JP7493800B2 - Medicine packaging machine - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a drug packaging machine equipped with multiple drug feeders that automatically feed granular solid drugs such as tablets and ampoules in order to automate the dispensing process carried out in hospitals, pharmacies, etc. More specifically, it relates to the expansion and enhancement of functions related to feeding drugs into the drug feeders and recovering remaining drugs from the drug feeders.

The medicine feeder is composed of an upper container portion (follower portion) for accommodating medicine, and a lower base portion (drive portion) for successively discharging the medicine from the container portion.
Specialized drug feeders (drug feeders dedicated to specific drugs) that use a detachable drug cassette in the container section can only handle a limited number of drugs, but are widely used because of the convenience of being able to attach and detach the cassette (see Background Art 1 described below).
In contrast, so-called general-purpose drug feeders (drug feeders suitable for a variety of drugs), in which the container portion and base are integrated, are highly regarded for their convenience in handling a variety of drugs, and their frequency of use is increasing as improvements are made (see Background Art 3 described below).

[Background Art 1: Specialized drug feeder (drug feeder dedicated to a specific drug)]
Among drug packaging machines equipped with a large number of drug cassettes (see Patent Documents 1 and 2), there are some in which the removable drug cassettes have machine-readable container identification information, and a reading device is built into each base part to which the drug cassettes are attached and detached.When the drug cassette is attached to the base part, the container identification information of the drug cassette is read by the reading device in the base part and compared against a correspondence table, automatically determining whether the cassette is suitable for attachment to the base part.

As a dispensing system including such a medicine packaging machine (see Patent Document 1), there is known one equipped with one or more medicine packaging machines and a dispensing server capable of communicating with their control units via a wired LAN, etc. Such a dispensing server is connected to an external prescription ordering system via a network for inputting prescription data, or is equipped with a prescription reading device.
The dispensing server may be a programmable general-purpose computer provided it is equipped with a hard disk or other device with sufficient storage capacity to hold data. This computer stores prescription data received from the prescription ordering system, the drug packaging machine status received from the drug packaging machine, and a drug master that compiles drug information for each drug handled by the system.

In addition, such dispensing servers are also installed with a program for inputting prescription data and issuing dispensing instructions to the drug packaging machine based on that data, a replenishment instruction creation program that creates replenishment instructions based on stock-out notifications from the drug packaging machine (specifically, status reports that a drug cassette is empty) and inventory management status and displays these on the reading device, and an operation data recording program that records the progress of operations such as sending replenishment instructions to the reading device and receiving replenishment completion notifications from the reading device.

The medicine packaging machine is equipped with multiple medicine storage cabinets in the upper part of the housing that can be pulled out individually, pairs of medicine cassettes and base parts are arranged vertically and horizontally inside each medicine storage cabinet, a packaging device is stored in the lower part of the housing, and a control device (control unit) is placed in the electrical space inside the housing. The medicine cassettes are removable and contain a large number of tablets or the like (medicines) of any one of various types of medicine, which can be discharged one by one. The base part is a fixed part that can detachably mount the medicine cassettes one by one, and is capable of driving the mounted medicine cassettes to discharge the medicine. There is also a medicine collection mechanism that guides the medicines that are sequentially discharged to the packaging device below, and of these, the upper medicine collection mechanism is attached to or incorporated in the medicine storage cabinet, and the lower medicine collection mechanism is installed between the upper medicine collection mechanism and the packaging device.

In this type of drug packaging machine, the control device controls the operation of the drug cassettes and packaging device according to dispensing instructions received from the dispensing server, causing the appropriate amount of drug to be discharged from each drug cassette and then packaged by the packaging device. Furthermore, when it detects that a drug cassette has become empty and it is no longer possible to discharge the drug, a notice of a shortage is sent to the dispensing server. Furthermore, identification information is assigned to each drug cassette, and when the correspondence between the identification information and the drug cassette is registered in the control device, it is transferred to the dispensing server and registered in the drug master.

Furthermore, in such a drug packaging machine (see Patent Document 1), all drug cassettes are housed in a drug feeder storage cabinet inside the housing, and when refilling drugs, the drug feeder storage cabinet into which the cassette is to be attached or detached must be inserted or removed from the housing in order to attach or detach the cassette.
In response to this, there is a medicine packaging machine (see Patent Document 2) in which the medicine feeder located at the forefront of the medicine feeder storage cabinet is equipped in an exposed front state.
In this medicine packaging machine, medicines can be replenished without pulling out the medicine feeder container from the housing, so long as the medicine cassette is in a front-exposed state.

[Background Art 2: Manual drug spraying device]
Next, (see Patent Document 3), in many medicine packaging machines, a medicine manual dispensing device is built in between the medicine feeder storage and the lower medicine collecting mechanism or in the vicinity thereof. The medicine manual dispensing device has a main body part to which a spare dispensing cassette can be attached and detached, which can be pulled out or pushed in from the housing of the medicine packaging machine, and by manually dispensing medicines in the spare dispensing cassette, it is possible to include medicines that are not contained in the medicine feeder of the medicine feeder storage in the automatic packaging. In addition to such built-in medicine manual dispensing devices, there are also stationary medicine manual dispensing devices that are configured separately from the medicine packaging machine, and by using them in combination, the work of manually dispensing medicines in the spare dispensing cassette can be carried out in parallel with the advance preparation work for the so-called subsequent packaging that is scheduled after the currently ongoing packaging.

[Background Art 3: General-purpose drug feeder (drug feeder applicable to multiple drugs)]
Furthermore, (see Patent Documents 4 to 11), a type of drug feeder in which the container and the base are integrated will be described. A typical example of this type of drug feeder is an alignment-feeding type drug feeder that conveys tablets or the like (medicines) of the same shape while aligning them in a line. As an example of the configuration, a drug feeder has been developed and is in practical use, which includes an outer annular rotor that can rotate around a vertical line, an inclined rotor that is mounted inside the annular rotor and can rotate around an inclined line inclined from the vertical line to close the hollow of the annular rotor, and a regulating member that aligns the solid medicines that are conveyed from above the inclined rotor to the upper peripheral edge of the annular rotor when the annular rotor rotates.

JP 2013-146443 A JP 2018-196709 A JP 2007-209600 A JP 2018-108277 A Patent No. 6736074 Patent No. 6736075 Patent Application No. 2019-150055 (Application) Patent Application No. 2020-021938 (Application) Patent Application No. 2020-205592 (Application) Patent Application No. 2020-214571 (Application) Patent Application No. 2021-001647 (Application)

In this type of general-purpose drug feeder (drug feeder for multiple drugs), there is no need to provide a fixed flow guide inside the rotor, and the range of uses for drugs of various shapes and sizes is expanded (see Background Art 3 and Patent Document 4 above). In addition, (see Background Art 3 and Patent Documents 5 to 11 above), the downstream regulating mechanism that regulates the width of the drug is given the height regulating function, and the height regulating function of the sorting member located upstream is relaxed, so that solid drugs can be smoothly aligned in a row on the drug transport path at the upper periphery of the annular rotor, from hard and durable drugs to brittle drugs, and even from plate-shaped drugs that are difficult to roll to spherical or spindle-shaped drugs that roll easily.

However, general-purpose drug feeders in which the drug storage unit and drive unit are integrated (see Patent Documents 4 to 11) are different from specialized drug feeders in which the drug storage cassette can be attached and detached (see Patent Documents 1 and 2), and also from manual drug distribution devices in which a spare distribution cassette can be attached and detached (see Patent Document 3).Since they do not have a detachable cassette, cassette replacement is not possible.
Therefore, when feeding medicines from above into a general-purpose medicine feeder mounted on a medicine packaging machine, or when dispensing medicines into a lower collection container and collecting them, aside from the case of "remaining medicine collection using packaging paper," in which the remaining medicines are packaged in packaging paper and collected, a case of "remaining medicine collection using a container," in which the medicines are discharged and collected, the medicine feeder to be collected must be pulled out together with the shelf on which it is mounted before carrying out the work. In addition, when medicine feeders are arranged above and below, each shelf on which the medicine feeders are installed must be made removable.

Furthermore, because general-purpose drug feeders require much more frequent drug replacement than specialized drug feeders, there is a demand for reducing the burden of drug replacement and associated work.
Specifically, from the perspective of improving the operating rate of medication packaging machines, it is desirable to be able to perform so-called remaining medication collection, which involves collecting remaining medication that is not ejected during packaging processing based on a previous dispensing instruction in the medication packaging machine to which it is installed, without any inconvenience even when packaging processing based on a later dispensing instruction is started before collection of remaining medication from the previous dispensing, and even during packaging processing based on a later dispensing instruction (first technical issue).

Also, from the perspective of improving the operating rate of medication packaging machines, it is desirable to enable the preparation of subsequent packages based on the next dispensing instruction to be carried out in advance and processed in parallel while the medication packaging machine is processing the packages based on the current dispensing instruction, in other words, to "prepare subsequent packages first" (second technical issue).

Furthermore, due to limitations on the amount of medication that can be stored, there is a high possibility that medication may run out during packaging based on current dispensing instructions and replenishment may be required even before packaging is complete, especially if each medication is large. Therefore, it is desirable to facilitate the so-called "mid-course replenishment" of replenishing medication during packaging (third technical issue).

The medicine packaging machine of the present invention (Solution 1) has been invented to solve the first technical problem described above,
A medicine packaging machine including a plurality of medicine feeders each having a container section for randomly storing a large number of medicines and a sequential discharge mechanism section for dropping each medicine one by one from the container and discharging it downward, and a packaging device for receiving the discharged medicines and packaging them,
a plurality of the drug feeders are general-purpose drug feeders in which the container unit and the sequential discharge mechanism unit are integrated together, and are mounted separately on a plurality of drawer mechanisms that can be drawn forward;
Each of the plurality of pull-out mechanisms is provided with a pull-out state detection member for detecting the pull-out state of the pull-out mechanism, and a lock mechanism for selectively preventing the pull-out mechanism from being pulled out forward,
The device is characterized in that it is provided with a means for accepting a dispensing instruction, and a means for accepting a remaining drug drawer/recovery instruction which instructs the general-purpose drug feeder to release remaining drugs in a pulled-out forward state, and that after it is confirmed that the general-purpose drug feeder has been pulled out forward based on the detection state of the pull-out state detection member and the locking state of the locking mechanism, the corresponding drug feeder is caused to perform a drug discharge operation in accordance with the remaining drug drawer/recovery instruction.

In addition, the medicine packaging machine of the present invention (Solution 2) has been invented to solve the second technical problem described above,
A medicine packaging machine including a plurality of medicine feeders each having a container section for randomly storing a large number of medicines and a sequential discharge mechanism section for dropping each medicine one by one from the container and discharging it downward, and a packaging device for receiving the discharged medicines and packaging them,
a plurality of the drug feeders are general-purpose drug feeders in which the container unit and the sequential discharge mechanism unit are integrated together, and are mounted separately on a plurality of drawer mechanisms that can be drawn forward;
Each of the plurality of pull-out mechanisms is provided with a pull-out state detection member for detecting the pull-out state of the pull-out mechanism and a lock mechanism for selectively preventing the pull-out mechanism from being pulled out forward,
The system is characterized in that it is provided with: means for receiving a plurality of dispensing instructions in parallel; means for allocating a drug discharge execution target to the drug feeder based on any one of the dispensing instructions; means for, when the drug discharge execution target is allocated to the general-purpose drug feeder, causing the locking mechanism to prevent the pull-out mechanism mounting the drug feeder from being pulled out prior to drug discharge execution; and means for allowing the other pull-out mechanisms to be pulled out and allocating the general-purpose drug feeders mounted thereon to any other one of the dispensing instructions.

Furthermore, the medicine packaging machine of the present invention (Solution 3) has been invented to solve the third technical problem described above,
A medicine packaging machine including a plurality of medicine feeders each having a container section for randomly storing a large number of medicines and a sequential discharge mechanism section for dropping each medicine one by one from the container and discharging it downward, and a packaging device for receiving the discharged medicines and packaging them,
one or more of the drug feeders is a general-purpose drug feeder in which the container portion and the sequential discharge mechanism portion are integrated, the drug feeder is capable of detecting an empty state after an attempt to discharge the drug, and is mounted on a withdrawal mechanism that can be withdrawn forward;
The pull-out mechanism is provided with a lock mechanism that selectively prevents the pull-out operation in the forward direction.
The drug feeder is provided with: a means for receiving dispensing instructions; a means for allocating a drug discharge execution target to the drug feeder based on any one of the dispensing instructions; a means for causing the locking mechanism to prevent the drawer mechanism mounting the drug feeder from being drawn out prior to drug discharge execution when the drug discharge execution target is allocated to the general-purpose drug feeder as a result of the allocation; and a means for causing the locking mechanism to temporarily release the drawer block when an empty state is detected for the general-purpose drug feeder whose drawer block has been blocked by the locking mechanism and for prompting the drug feeder to be refilled with drugs when an empty state is detected for the general-purpose drug feeder whose drawer block has been blocked by the locking mechanism.

In the drug packaging machine of solution 1, multiple general-purpose drug feeders are provided and mounted separately on multiple drawer mechanisms, and whether or not they are being drawn forward without being blocked is detected. When it is determined that a general-purpose drug feeder has been drawn forward, the corresponding drug feeder is caused to perform a drug discharge operation in response to a remaining drug drawer recovery instruction. Therefore, a drug drawer recovery instruction is accepted for a general-purpose drug feeder that is not being used for packaging processing based on a dispensing instruction and has been drawn forward from the housing of the drug packaging machine. Therefore, even when packaging processing based on a later dispensing instruction is started before remaining drug recovery of a previous dispensing, or even during packaging processing based on a later dispensing instruction, the remaining drug can be recovered without inconvenience from a drug feeder that has finished discharging the drug based on a previous dispensing instruction. Therefore, according to this invention, the first technical problem can be solved.

In addition, in the drug packaging machine of solution 2, a general-purpose drug feeder is installed in each of a plurality of individually lockable drawer mechanisms, and purposeful improvements are made to the control method, etc.
That is, a plurality of prescription instructions can be received in parallel from a higher-level device, etc., and if there are other prescription instructions before one prescription instruction is completed, the other prescription instructions are also received.
First, in order to ensure that appropriate dispensing is performed for a particular dispensing order, the general-purpose drug feeder that is to process that particular dispensing order is locked with the drawer in the unpulled state, providing simple yet precise protection from external disturbances.

On the other hand, when allocating a general-purpose drug feeder to other dispensing orders, a drug feeder mounted in an unlocked drawer is selected, so that the undesirable situation of overlapping with a drug feeder already processing a dispensing order does not occur, and the drug can be dispensed in the exposed drawer pulled forward from the housing regardless of the progress of the processing of a dispensing order, making the drug dispenser operation easy and accurate.
Therefore, in one medicine packaging machine, while a packaging process based on a current prescription instruction is being performed, preparation for subsequent packaging based on the next prescription instruction can be performed in advance in parallel.
Therefore, according to the present invention, the second technical problem can be solved.

Furthermore, in the drug packaging machine of the present invention (Solution 3), a locking mechanism prevents the target drug feeder from being pulled out while the packaging process is in progress, thereby preventing the occurrence of undesirable situations in which the packaging process is impaired due to erroneous operation, etc.
In contrast, when a general-purpose medicine feeder becomes empty and this is detected, the pull-out mechanism on which it is mounted is temporarily unlocked, allowing the medicine feeder to be refilled with medicines.

In addition, the dispensing worker or the equipment manager is prompted to replenish the medicine feeder with medicines by prompting means such as sound or display, so that the necessary medicines can be replenished promptly.
This allows the task of replenishing medicines during packaging processing to be carried out quickly and accurately, so even if frequent replenishing is required midway, the workload is often light.
Therefore, according to the present invention, the third technical problem can be solved.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a general configuration of a dispensing system including a medicine packaging machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 1A and 1B show the overall structure of a medicine packaging machine, with FIG. 1A being a front view of the exterior and FIG. 1A to 1D are all left side views of the medicine packaging machine, and FIG. 1E is a perspective view of the front of the medicine storage unit. 1A to 1C are perspective views of a shelf having drug feeders arranged thereon. 1A and 1B are left side views of the medicine packaging machine, and 1C to 1E are perspective views of a multi-stage medicine collection mechanism. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D are front views showing the main part of a drawer lock mechanism. 1A shows different types of drug feeders, with (a) being a front view of a drug feeder for specific drugs (specialized drug feeder) with the cassette removed, and (b) being a left side view, front view, and right side view of a drug feeder for multiple drugs (general-purpose drug feeder). 1A is a functional block diagram of a control unit of the medicine packaging machine and a control unit of the medicine feeder, and FIGS. 1B to 1E are examples of screen displays of a touch panel. FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of a control unit of a medicine packing machine according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Specific embodiments for carrying out the medicine packaging machine of the present invention will be described below with reference to Examples 1 and 2.
Example 1 shown in FIGS. 1 to 8 embodies the above-mentioned solution 1 (claim 1 as originally filed), and Example 2 shown in FIG. 9 also embodies the above-mentioned solutions 2 and 3 (claims 2 and 3 as originally filed).
In addition, for the sake of simplicity, when illustrating these elements, fasteners such as bolts, connectors such as hinges, driving sources such as electric motors, transmission members such as timing belts, and electrical circuits such as motor drivers have been omitted, and only those elements necessary for explaining the invention and those related thereto are illustrated.

A specific configuration of a medicine packing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the general configuration of a dispensing system including a medicine packing machine 10.
Figures 2 and 3 show the overall structure of the medicine packaging machine 10, with Figure 2(a) being a front view of the exterior, Figure 2(b) being a front view of the interior, and Figures 3(a) to (d) being left side views of the exterior.

FIG. 3(e) is a perspective view of the front of the medicine storage section 13, and FIGS. 4(a) to 4(c) are perspective views of the medicine feeder row shelves 20. As shown in FIG.
5(a) and (b) are left side views of the medicine packing machine 10, and FIGS. 5(c) to (e) are perspective views of the multi-stage medicine collecting mechanism 30. FIG.
6A, 6B, and 6C show the main part of the drawer lock mechanism 40, with (a) being a front view, (b) being a plan view, and (c) and (d) being front views.

Figure 7 shows two different types of drug feeders: Figure 7(a) is a front view of a detachable cassette-type drug feeder 51 (a specialized drug feeder) for specific drugs, and Figure 7(b) is an external view of a drug feeder 52 (a general-purpose drug feeder) for multiple drugs, showing, from top to bottom, a left side view, a front view, and a right side view.
Figure 8 (a) is a functional block diagram of the controller 80 (control unit) of the drug packaging machine 10 and the controller (control unit) of the drug feeder 52, and Figures 8 (b) to (e) are all examples of screen displays of the touch panel 15.

The medicine packaging machine 10 (see FIG. 1 ) may be used alone in small-scale pharmacies, etc., but in large-scale dispensing departments, multiple machines are often used under the control of a dispensing server 100 .
The dispensing server 100 is capable of transmitting and receiving data to and from a higher-level prescription ordering system and a lower-level drug packaging machine 10 via a LAN or the like, and by executing the program described in Background Art 1, receives and stores prescription data from the prescription ordering system, and issues dispensing instructions to the drug packaging machine 10 and, if there are other drug packaging machines not shown, based on the received prescription data. The dispensing server 100 also stores data on the operating status of the drug packaging machine 10 as packaging machine status, and also stores a drug master in which known drug information relating to various drugs is registered in advance.

The drug packaging machine 10 (see Figures 1 and 2(a)) comprises a packaging device 11 at a lower level, a drug manual distribution device equipment section 12 above that, a drug storage section 13 above that, a touch panel 15 (operation input section, display section) supported by an arm so that it can be easily moved, and a controller 80 (control section of the drug packaging machine) housed inside the housing, and the drug storage section 13 has a plurality of drug feeder arrangement storage sections 14 and a plurality of drug feeder row shelves 20 incorporated in it, each of which can be pulled out forward.
Although the drug feeder storage cabinet 14 is illustrated as having two horizontal rows, one on the left and one on the right, it may have three or more horizontal rows, or may have a single row, or each row may be further divided into upper and lower sections so that each can be pulled out forward as desired.

Although the drug feeder rows 20 are illustrated as being arranged in three vertical rows and one horizontal row, other arrangements including two or more vertical rows may be used.
Inside the medicine feeder storage 14 in the medicine storage section 13 occupying the upper part of the medicine packaging machine 10 (see Figs. 1 and 2(b)), there are provided six vertical levels and two horizontal rows of medicine feeder shelves 18 on which a number of specific medicine-dedicated type medicine feeders 51 (specialized medicine feeders, see Fig. 1) can be arranged in a row, and an upper medicine collecting mechanism 17 is provided vertically between the two rows (see Fig. 2(b)). Medicines discharged from the medicine feeders 51 are guided by the upper medicine collecting mechanism 17 to the lower medicine collecting mechanism 16 below.

Also (see Figs. 1 and 2(b)), inside the placement location of the drug feeder row shelves 20, 20, 20, which occupy a corner of the drug storage section 13, a multi-stage drug collection mechanism 30 is also installed (see Figs. 3(d) and (e)) hidden behind the front plate 25 of the drug feeder row shelves (see Figs. 1, 2(b) and 5). A handle 33 installed on the front of the multi-stage drug collection mechanism 30 is also hidden behind the front plate 25. This multi-stage drug collection mechanism 30, like the upper drug collection mechanism 17, guides the feeder discharged drugs to the lower drug collection mechanism 16 below, but receives drugs discharged from the multi-drug compatible drug feeder 52 (general-purpose drug feeder) of the drug feeder row shelf 20, rather than drugs discharged from the specific drug-dedicated drug feeder 51 (specialized drug feeder) of the drug feeder row shelf 18. The shelf 20 with drug feeders that receives the drugs is not just one, but multiple shelves 20, 20, 20 connected vertically.

The illustrated drug feeder row shelf 20 (see Fig. 3) is provided with a handle 21 on the front (see Fig. 3(a)) and is supported by a pull-out member 22 (pull-out mechanism) (see Fig. 3(b)), so that the feeders can be individually pulled out forward or pushed backward from the top to the bottom (see Figs. 3(a)-(d)). In addition, (see Figs. 3(d), (e), and 4), four drug feeders 52 (general-purpose drug feeders) can be mounted in a line from front to back on the drug feeder row shelf 23 supported by the pull-out mechanism 22. Furthermore, in addition to the handle 21, the front plate 25 at the front end of the drug feeder row shelf 20 (see Figs. 3(e) and 4(a)) is provided with a rocking plate 24, a manual lock 43, and an LED display (not shown).

The multi-drug compatible drug feeder 52 (general-purpose drug feeder) differs from the specific drug dedicated drug feeder 51 (specialized drug feeder) in that the drug filling is rarely changed. As described above, the multi-drug compatible drug feeder 52 (general-purpose drug feeder) can be used for drugs of various shapes and sizes by simply adjusting it, for example by replacing the sample drug or obtaining drug dimension data from the dispensing server 100 (see also Patent Documents 4 to 11). Therefore, in order to minimize mistakes such as mixing up drugs during drug refilling, a so-called fully fixed unit is used in which the drug storage section is fixed under normal conditions except during maintenance work. Although not essential, this drug feeder 52 (see FIG. 8(a)) has a built-in controller 53 (control section) and cooperates with the controller 80 by sending and receiving data.

Also (see FIGS. 3(d), 3(e) and 4), the medicine feeder row shelves 20 are provided with covers 52a and cover open/closed state detection means 29 for each of the medicine feeders 52 mounted thereon.
The cover 52a is for opening and closing the medicine inlet on the top of the corresponding multi-medication-compatible medicine feeder 52 (general-purpose medicine feeder), and is pivotally supported at its rear end (upper right part in the figure) so that it can swing. Moreover, in the horizontal position, it closes the medicine inlet (see FIG. 4(a)), and in the vertical or nearly vertical position, it opens the medicine inlet to a state where medicine can be inserted (see FIG. 4(b)), and transitions between the two states via an inclined position between the two.

The lid open/closed state detection means 29 (see FIG. 4(a)) is mainly composed of, for example, a magnetic sensor, and is attached to the back panel of the drug feeder row shelf 23, located behind the corresponding multi-drug compatible drug feeder 52, to detect the open/closed state of the corresponding lid 52a. It not only detects whether the lid 52a is open enough to allow drug insertion (see FIG. 4(b)), but also detects whether the lid 52a is closed enough to prevent drug spillage (see FIG. 4(c)). This detection can be realized by multiple magnetic sensors with different sensitivity levels, or by comparing the output value of a single magnetic sensor with multiple thresholds of different levels.

The detection result of the lid open/close state detection means 29 is notified to the controller 80 of the medicine packaging machine 10 via the controller 53 of the medicine feeder 52.
Then, when the controller 80, which is responsible for managing the drug administration, receives this and determines that drug administration has begun for the corresponding drug feeder 52, when it determines based on the detection value of the lid opening/closing state detection means 29 that the relevant lid 52a has been opened from a fully closed state (see Figure 4(a)) to a state allowing drug administration (see Figure 4(b)).
In addition, when the controller 80 determines based on detection by the lid opening/closing state detection means 29 that the lid 52a has been sufficiently closed to prevent the medicine from spilling (see the change from Figure 4(b) to Figure 4(a)), it determines that the medicine has been fed to the corresponding medicine feeder 52.

The lower end of the oscillating plate 24 is connected to the lower end of the front surface of the front plate 25 via a oscillating support shaft (see Figs. 3(d), (e), and 4), allowing it to be gently oscillated with the hand or fingertips. When the free end/oscillating end is raised (see Figs. 3(a)-(c)), it assumes a vertical position as if it were attached to the front plate 25. In contrast, when the free end/oscillating end is lowered (see Figs. 3(d), (e), and 4), it assumes a horizontal position, like a small table, on which small items such as medicine bottles and prescription sheets can be placed.

As mentioned above, the multi-stage drug collection mechanism 30 (see FIG. 5) is disposed immediately beside the three drug feeder rows of shelves 20, 20, 20, and guides the drugs discharged from them downward and drops them. This mechanism is also supported by a multi-stage drawer mechanism 37 inside the drug storage section 13 (see FIG. 5(a) and (b)), and can be drawn forward from the drug storage section 13 (see FIG. 5(b)). In addition, the length of the multi-stage drug collection mechanism 30 in the front-to-rear direction is shorter than that of the drug feeder rows of shelves 20, 20, 20, and it is always located behind the left end of the front panel 25, 25, 25 of the right drug feeder rows of shelves 20, 20, 20 (see FIG. 2, FIG. 5(a) and (b)).

The front plates 25, 25, 25, whose left ends protrude forward of the multi-stage medicine collection mechanism 30, serve as relative pull-out position restricting means that prevent the multi-stage medicine collection mechanism 30 from being pulled forward from the medicine feeder row shelf 20, and also serve as a member that restricts the multi-stage medicine collection mechanism 30 from being pulled forward from the medicine storage section 13. In addition, all of the medicine feeder row shelves 20 equipped with such front plates 25 are provided only on the right side of the multi-stage medicine collection mechanism 30 (see FIG. 2(b)), and there is no restricting member such as the front plate 25 on the left side of the multi-stage medicine collection mechanism 30, so that when the multi-stage medicine collection mechanism 30 is pulled forward from the medicine storage section 13 (see FIG. 5(b)), the left side of the multi-stage medicine collection mechanism 30 is released.

Furthermore, the multi-stage drug collection mechanism 30 (see Figs. 5(c)-(e)) mainly comprises a shallow box-shaped main body 31 and a removable side plate 35 that is disposed on the left open side of the main body 31, which is the side farthest from the drug feeder rows 20, 20, 20, and closes the side when attached. The right side plate of the main body 31 has drug receiving openings 32, 32, 32 that receive drugs discharged from the drug feeder rows 20, 20, 20, and a handle 33 is provided at the front end of the main body 31, and a side plate holding member 34 that receives the lower end of the side plate 35 from below is provided at the lower end of the main body 31, located below the open side.

The upper part of the side plate 35 is equipped with a small latching member 36, which can be operated by a lever, and when the lower end of the side plate 35 is placed on the side plate holding member 34 and received, and then the side plate 35 is raised and the latching member 36 is latched to the main body 31, the open side of the main body 31 is closed (see FIG. 5(c)). When all the latching members 36, 36 are removed, the upper part of the side plate 35 separates from the open side of the main body 31 (see FIG. 5(d)), but since the side plate holding member 34 is made of, for example, a hook member and receives the lower end of the side plate 35 with a little play, the side plate 35 is held in a slightly tilted state. Furthermore, when the side plate 35 is lifted by placing hands on both the left and right ends of the side plate 35, the side plate 35 separates completely from the main body 31, and the inside of the main body 31 is largely exposed (see FIG. 5(e)).

As mentioned above, the manual lock 43 is provided on the front plate 25 of the drug feeder row shelf 20 (see Figs. 3(e) and 4(a)), and the drawer lock mechanism 40 (see Fig. 6) including this manual lock 43 is attached to the front end of the drug feeder row shelf 20 and the front end of the drug storage section 13. Specifically, the drawer lock mechanism 40 comprises a swinging member 44 that is equipped on the drug feeder row shelf 20 together with the manual lock 43, an electromagnetic drive unit 41 that is equipped on the frame of the drug storage section 13, and an advancing and retreating member 42 that can move forward and backward from the electromagnetic drive unit 41 toward the swinging member 44. The forward/backward member 42 is constantly biased forward (to the left) by a spring or the like (not shown) and protrudes from the frame of the medicine storage section 13 toward the medicine feeder row shelf 20. When the tip of the member 42 is in front of the swinging member 44 (see FIG. 6(a)), the medicine feeder row shelf 20 is locked and cannot be pulled forward from the medicine storage section 13.

Furthermore (see FIG. 6(b)), a slope is formed at the tip of the advancing/retreating member 42, and when the oscillating member 44 abuts against this, the resulting force causes the advancing/retreating member 42 to retreat toward the electromagnetic drive unit 41 (to the right in the figure). Therefore, when the pulled-out drug feeder row shelf 20 is pushed into the drug storage section 13, the oscillating member 44 temporarily retreats the advancing/retreating member 42 and moves it backwards (see the two-dot dash line and the one-dot dash line in FIG. 6(b)). Therefore, while the pulling-out of the drug feeder row shelf 20 is normally locked, the drug feeder row shelf 20 can be pushed in at any time.
In addition, although the illustration would be omitted since it can be configured using a magnetic sensor or the like, a drawer state detection means for detecting whether or not the drug feeder row shelf 20 is located within the lockable range of the drawer lock mechanism 40 is also provided corresponding to each drug feeder row shelf 20.

Furthermore (see FIG. 6(c)), when the electromagnetic drive unit 41 is excited under the control of the controller 80, the reciprocating member 42 retreats toward the electromagnetic drive unit 41 (moves to the right in the figure) due to the electromagnetic force that is greater than the spring force, so that the drug feeder row shelves 20 are in a state in which they can be pulled out as well as pushed in. In other words, electric unlocking is possible.
Furthermore, (see FIG. 6(d)), when the key 45 is inserted into the manual lock 43 and turned to the unlocking side, the oscillating member 44 also rotates accordingly, and the oscillating member 44 assumes a position and state in which it is not engaged with the advancing/retreating member 42, making manual unlocking also possible.

When the controller 80 determines that the lid 52a of the drug feeder 52 mounted on the drug feeder row shelf 20 is securely closed based on detection by the lid open/closed state detection means 29 and notification from the controller 53 (see FIG. 4(a)), it determines that the drug feeder row shelf 20 is normal even if it is pushed into the housing. However, if this is not the case, for example, when the lid 52a is closed in an incomplete state that is not detected by the lid open/closed state detection means 29 (see FIG. 4(c)), and the corresponding drug feeder row shelf 20 is pushed into the housing and is detected by the above-mentioned drawer state detection means to be within the lockable range of the drawer lock mechanism 40, an alarm is issued.

To summarize, although it may overlap, the drug feeder 51 (see FIG. 7(a)) is the aforementioned drug feeder for specific drugs (specialized drug feeder), and is a cassette-removable type consisting of a fixed base 51b (drive unit) and cassette 51a (container unit). When the motor of the base 51b is operated under the control of the controller 80 with the cassette attached, the cassette 51a is driven to drop and discharge the drugs one by one. In contrast, the drug feeder 52 (see FIG. 7(b)) is the aforementioned drug feeder for multiple drugs (general-purpose drug feeder), and the container unit and base are integrated (see Patent Documents 4 to 11), and is fixed to the drug feeder row shelf 20 in the normal state. This feeder 52 also drops and discharges the drugs one by one under the control of the controller 80.

Furthermore, in the medicine packaging machine 10, the controller 80 controls the touch panel 15, so that the controller 80 exhibits a function of inputting operations in addition to displaying information on the screen (see FIG. 1, etc.).
When the controller 80 of the medicine packaging machine 10 receives a dispensing instruction from the dispensing server 100, it automatically processes the instruction to the extent possible, but if necessary, it displays a guide for the dispensing worker on a screen and receives instructions from the dispensing worker. For example, when the dispensing instruction includes a drug that is not held in the drug feeder 51 and drug feeder 52 is selected as the dispensing destination, if the dispensing worker's assistance is required, an instruction to feed the drug into the corresponding drug feeder 52 is displayed on the touch panel 15.

When the data necessary for automatic discharge is collected and preparations for automatic discharge are completed, the controller 80 of the medicine packaging machine 10 sends an automatic discharge command to the controller 53 of the target medicine feeder 52 (see Figures 1 and 8(a)), and if the corresponding medicine feeder 52 is pushed into the housing of the medicine packaging machine 10 (see the upper and middle medicine feeder shelves 20 of the upper and lower three shelves shown in Figures 1 and 3(e)), the medicine is automatically discharged from there. The medicine discharged from the medicine feeder 52 (see Figures 2(b) and 5) is sent to the lower medicine collection mechanism 16 via the multi-stage medicine collection mechanism 30 shared by the upper and lower medicine feeder shelves 20, and then to the packaging device 11.

In addition, when excess medicine remains in the medicine feeder 52 after automatic medicine discharge, the remaining medicine is to be collected. The medicine packaging machine 10 has two types of means for collecting the remaining medicine from the target medicine feeder 52 (see FIG. 8(a)). Either means is performed by cooperation between the controller 80 of the medicine packaging machine 10 and the controller 53 of the medicine feeder 52 from which the remaining medicine is to be collected, and based on the display and operation input via the touch panel 15, the discharge operation mode selection program 81 of the controller 80 of the medicine packaging machine 10 selects either the automatic discharge program 54 or the remaining medicine collection program 55 from the program group of the controller 53 of the medicine feeder 52 as the cooperation partner.

The automatic discharge program 54 performs the aforementioned "remaining drug recovery using packaging paper" in which the remaining drugs are discharged and packaged while the drug feeder row shelf 20 on which the target drug feeder 52 is mounted is pushed into the housing of the drug packaging machine 10 and locked by the drawer lock mechanism 40. In this case, the drug name can be printed on the portion of the packaging paper that will package the remaining drugs, which offers the advantage of making it easier to manage the collected drugs. Such an automatic discharge program 54 can be easily adapted or used in conjunction with a program used for normal packaging in which the number of drugs to be discharged is specified, by simply manipulating the number of drugs to be discharged, etc.

The remaining drug collection program 55 executes the "remaining drug collection using containers" described above, and specifically, for the drug feeder row shelf 20 mounting the drug feeder 52 for which remaining drugs are to be collected, the program unlocks the corresponding drawer lock mechanism 40, and when it detects that the drug feeder row shelf 20 has been moved out of the locked position based on detection by the above-mentioned drawer state detection means, it determines that the drug feeder row shelf 20 is in a state where it has been pulled out forward from the housing of the drug packaging machine 10, and when it receives an instruction to release remaining drugs from the controller 80 of the drug packaging machine 10 in this state (see the drug feeder row shelf 20 in the lower tier of the three tiers shown in Figures 1 and 3 (e)), it accordingly continues the discharge operation for the drug feeder 52 for which remaining drugs are to be collected until it is empty.
The cooperative operation between the operator using the touch panel 15 and both the controllers 80 and 53 will be described below with reference to examples of screen displays.

The usage and operation of the medicine packaging machine 10 of Example 1 will be explained with reference to the above-mentioned Figure 8 and other drawings.

When a dispensing instruction is sent from the dispensing server 100 to the drug packaging machine 10 by operating the touch panel 15 or the like (see FIG. 1), and the controller 80 of the drug packaging machine 10 receives it, the contents of the dispensing instruction are displayed on the touch panel 15 for confirmation. If the drug to be automatically dispensed is stored in the drug feeder 51 of the drug feeder storage 14, the controller 80 automatically assigns it appropriately and preparations are complete. Once the dispensing worker has confirmed the operation of the touch panel 15, the drug to be dispensed is automatically discharged from the drug feeder 51, collected as it falls, and reaches the packaging device 11, where it is sorted and stored in packet paper.

If the drug to be automatically dispensed can be handled by any of the drug feeders 51 but happens to be stored in none of the drug feeders 51, a display will be displayed on the touch panel 15 (not shown) asking the dispensing worker whether to store the target drug in the appropriate drug feeder 51, select one of the drug feeders 52 and store the target drug therein, or manually distribute the target drug using the manual drug distribution device (12). From the standpoint of convenience and efficiency, the selection will normally be made in that order if possible.
When the dispensing operator selects drug feeder 51, he or she loads the target drug into drug feeder 51 and operates the panel for confirmation, and automatic dispensing is carried out as described above.

On the other hand, when the medicine feeder 51 is unavailable, and the medicine feeder 52 is free and available, the medicine feeder 52 is selected instead of the manual medicine dispensing device.
Then, the drug packaging machine 10 displays the name of the drug, the prescribed number, and a list of available drug feeders 52 on the touch panel 15, and the appropriate drug feeder 52 is selected by operating the screen. Then, the drawer lock mechanism 40 of the drug feeder row shelf 20 on which the selected drug feeder 52 is mounted is released, and the corresponding drug feeder row shelf 20 becomes available for drawing out, and this is notified by a screen display or the like, so the dispensing worker draws it out (see FIG. 3(e)), and opens and closes the lid 52a to feed drugs into the corresponding drug feeder 52 (see FIG. 4(a)) indicated by the screen display or the like. At this time, the number of drugs specified in the dispensing instruction is fed, or a number exceeding this number is fed.

The dispensing worker then pushes the drug feeder row shelf 20, which is mounted with the drug feeder 52 that has finished dispensing drugs, back into the housing of the drug packaging machine 10, and after confirming that it has been locked by the drawer lock mechanism 40, causes the drug packaging machine 10 to start automatic dispensing by operating the screen of the touch panel 15, etc.
After the automatic dispensing starts, in either case, an appropriate number of medicines are discharged from the appropriate medicine feeder 51, 52 in accordance with the prescription instructions, and then packaged by the packaging device 11.

After dispensing according to the prescription, if there is any medicine left in the drug feeder 52, the drug feeder 52 is emptied and the remaining medicine is collected for use in another dispensing, unless there are lucky cases where the remaining medicine can be used for a subsequent dispensing. Then, when there is no other prescription in the drug packaging machine 10, or when there is another prescription but it is not necessary to start dispensing it immediately, the touch panel 15 is operated to display a "UF collection" screen for collecting the remaining medicine from the drug feeder 52 (see FIG. 8(b)), and then "Package and collect" is selected. Under the control of the cooperation between the discharge operation mode selection program 81 of the controller 80 of the drug packaging machine 10 and the automatic discharge program 54 of the controller 53 of the drug feeder 52, the remaining medicine is immediately and easily wrapped in packaging paper and collected without the need to pull out the corresponding drug feeder 52 or drug feeder row shelf 20 from the housing of the drug packaging machine 10.

On the other hand, when the dispensing worker needs to have the drug packaging machine 10 quickly dispense another medicine according to another prescription, or when the dispensing worker does not want to use packaging paper to collect the remaining medicine, the dispensing worker operates the touch panel 15 to display the "UF collection" screen for collecting the remaining medicine from the drug feeder 52, and then selects "Collect from drawer" as the remaining medicine collection method (see FIG. 8(b)). Then, a screen is displayed on the touch panel 15 requesting the selection of the drug feeder 52 from which the remaining medicine will be collected (see FIG. 8(c)), and the dispensing worker operates to specify the target (in the example of FIG. 8(c), "12" is selected, which refers to the second drug feeder 52 from the front on the bottom shelf 20 where the drug feeders are installed).

Then, the lower drug feeder row shelf 20 on which the drug feeder 52 to be collected is mounted is specified ("UF1 shelf" in the example of FIG. 8(d)), and a screen instructing the user to pull it out is displayed on the touch panel 15 (see FIG. 8(d)). The user unlocks the drawer lock mechanism 40 attached to the drug feeder row shelf 20, and then pulls out the drug feeder row shelf 20 from the housing (see the bottommost drug feeder row shelf 20 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3(a)). When the shelf is unlocked and it is detected that the shelf has been pulled out further forward than the locked position, it is determined that the drug feeder 52 to be collected from is sufficiently pulled out from the housing, and a screen is displayed on the touch panel 15 prompting the dispensing worker to place a collection container under the drug feeder 52 to be collected (see FIG. 8(e)).

Therefore, the dispensing worker can quickly and accurately place a collection container under the medicine feeder 52 from which the remaining medicine is to be collected (not shown).
Then, when the dispensing worker instructs "start" remaining drug collection by operating the screen of touch panel 15 (see the lower right part of the example screen display in Figure 8 (e)), controller 53 executes remaining drug collection program 55 under the control of controller 80, whereby the remaining drugs are discharged downward one after another from the drug feeder 52 to be collected, so that the remaining drugs are quickly transferred into the collection container.

While the remaining medication is being discharged, the lid 52a of the medication feeder 52 from which the remaining medication is to be collected must be kept closed to prevent the medication from undesirably scattering, etc.; however, once the discharge is completed due to a timeout for the detection of the fallen medication, etc., the lid 52a is unlocked. Therefore, to be on the safe side, the dispensing worker should, if possible, open the lid 52a of the medication feeder 52 from which the remaining medication is to be collected and visually check for the presence or absence of any remaining medication (see Figure 4(b)).
Then, when the dispensing worker confirms that the medicine feeder 52 from which the remaining medicine is to be collected is completely empty, he/she closes the lid 52a and makes the empty medicine feeder 52 available for the next use.

In this way, the remaining medicine can be collected from the medicine feeder 52 after automatic discharge into a collection container. At this time, for the medicine feeders 52 mounted on the medicine feeder row shelves 20 that do not carry the medicine feeder 52 to be collected from (the upper and middle medicine feeder row shelves 20 in the examples of Figures 1 and 3(e)), whether the medicine feeder row shelf 20 carrying the medicine feeder 52 to be collected from (the lower medicine feeder row shelf 20 in the examples of Figures 1 and 3(e)) is contained within the housing of the medicine packaging machine 10 or protrudes forward from the housing, there is no effect on the medicine discharge operation, and therefore the medicine can be simultaneously used for another automatic dispensing according to another prescription instruction.

The specific configuration of the second embodiment of the medicine packaging machine of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 9 is a functional block diagram of the control unit 90 of the medicine packaging machine.

This medicine packaging machine differs from the medicine packaging machine 10 of the above-mentioned first embodiment in that the controller 80 has been enhanced to become a controller 90.
With regard to the hardware configuration, the configuration of the above-mentioned Example 1 (see particularly Figures 1 and 8) is followed, and functional enhancement is realized by modifying software (means) such as programs and data installed in the controller 90 (control unit of the drug packaging machine) of the drug packaging machine 10.

Specifically (see FIG. 9), a prescription instruction receiving means, a discharge execution allocation means, a discharge reservation allocation means, a withdrawal prevention means, a release prompting means, and a discharge control means are embodied in the programs (91 to 96).
Also (see FIG. 9), a data area capable of holding a plurality of dispensing instruction data (shown as "dispensing instruction data" in the figure), and a data area capable of holding allocation data for each stage showing the allocation status to the drug feeder row shelves 20 by the above-mentioned two types of allocation means (shown as "upper drawer allocation", "middle drawer allocation", and "lower drawer allocation" in the figure) are provided.

In this embodiment, one each of a prescription instruction receiving program 91, a discharge execution allocation program 92, and a discharge reservation allocation program 93 are provided.
The withdrawal prevention program 94, the release prompting program 95 and the discharge control program 96 form a set, and three sets are provided corresponding to the fact that three drug feeder row shelves 20 are provided at the upper, middle and lower levels.
The allocation data is also secured in triplicate based on the same correspondence.

The dispensing instruction reception program 91 receives dispensing instructions transmitted from the dispensing server 100, which is the host device of the drug packaging machine 10, and stores the data. When a dispensing instruction is received, the program stores the data. Even if the processing related to the previous dispensing instruction (i.e., the processing related to the previous dispensing instruction) is not yet completed, if a subsequent dispensing instruction is transmitted as data, the program also receives the subsequent dispensing instruction. By storing multiple/multiple dispensing instructions as data in a manner that indicates the order of receipt or priority, dispensing instructions can be received in parallel.

The discharge execution allocation program 92 selects one of the accepted dispensing instructions as the drug discharge execution target, such as the first received one or the one with the highest priority, and if the indicated drug is stored in a cassette-type drug feeder 51 for specific drugs (specialized drug feeder), it is allocated preferentially to the cassette-type drug feeder 51 for specific drugs (specialized drug feeder). If not, the indicated drug is allocated to a fully fixed drug feeder 52 for multiple drugs (general-purpose drug feeder). In the example of FIG. 1, eight or less types of drugs are allocated to the drug feeders 52 in the upper and middle drug feeder rows 20. In this case, the allocation data for the upper and middle drawers also includes information for preventing/releasing the drawer and discharge control information such as the number of drugs discharged at one time for each of the four assigned drug feeders 52 on each level.

The discharge reservation allocation program 93 selects another appropriate dispensing instruction, such as the one next in priority to the one already selected as the drug discharge execution target from among the received dispensing instructions, as the drug discharge reservation target, and further, when the indicated drug is not stored in the drug feeder 51, allocates the indicated drug to a drug feeder 52 of the drug feeder row shelf 20 that has not yet been allocated.
1, four or less types of medicines are allocated to the medicine feeders 52 of the lower medicine feeder row shelf 20. In this case, the allocation data for the four lower medicine feeders 52 also includes information instructing permission for withdrawal and discharge control information such as the number of medicines discharged from each allocated medicine feeder 52.

The withdrawal prevention program 94 is capable of immediately checking whether or not the drug feeder 52 on the relevant tier is the target for drug discharge execution by referring to the allocation data of the drug feeder row shelf 20 on the relevant tier, either the upper, middle or lower tier, and is configured to prevent the withdrawal of the drug feeder 52 that is the target for drug discharge execution, by controlling the withdrawal lock mechanism 40 of the drug feeder row shelf 20 that carries the drug feeder 52 that is the target for drug discharge execution to be placed in a locked state prior to drug discharge execution.
In addition, for the drug feeder row shelf 20 that is equipped with the drug feeder 52 that is the subject of the drug discharge reservation, the drawer lock mechanism 40 is controlled to be in an unlocked state, thereby allowing the drug feeder 52 that is the subject of the drug discharge reservation to be drawn out.

When a general-purpose drug feeder 52 that has been selected as a drug discharge execution target by the discharge execution allocation program 92 and is prevented from being drawn by the drawer lock mechanism 40 under the control of the drawer prevention program 94 is detected as being empty before drug discharge has been completed due to a timeout or the like, the release prompting program 95 (shown as "release/prompt") cooperates with the drawer prevention program 94 to control the drawer lock mechanism 40 to an unlocked state, thereby temporarily releasing the pull-out prevention for the empty drug feeder 52 and the drug feeder row shelf 20 on which it is mounted. Furthermore, the linked controller 80 displays appropriate guidance on the touch panel 15 to prompt the user to refill the drug feeder 52 with drugs.

The discharge control program 96 stops drug discharge for the drug feeder 52 that has been assigned by the discharge execution allocation program 92 as the target for drug discharge execution until preparations and conditions are met, but once preparations and conditions are met, the discharge control program 96 causes drug discharge to be performed in the manner of the automatic discharge program 54 described above.
Furthermore, for the drug feeder 52 that has completed the drug discharge process and is no longer a target for drug discharge execution, drug discharge is performed in the manner of the remaining drug recovery program 55 described above.
Furthermore, the drug feeder 52 that has been assigned by the discharge reservation allocation program 93 to perform drug filling is prevented from discharging drugs in preparation for the drug feeder row shelf 20 on which the feeder is mounted being pulled out or drugs being added.

The usage and operation of the medicine packaging machine 10 of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 9 etc.

In the drug packaging machine 10 equipped with the controller 90 described above (see Figs. 1 and 9), when drug dispensing instructions are successively transmitted from the drug dispensing server 100, the drug dispensing instructions are sequenced and stored as data by the drug dispensing instruction reception program 91 in the controller 90. Then, for the first drug dispensing instruction data, if a drug stored in the drug feeder 51 is specified, the drug feeder 51 is assigned for drug discharge, and for drugs not stored in the drug feeder 51, the drug feeder 52 is assigned for drug discharge by the discharge execution allocation program 92.

At that time, the allocation is made so that the number of drug feeder rows 20 occupied is as small as possible. In the example of FIG. 1, the drug feeders 52 of the upper and middle drug feeder rows 20 are allocated to eight or less types of drugs. The allocated drug feeder rows 20 are unlocked. Then, based on the allocation, for each pair of drug feeder 52 and drug, a guide regarding the type of drug, the drug feeder to which the drug is to be inserted, and the drug feeder rows 20 to which it should be inserted or removed is displayed on the touch panel 15. Each time, the designated drug is inserted into the designated drug feeder 52 while inserting or removing the drug feeder rows 20 as necessary according to the display, and a notification of the completion of the drug insertion work is input by operating the screen of the touch panel 15, etc.

Then, when all the drugs specified in the first dispensing instruction are gathered in the drug packaging machine 10 and the drug feeder row shelves 20 on which the target drug feeders 52 are mounted are pushed into the housing, those drug feeder row shelves 20 are locked. In the example of Fig. 1, the upper and middle drug feeder row shelves 20 are locked by the drawer lock mechanism 40 while being accommodated in the housing of the drug packaging machine 10. Therefore, all the drug feeders 52 mounted on those drug feeder row shelves 20 are fixed in position within the housing of the drug packaging machine 10.
Various medicines based on prescription instructions are then discharged one after another from these medicine feeders 52 and the medicine feeders 51 of the medicine feeder storage 14, and these medicines then drop downward and are guided to the packaging device 11 where they are packaged.

Moreover, in parallel with the drug discharge and packaging operations, the discharge reservation allocation program 93 allocates the drug feeder 51 for drug discharge if the second dispensing instruction data specifies a drug stored in the drug feeder 51, and allocates the unallocated drug feeder 52 for drug discharge for drugs not stored in the drug feeder 51. In the example of FIG. 1, the drug feeders 52 in the lower drug feeder row shelves 20 are allocated to four or fewer types of drugs, and the lower drug feeder row shelves 20 that are the subject of the allocation are unlocked.

Then, based on this allocation, for each corresponding pair of drug feeder 52 and drug, guidance regarding the type of drug, the drug feeder to which the drug is to be added, and the drug feeder row shelf 20 to which it should be added or removed is displayed on the touch panel 15, and the user follows the display each time to add the specified drug to the specified drug feeder 52, taking the drug feeder row shelf 20 in and out as necessary, and then inputs a notification that the drug addition work is complete by operating the screen of the touch panel 15, etc.
Then, when all the medicines specified in the second dispensing instruction are gathered in the medicine packaging machine 10 and the lower medicine feeder row shelf 20 into which the medicines were to be fed at that time is pushed into the housing, the medicine feeder row shelf 20 is locked.

Meanwhile, if all of the drugs specified in the previous dispensing instruction data and placed in the drug feeder 52 are discharged and the drug feeder 52 becomes empty before the dispensing based on the previous dispensing instruction is completed, the controller 53 of the drug feeder 52 detects this by a timeout and notifies the controller 80 of the drug packaging machine 10. The automatic dispensing operation of the drug packaging machine 10 is then temporarily suspended, the drug feeder row shelf 20 on which the drug feeder 52 is mounted is temporarily unlocked, and a message encouraging the user to refill the drug feeder 52 is displayed on the touch panel 15.

The dispensing worker, who is aware of this, pulls the corresponding drug feeder row shelf 20 forward from the housing, replenishes the corresponding one of the drug feeders 52 mounted thereon with drugs, then pushes the corresponding drug feeder row shelf 20 back into the housing, and further notifies the controller 90 of the completion of the drug refilling work by operating the screen of the touch panel 15.
Then, under the control of the controller 90, the corresponding medicine feeder row shelf 20 is locked again, and the temporarily stopped automatic dispensing operation is restarted.

Then, when the packaging operation based on the previous dispensing instruction data is completed, the next dispensing instruction data is made the target for discharge execution allocation, and the next next dispensing instruction data is made the target for discharge reservation allocation. However, since the allocation and drug input based on the next dispensing instruction data have already been completed in whole or in part, the next packaging process is started immediately.
In addition, in this Example 2, specific examples related to "preparation of subsequent packaging first" and "mid-stream replenishment" are presented, but since these do not compete with the "remaining drug recovery" in Example 1, it is also possible to implement all of these configurations and functions in a single drug packaging machine 10.

[others]
In the above embodiment, the medicine packaging machine 10 is equipped with the controller 80, and each medicine feeder 52 is equipped with an individual controller 53, but it is not essential that each medicine feeder 52 is equipped with an individual controller 53. For example, the control units of a plurality or a large number of medicine feeders 52 may be combined into a single or small number of controllers, or a program that performs the function of the controller 53 may be installed in the controller 80 of the medicine packaging machine 10, so that the function of the control unit of the medicine feeder 52 may be combined into the control unit of the medicine packaging machine 10.

The drug packaging machine of the present invention may be a stand-alone type that does not require linkage with a higher-level device such as a drug dispensing server, as long as it is equipped with a means for acquiring dispensing instruction data.

10...Drug packaging machine,
11 ... packaging device, 12 ... medicine manual spreading device equipment section, 13 ... medicine storage section,
14...Drug feeder storage (special drug dedicated type drug feeder storage),
15...Touch panel (operation input unit, display unit of the medicine packaging machine),
16, 16a...lower drug collecting mechanism, 17...upper drug collecting mechanism,
18...Shelf with drug feeder (for specific drug-specific drug feeders),
20...Shelf with drug feeder (for drug feeders compatible with multiple drugs),
21 ... handle, 22 ... pull-out member (pull-out mechanism),
23 ... medicine feeder row shelf, 24 ... swing plate body,
25...Front plate (relative withdrawal position regulating means, member for regulating forward withdrawal of the multi-stage medicine collecting mechanism),
29... Lid open/close state detection means (magnetic sensor),
30...Multi-stage drug collection mechanism,
31: Main body, 32: Medicine receiving port, 33: Handle,
34: Side plate holding member, 35: Side plate, 36: Hook member, 37: Multi-stage drawer mechanism,
40...Drawer lock mechanism,
41: electromagnetic drive unit; 42: advance/retreat member (engagement member);
43: manual lock, 44: swinging member (engagement member), 45: key,
51...Drug feeder (specialized drug feeder, specialized drug feeder),
51a... cassette (container), base 51b (drive unit),
52 ... drug feeder (multiple drug compatible type, general-purpose drug feeder), 52a ... lid,
53...Controller (multiple drug compatible type, general-purpose drug feeder control unit),
54...automatic discharge program, 55...remaining medicine recovery program,
80: Controller (control unit of the medicine packaging machine); 81: Discharge operation mode selection program;
90: Controller (control unit of the medicine packaging machine); 91: Prescription instruction reception program;
92 ... discharge execution allocation program, 93 ... discharge reservation allocation program,
94: Withdrawal prevention program, 95: Release prompt program, 96: Discharge control program,
100...Pharmacy server

Claims (1)

A medicine packaging machine including a plurality of medicine feeders each having a container section for randomly storing a large number of medicines and a sequential discharge mechanism section for dropping each medicine one by one from the container and discharging it downward, and a packaging device for receiving the discharged medicines and packaging them,
a plurality of the drug feeders are general-purpose drug feeders in which the container unit and the sequential discharge mechanism unit are integrated together, and the general-purpose drug feeders are mounted separately on a plurality of pull-out mechanisms that can be pulled out forward;
Each of the plurality of pull-out mechanisms is provided with a pull-out state detection member for detecting the pull-out state of the pull-out mechanism, and a lock mechanism for selectively preventing the pull-out mechanism from being pulled out forward,
A medicine packaging machine comprising: a means for receiving a dispensing instruction; and a means for receiving a remaining medicine drawer/recovery instruction which instructs the general-purpose medicine feeder to release remaining medicine in a pulled-out forward state, and the corresponding medicine feeder is caused to perform a medicine discharge operation in accordance with the remaining medicine drawer/recovery instruction after it has been confirmed that the general-purpose medicine feeder is pulled out forward based on the detection state of the pull-out state detection member and the locking state of the locking mechanism .

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