U-shaped, and the area of the part that comes into contact with the desk surface is small. For this reason, when the manual medicine container 5 is placed directly on the desk, its posture is unstable, and there is a concern that the manual medicine container 5 may tip over.

Therefore, when the manual medicine container 5 is actually used, it is used together with a temporary placement table 9, as shown in Figure 16.

The temporary placement table 9 is a table-like member having a placement groove 341 with which the bottom surface of the bottom forming member 302 of the manual medicine container 5 fits.
The installation groove 341 has an open portion 345 on one side and a vertical wall portion 342 on the other side. The installation groove 341 has a sloped bottom portion, with the open portion 345 side being higher than the vertical wall portion 342 side. The slope angle of the bottom portion is about 3 degrees to 10 degrees, and is 5 degrees in this embodiment.

The temporary placement table 9 is also provided with an information reading device (information reading means) that reads information from an RFID tag or the like. Therefore, when the manual medicine container 5 is placed on the temporary placement table 9, an information reading operation can be performed to read information from the RFID tag or the like of the manual medicine container 5.

By placing the manual medicine container 5 on such a temporary placement table 9, it becomes possible to add medicine to the manual medicine container 5 while keeping the orientation of the manual medicine container 5 stable.
More specifically, the manual medicine container 5 is placed on the temporary table 9 with the inclined wall 311 of the bottom forming member 302 of the manual medicine container 5 aligned with the inclined surface of the installation groove 341 of the temporary table 9 and the vertical wall 316 of the bottom forming member 302 abutting against the vertical wall portion 342 of the temporary table 9. This causes the bottom forming member 302 to assume an inclined position, and the position of the manual medicine container 5 is stabilized with the medicine discharging portion 315 facing upward. Positioning the medicine discharging portion 315 upward in this manner prevents the medicine from spilling out from the medicine discharging portion 315.

The medicine weighing device 6 includes a balance table and an RFID reader/writer. In order to be able to receive data (signals) transmitted from the temporary placement table 9, the medicine weighing device 6 is connected to the temporary placement table 9 via a communication network such as an in-house communication network (LAN) so as to be able to transmit and receive data (signals) to and from the temporary placement table 9.
The medicine weighing device 6 is capable of reading and writing information from and to the RFID tag attached to the medicine container while the medicine container is placed on the temporary placement table 9. That is, the medicine weighing device 6 works in conjunction with the temporary placement table 9 to enable reading and writing of information from and to the container-side information storage means of the medicine container. In other words, the device consisting of the medicine weighing device 6 and the temporary placement table 9 is structured to include information reading means and information writing means.

The journal printer 7 is a device for printing and outputting various information, such as the history of packaging operations and prescription records, on a medium such as paper.

The barcode reader 8 is capable of reading barcodes written on the original boxes and bottles of medicines, etc.

The various devices such as the sensors and camera components built into the main body device 2, the drug weighing device 6, the journal printer 7, and the barcode reader 8 are capable of sending and receiving various information to and from the control unit described above. In other words, these are connected via a communication network such as a LAN, and are capable of sending and receiving signals.

Next, a packaging operation that can be performed by the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment will be described.
The powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of carrying out a packaging operation of packaging powdered medicine into individual doses based on inputted prescription information.

First, prior to the packaging operation, a setting operation is performed to set the timing for performing the cleaning operation (described in detail below).

Specifically, in the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, a database that stores information about medicines is stored in the data storage section of the control unit, and medicines that may be prescribed by a doctor are registered regardless of whether they are stored in a medicine container or not.
It is possible to register information such as the drug code, drug name, unit code, engraving, shelf number (management number of the shelf where the drug is stored), management flag (whether special management is required for handling), drug name (abbreviation), whether or not the drug is subject to cleaning, stability coefficient, specific gravity, vibration coefficient, and image.

That is, the user can input each of the above items by performing a predetermined operation.
When inputting the item "Whether or not cleaning is required" from among the above items, it is possible to first select and set whether or not cleaning is required. If it is set that "cleaning is required", it is possible to select either "only after using the manual distribution cassette" or "also every time before distribution".

"Only after use of manual distribution cassette" is a setting in which, when a packaging operation using this drug is performed, the cleaning operation is not performed before the packaging operation begins, but is performed after the packaging operation is completed.
"Cleaning every time before distribution" is a setting in which, when a packaging operation using this drug is performed, a cleaning operation is performed before the packaging operation begins, and also after the packaging operation is completed.

The powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is configured to automatically determine whether or not cleaning operation is necessary based on the set medicine information, and if necessary, automatically perform cleaning operation at the set time.
In the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, in the initial state (at the time of shipment), all medicines registered in the database are set to "only after use of the manual cassette". That is, they are set as medicines for which a cleaning operation before the packaging operation is performed, without performing a cleaning operation before the packaging operation. Therefore, if the powdered medicine packaging device 1 is operated without changing the setting, the setting is such that the cleaning operation of the distribution unit 35 is always performed after the packaging operation is performed.

In this manner, with the settings relating to the cleaning operation having been previously made, a predetermined operation is carried out on the operation and display unit 3, and information relating to the prescription is input to the powder medicine packing device 1.
In addition, prescription-related information does not need to be entered directly into the operation display unit 3. An external PC or control device and the powder medicine packaging device 1 can be in a state in which they are able to send and receive data (signals) to each other via a communication network such as a local area network (LAN), and prescription-related information (data) can be sent from an external device to the powder medicine packaging device 1.

When prescription information is input, the powder medicine packaging device 1 identifies the medicine to be used in the prescription. Then, a cassette selection operation can be performed to select the medicine container (automatic medicine container 4 or manual medicine container 5) that contains the medicine to be used.

Specifically, the powder medicine packaging device 1 packages medicines in doses based on prescription information. In other words, if the prescription provides for one medicine, the powder medicine packaging device 1 packages the medicine in doses. In contrast, if the prescription provides for multiple medicines, the powder medicine packaging device 1 mixes the multiple medicines and then packages them in doses.
In this cassette selection operation, it is possible to select whether to use the automatic medicine container 4 built into the powdered medicine packaging device 1 for each medicine used in the packaging operation, to use the automatic medicine container 4 stored on an external management shelf, or to use the manual medicine container 5 into which a pharmacist has placed powdered medicine that has been weighed in advance.

More specifically, when the cassette selection operation is started, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 compares the input information with the information stored in the data memory unit (or information obtained by the sensor) and automatically determines whether the prescribed medicine is contained in the automatic medicine container 4.
As a result of this determination, if the drug is stored in the automatic drug container 4, the automatic drug container 4 is automatically selected, and if not, the manual drug container 5 is automatically selected.
In this state, the user can operate the operation and display unit 3 to select which drug container to use for each drug.

When an automatic medicine container 4 held by the container storage unit 23 is selected, a retention determination operation is performed to determine whether or not the selected automatic medicine container 4 is currently being held in the container storage unit 23. If the result of this determination operation is that the automatic medicine container 4 selected in the cassette selection operation is not being held in the container storage unit 23, a notification operation is performed to notify this fact. In this case, by having the powdered medicine packaging device 1 perform an operation to hold a new automatic medicine container 4 in the container storage unit 23, the automatic medicine container 4 containing the required medicine is brought into a state of being held in the container storage unit 23.

When the cassette selection operation is completed, a packaging operation is carried out in accordance with the input results from the cassette selection operation.
That is, a fully automatic packaging operation is performed when the automatic medicine containers 4 stored in the container storage unit 23 are used for all medicines used in the packaging operation. On the other hand, when the automatic medicine containers 4 are used for all medicines and the automatic medicine containers 4 stored on the external management shelf are used for one or more medicines, a semi-automatic packaging operation is performed.
On the other hand, when the manual drug container 5 is used for all drugs used in the packaging operation, the manual packaging operation is performed. Furthermore, when multiple drugs are mixed and packaged, and the automatic drug container 4 is used for at least one drug and the manual drug container 5 is used for at least one other drug, the semi-automatic packaging operation is performed.
Each of these operations is described in more detail below.
[Fully automatic packaging operation]

As shown in FIG. 17, first, if a cleaning operation is set to be performed prior to the packaging operation for one or more of the drugs to be used (Yes in STEP 1), the cleaning operation is performed (STEP 2).

Specifically, the cleaning operation involves lowering the tip end portion of the cleaning device 38 so that it is close to the distribution unit 35. Then, an operation is performed to rotate the distribution unit 35 at a predetermined speed.
The cleaning device 38 is provided with a suction device that sucks up remaining medicine, and is formed with a rotatable brush-like portion and a suction port of the suction device at its tip end.
In other words, the cleaning operation involves the brush-like portion in contact with the dispensing unit 35 scraping off the remaining medicine, and the suction device sucking up the remaining medicine that has risen to the top.

Next, a confirmation operation is performed to confirm that all of the powdered medicines to be packaged are stored in the automatic medicine containers 4 currently held in the container storage unit 23 (STEP 3). Then, when it is confirmed that all of the powdered medicines to be packaged are stored in the automatic medicine containers 4 in the container storage unit 23 (Yes in STEP 4), a cassette removal operation is started to remove the selected automatic medicine container 4 from the container storage unit 23 (STEP 5).

Here, when only one medicine is used (Yes in STEP 6), one automated medicine container 4 is removed in the cassette removal operation.
That is, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 rotates the drum member 25 to bring the automatic medicine container 4 to be removed close to the container moving unit 28. Then, the automatic medicine container 4 is held by the arm portion 30, which is a part of the container moving unit 28. In other words, the iron plate attached integrally to the automatic medicine container 4 is attracted by the magnet provided on the tip side of the arm portion 30.
Then, the arm unit 30 takes out the automatic medicine container 4 from the container storage unit 23, moves the automatic medicine container 4 to the container holding table 36, and places the automatic medicine container 4 on the container holding table 36 (STEP 7).

In this embodiment, an information reading means is provided near the container holding stand 36, making it possible to perform an information reading operation to read information stored in the RFID tag of an automatic medicine container 4 placed on the container holding stand 36.
This information reading operation confirms the type of medicine (powdered medicine) contained in the automatic medicine container 4. That is, a confirmation operation is performed to confirm whether the automatic medicine container 4 containing the medicine to be used has been correctly selected and transported.

When it is confirmed as a result of the confirmation operation that the automatic medicine container 4 containing the medicine to be used is placed on the container holding table 36, the vibration table part of the container holding table 36 starts vibrating, the automatic medicine container 4 vibrates, and the powdered medicine contained in the automatic medicine container 4 slowly falls into the distribution unit 35. In other words, the powdered medicine is supplied (discharged) from inside the automatic medicine container 4 to the distribution unit 35 (STEP 7).

Here, since the particle size and hygroscopicity of medicines (powdered medicines) vary depending on the type, when the container holder 36 is vibrated, the behavior of the medicine in the medicine container varies depending on the type of medicine. Furthermore, some medicines are easily rectified and flow when subjected to vibration, while others are not. The amount of medicine that moves with one vibration also varies depending on the type of medicine.
For these reasons, there is a problem that the amount of medicine discharged is not stable at the beginning of the discharge. Therefore, in the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, a vibration control operation, which will be described later, is performed to stabilize the amount of medicine discharged and improve the discharge speed.

In addition, in conjunction with the supply operation (discharge operation) of powdered medicine from the automatic medicine container 4 to the dispensing unit 35, a feeder rotation operation is performed to rotate the dispensing unit 35.

Here, before and during the vibration operation by the vibration table unit, a weight measurement operation is carried out to measure the weight of the automatic medicine container 4 placed on it based on the value detected by the weight measuring means of the container holding table 36.
In other words, while powdered medicine is being supplied (discharged) from the automatic medicine container 4 to the distribution unit 35, the weight of the automatic medicine container 4 is constantly detected, and the vibration action of the vibration table section is stopped when the amount of powdered medicine supplied (the amount discharged, that is, the amount that has fallen onto the distribution unit 35) reaches a predetermined amount.
The weight of the automatic medicine container 4 obtained before the start of the vibration operation is stored as the original weight, and the current weight obtained while the vibration operation is being performed is stored as the current weight.

During the vibration operation, the weight of the automatic medicine container 4 is constantly detected to check whether the powdered medicine is being smoothly supplied to the dispensing unit 35. In other words, it is checked whether the powdered medicine is being properly supplied without clogging the discharge port of the automatic medicine container 4.
In other words, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment continues to acquire the current weight of the automatic medicine container 4 while the vibration operation is being performed, and by comparing the acquired current weight with the original weight acquired before starting, constantly calculates the amount of powdered medicine to be supplied (the value obtained by subtracting the current weight from the original weight).
The vibration operation is stopped when the amount of powdered medicine supplied reaches a specified amount. In other words, the vibration operation is stopped when the current weight of the automatic medicine container 4 is less than the original weight obtained before the vibration operation is started by a specified amount.

Then, when a specified amount of powdered medicine is supplied to the dispensing unit 35 and the vibration operation is stopped, the automatic medicine container 4 is returned to the container storage unit 23 by the arm unit 30. At this time, the weight of the automatic medicine container 4 when the supply of medicine to the dispensing unit 35 is completed is measured by the weight measuring means of the container holding table 36, and an information writing operation is performed to store the measured weight in the RFID. After that, the automatic medicine container 4 is returned to the container storage unit 23.
That is, the arm section 30 moves the automated medicine container 4 from the container holding table 36 to the container storage section 23. Meanwhile, in the distribution unit 35, after the vibration operation has stopped, the distribution unit 35 stops rotating.

To explain in detail how the automatic medicine container 4 is moved from the container holding stand 36 to the container storage section 23, first, as shown in FIG. 6, the container holding section 55 of the arm section 30 is brought close to the automatic medicine container 4, and the suction surface of the container holding section 55 (the lower surface in FIG. 6) and the surface to which the upper side iron plate member 63 of the automatic medicine container 4 is attached (the upper surface in FIG. 6) are spaced apart and face each other.

In other words, the suction surface of the container holder 55 is disposed at a position spaced a predetermined distance L (1 mm to 3 mm, 1.5 mm in this embodiment) from the upper surface of the automatic medicine container 4 .
In this state, the opening/closing member 57 is swung to close the lid member 61 (temporary closing operation). At this time, the electromagnet of the container holding portion 55 is de-energized to eliminate the attraction force, so that the cassette is not naturally attracted even when brought within 1 mm of the container, and is not swung by the force of attraction.

Next, as shown in FIG. 18(a), the container holder 55 is raised and separated from the automatic medicine container 4. As a result, the upper end portion of the lid member 61, which was located between the two abutment plates of the opening/closing member 57, is now located below the opening/closing member 57. In other words, the engagement between the opening/closing member 57 and the lid member 61 is released, and the opening/closing member 57 does not come into contact with the lid member 61 even when it is swung.

From this state, the container holder 55 is again brought close to the automatic medicine container 4, and the adsorption surface of the container holder 55 (the lower surface in FIG. 18) is brought into close contact with the surface of the automatic medicine container 4 to which the upper iron plate member 63 is attached (the upper surface in FIG. 18). Then, a magnetic force is generated in the electromagnet (not shown) of the container holder 55, and the automatic medicine container 4 is adsorbed to the container holder 55. Then, the opening/closing member 57 is swung again to perform an operation to close the lid member 61 (main closing operation). This operation to close the lid member 61 brings the lid member 61 into a firmly closed state. Then, in this state, the arm unit 30 is operated to move the automatic medicine container 4 together with the container holder 55.

In this manner, in this embodiment, before the automatic medicine container 4 is attached to the container holder 55, the container holder 55 and the automatic medicine container 4 are separated, and the lid member 61 of the automatic medicine container 4 is closed, placing the lid member 61 in a temporarily closed state. This makes it possible to prevent powdered medicine from spilling out of the automatic medicine container 4 due to the impact caused when the container holder 55 is attached to the automatic medicine container 4.

Then, a medicine dividing operation is performed in which the powdered medicine supplied to the distribution unit 35 is poured into the medicine inlet 39 one dose at a time, and the medicine is divided into individual doses and packaged (STEP 9).

To be more specific, as described above, powdered medicine is discharged from the medicine container to the distribution unit 35, and the distribution unit 35 rotates, causing the powdered medicine to be spread evenly over the entire upper surface of the distribution unit 35. Then, after the discharge from the medicine container to the distribution unit 35 stops, the rotation of the distribution unit 35 stops, and the medicine division operation begins.

In the drug division operation, first, as shown in FIG. 19(a), the arm member 171 rotates downward, and the peripheral portion of the scraper plate 172 comes into contact with the upper surface of the distribution unit 35 (see FIG. 9(b)). In other words, the lower portion of the scraper plate 172 enters the recessed portion of the distribution unit 35.

In this state, the distribution unit 35 is rotated by an angle corresponding to the number of divided powdered medicines, and some of the powdered medicines spread on the distribution unit 35 are gathered around the collecting plate 172 (see FIG. 19(c)). The collecting plate 172 is then rotated to feed the gathered powdered medicine into the medicine inlet 39. By repeating this operation, the medicine dividing operation is performed, in which the medicine supplied to the distribution unit 35 is fed into the medicine inlet 39 one dose at a time.

Then, the dose of medicine inserted into the medicine inlet 39 reaches the medicine packaging area 14 and is supplied to the medicine packaging device. The medicine packaging device then packages the medicine into individual doses.

When this series of operations is completed, all of the medicines supplied to the distribution unit 35 are supplied to the medicine packaging device, and packaging is completed, completing the fully automatic packaging operation. Note that if a cleaning operation is set to be performed after the packaging operation, the cleaning operation is performed after the fully automatic packaging operation is completed.

When mixing and packaging multiple powdered medicines (No in STEP 6), the above-mentioned operation of placing the automatic medicine container 4 on the container holding table 36 is repeated, and multiple automatic medicine containers 4 are placed on different container holding tables 36. Then, by performing a vibration operation on each container holding table 36, multiple types of powdered medicines are supplied to the distribution unit 35, and the multiple types of powdered medicines are mixed as the distribution unit 35 rotates.

Specifically, when mixing and packaging multiple powdered medicines, it is determined whether or not the prescription for the first packaging operation to be performed contains four or more types of medicine. Furthermore, it is determined whether or not information on the prescription for the first packaging operation to be performed has been input (or transmitted) following information on the prescription for the other packaging operations. In other words, it is determined whether or not packaging operations for different prescriptions will be performed consecutively.
Then, based on the results of these discrimination operations, a use unit determination operation is performed to determine the distribution unit 35 to be used in the packaging operation (STEP 10). In this use unit determination operation, it is determined whether the packaging operation will be performed using two distribution units 35 or using one of the distribution units 35.

Specifically, when there are three or less types of medicine, that is, when the number of types of medicine is less than the number of container holding tables 36 associated with one distribution unit 35 (three in this embodiment), the packaging operation is performed using one of the distribution units 35.
On the other hand, when there are four or more types of medicine, i.e., when the number of types of medicine is greater than the number of container holding tables 36 associated with one distribution unit 35, and when packaging operations for different prescriptions are not performed consecutively, the packaging operation is performed using two distribution units 35 (see Figure 20).
In addition, when there are four or more types of medicine and packaging operations are performed consecutively for different prescriptions, the packaging operations are performed using one of the distribution units 35 (see FIG. 21).

That is, when there are four or more types of medicine, by using two distribution units 35, four or more (e.g., four) automatic medicine containers 4 can be placed on the container holding table 36 at the same time (see FIG. 20). This makes it possible to place all of the automatic medicine containers 4 on the container holding table 36 without the need to replace the automatic medicine container 4a from which the medicine has been discharged with a new automatic medicine container 4b (see FIG. 21(b) and FIG. 21(c)), thereby shortening the time until the packaging operation is completed.

However, when consecutive packaging operations are performed, if two distribution units 35 are used in the first packaging operation, it becomes necessary to wait until the first packaging operation is completed before starting the subsequent packaging operation of a different prescription. Therefore, even if the time until the first packaging operation is completed can be shortened slightly, there is a possibility that the time required to perform the two packaging operations will be significantly extended due to a waiting time that is longer than the shortened time. In other words, the time required to perform the two packaging operations may become longer.

Therefore, when there are four or more types of medicine and packaging operations of different prescriptions are to be performed consecutively, the first packaging operation is performed using only one of the distribution units 35. This allows the subsequent packaging operation to be performed without waiting, thereby shortening the time required to completely complete the two packaging operations.

Next, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment performs a cassette placement order determination operation to determine the order in which the medicine containers are placed (STEP 11).

Specifically, each type of drug contained in a drug container has a different particle size and ease of movement within the drug container (ease of flow, the flow coefficient described below), and even if the drug container is vibrated in the same way, the time from the start of vibration to the drug being discharged and the time until the drug is completely discharged will differ depending on the drug contained therein.
The time it takes for the medicine to be discharged also varies depending on the amount of medicine contained in the medicine container (hereinafter also simply referred to as inventory amount). For example, when the medicine container contains an amount of medicine equal to the maximum capacity, the medicine is filled up to the vicinity of the discharge outlet of the medicine container, so that when vibration is started, the medicine starts to be discharged relatively quickly. In contrast, when only a small amount of medicine is contained in the medicine container and it is accumulated at a position far from the discharge outlet, it takes a relatively long time from the start of vibration until the medicine starts to be discharged.

Furthermore, even if the same type and amount of medicine is contained, the time required to complete the discharge of the medicine will naturally differ depending on the amount used in the packaging operation. For example, when dispensing 10 g, the time required to complete the discharge of the medicine will be longer than when dispensing 1 g.

Therefore, the powder medicine dispensing and packaging device 1 of the present embodiment is capable of determining whether the discharge time of each medicine provided in the prescription is long or short.
Specifically, by sequentially comparing the ease of discharging two or more medicines (flow coefficient, described later), stock amount, specific gravity of the medicine, and amount used in the packaging operation, it is possible to rank the two or more medicines in order of the longest (or shortest) discharging time.

For example, when determining whether the draining time of a drug container containing drug A is longer than that of a drug container containing drug B, first, the draining ease (flow coefficient described below) of drug A is compared with the draining ease of drug B. At this time, if the draining ease of one is lower than the other (if it is less likely to flow), it is determined that the draining time of the drug with lower draining ease is longer than the draining time of the other drug.
Conversely, when the ease of discharging the drug A is equal to the ease of discharging the drug B, the inventory amount of the drug A is compared with the inventory amount of the drug B. At this time, if the inventory amount of either drug is smaller than the other, it is determined that the discharging time of the drug with the smaller inventory amount is longer than the discharging time of the other drug.

In addition, when the ease of discharging of drug A and drug B is similar and the stock amounts are the same, the specific gravity of the drugs is compared. At this time, if one of the drugs has a lower specific gravity than the other, it is determined that the discharging time of the drug with the lower specific gravity is longer than the discharging time of the other drug.
Furthermore, when the ease of dispensing of the A drug and the B drug is similar, the stock amount is the same, and the specific gravity is approximately the same, the amounts used in the packaging operation are compared. At this time, if the amount of one of them used in the packaging operation is greater than the other, it is determined that the dispensing time of the drug used in the packaging operation is longer than the dispensing time of the other drug.

In this way, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment can obtain the comparison results of the discharge times of each medicine provided in the prescription by comparing the weighted elements (ease of dispensing the medicine, stock amount, specific gravity of the medicine, amount used in the packaging operation) in order of importance. By performing such a comparison calculation, it is possible to rank the medicines according to the length of their discharge time. In other words, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment can automatically perform a comparison calculation of the discharge times of the medicines provided in the prescription, and rank them according to the discharge times based on the comparison calculation.

Then, the placement order of the medicine containers is determined based on the result of the operation of determining the units to be used and the result of the comparison calculation of the discharge time of each medicine.
Specifically, when the packaging operation is performed using two distribution units 35 as a result of the operation of determining the unit to be used, it is determined that the drug containers are to be placed on the container holding table 36 in the order of the drug discharge time of the contained drug. That is, the drug container containing the drug with the longest discharge time (the drug predicted to have the longest discharge time) is placed first, and the drug container containing the drug with the second longest discharge time (the drug predicted to have the second longest discharge time) is placed second. The third and subsequent drug containers are determined in the same manner, and the drug container containing the drug with the shortest discharge time (the drug predicted to have the shortest discharge time) is placed last.

On the other hand, when a packaging operation is performed using one of the distribution units 35, the drug containers are determined to be placed on the container holding table 36 in order of the shortest discharge time of the contained drug. That is, the drug container containing the drug with the shortest discharge time (the drug predicted to have the shortest discharge time) is placed first, and the drug container containing the drug with the second shortest discharge time (the drug predicted to have the second shortest discharge time) is placed second. The third and subsequent drug containers are determined in the same manner, and the drug container containing the drug with the longest discharge time (the drug predicted to have the shortest discharge time) is placed last.

In the above-described cassette arrangement order determination operation, the ease of discharging the medicine, the stock amount, the specific gravity of the medicine, and the amount used in the packaging operation are compared in order to perform a comparison calculation for comparing the discharging time, and the order in which the medicine containers are placed is determined based on the comparison calculation. However, the cassette arrangement order determination operation is not limited to this.
For example, when the number of types of medicines is large and the prescribed amount (amount used in the packaging operation) of most of the medicines is small, it is necessary to frequently perform an exchange operation in which the automatic medicine container 4a from which the medicine has been discharged is replaced with a new automatic medicine container 4b. For this reason, it is desirable to first place the medicine container containing the medicine that is used in the packaging operation in small amounts, and then to perform an operation of replacing the medicine containers as appropriate starting from the one that has been discharged, in order to improve the speed of the entire packaging operation. Therefore, in such a case, the medicine containers may be prioritized so that the medicine containers containing the medicine that is used in small amounts in the packaging operation are placed first. In other words, a calculation may be performed to compare the "amount used in the packaging operation" rather than the calculation to compare the "ease of discharging the medicine" first.
It is preferable that the ranking of each drug for determining the order in which the drug containers are placed is determined comprehensively, taking into account the number of prescriptions, etc. In other words, the order in which each element is compared and calculated, and each element itself, can be changed as appropriate.

Next, according to the determined installation order of the medicine containers, the first automatic medicine container 4 to be installed is placed on the container holder 36 corresponding to one of the distribution units 35 (STEP 12). Then, the vibration table part of the container holder 36 starts vibrating, and the automatic medicine container 4 vibrates, causing the powdered medicine contained in the automatic medicine container 4 to slowly fall into the distribution unit 35.

Furthermore, the second and subsequent automatic medicine containers 4 are sequentially placed on the container holder 36 (SETP13). Then, the container holder 36 on which the automatic medicine containers 4 are placed starts vibrating, and each automatic medicine container 4 vibrates on the container holder 36, causing the powdered medicine contained in each automatic medicine container 4 to slowly fall into the distribution unit 35.

In this embodiment of the powdered medicine packaging device 1, the vibration action of the container holding table 36 on which the automatic medicine containers 4 are placed is started before all the automatic medicine containers 4 to be used are placed on the container holding table 36. In other words, after all the automatic medicine containers 4 are placed on the different container holding tables 36, all the container holding tables 36 do not start vibrating at the same time, but when the first automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36, only this container holding table 36 starts vibrating.

Therefore, when the second automatic medicine container 4 is placed on another container holder 36, the container holder 36 on which the first automatic medicine container 4 is placed will perform a vibration operation in parallel. By doing so, it is possible to speed up the packaging operation compared to the above-mentioned configuration in which all of the container holders 36 start vibrating at the same time.

Then, when the supply of all the medicines (powdered medicines) to the distribution unit 35 is completed, the distribution unit 35 performs a medicine dividing operation in which the powdered medicines supplied to the distribution unit 35 are fed into the medicine inlet 39 one dose at a time, and then performs an operation of dividing and packaging the medicines into one dose at a time (STEP 9). This operation is the same as the above, so a detailed description will be omitted.
When this series of operations is completed, all of the medicines supplied to the distribution unit 35 are supplied to the medicine packaging device, and packaging is completed, completing the fully automatic packaging operation. If a cleaning operation is set to be performed after the packaging operation, the cleaning operation is performed after the fully automatic packaging operation is completed.
[Vibration control operation]

Here, the vibration control operation will be described in detail.
As described above, since there is a problem that the amount of drug discharged is not stable in the early stages of drug discharge and the behavior of the drug inside the drug container varies depending on the type of drug, a configuration is recommended in which the vibration pattern of the vibration table section of the container holding table 36 can be changed depending on the type of drug, the time of discharge, and the total amount discharged.

The powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is therefore configured to be able to change the number of vibrations (frequency) per unit time and the amplitude of the vibration table section of the container holding table 36, making it possible to change the frequency and amplitude depending on the type of drug, the time of discharge, and the total amount discharged.

To explain in more detail, the vibration table section of the container holding table 36 in this embodiment is structured so that the magnitude of vibration can be changed according to a preset setting value (the frequency and amplitude of vibration can be changed). Then, a "flow coefficient" classified into nine levels from "flow coefficient 1" to "flow coefficient 9" is assigned according to the target setting value (hereinafter also referred to as the vibration value) when operating the vibration table section to discharge each drug.

To explain this "flow coefficient" in more detail, this "flow coefficient" is a value set for each powder medicine packaging device 1 that is shipped, and is assigned after actually using the powder medicine packaging device 1 to perform experiments in advance to determine the ease of discharging the medicine. Specifically, a reference medicine (e.g., magnesium oxide) is first used, and a vibration value for dispensing a predetermined amount in a predetermined time is obtained and classified as "flow coefficient 1". Then, for each medicine, a vibration value for dispensing the same amount as the reference medicine in the same time is obtained, and a "flow coefficient" is assigned according to the vibration value. Note that the larger the flow coefficient value, the greater the vibration of the vibration table section.
In other words, the "flow coefficient" is the target vibration setting value for discharging each drug in the same manner as a reference drug, and since the larger the "flow coefficient" value, the more difficult the drug is to flow, it is also a value that indicates the ease with which the drug is discharged.

In addition, the discharge level is divided into several stages according to the total discharge amount of the drug. For example, the discharge amount is divided in increments of 20 grams, and is called "discharge amount 20, discharge amount 40, discharge amount 60, etc."
Furthermore, the vibration level is divided into a number of stages according to the frequency and amplitude of the vibration. These are called "vibration level 1, vibration level 2" and can be changed from vibration level 1 (minimum vibration) to vibration level 20 (maximum vibration), for example.

The appropriate vibration level is then selected based on the "flow coefficient" and "discharge amount." The vibration level is differentiated between vibration levels at the beginning of discharge and vibration levels during the stable period. For example, when the drug is easily discharged, such as with a "flow coefficient of 1," and the total discharge amount is small, such as with an "discharge amount of 20," vibration begins at a slow vibration level of 3, and when a certain amount of drug is reduced (when a certain weighing value is reached), vibration is switched to a stronger vibration level of 10. Alternatively, the system switches to a feedback control method for the vibration strength of the vibration table, centered on stronger vibration such as vibration level 10, so that the discharge amount h per unit time remains constant.

In addition, if the chemical is difficult to discharge, such as a "flow coefficient of 3," and the total discharge amount is large, such as 80, vibration starts at a stronger vibration level, such as 11, and when a certain amount of chemical is lost (a certain weighed value is reached), the vibration is switched to an even stronger vibration level, 15. Alternatively, feedback control is performed so that the discharge amount h per unit time remains constant, centered on the stronger vibration level, such as 15.

Furthermore, when the amount of medicine stored in the medicine container is small, it is desirable to make the vibration level stronger until the medicine reaches the medicine discharge portion 67, 315 at the tip.
That is, when the amount of the medicine stored in the medicine container is small, the medicine may be stored at the back side, which is a position far from the medicine discharge unit 67, 315. In this case, it takes time for the medicine unevenly distributed at the back to reach the medicine discharge unit 67, 315.

In this embodiment, as a countermeasure against this, a configuration is adopted in which the vibration level is increased until the medicine reaches the medicine discharge unit 67, 315. In addition, by monitoring the weight of the medicine container, it is determined whether the medicine has reached the medicine discharge unit 67, 315.
More specifically, when the vibration starts, the vibration table is vibrated with a vibration stronger than the initial value determined by the flow coefficient and the like. The weight of the drug container is then monitored, and if even a slight decrease in the weight of the drug container is detected, it is determined that the drug has reached the drug discharge section 67, 5a. Thereafter, the vibration is weakened, and the vibration table is vibrated with the initial value determined by the flow coefficient and the like. After a certain period of time has passed, the vibration of the vibration table is switched to a stronger vibration.

More specifically, in the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, when discharging medicine from a medicine container to the dispensing unit 35, the following operations are performed.
That is, from when the vibration table part of the container holding table 36 starts to vibrate until a very small predetermined amount (0.3 g in this embodiment) is discharged, the vibration table part is vibrated at a vibration level based on a flow coefficient higher than the actual flow coefficient. That is, based on a "temporary flow coefficient" that is higher than the actual flow coefficient, the vibration table part is vibrated with a stronger vibration than the actual flow coefficient.
Thereafter, the vibration table is vibrated at a vibration level based on the original flow coefficient until a predetermined amount (0.8 g in this embodiment) is discharged. Note that this predetermined amount (0.8 g in this embodiment) is greater than the amount discharged at the vibration level immediately after the start (0.3 g in this embodiment).
Thereafter, the vibration table is vibrated while performing feedback control so that the discharge amount h per unit time remains constant.
[Semi-automatic packaging operation]

The semi-automatic packaging operation differs from the fully automatic packaging operation in that one or more medicines are supplied to the dispensing unit 35 from an automatic medicine container 4 stored on an external management shelf. Detailed explanations of operations that are the same as those in the fully automatic packaging operation described above will be omitted. Also, in this semi-automatic packaging operation, if a cleaning operation is set to be performed before and/or after the packaging operation, the cleaning operation is performed according to the setting.

First, the door section 16 is opened, an automatic medicine container 4 manually removed from an external management shelf is placed on the temporary container placement section 18 located on the rear side of the door section 16, and the door section 16 is closed.
At this time, an information reading operation is performed to read the information stored in the RFID tag of the automatic medicine container 4, and a confirmation operation is performed to confirm whether the automatic medicine container 4 placed on the temporary container placement section by the user is the correct one. That is, it is determined whether the type of medicine provided in the prescription included in the prescription data (the type of medicine to be packaged) matches the type of medicine stored in the automatic medicine container 4 placed on the temporary container placement section.
Furthermore, a weight measuring operation is performed to measure the weight of the automated medicine container 4 placed on the temporary container placement section, and an information writing operation is performed to store the measured weight in the RFID tag.
The above-mentioned information reading operation, confirmation operation, and information writing operation may be started before the door section 16 is closed, or may be started after the door section 16 is closed.

Next, the arm unit 30 moves the automatic medicine container 4 from the temporary container placement section to the container holding table 36, and the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36.

When mixing and packaging multiple medicines, the above operation of introducing the automatic medicine container 4 from the door section 16 and placing the external automatic medicine container 4 on the container holding table 36 is repeated as necessary. In addition, the operation of moving the automatic medicine container 4 from the container storage section 23 and placing it on the container holding table 36, that is, the operation of transporting the automatic medicine container 4 similar to the fully automatic packaging operation described above, is performed as necessary. This operation is also performed repeatedly as necessary.

From this state, similar to the fully automatic packaging operation described above, the medicine is supplied to the distribution unit 35, and then supplied dose by dose to the medicine packaging device. The medicine packaging device then packages the supplied powder medicine into doses. This causes the medicine supplied to the distribution unit 35 to be packaged into a predetermined number of packages.
Then, when the operation of supplying medicines to the distribution unit 35 is completed, the arm unit 30 returns the automatic medicine container 4 to the temporary container placement section, the door unit 16 is opened, and the automatic medicine container 4 is manually removed. This completes the semi-automatic packaging operation.
[Manual packaging operation]

Next, the manual packaging operation will be described. Note that detailed explanations of operations that are the same as those of the various packaging operations described above will be omitted. Also, in this manual packaging operation, if a cleaning operation is set to be performed before and/or after the packaging operation, the cleaning operation will be performed according to the setting.

In the manual packaging operation, first, a predetermined operation is performed on the operation and display unit 3 to slide the front door 34 upward, thereby opening the front of the medicine dividing area 13 .
When the front door 34 is raised, the operator manually places the manual drug container 5, which has been filled with a drug in advance, on the container holder 36.
When the manual medicine container 5 is placed on the container holding stand 36, it is not necessary to raise the entire front door 34 in this manner. For example, small openable and closable windows may be provided at positions spaced apart in the width direction (left-right direction) of the front door 34, and the small windows may be opened to place the manual medicine container 5 on the container holding stand 36. In other words, a small window used to place the manual medicine container 5 on any one of the three container holding stands 36 associated with one distribution unit 35 may be formed at positions spaced apart in the left-right direction, and the manual medicine container 5 may be moved to the inside of the housing 10 through any one of the two small windows.

When a manual drug container 5 is placed on the container holding table 36, an information reading operation is performed to read the information stored in the RFID tag of the manual drug container 5, and a confirmation operation is performed to confirm whether the manual drug container 5 to be used is correctly placed on the container holding table 36.
In this confirmation operation, when it is confirmed that the manual medicine container 5 is correctly placed on the container holding stand 36, the front door 34 becomes rotatable, and the front door 34 is changed from an open state to a closed state.

Then, the vibration table portion of the container holding table 36 starts vibrating, and the medicine is supplied from the manual medicine container 5 to the dispensing unit 35. At this time, as in the fully automatic packaging operation and semi-automatic packaging operation described above, a feeder rotation operation that rotates the dispensing unit 35, a medicine division operation that divides the medicine into individual doses, etc. are executed, and the medicine is supplied to the medicine packaging device one dose at a time.

When the manual packaging operation is completed, the operation display unit 3 displays the message "Please remove the manual packaging cassette." In this state, the user performs a specified operation and raises the front door 34 again. After removing the manual medicine container 5, the user operates the operation display unit 3 to lower the front door 34 and close the front door 34.

Incidentally, in this manual packaging operation, unlike the fully automatic packaging operation described above, no operation is performed to measure the amount of medicine supplied, and all of the medicine contained in the manual medicine container 5 is supplied to the dispensing unit 35. In other words, the user needs to manually weigh the medicine in advance and fill the manual medicine container 5 with a specified amount (the amount to be finally supplied).
[Semi-automatic packaging operation]

Next, the semi-automatic packaging operation will be described. Note that detailed explanations of operations that are the same as the various packaging operations described above will be omitted. Also, in this semi-automatic packaging operation, if a cleaning operation is set to be performed before and/or after the packaging operation, the cleaning operation will be performed according to the setting.

Prior to carrying out the semi-automatic packaging operation, a procedure setting operation is carried out in advance to set up the installation procedures for the automatic medicine container 4 and the manual medicine container 5.

In this procedure setting operation, the user can select between a setting in which the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding stand 36, and then the manual medicine container 5 can be placed on the container holding stand 36, and a setting in which the user places the manual medicine container 5 on the container holding stand 36, and then the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding stand 36.

In the former case, the arm unit 30 first moves the automatic medicine container 4 to the container holding table 36, and the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36. Then, when it is confirmed that the arm unit 30 has retreated to a predetermined position, the front door 34 is unlocked, and the front door 34 can be rotated upward (or the small window can be moved to an open state). In this state, as in the manual packaging operation described above, a predetermined operation is performed on the operation display unit 3 to rotate the front door 34 upward (or move the small window to an open state), and the front of the medicine division area 13 (or the small window) is opened. Then, the operator manually places a predetermined number of manual medicine containers 5, which have already been filled with medicine, on the container holding table 36.

On the other hand, if the latter setting has been made, a predetermined operation is first performed on the operation display unit 3 to rotate the front door 34 upward (or move the small window to an open state) and open the front of the drug division area 13 (or the small window). That is, the front of the drug division area 13 is opened in the same procedure as the manual packaging operation. Then, the operator manually places a predetermined number of manual drug containers 5, which have already been filled with drugs, on the container holding table 36. After that, the front door 34 is moved to a closed state (or the small window is moved to a closed state). Then, in this state, the arm unit 30 moves the automatic drug container 4 to the container holding table 36, and an operation is performed to place the automatic drug container 4 on the container holding table 36.

In addition, regarding the operation of placing the automatic pharmaceutical container 4 on the container holding table 36 by the arm unit 30, when the automatic pharmaceutical container 4 currently held in the container storage section 23 is to be placed on the container holding table 36, the arm unit 30 moves the automatic pharmaceutical container 4 from the container storage section 23 to the container holding table 36, as in the fully automatic packaging operation described above, and the automatic pharmaceutical container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36.
Furthermore, when placing an automatic medicine container 4 stored on an external management shelf on the container holding table 36, the user places the automatic medicine container 4 on the temporary container placement section 18 located behind the door section 16, similar to the semi-automatic packaging operation described above. Then, by closing the door section 16, the arm section 30 moves the automatic medicine container 4 from the temporary container placement section to the container holding table 36, and the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36.

Therefore, when a semi-automatic packaging operation is performed, a manual medicine container 5 is placed on at least one container holding table 36, and an automatic medicine container 4 that has been brought from the container storage section 23 or temporary container placement section is placed on the other container holding tables 36.

Here, in the semi-automatic packaging operation of this embodiment, both the automatic medicine container 4 carried from the container storage section 23 and the automatic medicine container 4 carried from the temporary container placement section may be used. For example, the semi-automatic packaging operation may be an operation in which, of the three container holding tables 36 associated with one distribution unit 35, a manual medicine container 5 is placed on one container holding table 36, an automatic medicine container 4 carried from the container storage section 23 is placed on another, and an automatic medicine container 4 carried from the temporary container placement section is placed on the remaining one.

In the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, a decision is made as to whether the packaging operation will be performed using two dispensing units 35 or using only one of the dispensing units 35, depending on the setting operation previously performed by the user, and the container holding table 36 on which the medicine container to be used is placed is determined accordingly.

For example, when performing a packaging operation using two automatic medicine containers 4 and one manual medicine container 5, a setting may be adopted in which the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36 associated with the distribution unit 35 disposed in a position close to the drum member 25, and the manual medicine container 5 is placed on the container holding table 36 associated with the distribution unit 35 disposed in a position away from the other drum member 25, and the packaging operation is performed. In other words, a setting may be adopted in which one distribution unit 35 is used to supply medicine discharged from the automatic medicine container 4, and the other distribution unit 35 is used to supply medicine discharged from the manual medicine container 5.
In this case, an LED device may be provided on the container holding table 36, and the light source may be turned on to guide (inform) which of the multiple container holding tables 36 the manual medicine container 5 should be placed on.

On the other hand, a setting may be adopted in which two automatic medicine containers 4 and one manual medicine container 5 are placed on the container holding table 36 associated with one of the distribution units 35. When this setting is adopted, the operation of placing the automatic medicine container 4 on the container holding table 36 may not be executed unless the operation of placing the manual medicine container 5 on the container holding table 36 is completed by the user's hand. In this way, safety can be improved.
In other words, the user can select and adopt either one of the two different settings described above.

In this way, when three or fewer types of medicine are used, a decision is made based on the preset operation as to whether to use two distribution units 35 to perform the packaging operation or to use one of the distribution units 35 to perform the packaging operation. The container holding table 36 on which each medicine container is placed is then determined accordingly.

When the medicine container is placed on the container holding table 36, a confirmation operation is performed to confirm that the automatic medicine container 4 and the manual medicine container 5 are correctly placed on the container holding table 36. That is, similar to each of the operations described above (fully automatic packaging operation, semi-automatic packaging operation, manual packaging operation), the container holding table 36 determines whether the type of medicine provided in the prescription included in the prescription data (the type of medicine to be packaged) matches the type of medicine stored in the automatic medicine container 4 or manual medicine container 5 placed on the container holding table 36.

When it is confirmed that the automatic medicine container 4 and the manual medicine container 5 are correctly placed on the container holder 36, the vibration table part of the container holder 36 starts vibrating, and medicine is supplied from the automatic medicine container 4 and the manual medicine container 5 to the distribution unit 35. At this time, like the operations described above, a feeder rotation operation that rotates the distribution unit 35, a medicine division operation that divides the medicine into individual doses, etc. are performed, and the medicine is supplied to the medicine packaging device one dose at a time.

In a packaging operation that uses a manual drug container 5, such as the manual packaging operation and semi-automatic packaging operation described above, the user rotates the front door 34 upward (or switches the small window to an open state), manually places the manual drug container 5 on the container holding table 36, and closes the front door 34 (or switches the small window to a closed state) to perform the packaging operation. After the packaging operation is completed, the user rotates the front door 34 upward again (or switches the small window to an open state) to open the front of the drug division area 13, and manually removes the manual drug container 5.

Here, there is a risk that the user will forget to remove the manual medicine container 5 from inside the powder medicine packaging device 1 after performing the packaging operation. In particular, when the manual medicine container 5 is inserted and removed by opening and closing a small window portion without rotating the entire front door 34, it is thought that the manual medicine container 5 will be often forgotten to be removed because no major operation is performed. If the user forgets to remove the manual medicine container 5, the manual medicine container 5 will remain placed on the designated container holding table 36. In this case, there is no problem if the designated container holding table 36 is not used in the subsequent packaging operation, but if the designated container holding table 36 is used, the manual medicine container 5 that was left behind will get in the way of the packaging operation.

The powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is therefore capable of implementing a collection notification operation that prompts the user to collect the manual medicine container 5 that was left behind. This collection notification operation will be described in detail below.

When a manual packaging operation or semi-automatic packaging operation is performed in the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, a recovery notification operation is performed on the condition that it is detected that the manual medicine container 5 used in the packaging operation remains placed on the container holding table 36 between the end of the packaging operation and the start of the next packaging operation.
This collection notification action may be an action of displaying a message on the operation display unit 3 prompting the user to collect the manual medicine container 5, a message notifying the user that the manual medicine container 5 is still placed, or the like, or an action of notifying the user of these messages by voice. That is, the user may be notified that the manual medicine container 5 is still placed on the container holding table 36 by an action of generating a sound on the operation display unit 3 or a separately provided speaker device, etc.

Here, this collection notification operation may be performed immediately after the previously performed packaging operation (manual packaging operation or semi-automatic packaging operation) is completed, or may be performed after a predetermined time has elapsed.
That is, the recovery notification operation may be always performed after the packaging operation (manual packaging operation or semi-automatic packaging operation) is performed. For example, after the semi-automatic packaging operation is completed, the recovery notification operation may be performed unconditionally, and then the operation of moving the automatic medicine container 4 from the container holding table 36 may be performed on the condition that it is confirmed that the user has removed the manual medicine container 5 from inside the powder medicine packaging device 1.
Conversely, after the semi-automatic packaging operation is completed, an operation may be performed to move the automatic drug container 4 from above the container holding table 36, and upon completion of this operation, a collection notification operation may be performed to prompt the user to collect the manual drug container 5.

This recovery notification operation may be performed on the condition that it is detected that the manual drug container 5 remains placed on the container holding table 36 during the subsequent packaging operation.
For example, when a packaging operation is performed after a manual packaging operation or a semi-automatic packaging operation has been previously performed, a determination operation may be performed immediately before operating the arm unit 30 in the subsequent packaging operation to determine whether or not the manual medicine container 5 used in the previous packaging operation is placed on the container holding table 36. If it is confirmed in this determination operation that the manual medicine container 5 is placed on the container holding table 36, a collection notification operation may be performed. In this case, the operation of moving the automatic medicine container 4 by the arm unit 30 may be temporarily interrupted, and the collection notification operation may be performed.

Furthermore, when the collection notification operation is performed, the next packaging operation may not be performed until the corresponding manual medicine container 5 is moved from above the container holding table 36 .
Conversely, when the collection notification operation is performed, if the target manual medicine container 5 is not moved from the container holding table 36 before a certain time has elapsed, the collection notification operation may be stopped (or temporarily stopped) and the subsequent packaging operation may be performed. In this case, the subsequent packaging operation is a packaging operation that is performed without using the container holding table 36 on which the manual medicine container 5 used in the previous packaging operation is placed. In other words, it is a packaging operation that uses only a container holding table 36 different from the container holding table 36 on which the previously used manual medicine container 5 is placed.

As described above, the powder medicine packaging device 1 (drug dispensing device) of this embodiment has a container moving means (container moving unit), a powder medicine dispensing device (drug dividing area) that distributes powder medicine, and a container mounting device. The powder medicine dispensing device has a distribution tray (distribution unit) that rotates by power, and a drug scraping device that discharges medicine from the distribution tray. The container mounting device is for mounting a drug container (drug container) and has a vibration table (vibration table section), a vibration means that vibrates the vibration table, a container holding means that temporarily fixes the drug container to the vibration table, and a weight measuring means that directly or indirectly measures the weight of the drug container. The container moving means moves the drug container from another location and places the drug container on the vibration table, and the container holding means holds the drug container. This drug dispensing device is fixed to a vibration table, and is capable of discharging drugs from a drug discharge section by vibrating the vibration table and detecting the amount of drug discharged by a weight measuring means. The drug dispensing device discharges drugs from drug containers while rotating the distribution tray and deposits the drugs into the distribution tray. A plurality of container mounting devices are installed near the distribution tray, and a mixed prescription operation is possible in which drug containers containing different types of drugs are placed on the plurality of container mounting devices and the different types of drugs are deposited into the distribution tray. When performing the mixed prescription operation, the drug dispensing device is capable of starting vibration of the vibration table of the container mounting devices on which the drug containers are placed, without waiting for all of the drug containers to be placed on the container mounting devices.

The system also includes a container moving means, a powdered medicine dispensing device that dispenses powdered medicine, and a container mounting device. The powdered medicine dispensing device includes a distribution tray that rotates by power, and a medicine scraping device that discharges medicine from the distribution tray. The container mounting device is for mounting the medicine container, and includes a vibration table, a vibration means that vibrates the vibration table, a container holding means that temporarily fixes the medicine container to the vibration table, and a weight measuring means that directly or indirectly measures the weight of the medicine container. The container moving means moves the medicine container from another location and places it on the vibration table, the container holding means fixes the medicine container to the vibration table, the vibration table is vibrated to discharge the medicine from the medicine discharge section, and the weight measuring means detects the amount of medicine discharged. The medicine is removed from the medicine container while the distribution tray is rotated. In a drug dispensing device that discharges drugs and puts them into a distribution tray, multiple container mounting devices are installed near the distribution tray, and a mixed prescription operation is possible in which drug containers containing different types of drugs are mounted on the multiple container mounting devices and the different types of drugs are put into the distribution tray, and a mixed prescription operation is possible in which more types of drugs than the number of container mounting devices installed near the distribution tray are put into the distribution tray, and when a predetermined amount of drugs has been discharged from any of the drug containers after drug containers have been mounted on all container mounting devices, the drug container that has been discharged can be removed to empty the container mounting device, and another drug container can be moved by a container moving means and placed in the vacant container mounting device.

That is, a medicine dispensing device that takes out a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from a powdered medicine storage container, divides it into a predetermined number, and then individually packages and discharges it, and is provided with a distribution unit that distributes the powdered medicine discharged from the powdered medicine storage container, a scraping device for scraping out the powdered medicine put into the distribution unit, and a container mounting device on which the powdered medicine storage container is placed and which acts on the powdered medicine storage container to discharge the powdered medicine from the powdered medicine storage container, the container mounting device has a vibration table section, and the vibration table section vibrates to transmit vibrations to the powdered medicine storage container placed on the container mounting device, and a container moving device for moving the powdered medicine storage container is further provided, and one or more A medicine dispensing device characterized in that a number of the container mounting devices are associated with one distribution tray, and an operation is possible in which more types of powdered medicine than the number of the container mounting devices associated with one distribution tray are put into one distribution tray, and when the operation is performed, after the powdered medicine storage containers are placed in all of the container mounting devices, when a predetermined amount of powdered medicine has been discharged from any of the powdered medicine storage containers, the powdered medicine storage container from which the powdered medicine has been discharged is removed from the container mounting device, another powdered medicine storage container is moved by the container moving device, and another powdered medicine storage container is placed on the container mounting device on which the powdered medicine storage container from which the powdered medicine has been discharged was placed.

The powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment also has an order determination function that estimates the approximate time required to finish discharging a specified amount of medicine from one medicine container, and changes the order in which the medicine containers are placed on the container mounting device, taking into account the length of time required for discharging.

In addition, the powder medicine packaging device 1 (medicine dispensing device) of this embodiment has a container moving means, a powder medicine dispensing device that dispenses powder medicine, and a container mounting device. The powder medicine dispensing device has a distribution tray that rotates by power and a medicine scraping device that discharges medicine from the distribution tray. The container mounting device is for mounting the medicine container and has a vibration table, a vibration means that vibrates the vibration table, and a container holding means that temporarily fixes the medicine container to the vibration table. The container moving means moves the medicine container from another location and places the medicine container on the vibration table, the container holding means fixes the medicine container to the vibration table, and the vibration table is vibrated. The drug dispensing device is capable of discharging the drug from the drug discharge section by rotating the distribution tray and depositing the drug in the distribution tray, and is also characterized in that the drug container can be placed on the container mounting device by the user without using the container moving means, and if drug discharge from all drug containers placed on each container mounting means has been completed but a drug container placed by the user remains on the container mounting device, a specified notification is issued.

The powdered medicine packaging device 1 (medicine dispensing device) of this embodiment also has two or more distribution trays, and multiple container mounting devices are installed near the distribution trays. It is capable of a mixed prescription operation in which medicine containers containing different types of medicine are mounted on the multiple container mounting devices and the different types of medicine are poured into the distribution tray, and it is capable of a mixed prescription operation in which more types of medicine than the number of container mounting devices installed near the distribution tray are poured into the distribution tray. After all the container mounting devices have medicine containers mounted on them, when a predetermined amount of medicine has been discharged from any of the medicine containers, the discharged medicine container can be removed to empty the container mounting device, and another medicine container can be moved by a container moving means and placed in the vacant container mounting device.

Similarly, the present invention is a medicine dispensing device having a cleaning device for cleaning the distribution tray, and characterized in that one or more of the following can be selected as the timing for cleaning the distribution tray with the cleaning device.
(1) When the dispensing of medication for one prescription is completed.
(2) When the dispensing of medication based on a new prescription is to begin.
(3) When the dispensing of medications based on a prescription containing a particular drug has been terminated.
(4) When the user places the medicine container on the container mounting device by hand without using the container moving means and the dispensing of the medicine is completed.
(5) When a user places a drug container on the container mounting device by hand without using a container moving means, drug dispensing is completed, and then new drug dispensing according to a prescription is about to begin.

Similarly, the device has a housing, and the housing is equipped with a container moving means, a powdered medicine dispensing device that dispenses powdered medicine, and a container mounting device, and the container moving means moves the medicine container from another location and places it on the vibration table, the container holding means fixes the medicine container to the vibration table, and the vibration table is vibrated to discharge the medicine from the medicine discharge section, and the medicine is discharged from the medicine container and poured into the distribution tray. The housing has a door section that allows the medicine container to be inserted and removed from the inside, and the medicine container can be placed on the container mounting device by the user without using the container moving means. A plurality of container mounting devices are installed near the distribution tray, and a mixing prescription operation is possible in which medicine containers containing different types of medicine are placed on the plurality of container mounting devices and the different types of medicine are poured into the distribution tray. When a mixing prescription operation is performed and both the placement of the medicine container by the container moving means and the placement by the user are required, it is possible to select which to perform first.

Similarly, this drug dispensing device is capable of an automatic placement method in which a container moving means is used to move a drug container from another location and place the drug container on a vibration table, and a manual placement method in which a user manually places the drug container on a container placement device without using a container moving means, and has two or more distribution trays, multiple container placement devices are installed near the distribution trays, and a mixed prescription operation is possible in which drug containers containing different types of drugs are placed on the multiple container placement devices and different types of drugs are poured into the distribution trays, and it is possible to select a separate placement method in which drug containers are placed on all container placement devices near a specific distribution tray by the automatic placement method and on all container placement devices near other specific distribution trays by the manual placement method, or a mixed placement method in which drug containers are placed on container placement devices near one distribution tray by the automatic placement method and the manual placement method.

As described above, in various packaging operations, the scraping plate 172 of the scraping device 37 is rotated, and the powdered medicine collected by the scraping plate 174 fixed integrally to the scraping plate 172 is fed into the medicine inlet 39 (see FIG. 19, etc.). At this time, there is a possibility that the powdered medicine will adhere to the circumferential seal material 175 (see FIG. 8) that is in close contact with the peripheral portion of the scraping plate 172, or the scraping seal material 176 (see FIG. 8) that is in close contact with the edge of the scraping plate 174. In other words, there is a possibility that the powdered medicine will adhere to the part of the scraping device 37 that comes into contact with the powdered medicine and is made of rubber (or resin) due to static electricity, etc.

If powdered medicine adheres to the part made of rubber (or resin), the powdered medicine will not be fed into the medicine inlet 39. In other words, a problem may occur in which the amount of powdered medicine per packet is less than expected.

In order to prevent such problems, a scraping device equipped with a vibration mechanism such as a vibration motor may be used instead of the scraping device 37 described above. In other words, the scraping device 37 described above may be configured to further include a vibration mechanism. With this configuration, it is possible to vibrate the arm member 171 by operating the vibration mechanism, and to transmit this vibration to the part made of rubber (or resin) located at the tip side of the arm member 171. In other words, by vibrating the part made of rubber (or resin), an adhesion removal operation can be performed to brush off the adhering powdered medicine.

For this reason, for example, instead of the operation of introducing powdered medicine into the medicine inlet 39 by rotating the scraping plate 172 described above (hereinafter also referred to as the scraping operation), a series of operations may be performed in which a normal scraping operation is performed, an adhesion elimination operation is performed, and then a scraping operation is performed again. According to such a series of operations, the powdered medicine that has adhered by the normal scraping operation performed in advance is dropped onto the distribution unit 35 by the adhesion elimination operation, and then the powdered medicine that has dropped by the adhesion elimination operation can be introduced into the medicine inlet 39 by the scraping operation performed subsequently.
Incidentally, this adhesion elimination operation may be performed with the scraper plate 172 in contact with the distribution unit 35, but it is more preferable to perform it with the scraper plate 172 positioned above and away from the distribution unit 35.

In addition, as described above, in the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, with the medicine container placed on the container holding table 36, a vibration operation is performed on the vibration table section of the container holding table 36, thereby performing an operation of supplying powdered medicine from the medicine container to the dispensing unit 35. As described above, a vibration control operation can be performed to change the vibration pattern of the vibration table section depending on the type of powdered medicine to be discharged, the discharge time, and the total discharge amount.
However, the vibration control operation of this embodiment is not limited to the above, and may be an operation of changing the vibration pattern according to the temperature and humidity in the internal space (internal space of the housing 10) of the powder medicine packing device 1. When changing the vibration pattern according to the temperature and humidity of the internal space of the powder medicine packing device 1, a powdering operation (described in detail later) may be performed to powder the discharged lump powder medicine.

To explain in detail, for example, if the humidity inside the housing 10 becomes high, it is considered that the powdered medicine will become lumpy inside the automatic medicine container 4 held in the container storage unit 23. In this case, even if the vibration table unit performs a vibration operation while the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36, a malfunction may occur in which the powdered medicine is not discharged from inside the automatic medicine container 4. In other words, the lumped powdered medicine that has reached the vicinity of the medicine discharge port 68 inside the automatic medicine container 4 may get caught on the medicine discharge port 68, etc., and may not be discharged to the outside from the medicine discharge port 68.
In addition, when the powdered medicine becomes lumped inside the automatic medicine container 4 and the lumps of powdered medicine are relatively small, the lumped powdered medicine may fall from the medicine outlet 68 into the dispensing unit 35. In this case, even if the dispensing unit 35 is rotated as described above, there is a possibility that a problem will occur in which the powdered medicine cannot be spread evenly over the upper surface of the dispensing unit 35.

To prevent such problems, the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of performing a vibration control operation that changes the vibration pattern depending on the temperature and humidity in the internal space of the housing 10. In other words, the vibration control operation that changes the vibration pattern can be performed on the condition that at least one of the temperature and humidity in the internal space is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference value (or is smaller than a predetermined reference value).

For this reason, for example, the RFID tag attached to the medicine container may be configured to be an RFID tag with a temperature and humidity sensor capable of detecting temperature and humidity, and a vibration control operation may be performed to change the vibration pattern on the condition that at least one of the detected temperature and humidity is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference value (or is smaller than a predetermined reference value). As a result, under conditions in which the humidity is equal to or greater than a reference value and the powdered medicine is likely to become lumpy, for example, the vibration level of the vibration table unit may be increased to a level higher than the original vibration level. As a result, the lumpy powdered medicine inside the medicine container may be powdered by the strong vibration, and may be discharged smoothly.
The above-mentioned reference values are values determined through experiments conducted in advance, and are assigned to each type of drug, and are the temperature or humidity values at which each type of drug is likely to form clumps.

This change in vibration pattern (vibration level) based on temperature and humidity may be a change from the original vibration level, or may be a further change in the vibration level after the vibration level has been changed based on the type of powdered medicine, the time of discharge, and the total amount discharged.
Furthermore, the operation is not limited to increasing the vibration level above the original vibration level under conditions in which the powdered medicine is likely to clump, but may also be an operation in which the vibration level is always higher than the original vibration level and the vibration level is lowered only under conditions in which the powdered medicine is unlikely to clump.
Furthermore, in the above, the condition is that the value is greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value (or less than a predetermined reference value), but it goes without saying that the condition may also be that the value is greater than a predetermined reference value (or less than or equal to a predetermined reference value).

Furthermore, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of carrying out a pulverizing operation by the scraping device 37. This pulverizing operation is an operation in which the scraping device 37 is brought into contact with the lump of powdered medicine that has fallen into the distribution unit 35, and the lump of powdered medicine is pulverized. This operation may be carried out on the condition that the lump of powdered medicine has fallen. At this time, the discrimination operation for determining whether the lump of powdered medicine has fallen may be a discrimination operation using an image captured by the camera member 40 described above. That is, an image processing system may be further provided in the powdered medicine packaging device 1, and an operation of analyzing the image captured by this image processing system may be carried out. Also, it may be determined that the lump of powdered medicine has fallen when a sudden weight change is detected in the weight measurement operation described above.
Specifically, this pulverization operation is performed after the medicine container is placed on the container holder 36 and the vibration table section is caused to perform a vibration operation. In other words, this operation is performed after the powdered medicine is dropped from the medicine container onto the dispensing unit 35.

In this pulverization operation, the arm member 171 of the scraping device 37 is rotated downward to bring the peripheral portion of the scraping plate 172 into contact with the powdered medicine on the distribution unit 35, and the arm member 171 of the scraping device 37 is rotated upward to separate it from the powdered medicine on the distribution unit 35. This is an operation in which the scraping plate 172 is brought into contact with the lump of powdered medicine from above, thereby crushing the lump of powdered medicine.
This operation may be performed while rotating the distribution unit 35. More specifically, the rotation speed of the distribution unit 35 when performing the pulverization operation may be the same as that when the powdered medicine is spread over the entire upper surface, or may be faster or slower. However, from the viewpoint of more reliably crushing the powdered medicine lumps, it is preferable to set the rotation speed to be slower than that when the powdered medicine is spread over the entire upper surface. In other words, it is preferable to perform the pulverization operation by the scraping device 37 while rotating the distribution unit 35 very slowly.

However, when this pulverizing operation is performed, there is a possibility that the uniformity of the medicine that has been evenly spread over the upper surface of the distribution unit 35 may be lost.
Therefore, when the above-mentioned pulverization operation is performed, an operation of comparing images before and after the operation is performed using an image processing system or the like and analyzing the images, and if it is determined that there is no effect on uniformity based on a certain criterion, a series of operations consisting of the pulverization operation and the packaging operation may be continued as is, and if it is determined that there is an effect on uniformity, an operation of collecting the entire drug distribution unit 35 without packaging may be performed. Also, if it is determined that there is an effect on uniformity, instead of the operation of collecting the drug without packaging, an operation of printing on the packaging bag a message that the divided package of the part that affects uniformity (a divided package of only the part that affects uniformity) will not be administered to the patient, or an operation of printing on the packaging bag a message that the divided package of the part that affects uniformity and the divided packages before and after it will not be administered to the patient.
In addition, if the image processing system determines through image processing or the like that there is a lump of powdered medicine on the distribution unit 35, the pulverization operation (the operation of crushing the lump) may not be performed, and a message may be printed on the sachet bag stating that only the lump of powdered medicine, or the divided packets before and after it, will not be administered to the patient.

More specifically, the rotational operation of the distribution unit 35 may be an intermittent operation. That is, the distribution unit 35 may be rotated slightly, then stopped to perform the pulverization operation, and then the distribution unit 35 may be rotated slightly again. In other words, these operations may be performed in the following order: rotation of the distribution unit 35, stopping of the rotation of the distribution unit 35, performance of the pulverization operation, rotation of the distribution unit 35, etc.

In addition, in the powdering operation, the arm member 171 of the scraping device 37 may be rotated downward, the peripheral portion of the scraping plate 172 may be brought into contact with the powdered medicine on the distribution unit 35, the peripheral portion of the scraping plate 172 may be moved in the circumferential direction of the distribution unit 35, and then the arm member 171 of the scraping device 37 may be rotated upward. Note that this operation is preferably performed with the rotation of the distribution unit 35 temporarily stopped.
Furthermore, in the operation of moving the peripheral portion of the scraper plate 172 in the circumferential direction of the distribution unit 35, the peripheral portion of the scraper plate 172 may be moved to one side in the circumferential direction of the distribution unit 35, and then moved to the other side in the circumferential direction. In other words, the peripheral portion of the scraper plate 172 may be moved in a direction that is clockwise (or counterclockwise) when viewed in a plane, and then moved in a direction that is counterclockwise (or clockwise) when viewed in a plane.
When such an operation is performed, the scraper plate 172 grinds up the powdered medicine on the distribution unit 35, making it possible to more reliably pulverize the powdered medicine, and the uniformity of the entire distribution unit 35 is not compromised by the pulverizing operation (the operation of destroying only the lump powdered medicine portion).

As described above, the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of performing a cassette selection operation for selecting a medicine container that contains a medicine to be used. When the automatic medicine container 4 is selected in this cassette selection operation, the user of the powder medicine packaging device 1 can set (change) the amount of medicine packaged in the selected automatic medicine container 4 by input. In other words, a packaging amount setting operation for changing the packaging amount by input is possible.
The cassette selection operation and the packing amount setting operation will be described in detail below.

In the cassette selection operation of the powder medicine packaging device 1, a powder medicine cassette selection screen (see FIG. 22) is displayed on the operation and display unit 3. The user can select a medicine container by manually inputting information into the operation and display unit 3.
The powdered medicine cassette selection screen can be switched between a state in which medicines stored in automatic medicine containers 4 held by the container storage unit 23 are displayed as a list, and a state in which medicines stored in automatic medicine containers 4 stored on an external management shelf are displayed as a list. By pressing the display area of each medicine displayed in the list, it is possible to select the automatic medicine container 4 that stores the medicine to be used in the packaging operation.

In addition, this powdered medicine cassette selection screen (see FIG. 22) includes a medicine display section 360, a display switching button 361, and a character input section 362.

The drug display section 360 is a section for displaying a list of drug names that satisfy conditions based on the operation of a display switching button 361 and/or the input result in a character input section 362. Among the drug names displayed in the list, those that require careful handling, such as narcotics, investigational drugs, poisons, powerful drugs, and psychotropic drugs, are highlighted with a message indicating this.
That is, as shown in part A of Fig. 22, in the display area of a substantially horizontally elongated rectangle showing the names of each medicine, a band-like area extending diagonally is provided in part of the lower right part, and the background color of the area is a different color from the surrounding area, and a message is written in the band-like area. This allows the user to identify at a glance the medicines that require careful handling.

This drug display section 360 displays the drugs to be displayed in alphabetical order, with the drugs displayed in parallel from left to right in the first row at the top in order of priority, followed by the second row in the second column from left to right, starting from the top left. In other words, the further to the left a drug belonging to the same row is, or the higher a drug belonging to a different row is, the higher its priority.

The display switching button 361 is a button for switching the medicines displayed on the medicine display unit 360. Each time the display switching button 361 is pressed, it switches between a state in which medicines stored in automatic medicine containers 4 held by the container storage unit 23 are displayed and a state in which medicines stored in automatic medicine containers 4 stored on an external management shelf are displayed.
When medicines held in the container storage unit 23 are displayed, this display switch button 361 displays "Display outside management shelf" (see FIG. 22), and when medicines stored in an external management shelf are displayed, it displays "Display inside management shelf." When the display switch button 361 is pressed and the display of the medicine display unit 360 is switched, the text displayed on the display switch button 361 is also switched.
In other words, the display switching button 361 is configured to display information indicating the storage location of the drug that will be displayed after being pressed, rather than information indicating the storage location of the drug currently being displayed.

The character input section 362 is a section for inputting a character string or the like to be used as a keyword for identifying a drug. When a character string or the like is input into the character input section 362, only drugs whose names begin with the input character string or the like are displayed in the drug display section 360.
That is, the character input section 362 is a section for inputting a keyword for narrowing down the display targets to be displayed in the list. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 23, when the character "A" is input in the character input section 362, only drugs whose names start with "A" are displayed.

The character input unit 362 is configured to change the display content of the drug display unit 360 each time a character is input. In other words, if the character string "aiu" is input into the character input unit 362, first the character "a" is input, and then only drugs whose name begins with "a" are displayed. Then, when "i" is input following "a" and the character string "ai" is input into the character input unit 362, only drugs whose name begins with "a" and whose second character is "i" are displayed. In other words, only drugs whose name begins with "ai" when read in kana are displayed. In this way, as a character string is input into the character input unit 362, the list display changes each time a character is input.

When the display area displaying the drug name displayed in the drug display section 360 on the powdered drug cassette selection screen (see Figures 22 and 23) is pressed, the drug corresponding to this display area (the drug corresponding to the drug name displayed in the display area) is selected, and the powdered drug cassette packet amount setting screen (see Figure 24) is displayed on the operation display section 3.

The powdered medicine cassette quantity setting screen (see FIG. 24) is a screen that allows input for designating the amount of medicine per packet (amount taken per time, hereinafter also referred to as a single dose). This powdered medicine cassette quantity setting screen (see FIG. 24) is a screen that displays a medicine name display section 370, a capacity input section 371, a ratio switching button section 372, a single dose input display section 373, an even/uneven switching button section 374, a usage display section 375, a decision button section 376, and a cancel button section 377.
Each time the even/uneven switching button section 374 is pressed, the display state can be switched between the even display state (see FIG. 24(a)) and the uneven display state (see FIG. 24(b)). In the even display state, a select all button section 378 is displayed, and in the uneven display state, a clear button section 379 is displayed in place of the select all button section 378.

The drug name display section 370 is an area for displaying the drug name of the drug selected on the powdered drug cassette selection screen before the powdered drug cassette quantity setting screen is displayed.

The capacity input section 371 is a section (a substantially rectangular section in the drawing) that includes an input section for inputting the total amount of medicine used in the packaging operation, and is a section for inputting a value that is the total amount per dose. For example, when the medicine supplied to the distribution unit 35 is packaged into three packages, the total amount of the three packages is input.
When an input is made to the capacity input section 371, the total amount per dose is automatically calculated and compared with the input value. If the comparison result shows that the input value and the total amount per dose are different and the state is "allocation by real number" (described in detail later), the state is automatically switched to "allocation by ratio" (described in detail later).

The ratio switching button section 372 can be used to switch between the "allocation by real number" state and the "allocation by ratio" state, and each time this area is pressed, it is possible to switch between these states.
The "allocation by real numbers" state is a state in which the total value of the values input into each input section of the dosage input display section 373 (described in detail below) is used as the input value for the volume input section 371, and input can be performed to package the medicine so that the amount of each packet is different. In this state, when a value is input into each input section of the dosage input display section 373 (described in detail below), the total value of each input section (total value of the dosage) is calculated, and the calculated value is automatically used as the input value for the volume input section 371. When the screen is started, the "allocation by real numbers" state is set.
In contrast, the "proportionate allocation" state is a state in which the input value of the capacity input unit 371 is divided by the number of packages to determine the amount of medicine per package, and input is performed to package the medicine so that the amount of medicine per package is the same. In this state, the amount of medicine per package is automatically determined based on the input value of the capacity input unit 371.

More specifically, when no input is made to either the capacity input section 371 or the dose input display section 373, the state is set to "allocate by real number." In this state, the state is switched between "allocate by real number" and "allocate by ratio" every time the ratio switching button section 372 is pressed.
When a value is input into the capacity input section 371 and no value is input into any of the input sections of the single dose input display section 373, the state automatically switches to "allocation by real number."
Furthermore, when there is an input to at least one of the input sections of the capacity input section 371 and the dosage input display section 373, a process is performed to compare the value input to the input section of the capacity input section 371 with the total value of the values input to each input section of the dosage input display section 373. If the comparison results in these being the same value, the state automatically switches to "allocation by real number". On the other hand, if these are different values, the state automatically switches to "allocation by ratio".
Then, when at least one of a group of conditions consisting of a value being input into the capacity input section 371, a value being input into the single amount input display section 373, and the area of the ratio switching button section 372 being pressed is satisfied, a discrimination operation is performed to discriminate the input state of the capacity input section 371 and the single amount input display section 373, and an operation is performed to automatically switch the state as described above depending on the result of the discrimination operation.

The dosage input display section 373 displays information indicating the number of packets in the packaging operation in the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)). In contrast, in the non-uniform display state (see FIG. 24(b)), it functions as a section for inputting the amount of medicine per packet.
More specifically, in the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)), a predetermined maximum number (eight in this embodiment) of rectangular input sections are displayed, of which only the number of packages to be packaged in the packaging operation (three in FIG. 24) is displayed filled in a different color from the others. In other words, this input section filled in a different color corresponds to the packaging of one package in the packaging operation. This input section filled in a different color can be switched between a selected state and a deselected state each time it is pressed.
For this reason, in the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)), all input sections are filled with a predetermined color, making it impossible to input values.

In contrast, in the non-uniform display state (see FIG. 24(b)), a specified maximum number (eight in this embodiment) of rectangular input sections are displayed, of which the same number of input sections as the number of packages to be packaged in the packaging operation (three in FIG. 24) are in a state where values can be input. At this time, the input sections into which values can be input are displayed in a state where they are shifted to one end side in the parallel direction (the left end side in FIG. 24). In other words, the input section located closest to one end in the parallel direction, the second input section counting from this end, and so on, up to the Xth input section from the one end (X is the number of packages to be packaged in the packaging operation) are in a state where values can be input.
In the non-uniform display state, if the values input to the input sections are all the same, an operation of automatically switching to the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)) is performed.

As described above, the uniform/ununiform switching button section 374 can be used to switch between the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)) and the non-uniform display state (see FIG. 24(b)). That is, every time the uniform/ununiform switching button section 374 is pressed, the display state is switched between the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)) and the non-uniform display state (see FIG. 24(b)).
When the screen is first activated, the display is in a uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)).

In the equal/unequal switching button section 374, when the equal display state (see FIG. 24(a)) is selected, "unequal" is displayed, and when the unequal display state (see FIG. 24(b)) is selected, "unequal" is displayed. When these states are switched, the wording displayed in the equal/unequal switching button section 374 is also switched.
That is, the even/uneven switching button section 374 displays information indicating the state after switching from the current state, rather than information indicating the current state.

The usage display section 375 is a section for displaying information regarding how to take the drug displayed in the drug name display section 370 (the drug selected on the powdered drug cassette selection screen). This information regarding how to take the drug is information that is created (or obtained from a database) based on information regarding the prescription obtained before the cassette selection operation is performed.

When pressed, the decision button 376 reflects the values entered in the capacity input section 371 and the dose input display section 373 in the medicine selected on the powdered medicine cassette selection screen, and executes a process to end the display of the powdered medicine cassette sachet quantity setting screen.

More specifically, when the decision button portion 376 is pressed, a first input determination operation is performed to determine whether or not a value has been input to the capacitance input portion 371 .
Then, if a value has been input into capacity input section 371 as a result of the first input discrimination operation, the value input into capacity input section 371 and, if necessary, the value input into single dose input display section 373 are reflected in the medicine selected on the powdered medicine cassette selection screen, and the display of the powdered medicine cassette packet quantity setting screen is terminated.

On the other hand, when no value has been input in the capacity input section 371, a second input determination operation is performed to determine whether or not a value has been input in the single dose input display section 373.
If, as a result of the second input discrimination operation, a value has been entered into at least one input section of the single dose input display section 373, a message is displayed informing the user that the input value into the single dose input display section 373 does not match the input value into the capacity input section 371 (which is the dose, in this case an unentered value).
At this time, a screen is displayed that allows the user to select whether or not to reflect the input dosage in the input value to capacity input section 371. If the user selects to reflect on this screen, the total value of the input dosage is set as the input value to capacity input section 371, the input value of capacity input section 371 and the value input to capacity input display section 373 are reflected in the medicine selected on the powdered medicine cassette selection screen, and the display of the powdered medicine cassette packet amount setting screen is terminated.
In addition, if the user selects not to reflect the daily amount, the input value on the powdered medicine cassette package amount setting screen is not reflected in the medicine selected on the powdered medicine cassette selection screen, and the display of the powdered medicine cassette package amount setting screen is terminated.
In addition, the screen displaying a message informing that the input value into the unit dose input display unit 373 does not match the input value into the capacity input unit 371 and the screen for selecting whether or not to reflect the input unit dose in the dosage may be the same screen, or different screens may be displayed in succession.

In addition, if the result of the second input discrimination operation is that no value has been entered into any of the input sections of the single dose input display section 373, the input value on the powdered medicine cassette sachet quantity setting screen is not reflected in the medicine selected on the powdered medicine cassette selection screen, and the display of the powdered medicine cassette sachet quantity setting screen is terminated.

When pressed, the cancel button section 377 executes a process to end the display of the powder medicine cassette quantity setting screen without reflecting the input values on the powder medicine cassette quantity setting screen, such as the values entered in the capacity input section 371 and the single dose input display section 373, to the medicine selected on the powder medicine cassette selection screen.

The select all button section 378 is a section which, when pressed in the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)), selects all input sections corresponding to one packet in the single dose input display section 373.
Note that this select all button section 378 displays "select all" when all input sections corresponding to one packet's worth of packaging are not in a selected state, and displays "cancel all" when all input sections are in a selected state. Only when "cancel all" is displayed, pressing the button deselects all input sections corresponding to one packet's worth of packaging in the single dose input display section 373.

The clear button section 379 is a button for resetting the input value to the capacity input section 371, the input value to the dose input display section 373, and the selection of whether to "allocate by actual number" or "allocate by ratio" on the powder medicine cassette packet quantity setting screen to the state when the screen was started.

As described above, the powdered medicine cassette packet amount setting screen can be set to pack medicine so that the amount of medicine in each packet is equal, or to pack medicine so that the amount of medicine in each packet is unequal.
For example, when setting to pack medicine so that the amount of medicine in each packet is equal, in the equal display state (see FIG. 24(a)), the dose (amount of medicine to be used in the packing operation) is input to the capacity input section 371. In this case, the amount of medicine in each packet is automatically calculated so that the amount of medicine in each packet is the same. Therefore, the setting is completed by inputting the dose to the capacity input section 371 and pressing the decision button section 376.
On the other hand, when setting the dosage to be divided so that the amount of medicine per packet is unequal, in the unequal display state (see FIG. 24(b)), the state is set to "allocate by actual number," and the dosage is input into the capacity input section 371, while the amount of medicine for one packet is input into each input section of the dosage input display section 373. In other words, the amount of medicine is input for each packet. Furthermore, when inputting, the input value in the capacity input section 371 is input so that the total value of the values input into each input section of the dosage input display section 373 is equal. Then, when input is complete, the decision button 376 is pressed to complete the setting.

As described above, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of automatically switching to the "allocation by ratio" state when the input value of the capacity input unit 371 and the total value of the dosage differ in the "allocation by actual number" state, automatically switching between the "allocation by actual number" state and the "allocation by ratio" state depending on the input status of the input units of the capacity input unit 371 and the dosage input display unit 373, notifying the user when the input value of the dosage input display unit 373 does not match the input value of the capacity input unit 371, and prompting the user to reflect the input dosage in the input value of the capacity input unit 371. This makes it possible to prevent erroneous settings caused by user input errors.

Furthermore, as has been described in detail thus far, in the powdered medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36, which has a vibration table section, and when the vibration table section vibrates, vibrations are transmitted to the automatic medicine container 4 placed on the container holding table 36, which then acts on the automatic medicine container 4 to discharge the powdered medicine from the automatic medicine container 4. However, it is also necessary to take into consideration that the device may be affected by unexpected vibrations, etc. due to the surrounding environment of the device main body.
More specifically, while powder medicine packaging device 1 is distributing (supplying) powder medicine from automatic medicine container 4 to dispensing unit 35, vibrations occurring nearby (for example, vibrations caused by a person bumping into a wall in the room in which powder medicine packaging device 1 is installed) may cause the entire powder medicine packaging device 1 to detect shaking, and the weight measuring means of container holding base 36 may erroneously detect the shaking as weight, which may result in the distribution of powder medicine being terminated earlier than the scheduled distribution time.

In order to deal with this, after the powdered medicine packaging device 1 has completed distributing the powdered medicine from the automatic medicine container 4 to the dispensing unit 35 based on the prescription information, the weight measuring means of the container holding table 36 performs weight confirmation to confirm whether a predetermined amount of powdered medicine has been discharged from the automatic medicine container 4 to the dispensing unit 35. At this time, it is preferable to perform the weight confirmation measurement after providing a certain period of stabilization time that is not affected by surrounding vibrations, etc. (It is preferable to perform the gravity confirmation measurement operation after a predetermined predetermined period of time has elapsed). If it is found by this weight confirmation that the prescribed amount has not been discharged, a warning is issued and a screen is displayed that prompts the operator to select whether to retrieve the medicine due to an abnormal end or to continue the packaging operation as is.
That is, when it is determined that the prescribed amount is not discharged as a result of the gravity confirmation measurement operation, a notification operation may be performed to notify the operator of that fact. This notification operation may be a notification operation by voice or an operation of displaying an image on the operation display unit 3. Furthermore, as part of this notification operation, an operation may be performed to display a screen on the operation display unit 3 to prompt the operator to select whether to recover the medicine above the distribution unit 35 and terminate the operation abnormally or to continue the packaging operation as is.

As another example, when weight confirmation by the weight measuring means reveals that the prescribed amount of drug has not been discharged, a possible method is to calculate the difference between the actual amount discharged and the amount discharged based on the prescription, and to additionally discharge the amount calculated as the shortfall.
As a result, even if an error occurs in the distribution of powdered medicine due to unexpected vibrations to the device body caused by the surrounding environment, it is possible to alert the operator or automatically add the missing amount, allowing for more accurate distribution of powdered medicine and for the packaging operation to continue without stopping.

Specifically, if it is found that the medicine is not discharged according to the prescribed amount, it is not possible to package the medicine according to the prescribed amount, and so normally it is necessary to stop and start the packaging operation again from the beginning. However, by adopting the above-mentioned means, it is not necessary to start the packaging operation again from the beginning, and an additional discharge operation of the shortage is performed following the discharge operation of the medicine that has already been performed, and the operations after the above-mentioned medicine division operation can be performed continuously. In addition, since the discharge operation of the shortage is performed following the discharge operation of the medicine, the feeder rotation operation that rotates the distribution unit 35, which is performed in conjunction with the discharge operation of the medicine, can also be performed without interruption.
In other words, even if the medicine is not discharged in the prescribed amount in the first discharge operation, the series of operations can be carried out without stopping, just as if the discharge operation had been performed normally (discharged in the prescribed amount), and the medicine can be packaged in the prescribed amount.

1. Powdered medicine packaging device (medicine dispensing device)
4. Automatic medicine container (powdered medicine container)
5. Manual medicine container (powdered medicine container)
35 Distribution unit 37 Scraping device 36 Container holding stand (container mounting device)

Claims (12)

A medicine dispensing device including a main body device having a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine , a container mounting device, and a control unit,
The container storage unit and the container mounting device are disposed in a housing,
The manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on a container placement device in the housing,
The manual medicine container is a powdered medicine that is not contained in the automatic medicine container and that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device.
A container moving unit controlled by a control unit is provided.
A drug dispensing device in which the control unit causes a container moving unit to move an automatic drug container to a container mounting device and place the automatic drug container on the container mounting device , and after the container moving unit retreats to a predetermined position , the control unit performs an operation to manually place the manual drug container on the container mounting device. The drug dispensing device of claim 1, further comprising: after the container moving unit has performed an operation of placing the automatic drug container on the container mounting device, when it is confirmed that the container moving unit has retreated to a predetermined position, a user can place a manual drug container on the container mounting device. A medicine dispensing device including a main body device having a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine , a container mounting device, and a control unit,
The container storage unit and the container mounting device are disposed in a housing,
The manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on a container placement device in the housing,
The manual medicine container is a powdered medicine that is not contained in the automatic medicine container and that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device.
The container further includes a window portion in front of the medicine dividing area in which the container mounting device is provided,
When the window portion is in an open state, an operation of manually placing a manual medicine container on a container loading device is performed, and after the operation of placing the manual medicine container on the container loading device, the window portion is transitioned to a closed state, and an operation of placing an automatic medicine container on the container loading device is performed by a control means . A medicine dispensing device including a main body having a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit,
The container storage unit and the container mounting device are disposed in a housing,
The manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on a container placement device in the housing,
The manual medicine container is a powdered medicine that is not stored in the automatic medicine container and that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device.
an operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device by the control unit, and then an operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device;
The system further includes an automated drug container housed in an external management shelf;
When a user places the automatic medicine container on a temporary container placement section of a main body device, a container moving unit moves the automatic medicine container to a container placement device and places it on the container placement device. A medicine dispensing device including a main body device having a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit,
The container storage unit and the container mounting device are disposed in a housing,
The manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on a container placement device in the housing,
The manual medicine container is a powdered medicine that is not contained in the automatic medicine container and that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device.
A container moving unit controlled by a control unit is provided.
the container moving unit moves the automated medicine container from the container storage unit to the container mounting device and places the container on the container mounting device;
Further comprising a distribution unit,
There are three container mounting devices, and the three container mounting devices are associated with the dispensing unit;
The housing is provided with a temporary container placement section,
A drug dispensing device that includes the operations of manually loading a manual drug container onto one of three container loading devices, loading an automatic drug container carried from a container storage section by a container moving unit onto one of the remaining two container loading devices, and loading an automatic drug container carried from a temporary container placement section by the container moving unit onto the remaining still remaining container loading device. The drug dispensing device of claim 5, further comprising an operation of causing the container moving unit to move the automatic drug container to the container mounting device and placing the automatic drug container on the container mounting device by the control unit, and an operation of manually placing the manual drug container on the container mounting device after the container moving unit has retreated to a predetermined position. The drug dispensing device of claim 1 or 3, further comprising an operation in which, when the automatic drug container and the manual drug container are placed on the container mounting device, the control unit determines whether the type of drug provided in the prescription included in the prescription data matches the type of drug stored in the automatic drug container and the manual drug container placed on the container mounting device, and confirms that the automatic drug container and the manual drug container are correctly placed on the container mounting device. A medicine dispensing device including a main body having a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit,
The container storage unit and the container mounting device are disposed in a housing,
The manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on a container placement device in the housing,
The manual medicine container is a powdered medicine that is not contained in the automatic medicine container and that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device.
an operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device by the control unit, and then an operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device is performed;
A medicine dispensing device including a collection notification operation for urging a user to collect a manual medicine container that the user forgot to pick up. The drug dispensing device according to claim 8, in which the recovery notification operation is performed on the condition that it is detected that the manual drug container used in a packaging operation remains placed on the container placement device between the end of the packaging operation and the start of the next packaging operation. The medicine dispensing device according to claim 8 or 9, further comprising an operation of halting or temporarily halting the recovery notification operation and then carrying out a packaging operation if the manual medicine container has not been moved from above the container mounting device before a certain time has elapsed when the recovery notification operation is carried out. A medicine dispensing device including a main body device having a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit,
The container storage unit and the container mounting device are disposed in a housing,
The manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on a container placement device in the housing,
The manual medicine container is a powdered medicine that is not contained in the automatic medicine container and that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device.
an operation of manually placing a manual medicine container on the container mounting device after the control unit has performed an operation of placing an automatic medicine container on the container mounting device, or an operation of manually placing a manual medicine container on the container mounting device after the control unit has performed an operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device,
Depending on the user's selection, the control unit of the drug dispensing device selects either an operation of placing an automatic drug container on the container mounting device and then manually placing a manual drug container on the container mounting device, or an operation of manually placing a manual drug container on the container mounting device and then placing the automatic drug container on the container mounting device. A medicine dispensing device including a main body device having a housing, a container storage unit for holding an automatic medicine container containing powdered medicine, a manual medicine container containing powdered medicine, a container mounting device, and a control unit,
The container storage unit and the container mounting device are disposed in a housing,
The manual medicine container is manually carried into the housing from outside the housing and manually placed on a container placement device in the housing,
The manual medicine container is a powdered medicine that is not stored in the automatic medicine container and that has been weighed in advance by a medicine weighing device.
After an operation of manually placing the manual medicine container on the container mounting device is performed, an operation of placing the automatic medicine container on the container mounting device is performed by the control unit,
Depending on the user's selection, the control unit of the drug dispensing device selects either an operation of placing an automatic drug container on the container mounting device and then manually placing a manual drug container on the container mounting device, or an operation of manually placing a manual drug container on the container mounting device and then placing the automatic drug container on the container mounting device.

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