JP7470911B2 - Medicine Packaging Unit - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a medicine packaging unit that includes a medicine shelf device and a packaging device that are equipped with a tablet container containing tablets and that supplies tablets to a device that packages and sorts medicines.

A medicine shelf device is known that is used in combination with a medicine packaging device that packages medicines such as tablets and powders in single doses. This type of medicine shelf device can hold a plurality of tablet containers that contain tablets, and supplies the tablets discharged from the tablet containers to the medicine packaging device.
For example, a medicine shelf device (tablet cassette shelf) disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known as such a medicine shelf device.

The tablet cassette shelf disclosed in Patent Document 1 forms part of the drug packaging device and is formed integrally with the part that packages the drugs. This tablet cassette shelf can hold (attach) multiple tablet cassettes (drug containers) that contain tablets, and can supply the tablets in the tablet cassettes to the part that packages the drugs.

Japanese Patent No. 4505199

Incidentally, pharmacies that use the medicine packaging device may have many customers, and therefore there is a demand for faster packaging operations.
However, the conventional medicine shelf device has room for improvement in terms of more quickly supplying tablets, in other words, in terms of efficiently performing the medicine packaging operation and the operations related thereto, and in terms of facilitating the operation of replacing tablet containers.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a medicine packaging unit that can facilitate the user's task of replacing tablet containers.
The present invention relates to a medicine shelf device that can operate at a higher speed. The present invention relates to a medicine packaging unit that includes a medicine shelf device and a packaging device.

One aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is a medicine packaging unit having a medicine shelf device having a plurality of individual installation sections in which tablet containers are installed, and a packaging device and a display device, which is capable of executing a process to identify tablets that are likely to be used during a specified period based on prescription data , and is capable of displaying a recommended container presentation screen on the display device, which recommended container presentation screen includes at least a first display section that shows the installation status of the tablet containers in each of the individual installation sections, and which first display section diagrammatically shows the individual installation sections in the medicine shelf device, and highlights at least one of the individual installation sections in which no tablet containers are installed or the individual installation sections in which tablet containers that store tablets other than those identified by the process are installed.
In the above-mentioned aspect, it is preferable that the recommended container presentation screen further includes a second display section that displays information about the tablets identified in the process, and is a screen that visually displays the first display section and the second display section.
In the above aspect, it is preferable that the second display section highlights information about tablets that are not placed in the individual placement section.
It is preferable that the above-mentioned aspect includes a container attachment portion having a plurality of the individual installation portions, and the second display portion displays information regarding a number of tablets equal to the number of the tablet containers that can be held by the container attachment portion.
In the above-mentioned aspect, it is preferable that the first display unit highlights the individual installation unit in which the tablet container containing tablets for which information is displayed on the second display unit and which are predicted to be in short supply in the future is installed.
In the above aspect, it is preferable that the information about the tablets identified in the process includes information indicating the number of times a packaging operation including the tablets identified in the process is performed.
Another aspect of the present invention is a medicine packaging unit having a medicine shelf device having a plurality of individual installation sections in which tablet containers are installed, and a packaging device and a display device, which is capable of executing a process to identify tablets that are to be packaged and are included in unpackaged data, and is capable of displaying a recommended container presentation screen on the display device, which recommended container presentation screen includes at least a first display section that shows the installation status of the tablet containers in each of the individual installation sections, and which shows a schematic representation of the individual installation sections in the medicine shelf device, and which highlights at least one of the individual installation sections in which no tablet containers are installed or the individual installation sections in which tablet containers that store tablets other than those identified in the process are installed.
Another aspect of the invention related to the present invention is a medicine packaging unit having a medicine shelf device having a plurality of individual installation sections in which tablet containers are placed, and a packaging device and a display device, which is capable of executing a tablet usage prediction operation to identify tablets which are likely to be used within a specified period based on an expected date and a specified period, wherein the expected date is a date identified from data on a packaging operation previously performed by the packaging device, is a date on which tablets are predicted to be prescribed to a patient, and is a date calculated based on information regarding the start date of administration and the number of days of administration, and the specified period is a period that is set by input in advance or automatically set, and the medicine packaging unit displays on the display device information including at least the drug names of the tablets identified by the tablet usage prediction operation.
In the above-mentioned aspect, it is preferable that the tablet usage prediction operation is further capable of executing an operation of identifying tablets to be used based on data for which the packaging operation has not been performed by the packaging device, and that the installation status display unit highlights at least one of the individual installation units in which the tablet container is not installed or the individual installation unit in which a tablet container is installed that stores tablets other than those identified in the tablet usage prediction operation.
In the above aspect, it is preferable that the planned tablet display section displays the information in a list, and highlights information including at least the drug names of the tablets not placed in the individual placement section.
One aspect of an invention related to the present invention is a medicine packaging unit having a medicine shelf device having a plurality of individual installation sections in which tablet containers are placed, and a packaging device and a display device, which is capable of executing a tablet usage prediction operation that identifies tablets to be used during a specified period based on an expected date and specified period identified from data on a past packaging operation performed by the packaging device, and displays information regarding the tablets identified by the tablet usage prediction operation on the display device.
The above-mentioned aspect is capable of displaying a recommended container presentation screen on the display device, and the recommended container presentation screen includes at least an installation status display section that shows the installation status of the tablet containers in each of the individual installation sections, and a planned tablet display section that displays the information, and it is preferable that the installation status display section diagrammatically shows the individual installation sections in the medicine shelf device, and highlights the individual installation sections in which tablet containers that store tablets other than those identified in the tablet usage prediction operation are installed.
Another aspect of the invention related to the present invention is a medicine packaging unit having a medicine shelf device having a plurality of individual installation sections in which tablet containers are installed, and a packaging device and a display device, which is capable of executing a tablet usage prediction operation to identify tablets to be used based on data for which the packaging operation has not been performed by the packaging device, and is capable of displaying a recommended container presentation screen on the display device, which at least includes an installation status display section that shows the installation status of the tablet containers in each of the individual installation sections, and which is a medicine packaging unit that prompts users to display a recommended container presentation screen on the display device.The installation status display section shows the individual installation sections in the medicine shelf device in a schematic manner, and highlights at least one of the individual installation sections in which no tablet containers are installed or the individual installation sections in which tablet containers are installed that store tablets other than those identified in the tablet usage prediction operation.
In the above-mentioned aspect, it is more preferable that the recommended container presentation screen further includes a planned tablet display section that displays information about the tablets identified in the tablet usage prediction operation, and that the screen visually displays the installation status display section and the planned tablet display section.
In the above-mentioned more preferable aspect, it is further preferable that the planned tablet display section highlights information about tablets that are not placed in the individual placement section.
Another aspect of the invention related to the present invention is a medicine shelf device which discharges a desired number of tablets at a time and supplies them to another device, the medicine shelf device comprising: a container attachment section to which a plurality of tablet containers can be attached; a plurality of tablet supply paths; a receiving section to receive the tablets supplied via the tablet supply paths; and a tablet pushing piece section to push and move the tablets received by the receiving section, the tablet supply path forming a path for supplying the tablets supplied from the tablet container to the receiving section, a container specifying operation for specifying the tablet container containing the tablets to be supplied to the receiving section based on data related to a prescription is performed, and a standby position of the tablet pushing piece section is changed according to the tablet supply path corresponding to the specified tablet container. The medicine shelf device has a tablet transporting device that transports tablets to a predetermined position, the tablet transporting device having a primary transport section that transports tablets in a direction intersecting the direction from the medicine shelf device side to the other equipment side, and has the receiving section and the tablet pushing piece section, the primary transport section moves the tablet pushing piece section in the transport direction and pushes the tablets with the tablet pushing piece section to transport them, each of the tablet supply paths supplies tablets to different positions on the receiving section, and the waiting positions of the tablet pushing piece section include a standard waiting position upstream in the movement direction of the tablet pushing piece section and a modified waiting position downstream of the standard waiting position.
Another related aspect is a medicine shelf device that discharges a desired number of medications at a time and supplies them to other equipment, and has a container attachment section to which multiple tablet containers can be attached, a tablet transporting device that transports tablets to a predetermined position, and multiple tablet supply paths, each of which forms a path for supplying tablets supplied from a corresponding tablet container to the tablet transporting device, and the tablet transporting device has a tablet pushing piece section that pushes and moves the tablets, and performs a container identification operation to identify the tablet container containing the tablets to be supplied based on prescription data, and changes the waiting position of the tablet pushing piece section depending on the tablet supply path corresponding to the identified tablet container.

In addition, the term "tablet" as used herein includes not only medicine compressed into a certain shape, but also solid medicines formed into granules such as capsules, and the same applies in the following descriptions.
According to this aspect, the operation of supplying tablets to the medicine packaging device can be made faster than when the standby position of the tablet pushing piece portion is set to a fixed position, which is preferable.

The above-mentioned aspect has a tablet conveying device that conveys tablets to a predetermined position, the tablet conveying device having a primary conveying unit, which is a part that conveys tablets in a direction intersecting the direction from the medicine shelf device side to the other equipment side, and which has the receiving unit and the tablet pushing piece, the primary conveying unit moves the tablet pushing piece in the conveying direction and pushes the tablet with the tablet pushing piece to convey it, each of the tablet supply paths supplies tablets to different positions on the receiving unit, and it is preferable that the waiting position of the tablet pushing piece includes a standard waiting position upstream of the movement direction of the tablet pushing piece and a modified waiting position downstream of the standard waiting position.
In other words, the tablet conveying device is equipped with a primary conveying unit, which is a part that conveys tablets in a direction intersecting the direction from the medicine shelf device side to the other equipment side, and has a receiving unit that receives the supplied tablets and the tablet extrusion piece, and the primary conveying unit moves the tablet extrusion piece in the conveying direction and conveys the tablets by pushing them with the tablet extrusion piece, and each of the tablet supply paths supplies tablets to different positions on the receiving unit, and it is preferable that the waiting position of the tablet extrusion piece includes a standard waiting position upstream of the movement direction of the tablet extrusion piece and a modified waiting position located downstream of the standard waiting position.

In addition, in the above aspect, the tablet transport device is provided with the primary transport section and the secondary transport section, and transports the tablets supplied from each of the tablet containers to a predetermined position, the primary transport section is a section that transports the tablets in a direction intersecting the direction from the medicine shelf device side to the other device side, and the secondary transport section transports the tablets in the direction from the medicine shelf device side to the other device side, and it is preferable that the tablet transport device is capable of both transporting the tablet by the primary transport section and then transporting it by the secondary transport section, and transporting the tablet by the secondary transport section without transporting it by the primary transport section.

According to this preferable aspect, even when a large number of tablet containers are installed, the tablet supply operation can be speeded up.
In other words, in conventional medicine shelf devices, if the area in which the tablet containers are placed is made larger in order to accommodate a large number of tablet containers, the tablet containers will end up being placed in various locations over a wide area, resulting in the problem that it takes a long time to transport the tablets to their designated positions.
In contrast, according to one aspect, since there are multiple transport paths and transport can be performed by taking a shortcut through the primary transport section, the time required for transport is short.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the other device is a device that supplies medicine to a tray that has a storage recess for storing medicine.

Another aspect of the invention related to the present invention is a medicine packaging unit equipped with a packaging device and the medicine shelf device described above, which has a display device for displaying various information, the container attachment unit has a plurality of individual installation units in which the tablet containers are individually installed, and is capable of executing a tablet usage prediction operation for identifying tablets that are likely to be used during a specified period and the tablet containers that store the tablets based on prescription data, the display device is capable of displaying a recommended container presentation screen, and the recommended container presentation screen includes at least an installation status display unit that shows the installation status of the tablet containers in the container attachment unit, and the installation status display unit shows the container attachment unit in a schematic manner, and highlights the individual installation units in which the tablet containers that store the tablets identified in the tablet usage prediction operation are not installed.

According to this aspect, it is possible to store (attach) tablet containers that are likely to be used in advance in the container attachment section before carrying out the packaging operation, making the task (attachment task) easier. By storing tablet containers that contain tablets that are used more frequently in the container attachment section first, it is possible to automatically supply the majority of tablets to be used in the packaging operation to the medicine packaging device, reducing the number of times that tablets need to be manually supplied to the medicine packaging device. As a result, it is possible to speed up the packaging operation.

In this aspect, the recommended container presentation screen further includes a planned tablet display section that displays a list of tablets identified in the tablet use prediction operation, and is a screen that visually displays the installation status display section and the planned tablet display section simultaneously, and it is further preferable that the planned tablet display section highlights tablets that are not contained in the tablet container installed in the container attachment section.

In this aspect, the packaging device is preferably a device that supplies medicines to a tray having a storage recess formed therein for storing medicines.
Yet another aspect of the invention related to the present invention is a medicine shelf device that discharges a desired number of tablets from a tablet container that holds the tablets and supplies the tablets to other equipment, and is equipped with a plurality of tablet supply paths, a receiving section that receives the tablets supplied through the tablet supply paths, and a tablet pushing piece that pushes and moves the tablets received by the receiving section, wherein the tablet supply path forms a path for supplying the tablets supplied from the tablet container to the receiving section, and when a position upstream of the drop position of the tablets supplied from the tablet supply path that is located most upstream in the movement direction of the tablet pushing piece is set as a reference position, a container identification operation is performed to identify the tablet container that holds the tablets to be supplied to the receiving section based on prescription data, and based on the result of the container identification operation, a position downstream of the reference position is set as a standby position for the tablet pushing piece.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a medicine packaging unit that can facilitate the user's task of replacing tablet containers.
Furthermore, according to the invention related to the present invention, it is possible to provide a medicine shelf device and a medicine packaging unit that can further increase the speed of the operation when transporting medicines to a predetermined position.

1 is a perspective view showing a packaging device with a medicine shelf according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the medicine packaging device with medicine shelf of FIG. 1, and shows the medicine packaging device in a schematic and see-through manner. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a schematic view of a state in which tablets move inside the cassette shelf when tablets are supplied from the tablet cassette shelf in FIG. 2 to the medicine packaging device. FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the tablet supplying device of FIG. 2 . 5 is a perspective view showing the internal mechanism of the one-sided tablet receiving portion of FIG. 4. An explanatory diagram showing how the rotating plate portion rotates inside the one-sided tablet receiving portion of Figure 4, where (a) shows a state in which the lower side of the tablet introduction space is blocked by the rotating plate portion, and (b) shows a state in which the lower side of the tablet introduction space is open. 4 is a perspective view showing the lateral conveying section, in which a part of a wall-shaped portion located on the upper front side is omitted. FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an internal mechanism of the lateral conveying unit. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the internal structure of the fall path forming section in Figure 4 and its surroundings, in which the wall-like portion located on the front side of the fall path forming section is omitted, and (a) and (b) show the appearance as viewed from different directions. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the internal structure of a tablet pushing section. FIG. An explanatory diagram showing how tablets are transported in the tablet extrusion section, where (a) shows the tablet transporting device taking the first waiting position, (b) shows the entire tablet transporting device moving toward the tablet outlet section from the state in (a), and (c) shows the transport body section only moving toward the tablet outlet section from the state in (b). 3A and 3B are schematic explanatory views showing the upper part of the tablet cassette shelf in FIG. 2 as seen from the back side, with some transparency, and each of (a) and (b) shows the tablet pushing piece portion waiting in different positions. FIG. 13 shows a recommended cassette screen. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a data adjustment screen.

The following describes embodiments of the present invention. Note that the following embodiments are examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these examples. In addition, unless otherwise specified, the front-back, up-down, and left-right directions are described based on the posture in Figure 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the medicine shelf-equipped packaging device 1 (medicine packaging unit) of this embodiment includes a medicine packaging device 2 (packaging device, other equipment) and a tablet cassette shelf 350 (medicine shelf device). The medicine packaging device 2 and the tablet cassette shelf 350 are attached together to form the device.

The medicine packaging device 2 includes a packing section 5 and a monitor (not shown) (a display device, hereinafter also referred to as an operation display section).
This medicine packaging device 2 packs tablets for each prescribed dose into a so-called blister pack type tray (for example, a tray having storage recesses partitioned into a grid of 7 rows and 4 columns). That is, the medicine packaging device 2 is a device that sorts and supplies tablets for one dose to each of the storage recesses arranged in a grid on the tray, and packages the tablets by attaching a cover sheet (cover) to the open surface of the tray.

The medicine packaging device 2 is capable of an automatic packaging operation in which tablets supplied from the tablet cassette shelf 350 are automatically packaged. Furthermore, it is also capable of a manual packaging operation in which tablets that are not stored in tablet containers 360 (described in detail later) stored in the tablet cassette shelf 350 are manually supplied as an auxiliary (so-called manual packaging) and then packaged in a tray.
The above-mentioned operation of attaching the lid sheet may be performed manually by an operator.

The packaging unit 5 has a pull-out section 5a that can be pushed into the packaging unit and pulled out from the stored state. The tray containing the tablets can be removed from the packaging unit 5.

The operation display unit is a so-called touch panel, which is formed by combining a display device such as a liquid crystal panel with a position input device such as a touch pad.

Here, in the packaging device with medicine shelf 1, a control device such as a board (not shown) is built into both or one of the medicine packaging device 2 and the tablet cassette shelf 350.
Furthermore, by enabling external devices (mobile phones, PCs (personal computers), tablet PCs, other dispensing equipment) and the built-in control device to send and receive data (signals) via a communication network, it is possible to construct a drug supply operation support system.
The above-mentioned control device and the above-mentioned devices such as a mobile phone, a PC, and a tablet PC are structured to include a calculation means constituted by a processor such as a CPU, and an information storage means constituted by a storage medium such as a memory or a hard disk, and further include a signal transmission/reception means constituted by an interface circuit or the like for transmitting and receiving data (signals) to and from the outside.

As a result, for example, when prescription data is input to an external PC, prescription data (hereinafter simply referred to as prescription data) for use by the packaging device with medicine shelf 1 can be created, and various operations of the packaging device with medicine shelf 1 (described in detail below) can be performed based on this prescription data.

This prescription data may be created by a user of the packaging device 1 with medicine shelves, such as a pharmacist, directly inputting data related to the prescription into the packaging device 1 with medicine shelves.

The prescription data may include information on the patient to whom the drug is to be provided, information identifying the prescribed drug, information on the date the drug was provided, information on the number of days the drug was to be taken, and information on the time of taking the drug, or may be information formed by associating these pieces of information.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned information about the patient may include data such as a patient ID, a patient name written in kanji or kana characters, a date of birth, an address, and a telephone number.
The information for identifying the prescribed drug may include data such as a drug ID, a drug name, information for identifying the tablet container 360 in which the drug is stored (such as a cassette No. or a container ID), a start date of administration (dispensing date), the number of days of administration, the dosage (amount used), the number of packets provided, etc. Data for identifying the source of the drug (such as an institution name, facility name, or department name, e.g., a medical institution name, a clinical department name, etc.) may also be included.
Furthermore, the prescription may include information specifying whether or not the packaging operation has already been performed by the packaging device 1 with medicine shelf based on the prescription.
The information regarding the timing of taking the medicine is information that specifies whether the provided medicine is to be taken in the morning, afternoon, or evening.

In addition, the storage means of the medicine shelf-equipped packaging device 1 or an external device may store information regarding the inventory (capacity of tablets) of each tablet container 360 that can be held in the container attachment portion 361. In other words, the inventory amount may be calculated and stored based on the prescription data each time a packaging operation is performed.

As shown in Figure 2, the tablet cassette shelf 350 has a structure including a container mounting portion 361 that holds a plurality of tablet containers 360, and a tablet supply device 362 (tablet conveying device) located below the container mounting portion 361.
The tablet cassette shelf 350 of this embodiment holds different types (two types) of tablet containers 360 .
The tablet container 360 has a storage section for storing tablets and a rotor (not shown), and is capable of discharging the stored tablets one by one into a tablet drop path 660 (see Figure 12, which will be described in detail later).
In the packaging device with medicine shelf 1, a part of the front side of the tablet supplying device 362 is inserted into a connecting port (not shown) formed on the back side of the medicine packaging device 2. Furthermore, the front end side of a tablet extrusion path 484 (described in detail later) of the tablet supplying device 362 is disposed inside the medicine packaging device 2. In other words, the tablets discharged from the tablet extrusion path 484 are supplied to the medicine packaging device 2.

When tablets are supplied from the tablet cassette shelf 350 to the medicine packaging device 2, the tablets that have fallen from the tablet container 360 are introduced into the tablet supply device 362 located below. The tablets are then transported inside the tablet supply device 362 to the tablet extrusion path 484, and are then extruded from the tablet extrusion path 484.

3, the tablet supply device 362 is roughly divided into a tablet receiving section 365 (introduction section) located on the upper side, two horizontal conveying sections 366 (primary conveying sections) located on the left and right below the tablet receiving section 365, and a drop path forming section 367 (path forming section). Below the drop path forming section 367, there is a tablet pushing section 368 (secondary conveying section).
Here, when tablets are supplied to the medicine packaging device 2, the tablets contained inside the tablet container 360 are discharged into the tablet drop path 660 and fall from the tablet drop path 660 into the tablet receiving section 365. Then, after the tablets are temporarily retained inside the tablet receiving section 365, the tablets fall downward from the tablet receiving section 365. That is, the tablet receiving section 365 has a damper-like portion (a rotating plate portion 384 described later), and by rotating this portion, it is possible to switch between a state in which tablets falling from above are received and stored, and a state in which tablets are allowed to fall downward.
At this time, the tablet is introduced into the horizontal conveying section 366 or the drop path forming section 367 depending on the storage position inside the tablet receiving section 365 (the falling position when dropping from the tablet drop path 660). At this time, the tablet introduced into the horizontal conveying section 366 is transported (pushed) horizontally and reaches the drop path forming section 367. Then, the tablet that has passed through the drop path forming section 367 is introduced into the tablet pushing section 368, where it is pushed and transported from the back side to the front side (from the tablet cassette shelf 350 side to the drug packaging device 2 side).
That is, the tablet supplying device 362 has a plurality of tablet movement paths (transport paths), and can move the tablets along an appropriate path when moving them to a fixed position inside the tablet supplying device 362.
The tablet supplying device 362 will now be described in detail.

The tablet supply device 362 has a three-tiered structure in which a tablet receiving section 365 (introduction section) extending horizontally, a horizontal conveying section 366 (primary conveying section) also extending horizontally, and a tablet pushing section 368 (secondary conveying section) extending vertically are stacked vertically (see Figure 4).
The uppermost tablet receiving portion 365 is a portion for receiving tablets that have fallen from above, and functions as an introduction portion for tablets in the entire tablet supplying device 362 .
This tablet receiving portion 365 includes a one-side tablet receiving portion 365a located at one end in the left-right direction (width direction of the tablet cassette shelf 350), and an other-side tablet receiving portion 365b located at the other end.

As shown in FIG. 4, the one-side tablet receiving portion 365a is a generally rectangular parallelepiped portion extending in the left-right direction, and has three tablet introduction spaces 370 (storage spaces) formed therein.
In detail, three tablet introduction spaces 370a, 370b, 370c are provided in parallel with a gap therebetween, and a connecting member arrangement portion 371 and a partition member 372 are positioned between them. In other words, the three tablet introduction spaces 370 are formed by dividing a space extending in the left-right direction by the connecting member arrangement portion 371 and the partition member 372, into a plurality of spaces.
The connecting member arrangement portion 371 is a space for arranging various members. The partition member 372 is a member formed integrally with a flat top plate portion located on the upper side and two upright plate portions located at both ends in the left and right direction.
Each of the three tablet introduction spaces 370 is a space that communicates with the outside at the top and bottom, and has an opening surface on the top side that serves as an introduction port for the tablets. By rotating a rotating plate part 384 (movable receiving member) shown in Fig. 5, it is possible to switch between a state in which the lower side is closed and a state in which the lower side is open to the outside.

As shown in Fig. 5, the one-sided tablet receiving section 365a (see Fig. 4) has a structure including, as members arranged therein, a motor 378, a power transmission section 379, and a rotation-swing conversion section 380. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 5, the one-sided tablet receiving section 365a has a structure including a first shaft 381, a coupling member 382, a second shaft 383, two rotating plate sections 384, and a rotation restriction mechanism 385.
In the one-sided tablet receiving portion 365a, when the motor 378 is operated and the shaft of the motor 378 continues to rotate in one direction about the shaft (circumferential direction), the rotating plate portion 384 swings. In other words, the rotating plate portion 384 can be swingable without rotating the motor 378 in the reverse direction.
For this reason, as shown in Fig. 6, the one-sided tablet receiving portion 365a can be switched between a tablet receiving position (see Fig. 6(a)) in which the lower side of the tablet introduction space 370 is blocked by the rotating plate portion 384, and a tablet discharge position (see Fig. 6(b)). Note that in the tablet discharge position, the lower side of the tablet introduction space 370 is in communication with the space further below.
In other words, the portion located below the tablet introduction space 370 and connected to the outside serves as an outlet portion for discharging the tablets to the outside.

The one-sided tablet receiving portion 365a waits in a tablet receiving position and receives tablets dropping from the tablet container 360 (see FIG. 2, etc.). Then, by moving to the tablet discharge position with the tablets placed inside the tablet introduction space 370, the tablets are supplied further downward (to the horizontal conveying portion 366 and the drop path forming portion 367, see FIG. 4). In other words, the tablets are temporarily stored inside the tablet introduction space 370 and then supplied downward.
Here, as shown in Fig. 6(a), the rotating plate 384 has a portion that is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane and has a downward inclination toward the front side when in the tablet receiving position. This portion is located above the portion that serves as the tablet outlet, and serves as the portion that receives the tablets supplied to the one-sided tablet receiving portion 365a. In other words, the tablets that fall onto the rotating plate 384 slide down the inclined surface and are collected on the lower side.
Of the three tablet introduction spaces 370, tablets introduced into two specific tablet introduction spaces 370a, 370b are supplied to one of the horizontal conveying sections 366 in the middle stage, pushed horizontally and supplied to the drop path forming section 367, and introduced into the tablet extrusion section 368 (secondary conveying section) in the lowest stage.
The tablets introduced into the other tablet introduction space 370c fall directly into the drop path forming section 367 without passing through the intermediate horizontal conveying section 366, and are introduced into the lowest tablet pushing section 368 (secondary conveying section).
The other side tablet receiving section 365b has the same basic structure as the one side tablet receiving section 365a, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The tablets introduced into the other side tablet receiving section 365b are supplied to the other horizontal conveying section 366.

Next, a description will be given of the intermediate-stage lateral conveying section 366. Two lateral conveying sections 366 are linearly arranged in the intermediate stage.
The two lateral conveying sections 366 have the same structure, so only one of them will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, the lateral conveying section 366 has a structure including a medicine receiving groove section 410 (receiving section), a wheel running section 411, a guide arrangement section 412, and a lower box section 413.
More specifically, from the front of the drawing, the wheel running section 411, the medicine receiving groove section 410, and the guide arrangement section 412 are arranged in parallel and integrally formed. The lower box section 413 is disposed below these.

The medicine receiving groove portion 410 is the portion into which tablets that have fallen from the above-mentioned tablet receiving portion 365 are introduced, and is a groove-shaped portion recessed downward, forming a space that has an approximately rectangular cross-sectional shape extending in the left-right direction.
A tablet discharge outlet 418, which is an opening that communicates between the inside and outside, is formed at an end portion located on one end side of the medicine receiving groove portion 410 in the longitudinal direction (the end portion on the near side in FIG. 7). The end portion where this tablet discharge outlet 418 is formed is the end portion located on the center side in the left-right direction of the tablet supplying device 362 (see FIG. 4, etc.). Two horizontal conveying portions 366 are arranged linearly in the middle stage, and the tablet discharge outlet 418 is located at the opposing portion of the two horizontal conveying portions 366.

7, a tablet pushing piece 438 is disposed within the medicine receiving groove 410. The tablet pushing piece 438 is disposed inside the medicine receiving groove 410 and moves along the longitudinal direction of the medicine receiving groove 410.
The mechanism for moving the tablet pushing piece 438 is as shown in FIG. 8, and includes a linear guide member 452 composed of a rail member 453 and a slider 454 , a belt mechanism 446 driven by a motor 445 , and a wheel portion 451 .
The tablet pushing piece 438 is connected to a slider 454 of the linear guide member 452, and has a degree of freedom only in the linear direction. The tablet pushing piece 438 is indirectly connected to the belt of the belt mechanism 446 via another member, and moves linearly within the medicine receiving groove 410 in accordance with the movement of the belt. The wheel portion 451 supports the load of the tablet pushing piece 438.

Therefore, by moving the tablet pushing piece 438 inside the medicine receiving groove 410, it is possible to push out the tablet.
In other words, the tablet extrusion piece 438 is made to wait at one end side of the longitudinal direction of the medicine receiving groove portion 410, at an end side away from the tablet discharge outlet portion 418, and a tablet is supplied (dropped) from the above-mentioned tablet receiving portion 365 into the inner space of the medicine receiving groove portion 410.
Thereafter, the tablet pushing piece 438 is moved along the longitudinal direction of the medicine receiving groove 410 to the vicinity of the tablet discharge outlet 418, and the tablet is pushed out from the tablet discharge outlet 418 to the outside.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 9, the fall path forming section 367 is a section located below one of the tablet introduction spaces 370c. This fall path forming section 367 is a vertical hole-shaped section, and a first fall restriction plate 460 (restriction member) and a second fall restriction plate 461 (restriction member, see Fig. 9) are disposed inside.

As shown in FIG. 9, the first fall restriction plate 460 is formed by a pair of restriction plate pieces 460a, 460b.
The upper surface of each of the two restricting plates 460a, 460b is an inclined surface that slopes downward toward the center in the left-right direction. The tablet introduction port 480a of the tablet pushing unit 368 is located below between the lower ends of the inclined surfaces. In other words, at the portion where the two restricting plates 460a, 460b are closest to each other, a gap is formed between the two restricting plates 460a, 460b that communicates the upper side and the lower side, and the tablet introduction port 480a is located below this gap.
The shape of the second fall restriction plate 461 is also substantially the same as that of the first fall restriction plate 460 .

The space adjacent to the upper side of the tablet introduction port 480a is surrounded by two upright plate-like portions of the drop path forming portion 367 and two regulating plates 461a and 461b.
As shown in Fig. 10, the lowest tablet pushing section 368 includes an inlet forming section 470 and an extrusion path forming section 473. Also, as shown in Fig. 10, the lowest tablet pushing section 368 includes a tablet conveying device 474 for conveying the tablets supplied to the inside of the extrusion path forming section 473.

10, the inlet forming part 470 is a member attached to the upper side of the extrusion path forming part 473, and has a first tablet supply hole 480 that penetrates the inside in the vertical direction. The opening part located on the upper side of the first tablet supply hole 480 is a part that becomes an inlet (tablet inlet 480a) when tablets are supplied to the tablet extrusion part 368.
The extrusion path forming portion 473 has a tablet extrusion path 484 formed therein, which is a space extending in the front-rear direction.
This tablet extrusion path 484 has a tablet discharge outlet 484a, which is an opening portion that communicates between the inside and the outside, at the front end side.
The extrusion path forming section 473 has a tablet transport device 474 built therein.
10, the tablet conveying device 474 has a structure including an upper receiving table portion 490 and a conveying body portion 491 located below the upper receiving table portion 490. The conveying body portion 491 moves linearly within the tablet extrusion path 484 by a driving device (not shown).
The upper receiving base portion 490 engages with the transport body portion 491 by an engagement portion not shown, and moves in a straight line following the transport body portion 491 up to a certain position, but once the certain position is reached, the engagement between the two is released, the upper receiving base portion 490 stops at that position, and only the transport body portion 491 moves.
The upper receiving platform portion 490 is constantly pressed forward by a power source (not shown), and the transport body portion 491 is connected to a drive device (transport body power portion) (not shown).

The upper receiving platform portion 490 is formed with a tablet drop hole 510 which is a through hole penetrating in the vertical direction on the front side.
The transport body portion 491 is a portion for transporting tablets, and as shown in FIG. 10, a storage hole 520 is formed in a part thereof, penetrating from the top surface to the bottom surface.

Next, the tablet conveying operation by the tablet pushing unit 368 of this embodiment will be described.
The tablet pushing section 368 is capable of performing a first conveying operation for conveying a single dose of tablets, and a second conveying operation for conveying multiple packets of tablets each time a single dose is supplied.
In the first conveying operation, the tablet conveying device 474 waits in a first waiting position in which both the upper receiving platform 490 and the conveying body 491 are located on the rear side, as shown in Fig. 11(a). In this first waiting position, the first tablet supply hole 480, the tablet drop hole 510, and the storage hole 520 form a continuous hole.

When the tablet conveying device 474 is in the first waiting position and a tablet is introduced into the tablet inlet 480a, the tablet falls inside the communicating hole and is positioned inside the storage hole 520 at a position above the bottom plate portion of the tablet extrusion path 484.
Then, in the first standby position, from a state where the tablet is stored in the storage position, the motor (not shown) is operated to move the conveying body 491 forward. At this time, the upper receiving base 490 also moves forward in accordance with the movement of the conveying body 491.

As the upper receiving platform 490 and the transport body 491 move forward while maintaining contact with each other, the upper receiving platform 490 reaches the frontmost position within the movable range (see FIG. 11B, etc.). Then, only the transport body 491 moves further forward, and the transport body 491 moves forward away from the upper receiving platform 490.
As the conveying body 491 moves forward, the front portion of the conveying body 491 is positioned further forward than the tablet discharge port 484a (see FIG. 11(c)). At this time, the entire lower opening of the storage hole 520 is positioned forward than the bottom plate portion of the extrusion path forming portion 473. As a result, the tablets positioned inside the storage hole 520 fall downward, and the tablets are supplied from the tablet extrusion unit 368 to the medicine packaging device 2.

Next, the second transport operation will be described, but detailed description of the same parts as those in the first transport operation described above will be omitted.
In the second conveying operation, the tablet conveying device 474 also waits in the first standby position, and starts conveying the tablets after the first packet to be supplied is stored inside the storage hole 520. Then, the tablets are conveyed in the same manner as above, and as shown in Fig. 11(b), the upper receiving platform 490 moves to the frontmost position.

Then, as described above, the forward movement of the upper receiving platform 490 stops and only the conveying body 491 moves forward, and at this time, in the second conveying operation, the second packet of tablets (not shown) to be subsequently conveyed is supplied to the tablet inlet 480a.
Specifically, the conveying body 491 moves forward in the same manner as described above, and conveys the first packet of tablets that was previously supplied forward. That is, the conveying body 491 moves until the front portion of the conveying body 491 is positioned further forward than the tablet discharge port 484a (see FIG. 11(c)), and supplies the first packet of tablets to the medicine packaging device 2.
Thereafter, the transport body portion 491 is moved rearward and brought into contact with the upper receiving base portion 490 from the front side, so that the transport body portion 491 and the upper receiving base portion 490 are again in contact with each other (see FIG. 11(b)).

While the conveying body 491 conveys the first packet of tablets, the second packet of tablets supplied to the tablet inlet 480a falls onto the rear portion of the receiving plate 500, which is part of the upper receiving base 490. That is, the second packet of tablets is supplied while the conveying body 491 is performing an independent conveying operation (an operation in which only the conveying body 491 is moved forward until it comes into contact with the upper receiving base 490 again).
Then, after the transport body portion 491 comes into contact with the upper receiving base portion 490 again, it moves further rearward, and the upper receiving base portion 490, which is pressed rearward by the transport body portion 491, also moves rearward. In other words, the transport body portion 491 and the upper receiving base portion 490 move rearward while maintaining their contact state.

As a result, the receiving plate portion 500 also moves rearward, so that the second packet of tablets supplied onto the receiving plate portion 500 falls downward before the tablet conveying device 474 assumes the first waiting position.
That is, the second package of tablets supplied to the receiving plate 500 at the lower end inside the first tablet supply hole 480 are introduced into the upper opening of the tablet drop hole 510 as the receiving plate 500 moves rearward. Then, the tablets drop downward from the first tablet supply hole 480.
Then, the second package of tablets stored inside the storage hole 520 in the first standby position is transported in the same manner as above. When the third package of tablets or subsequent packages of tablets are to be supplied, that is, when subsequent tablets are to be supplied, the tablets are transported in sequence in the same manner.

As described above, the tablets supplied to the one-sided tablet receiving section 365a may be supplied to the tablet pushing section 368 via the horizontal conveying section 366 and the drop path forming section 367, or may be supplied to the tablet pushing section 368 via the drop path forming section 367 without passing through the horizontal conveying section 366. That is, the tablets are supplied to the tablet pushing section 368 via different conveying paths depending on the introduction position of the tablets.
For this reason, when the conveying operation is performed in the tablet extrusion section 368, depending on the contents of the prescription data, tablets that do not pass through the lateral conveying section 366 are supplied to the tablet extrusion section 368, and then the conveying operation is performed by waiting until tablets that pass through the lateral conveying section 366 are supplied to the tablet extrusion section 368.
In contrast, if all the tablets do not pass through the horizontal conveying section 366, after the tablets are supplied to the tablet pushing section 368, such a waiting operation is not performed and a conveying operation is performed.

Incidentally, in the tablet pushing section 368, as described above, with the tablet placed inside the storage hole 520, the tablet conveying device 474 is moved linearly to convey the tablet (see FIG. 10).
Here, when the tablet conveying device 474 is moved forward (to the right in FIG. 10) to convey the tablets toward the medicine packaging device 2, it is preferable to move the tablet conveying device 474 at a high speed and then at a low speed. That is, in order to reliably stop the tablet conveying device 474 at a specified position, it is preferable to set the speed of the tablet conveying device 474 a predetermined time after the start of movement (the speed of the tablet conveying device 474 that has moved a predetermined distance) to a lower speed than at the start of movement.

Furthermore, it is preferable to temporarily transmit a stop signal to a drive device (motor, etc.) that drives the tablet transport device 474.
Specifically, when the tablet conveying device 474 is moved forward, an operation is performed to temporarily stop the drive device during the movement. At this time, since the tablet conveying device 474 continues to move due to inertia, an operation is performed to drive the drive device again with lower output (so that the tablet conveying device 474 moves at a slower speed) before the tablet conveying device 474 completely stops. This makes it possible for the tablet conveying device 474 to reach a deceleration state more quickly than when an operation is performed to simply reduce the output of the drive device while the tablet conveying device 474 is moving.

Here, a characteristic operation of the packaging device with medicine shelf 1 of this embodiment is that when tablets supplied from inside the tablet container 360 are transported by the lateral conveying section 366, it is capable of appropriately changing the waiting position of the tablet extrusion piece 438 of the lateral conveying section 366.
Prior to describing this operation, an operation of causing the tablet pushing piece 438 to wait at a standard waiting position (to be described in detail later) will be described first.

Here, in the upper portion of the container attachment portion 361, as shown in FIG. 2, the tablet containers 360 are stored in a matrix. In detail, eleven rows of tablet containers 360 are formed, each row being made up of six tablet containers 360 lined up in the vertical direction, and these rows of tablet containers 360 are arranged in the horizontal direction.

12, eleven tablet drop paths 660 (tablet supply paths) corresponding to the rows of the tablet containers 360 are formed on the back surface side of the container attachment portion 361. That is, the same number of tablet drop paths 660 as the number of rows of the tablet containers 360 are formed.
Each tablet drop path 660 is surrounded by a peripheral wall and forms a space extending in the vertical direction, and corresponds to a different row of tablet containers 360. Then, each tablet drop path 660 forms a path along which tablets supplied from one or more tablet containers 360 belonging to the corresponding row of tablet containers 360 drop.

To explain in more detail, for example, the row of tablet containers 360 located on the far right (see FIG. 2) corresponds to the tablet drop path 660k located on the far right (the leftmost in FIG. 12). Tablets supplied from tablet containers 360 belonging to this rightmost row are supplied to the tablet supplying device 362 via the tablet drop path 660k located on the far right, regardless of which tablet container 360 they are supplied from. Similarly, the row of tablet containers 360 located second from the right corresponds to the tablet drop path 660j located second from the right, and so on, with each row corresponding one-to-one.

The tablet drop paths 660b, 660j located at both ends in the left-right direction are provided with drop restriction sections 662 that restrict the movement direction of the tablets dropping therethrough.
The fall restriction part 662 is a plate-like member attached in an inclined position, and its upper surface is an inclined surface that slopes downward from the end side toward the center in the left-right direction. The upper end part of the upper surface of the fall restriction part 662 is disposed at a position closer to the end in the left-right direction. In other words, the fall restriction part 662 is an internal space of the tablet fall path 660b, 660j or a space located below (a space located below in FIG. 12), and extends diagonally across the space into which the tablets fall.
For this reason, when a tablet that has fallen along the tablet drop path 660b, 660j falls onto the drop restriction portion 662, its direction of movement is changed and the tablet falls at a position closer to the center in the left-right direction.

The tablets introduced into the tablet supplying device 362 via the centrally located tablet drop path 660f are then supplied to the tablet pushing section 368 (not shown in FIG. 12) via the drop path forming section 367.
In contrast, tablets introduced into the tablet supply device 362 via any of the multiple tablet drop paths 660 (tablet drop paths 660a to 660e) located on one side of the central tablet drop path 660f in the left-right direction are introduced into one of the lateral conveying sections 366.
Furthermore, tablets introduced into the tablet supply device 362 via any of the multiple tablet drop paths 660 (tablet drop paths 660g to 660k) located on the other side in the left-right direction from the central tablet drop path 660f are introduced into the other lateral conveying section 366.

Here, in the horizontal conveying section 366, as described above, after the tablets fall into one of the positions in the drug receiving groove section 410, the tablet pushing piece section 438 is moved from the left-right end side to the center side, and each tablet that falls into a different position in the left-right direction is pushed and moved (see FIG. 7). In other words, the tablets are conveyed by pressing each tablet toward the drop path forming section 367 side.

When performing this operation, the tablet extrusion piece 438 waits at a position further towards the left-right end than the drop position of the tablet supplied from the tablet drop path 660 (tablet drop path 660a or tablet drop path 660k) which is located at the end closest to the left-right end.
Specifically, in the horizontal conveying section 366 located at one end in the left-right direction (the right side in Figure 12), the reference waiting position is set to a position further to the left-right end than the drop position of the tablets supplied from the tablet drop path 660a located at the furthest left-right end.
Then, after the tablet has been dropped while the tablet pushing piece 438 is waiting at the standard waiting position, the tablet pushing piece 438 can be moved toward the center in the left-right direction to press the tablet.
In addition, since the basic structure of the lateral conveying section 366 located at the other end in the left-right direction (the left side in Figure 12) is the same as that of the lateral conveying section 366 located at one end, duplicated detailed explanations will be omitted.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the packaging device with medicine shelf 1 (tablet cassette shelf 350) is operated based on prescription data, making it possible to have the tablet pushing piece 438 wait at a position different from the reference waiting position, and then to press the tablets.

Specifically, in the medicine shelf-equipped packaging device 1 of this embodiment, when the operation of supplying tablets to the medicine packaging device 2 is started, a container identification operation is performed to identify the tablet container 360 that contains the tablets to be supplied.
That is, the tablet container 360 that stores the tablets to be supplied from the multiple tablet containers 360 arranged in parallel in a matrix is identified based on the prescription data and the data stored in the RFID tag attached to each tablet container 360. Furthermore, it is identified at which position in the container attachment part 361 the tablet container 360 that stores the tablets to be supplied is located.

In this embodiment, information for identifying the contained medicine (such as medicine name and type) is stored in the RFID tag attached to each tablet container 360. Then, the control device of the packaging device with medicine shelf 1 refers to the information of this RFID tag, thereby making it possible to identify which tablets are contained in each tablet container 360 housed in the container attachment part 361.
Here, the information stored in the RFID may be referred to by the control device before the start of the container identification operation and stored in the storage means of the control device. In this case, the container identification operation may be performed based on the prescription data and the data stored in the control device. In addition, when creating the prescription data, the information stored in the RFID may be referred to, and the prescribed tablets (tablet names, etc.) may be associated with information identifying the tablet container 360 in which the tablets are stored, and prescription data including both may be created. In this case, the container identification operation may be performed by referring to only the prescription data.

Furthermore, based on the result of the container identification operation, the tablet drop path 660 to be used when supplying tablets to the tablet supply device 362 is identified, and further, whether or not to use the lateral conveying section 366 is identified. In other words, whether or not to use the lateral conveying section 366, and if so, which lateral conveying section 366 to use is identified. In other words, whether to use both of the two lateral conveying sections 366, or if only one, which lateral conveying section 366 to use is identified.

Furthermore, when the horizontal conveying section 366 is used, the tablet drop path 660 located at the end side in the left-right direction is also identified among the tablet drop paths 660 that supply tablets to the horizontal conveying section 366 to be used. In other words, the tablet drop path 660 located at the most upstream side in the moving direction of the tablet pushing piece section 438 is identified.
Specifically, for example, in the horizontal conveying section 366 located on the right side of Fig. 12, the right end side is the upstream side in the moving direction in the pushing operation of the tablet pushing piece section 438, and the left end side is the downstream side. In other words, the tablet drop path 660a located on the most upstream side is the tablet drop path 660 located on the most end side in the left-right direction.
On the other hand, in the other horizontal conveying section 366 located on the left side of Fig. 12, the left end side is the upstream side in the moving direction of the tablet pushing piece section 438, and the right end side is the downstream side. That is, the tablet drop path 660k located on the most upstream side is the tablet drop path 660 located on the most end side in the left-right direction. That is, the moving direction in the pushing operation of the tablet pushing piece section 438 is opposite on both sides of the drop path forming section 367, and the drop path forming section 367 side where the tablet is pushed out is the downstream side in the moving direction.

Then, a standby position determination operation is performed to determine the standby position of the tablet pushing piece portion 438 based on the above-mentioned identification result.
For example, as shown in FIG. 12( a ), if tablets are supplied to the horizontal conveying section 366 from the tablet drop path 660 a located at the end furthest in the left-right direction, the reference standby position becomes the standby position of the tablet pushing piece section 438 .

In contrast, when tablets are not supplied from the tablet drop path 660a located at the end most in the left-right direction, but from tablet drop paths 660c, 660e located further towards the center in the left-right direction, as shown in Figure 12 (b), the waiting position of the tablet extrusion piece 438 is changed.
That is, among the tablet drop paths 660 through which the tablets to be supplied to the horizontal conveying section 366 pass, a tablet drop path 660c located at the end side in the left-right direction (upstream side in the moving direction of the tablet pushing piece section 438) is specified. Then, a position that is on the end side in the left-right direction of the specified tablet drop path 660c and is on the central side in the left-right direction of the reference waiting position becomes the waiting position (changed waiting position) of the tablet pushing piece section 438.
That is, it is determined whether or not a tablet is supplied from the tablet drop path 660a located at the end furthest in the left-right direction, and based on the result of the determination, an operation is performed to determine the standby position of the tablet pushing piece 438. Then, after the tablet pushing piece 438 is made to wait at the determined standby position, an operation is performed to push and move the tablet.

Here, in the operation of determining the standby position, a plurality of changed standby positions may be set.
For example, the change standby position may be a position slightly closer to the end in the left-right direction than each of the tablet drop paths 660b to 660e. In this case, when the tablet drop path 660 that passes through the tablets supplied to the horizontal conveying unit 366 is the most upstream flow path, a position slightly closer to the end in the left-right direction than the most upstream flow path is the change standby position. That is, when the tablet drop path 660e located at the most central side in the left-right direction is the most upstream flow path, the change standby position is slightly closer to the end in the left-right direction than this tablet drop path 660e. Similarly, when the tablet drop path 660d located second from the center in the left-right direction is the most upstream flow path, the change standby position is slightly closer to the end in the left-right direction than this tablet drop path 660d, and the same applies to the third and subsequent tablet drop paths.

In contrast, only one change standby position may be set.
For example, the change standby position may be a position on the end side in the left-right direction of the specific tablet drop path 660c. In this case, when the most upstream flow path is the specific tablet drop path 660c or when the tablet drop path 660 (tablet drop paths 660d, 660e) located on the center side in the left-right direction of the specific tablet drop path 660c, the tablet push-out piece part 438 waits at the change standby position. On the other hand, when the most upstream flow path is the tablet drop path 660 (tablet drop paths 660a, 660b) located on the end side in the left-right direction of the tablet drop path 660c, the tablet push-out piece part 438 waits at the standard standby position.

In this way, only one or more change standby positions may be set. That is, when the tablet falls between the reference standby position and the change standby position located at the end of the reference standby position in the left-right direction, the tablet pushing piece 438 may be made to wait at the reference standby position. Also, when the tablet falls downstream of a specific change standby position, the tablet pushing piece 438 may be made to wait at the change standby position located at the most downstream side among the change standby positions located upstream of the tablet fall position.
In the above example, the example in which the drop regulation portion 662 is provided on the tablet drop paths 660b and 660j has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the drop regulation portion 662 may be appropriately provided on other tablet drop paths 660. That is, the drop regulation portion 662 may be provided on any of the tablet drop paths 660, and any of the tablet drop paths 660 may not be provided with the drop regulation portion 662. The change standby position may be a position upstream of the vicinity of the lowest end of the drop regulation portion 662. The tablet receiving portion 365 may be partitioned based on the position where the drop regulation portion 662 is provided. That is, the position where the above-mentioned connecting member arrangement portion 371 and the partition member 372 are formed may be a position shifted in the left-right direction from the position vertically above the drop regulation portion 662.

Furthermore, the tablet transport operation accompanied by the standby position determination operation may be performed based on information regarding the dosage timing of the prescription data.
For example, when the medicines prescribed for a specific patient are packaged in the packaging device 1 in order into medicines to be taken in the morning, afternoon, and evening, a tablet transport operation accompanied by a standby position determination operation may be performed for each packaging operation. That is, a tablet transport operation accompanied by a standby position determination operation may be performed every time a packaging operation for packaging tablets is performed.

Conversely, when a packaging operation is performed for each prescription prescribed for multiple patients, such as packaging medications prescribed for one patient and packaging medications prescribed for another patient, the waiting position determination operation may be performed only once for the operation targeting one prescription.
That is, when multiple packaging operations are performed, such as when drugs to be taken in the morning, afternoon, and evening are packaged separately in an operation for one prescription, the operation of identifying the most upstream flow path is performed for all tablets to be packaged in the multiple packaging operations. Then, the standby position of the tablet pushing piece 438 is determined based on the identified most upstream flow path. Then, when packaging operations are performed sequentially, the standby position of the tablet pushing piece 438 before the pushing operation in each operation can be set to the same position that was determined. That is, the standby position determination operation is performed for multiple packaging operations, and multiple tablet transport operations may be performed based on the results of the standby position determination operation performed in advance.

As described above, in this embodiment, it is possible to operate the tablet extrusion piece 438 to wait at a waiting position selected from the reference waiting position and one or more modified waiting positions based on the results of the container identification operation.

As described above, the medicine shelf-equipped packaging device 1 is capable of supplying up to 66 types of tablets from the tablet containers 360 to the medicine packaging device 2. The container attachment section 361 has multiple individual installation sections, and each individual installation section is a section for holding (storing) one tablet container 360. In other words, the number of individual installation sections is the same as the number of tablet containers 360 that can be held (66).

In a pharmacy or the like where the medicine-shelf-equipped packaging device 1 is operated, the tablets provided to patients may vary significantly from day to day or for a specific period of time. For this reason, from the viewpoint of efficiently operating the medicine-shelf-equipped packaging device 1, it is preferable to appropriately change the tablet containers 360 held by the container attachment portion 361.
Therefore, in the packaging device with medicine shelf 1 of this embodiment, the recommended cassette screen 670 (recommended container presentation screen) shown in Figure 13 is displayed on the operation display unit, making it possible to facilitate the user's task of replacing the tablet containers 360.

As shown in FIG. 13, the recommended cassette screen 670 is a screen that displays an installation status display section 675, a planned tablet display section 676, a target data change section 677, a data adjustment button 678, a list display change button 679, and an end button 680. In other words, it is a screen that displays each of these sections and buttons in a visually viewable state at the same time.

In this recommended cassette screen 670, tablets that are likely to be the subject of packaging operation within a designated period (details will be described later) that is set by inputting in advance or automatically are displayed in a list in a scheduled tablet display section 676. In detail, for each tablet, information that identifies the tablet (tablet name, drug name) and information about the same tablet (details will be described later) are displayed in a list as one related piece of information (one line of data). At this time, the scheduled tablet display section 676 displays a list of tablets in the same number (66 in this embodiment) as the number of tablet containers 360 that can be held in the container attachment section 361. Furthermore, among the tablets displayed in the list, those that are not contained in the tablet containers 360 currently held in the container attachment section 361 are displayed in a highlighted manner (for example, drug 10 in FIG. 13).
In the present embodiment, the highlighting is performed by displaying the background in a color different from the other colors.

At the same time, the installation status display section 675 displays a diagram that shows a schematic representation of the current status of the container attachment section 361. This diagram visually displays the multiple individual installation sections of the container attachment section 361, and shows the overall positional relationship of each individual installation section. In other words, it shows the individual installation sections that are arranged in a matrix on the container attachment section 361, with rectangular frames representing each individual installation section arranged in a matrix. Additionally, within each frame is written a number (a uniquely assigned number) that identifies the attached tablet container 360.

Then, in the diagram displayed on the installation status display section 675, when each individual installation section meets a specific condition, the part corresponding to the individual installation section that meets this condition is highlighted. Specifically, when the individual installation section is in a replaceable state, an unattached state, or a low quantity state, it is highlighted in a different color.

To explain each of these conditions, a "replaceable state" means that a tablet container 360 containing tablets that are not listed in the planned tablet display section 676 is attached to the individual installation section in question.
Moreover, the "unattached state" refers to a state in which the tablet container 360 is not attached to the individual installation portion in question.
Furthermore, a "small quantity state" means that although a tablet container 360 containing the tablets listed in the planned tablet display section 676 is attached to the target individual installation section, a shortage of tablets is predicted in the future.
Specifically, this is a state in which the inventory of tablets stored in the attached tablet container 360 is below the amount to be used in the packaging operation predicted to be performed during the above-mentioned specified period.

As a result, the user can easily determine which tablet container 360 should be attached to which individual installation section and which tablets should be preloaded by simply comparing the installation status display section 675 and the planned tablet display section 676.

Here, in this embodiment, the packaging device with medicine shelf 1 performs the above-mentioned display operations in the installation status display unit 675 and the planned tablet display unit 676, and therefore performs a tablet usage prediction operation to identify tablets that are likely to be subject to packaging operations within a specified period.
This tablet usage prediction operation will be described in detail below, along with an explanation of the various buttons.

The tablet usage prediction operation can be broadly classified as targeting data that has been packaged in the past (hereinafter also referred to as packaged data) and data for which the packaging operation has not been performed at the time when the recommended cassette screen 670 is displayed (hereinafter also referred to as unpackaged data). In other words, the operation can be performed on either packaged data or unpackaged data of the prescription data.
By operating each button in the target data change section 677, it is possible to change the data that is the target of the tablet use prediction operation.

Specifically, by pressing the Do data button 677a, one of the pair of two buttons, a tablet to be used prediction operation is performed using the packaged data as a target. Then, the above-mentioned display operation (hereinafter also referred to as a comparison screen display operation) is performed in the installation status display section 675 and the planned tablet display section 676.
On the other hand, by pressing the other button, the packing monitor button 677b, a tablet to be used prediction operation is performed using the unpackaged data as the target, and a comparison screen display operation is performed.

Furthermore, the data targeted by the tablet usage prediction operation can be narrowed down based on the prescription issuer (institution, facility, department, etc., hereinafter also referred to simply as the provider) for either packaged data or unpackaged data by operating the provider specification button 677c to specify an institution, etc.

In the tablet usage prediction operation, when packaged data is the target, an expected date identification operation is performed in advance for all patients to identify the date when tablets are predicted to be prescribed to the patient (hereinafter also referred to as the expected date), and then an operation is performed to identify patients whose expected date falls within a specified period. Then, based on data linked to the identified patients, tablets that are likely to be subject to packaging operations within the specified period are identified. When unpackaged data is the target, the expected date identification operation is not performed, and tablets that are subject to packaging operations and are included in the unpackaged data are identified.

In the expected date specification operation, the date on which the prescribed tablets will run out from the patient's hands is calculated for each patient based on the administration start date of the tablets prescribed to each patient and information on the number of days of administration. In other words, the date on which the tablets will run out from the patient's hands is calculated by adding the number of days of administration to the administration start date. The expected date is then set to the same day as the day on which the prescribed tablets will run out from the patient's hands, or the date obtained by subtracting a specified period from this day (for example, the day before the day on which they will run out).

Then, the system extracts patients whose expected date falls within the specified period, and obtains data on tablets to be provided to each extracted patient on the expected date. More specifically, the system obtains or calculates the type of tablet, dosage, and number of packets.
In addition, when targeting packaged data, it is assumed that tablets previously prescribed to each patient will be provided again on the assumed date.
From this, tablets that are likely to be packaged during the specified period are identified.

Then, based on the result of this usage tablet prediction operation, the above-mentioned comparison screen display operation is performed. That is, based on the acquired information or a value calculated from the acquired information, the comparison screen display operation is performed.
In the comparison screen display operation, when the list is displayed in the planned tablet display section 676, in addition to the drug name (medicine name), the cassette number, the number of occurrences, the amount used, and the stock amount are each displayed.

The "cassette No." is a number assigned to each tablet container 360 that stores tablets, and which uniquely identifies the tablet container 360.
The "number of appearances" is the number of times that a packaging operation that includes each tablet is performed when all tablets provided within a specified period for the extracted data are packaged.
"Usage" is the total amount provided for each tablet in the specified period for which data was extracted.
“Stock quantity” is the quantity of each tablet currently contained in tablet container 360 .

At this time, the display of the planned tablet display section 676 can be switched by pressing the list display change button 679. In other words, each time the list display change button 679 is pressed, it is possible to switch between a normal display state and a state in which only highlighted items are displayed.

Furthermore, on the recommended cassette screen 670, by operating the data adjustment button 678, it is possible to display a screen for changing the above-mentioned specified period or adjusting the target data used in the tablet usage prediction operation.
In this embodiment, the data adjustment buttons 678 displayed include a change to current day button 678a and a change to estimated date button 678b.

When the change to current day button 678a is pressed, the data adjustment screen 700 (see FIG. 14) is displayed.
As shown in FIG. 14, the data adjustment screen 700 is a screen on which a period display section 701, a data display section 702, a carryover button 703, a change date button 704, a delete button 705, and a back button 706 are displayed.

The period display section 701 is a section where the automatically set specified period is displayed. The specified period displayed here is the specified period used in the tablet usage prediction operation and comparison screen display operation described above.

The data display section 702 is a section that displays a list of target data used in the above-mentioned tablet use prediction operation for each patient. That is, information that identifies one patient (patient name) and information about this patient (dispensing date, expected date, etc.) are displayed as a single piece of related information (one line of data, also called patient-based data) in a list.
The data displayed in the data display section 702 is the data that satisfies the conditions designated in the target data change section 677 when the data adjustment button 678 (see FIG. 13) is pressed.

The carry-over button 703 is displayed both inside and outside the data display section 702, and in the data display section 702, it is displayed as one item of data for each patient.
Then, pressing the carry-over button 703 displayed in the data display section 702 changes the item related to the estimated date of the patient-based data including the carry-over button 703. The same is true when one or more patient-based data are specified in the data display section 702 (checkboxes are checked) and the carry-over button 703 displayed outside the data display section 702 is pressed.
Specifically, the value of the estimated date belonging to the patient-based data is automatically changed so that it is after the last day of the specified period displayed in the period display section 701 (in this embodiment, the day after the last day).

The date change button 704 is a button for changing the value of the estimated date, similar to the carryover button 703.

A delete button 705 is also displayed inside and outside the data display section 702, respectively.
This button is a button for deleting patient-based data, and depressing the delete button 705 displayed in the data display section 702 deletes the patient-based data including the delete button 705. Note that the same effect occurs when the delete button 705 displayed outside the data display section 702 is pressed while one or more patient-based data are specified in the data display section 702.

The back button 706 is a button that ends the display of the data adjustment screen 700 and displays the recommended cassette screen 670. When this back button 706 is pressed, the operations on the data adjustment screen 700 are reflected, and the tablet usage prediction operation and comparison screen display operation are performed.

The screen that is displayed by pressing the change estimated date button 678b (see FIG. 13) is similar to the data adjustment screen 700, except that the specified period can be manually input in the section corresponding to the period display section 701 (see FIG. 14), so a detailed explanation will be omitted.
The data adjustment button 678 may display only one button instead of the two buttons, the change to current day target button 678a and the change to estimated date button 678b. In this case, a screen that allows manual input of the designated period may be displayed in the period display section 701 of the data adjustment screen 700. In this case, the screen that is displayed may initially display the automatically set designated period, and the designated period may be changed by the user.

In the above example, each screen is displayed on the operation display unit, but each screen may be displayed on a display device such as a liquid crystal display that does not have a position input device.
When displayed on a so-called touch panel such as an operation display unit, for example, a user touches the button portion with an operating tool such as a finger or a touch pen to perform the operation of pressing the button. On the other hand, when displayed on a display device such as a liquid crystal display that does not have a position input device, a structure may be used in which a cursor pointer that moves in response to the operation of a known input device (such as a mouse) is also displayed. In other words, a structure may be used in which the cursor pointer is aligned with the button portion on the screen and a predetermined button on the input device is pressed to perform the operation of pressing the button.

In the above-described embodiment, an example was shown in which the tablets are pushed and transported by the tablet push-out piece 438 in the lateral transport section 366, but the primary transport section may be a structure equipped with a small conveyor device such as a roller conveyor or a belt conveyor.
It is also possible to form a receiving portion having an inclined surface that slopes toward the outlet side at the bottom portion instead of the medicine receiving groove portion 410. In this case, a mechanism for vibrating this inclined surface may be further provided, and a structure may be considered in which the tablets that have fallen onto the inclined surface are moved and transported by the vibration.

In addition, when the above-mentioned medicine provision work support system is constructed, each screen such as the recommended cassette screen 670 may be displayed on a display device of an external device such as an external display device.

That is, the above-mentioned medicine shelf-equipped packaging device 1 is a medicine dispensing unit equipped with a medicine packaging device that packages and discharges medicines supplied from the outside in single doses, and a medicine shelf device for supplying tablets to the medicine packaging device, the medicine shelf device being capable of holding a plurality of tablet containers and having a tablet transport device that transports tablets supplied from each tablet container to a predetermined position, the tablet transport device having a primary transport section and a secondary transport section, the primary transport section being a section that transports tablets in a direction intersecting the direction from the medicine shelf device side to the medicine packaging device side, the secondary transport section transporting tablets in a direction from the medicine shelf device side to the medicine packaging device side, and capable of both transporting tablets by the primary transport section and then by the secondary transport section, and transporting tablets by the secondary transport section without transporting them by the primary transport section.

The primary conveying section includes a receiving section that receives the supplied tablets and a tablet pushing piece section, the tablet pushing piece section being movable in the tablet conveying direction in the primary conveying section, and the tablet conveying operation in the primary conveying section is an operation in which the tablet located in the receiving section is pushed and conveyed by the tablet pushing piece section.

The tablet conveying device further has an introduction section into which the tablets supplied from the tablet container are introduced, and after the tablets are supplied to the introduction section, the tablets are temporarily stored inside the introduction section and then discharged to the primary conveying section or the secondary conveying section.

The introduction section has a storage space for temporarily storing the introduced tablets and a movable receiving member, and the storage space has a discharge port for discharging the tablets to the primary transport section side or the secondary transport section side. Furthermore, the introduction section is capable of switching between a tablet receiving position in which the discharge port is blocked by the movable receiving member and a tablet receiving position in which the discharge port is in communication with the outside by moving the movable receiving member.

The movable receiving member also has a portion that forms an inclined surface inclined relative to the horizontal direction when in the tablet receiving position, and the introduction portion receives the tablet introduced at the inclined surface.

The tablet conveying device further includes a path forming section, which is located downstream of the introduction section and the primary conveying section in the conveying direction and upstream of the secondary conveying section in the conveying direction, and forms a path for supplying tablets supplied from the introduction section or the primary conveying section to the secondary conveying section located below, and a regulating member is formed inside the path forming section to regulate the movement direction of the tablets.

1; Packaging device with medicine shelf (medicine packaging unit), 2; Medicine packaging device, 350; Tablet cassette shelf (medicine shelf device), 351; Packaging device with medicine shelf (medicine packaging unit), 360; Tablet container, 361; Container mounting section, 362; Tablet supply device (tablet conveying device), 365; Tablet receiving section (introduction section), 366; Horizontal conveying section (primary conveying section), 367; Fall path forming section (path forming section), 368; Tablet pushing section (secondary conveying section), 410; Medicine receiving groove section (receiving section), 438; Tablet pushing piece section, 460; First fall restriction plate (restriction member), 461; Second fall restriction plate (restriction member), 491; Conveyor section, 660; Tablet fall path (tablet supply path), 676; Installation status display section 670 (first display section); Recommended cassette screen (recommended container presentation screen), 677; Scheduled tablet display section (second display section)

Claims (6)

A medicine packaging unit having a medicine shelf device having a plurality of individual installation sections in which tablet containers are installed, a packaging device, and a display device,
A process can be performed to identify pills that are likely to be used during a specified period based on data regarding prescriptions,
A recommended container presentation screen can be displayed on the display device, and the recommended container presentation screen includes at least a first display unit that shows the installation status of the tablet containers in each of the individual installation units,
The first display unit of the medicine packaging unit shows the individual installation sections in the medicine shelf device in a schematic manner, and highlights at least one of the individual installation sections in which the tablet container is not installed or the individual installation sections in which the tablet container storing tablets other than those identified in the process is installed. The drug packaging unit according to claim 1, wherein the recommended container presentation screen further includes a second display section that displays information about the tablets identified in the process, and is a screen that visually displays the first display section and the second display section. The medicine packaging unit according to claim 2, wherein the second display section highlights information about tablets that are not installed in the individual installation section. The drug packaging unit according to claim 2 or 3, which includes a container attachment part having a plurality of the individual installation parts, and the second display part displays information about the same number of tablets as the number of the tablet containers that can be held by the container attachment part. The medicine packaging unit according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the first display section highlights the individual installation section in which the tablet container that stores tablets for which information is displayed on the second display section and which are predicted to be in short supply in the future is installed. The drug packaging unit according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the information about the tablet identified in the process includes information indicating the number of times a packaging operation that includes the tablet identified in the process is performed.

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