JP7600495B2 - Medicine Packaging Equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a drug packaging device that packages drugs such as tablets and powders.

There is known a drug packaging device that packages individual doses of drugs such as tablets or powders based on a prescription. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses such a drug packaging device (drug dispensing device).

The medicine packaging device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided with a container storage unit that holds multiple medicine containers (automatic medicine containers) in a housing. In addition, the operation of packaging medicines one dose at a time is capable of a fully automatic packaging operation and a manual packaging operation.
In the fully automatic packaging operation, the medicine container stored in the container storage unit is moved to the container holding stand, and the medicine container is placed on the container holding stand to form a medicine feeder, and the medicine is supplied from the medicine feeder to the distribution tray. After this, the medicine is supplied from the distribution tray to the packaging device, which packages the supplied medicine. At this time, the operation of moving the medicine container from the container storage unit to the container holding stand and placing it on the container holding stand, and the operation of supplying a specified amount of medicine from the medicine container to the distribution tray (operation of weighing the medicine) are automatically performed. In other words, the fully automatic packaging operation automatically selects the medicine container, weighs the medicine to be used (measures the supply amount), and packages the medicine into doses.

In manual packaging operations, the user manually weighs the medicine in advance and fills a specified amount of medicine (the amount to be ultimately supplied to the distribution tray) into a medicine container (manual medicine container). The user then manually places the medicine container on the container holding table to form a medicine feeder. Then, as described above, after the medicine feeder supplies the medicine to the distribution tray, the medicine is supplied from the distribution tray to the packaging device, one dose at a time, and the packaging device packages the supplied medicine. In other words, in manual packaging operations, the operator manually weighs the medicine to be used, transports the medicine container to the container holding table, and places the medicine container on the container holding table.

JP 2016-202909 A

However, conventional drug packaging devices had room for improvement in terms of quickly performing packaging operations and increasing work efficiency.

Therefore, some of the present inventions aim to provide a medicine packaging device with high work efficiency. A specific object of the present invention is to provide a medicine packaging device that can prevent (suppress) the occurrence of discharge errors when discharging (supplying) medicines.

One aspect for solving the above problem is a drug packaging device having a plurality of drug containers each filled with a drug, a distribution tray, and a plurality of container mounting means, the container mounting means being located near the distribution tray and capable of mounting the drug containers and acting on the mounted drug containers to discharge the drug, the plurality of drug containers including two or more drug containers filled with the same type of drug, the device being capable of executing a packaging operation in which a predetermined type of drug is discharged from the drug containers and the discharged drug is packaged in one packet, and when a planned amount of the predetermined type of drug to be used in the packaging operation exceeds a drug dischargeable amount of one of the drug containers containing the predetermined type of drug, a first multiple discharging operation is executed to discharge the predetermined type of drug from each of the two or more drug containers, and prior to the first multiple discharging operation, a first discharge allocation operation is executed to determine the amount of drug to be discharged from each of the two or more drug containers.
That is, this is a drug packaging device having a plurality of drug containers each filled with drug, a distribution tray, and a plurality of container mounting means, the container mounting means being located near the distribution tray and capable of mounting the drug containers and acting on the mounted drug containers to discharge the drug, the plurality of drug containers including two or more drug containers filled with the same type of drug, the device being capable of performing a packaging operation in which the drug is discharged from the drug containers and the discharged drug is packaged in individual packets, and when the planned amount of one type of drug to be used in the packaging operation exceeds the amount that can be discharged from one of the drug containers containing that type of drug, the device performs a first multiple discharging operation in which the one or more drug containers discharge the one type of drug.
In the above aspect, it is preferable that, prior to the first plurality of dispensing operations, a first dispensing allocation operation is executed to determine a dispensing amount of drug from each of the two or more drug containers.

According to this aspect, when the medicine contained in one medicine container alone cannot be used for packaging, it is possible to increase the speed at which the medicine is discharged (supplied), and the packaging operation can be sped up, thereby improving the work efficiency when using the medicine packaging device.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the first multiple discharge operation includes performing an operation to discharge medicine from multiple medicine containers simultaneously.

This favorable aspect allows for an improved drug excretion (supply) rate.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the dischargeable amount is the amount of medicine contained in one of the medicine containers before the medicine is discharged minus a predetermined set amount.

This preferred aspect makes it possible to prevent (suppress) the occurrence of discharge errors when discharging (supplying) the medicine.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that in the first discharge allocation operation, the dischargeable amount is set to the dischargeable amount of the drug from one of the drug containers whose dischargeable amount is smaller than the planned usage amount, and the total of the discharged amounts of the drug from one or more of the other drug containers is set to the planned usage amount minus the dischargeable amount.

This preferred aspect makes it possible to improve the drug discharge (supply) speed while using up the drug in one drug container. By using up the drug in one drug container, it becomes possible to quickly fill the drug container with new drug, and overall work efficiency can be improved.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the first discharge amount allocation operation is an operation for determining the amount of drug discharged from each of the two drug containers.

The above-mentioned aspect involves executing a second multiple discharge operation to discharge the specified type of drug from each of the two or more drug containers when the planned amount of the drug to be used in the packaging operation is equal to or exceeds a specified amount, and it is preferable that prior to the second multiple discharge operation, a second discharge allocation operation is executed to determine the amount of drug discharged from each of the two or more drug containers, and that in the second discharge allocation operation, the amount of drug discharged from each of the two or more drug containers is set to the same or approximately the same amount.
In other words, the above-mentioned aspect involves executing a second multiple discharge operation to discharge the type of drug from each of the two or more drug containers when the planned amount of the drug to be used in the packaging operation is equal to or exceeds a specified amount, and it is preferable that prior to the second multiple discharge operation, a second discharge allocation operation is executed to determine the amount of drug discharged from each of the two or more drug containers, and that in the second discharge allocation operation, the amount of drug discharged from each of the two or more drug containers is set to the same or approximately the same amount.
In one aspect for solving the above problem, the drug packaging device has a plurality of drug containers each filled with a drug, a distribution tray, and a plurality of container mounting means, the container mounting means being located near the distribution tray and capable of mounting the drug containers and acting on the mounted drug containers to discharge the drug, the plurality of drug containers include two or more drug containers filled with the same type of drug, and a packaging operation is performed in which the drug is discharged from the drug containers and the discharged drug is packaged in packets, and when a planned amount of the drug of the type to be used in the packaging operation is equal to or exceeds a specified amount, a multiple discharge operation is performed to discharge the drug of the type from each of the two or more drug containers, and prior to the multiple discharge operation, an emission allocation operation is performed to determine an amount of drug discharged from each of the two or more drug containers, and in the emission allocation operation, the amount of drug discharged from each of the two or more drug containers is set to be the same or approximately the same.

The above-mentioned preferred aspect is further preferably such that, in a case where the dischargeable amount of drug in one of the drug containers is less than the discharge amount of drug from one of the drug containers determined in the second discharge allocation operation, the dischargeable amount of drug from one of the drug containers is set as the dischargeable amount, and the total amount of drug discharged from one or more of the other drug containers is set as the planned amount to be used minus the dischargeable amount.

These preferred aspects make it possible to increase the drug discharge (supply) speed when a large amount of drug needs to be supplied from the drug container.

The above-mentioned aspect preferably determines whether the amount of medicine to be used in the packaging operation is large or small, and if it is determined that the amount of medicine is large, then even if it is detected that the medicine has been discharged from the medicine container, the medicine is discharged while maintaining the vibration amount, and if it is determined that the amount of medicine is small, then the vibration amount is reduced and the medicine is discharged, provided that it is detected that the medicine has been discharged from the medicine container.
That is, the container mounting means preferably vibrates the drug container to discharge the drug, determines whether the amount of drug to be used in the packaging operation is large or small, and if it is determined that the amount of drug is large, discharges the drug while maintaining the vibration amount even if it is detected that the drug has been discharged from the drug container, and if it is determined that the amount of drug is small, reduces the vibration amount and discharges the drug, provided that it is detected that the drug has been discharged from the drug container.

According to this preferable aspect, it is possible to improve the drug discharge speed and discharge accuracy throughout the entire dispensing operation.
Another aspect for solving the above problem is a drug packaging method in which drugs are poured from a drug container into a distribution tray, and the poured drugs are divided into individual doses for packaging, and when there are two or more drug containers filled with the same type of drug, and the planned amount of one type of drug to be used based on a prescription exceeds the amount of drug that can be discharged from one of the drug containers containing that type of drug, the drug packaging method discharges that type of drug from each of the two or more drug containers.
Another aspect for solving the above problem is a drug packaging method in which drugs are poured from a drug container into a distribution tray, and the poured drugs are divided into individual doses for packaging, and when there are two or more drug containers filled with the same type of drug, and the planned amount of one type of drug to be used based on a prescription is equal to or exceeds a specified amount, the drug of that type is discharged from each of the two or more drug containers, and at that time, the same or approximately the same amount of drug is discharged from each of the two or more drug containers.

However, the conventional drug packaging device described above has room for improvement in terms of preventing human error by users.

In one aspect of the present invention, the drug packaging device has a distribution tray and a plurality of container placement means, the container placement means being located near the distribution tray and acting on the placed drug container to discharge the drug, each of the plurality of container placement means having an alarm member, capable of performing a manual packaging operation using a manual drug container containing a pre-weighed amount of drug, at least one of the plurality of container placement means serving as a manual container placement means on which the manual drug container is placed when performing the manual packaging operation, and, on the condition that a malfunction occurs in the manual container placement means, an operation is performed to use another of the container placement means as an alternative manual container placement means, and an alarm operation is performed to notify that the alternative manual container placement means will be the placement location for the manual drug container.

This medicine packaging device can reduce (prevent) the occurrence of human error during manual packaging operations.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that in the notification operation, the notification member of the alternative manual container placement means performs an operation different from the notification members of the other container placement means.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that one of the notification members has one or more lamps, and the notification action is an action of causing one or more of the notification members to perform a light emitting action in a predetermined lighting pattern.

However, conventional medicine packaging devices have room for improvement in terms of quickly performing packaging operations and increasing work efficiency.

In one aspect of the present invention, a related aspect of the present invention is a drug packaging device that includes a drug container filled with a drug, a distribution tray, and a container mounting means, the drug container having a drug storage section that stores the drug and a drug discharge section that forms a drug discharge outlet, the container mounting means being located near the distribution tray and capable of mounting the drug container and acting on the mounted drug container to discharge the drug, the drug container having an air supply hole that supplies air to the drug storage section, the air supply hole being located at a position different from the drug discharge outlet and being formed at a position that is above the drug container when the drug container is mounted on the container mounting means.

This aspect allows powdered medicine with small powder size to be discharged smoothly, improving the speed at which powdered medicine is supplied.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the drug container is a cylindrical member having a length in a predetermined direction, and the air supply hole is formed in the side wall portion.

The above aspect preferably has a blocking member that can open and close the air supply hole.

The preferred aspect described above is that the drug container is stored in a vertical position and placed on the container placement means in a horizontal position, and more preferably, by changing the position from the vertical position to the horizontal position, the blocking member transitions from a state in which the air supply hole is closed to a state in which the air supply hole is open.

The preferred aspect described above is more preferably one in which the device has a lid member capable of opening and closing the drug outlet, and when the lid member opens the drug outlet, the blocking member opens the air supply hole, and when the lid member closes the drug outlet, the air supply hole is blocked by the blocking member.

Another aspect of the related invention described above is a drug feeder that is composed of a drug container capable of storing a drug inside and a container mounting means that is combined with the drug container, the drug container having a drug storage section that stores the drug and a drug discharge section that forms a drug discharge outlet, the container mounting means acts on the mounted drug container to discharge the drug, the drug container has an air supply hole that supplies air to the drug storage section, the air supply hole is formed in a position different from the drug discharge outlet and is formed in a position that is above the drug container when the drug container is mounted on the container mounting means.

Another aspect of the above-mentioned related invention is a drug container capable of storing a drug inside, which has a drug storage section that stores the drug and a drug discharge section that forms an outlet for the drug, and an air supply hole that supplies air to the drug storage section is formed at a position different from the drug discharge outlet.

The above aspect preferably has a cover member capable of opening and closing the drug outlet and a blocking member that blocks the air supply hole, and the drug storage section is sealed by closing the drug outlet and blocking the air supply hole.

However, conventional medicine packaging devices have room for improvement in terms of improving the durability of components used for cleaning operations.

In one aspect of the present invention, a drug packaging device capable of packaging a drug introduced into an introduction hopper as one packet of drug includes a hopper closing member that closes the opening of the introduction hopper, and a suction means having a suction port in the introduction hopper, the hopper closing member having a lid main body and a plate member provided on the back side of the lid main body, and when the hopper closing member is brought close to the opening, the suction means performs a suction operation to change the position of the plate member, and the plate member closes the opening.

According to this aspect, it is possible to manufacture a hopper blocking member with a simple structure, and it is possible to improve the durability of the hopper blocking member, thereby improving the durability of the member for cleaning operations.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the plate member is attached to the lid body in a cantilever manner, and the suction action draws the free end side of the plate member in a direction approaching the hopper blocking member.

The above aspect allows for a hopper cleaning operation to clean the introduction hopper, and in the hopper cleaning operation, it is preferable that the hopper blocking member blocks the opening and the suction means creates a negative pressure inside the introduction hopper, thereby sucking up residual medicine inside the introduction hopper.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the plate member has a portion that does not overlap with either the lid body portion or the opening portion in the close proximity state.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that, in the close proximity state, the base end portion and the free end portion of the plate member are positioned so as not to overlap with the opening portion.

In the past, conventional drug packaging devices were operated with a sealing member attached to the scraping device. However, if the user forgets to attach this sealing member, or if the sealing member deteriorates over time, the drug packaging device may not be able to be operated correctly. In other words, conventional drug packaging devices have room for improvement in terms of preventing (suppressing) malfunctions caused by accessory members not being properly attached to the internal device.

In one aspect of the present invention, the drug packaging device includes a distribution tray with a circular drug insertion groove that is rotated by power, and a scraping device, the scraping device includes a scraping arm whose tip side moves up and down, and a scraping mechanism attached to the tip of the scraping arm, and is capable of a scraping action to scrape and collect powdered medicine inserted into the distribution tray, and a scraping action to scrape the powdered medicine collected by the scraping action out of the drug insertion groove, a sealing member is attached to the scraping mechanism, and the drug packaging device executes a seal determination action to determine whether the sealing member is properly attached prior to a series of actions consisting of the scraping action and the scraping action.

This aspect makes it possible to prevent (suppress) the occurrence of problems caused by the sealing member not being properly installed.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the seal discrimination operation includes a first discrimination operation for discriminating whether the seal member is attached or not, and if it is determined as a result of the first discrimination operation that the seal member is attached, a second discrimination operation for detecting whether the seal member is worn or not is executed.

In the above aspect, the scraping operation is preferably an operation of lowering the scraping mechanism, which moves the scraping mechanism downward, and an operation of moving the scraping plate and the distribution plate relatively, and the first discrimination operation is preferably an operation that accompanies the operation of lowering the scraping mechanism.

In the above aspect, the scraping mechanism has a scraping plate and a scraping plate, the scraping plate is located outside one main surface of the scraping plate and is provided integrally with the scraping plate, the scraping operation is a scraping plate rotation operation that rotates the scraping plate so that the scraping plate moves in a direction transverse to the circumferential direction of the groove-shaped portion while keeping the scraping plate in contact with the medicine injection groove, and the second discrimination operation is preferably an operation that accompanies the scraping plate rotation operation.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the scraping mechanism has a scraping plate, the sealing member is detachable from the scraping plate, and when attached to the scraping plate, extends along the edge of the scraping plate.

However, conventional medicine packaging devices have room for improvement in terms of making it easier to replace consumables.

Therefore, one aspect of the present invention, which is a related invention, is a drug packaging device that has a medicine packaging paper holding means for attaching a sheet roll formed by winding a packaging paper into a roll, and a packaging paper detection means capable of detecting that the starting end portion of the sheet roll has passed a predetermined location, the medicine packaging paper holding means having a shaft portion that rotates together with the core of the sheet roll, and a braking operation is performed that applies a load to the shaft portion against rotation of the sheet roll in the unwinding direction, on the condition that the packaging paper detection means detects that the starting end portion of the sheet roll has passed a predetermined location.

This aspect makes it easier to install (replace) sheet rolls.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the packet paper detection means is capable of detecting whether or not there is any remaining amount of the sheet roll.

In the above aspect, the braking operation is performed by a motor brake mechanism having a small motor, and it is preferable that the braking force can be varied during the braking operation.

However, conventional medicine packaging devices have room for improvement in terms of making the user's work easier when used together with another higher-level control device or dispensing equipment.

In one aspect of the present invention, a dispensing support system has a plurality of drug packaging means capable of producing drug packages in which drugs are packaged one packet at a time based on prescription data, and further has information reading means, and by executing an information reading operation with the information reading means, one of the drug packaging means can acquire the read information, and on the condition that production of drug packages has been stopped at a drug packaging means other than the one drug packaging means, an output operation can be executed to output cancellation-related information, which is information regarding the cancellation of drug packaging production, and the output operation outputs the cancellation-related information in a state that can be read by the information reading means.

According to this aspect, when one drug packaging means is used to package drugs that were discontinued by another drug packaging means, the operation can be simplified.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the output operation outputs the cancellation-related information to a medium that is portable by the user.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the discontinuation-related information is information that identifies a prescription corresponding to a drug that was to be included in the drug package whose production has been discontinued.

In the above aspect, at least one of the drug packaging means is an automatic powdered medicine packaging device, and at least the other is a manual powdered medicine packaging means composed of a separate drug weighing device and powdered medicine packaging machine, and the automatic powdered medicine packaging machine has a container storage section for storing a plurality of drug containers containing powdered medicine, a distribution tray, and a packaging device therein, and discharges powdered medicine from the drug containers stored in the container storage section while weighing it, and then places the discharged powdered medicine directly or temporarily in another container and then pours it from the other container into the distribution tray. It is preferable that the powder medicine can be automatically fed from the distribution tray into the packaging device one packet at a time and individually packaged, the medicine weighing device weighs the target medicine, the powder medicine packaging machine packages the weighed powder medicine fed into the packaging device one packet at a time, and the output operation is an operation that is executed on the condition that the automatic powder medicine packaging machine stops producing medicine packages, and the medicine weighing device obtains the stoppage-related information by reading the stoppage-related information with the information reading means.

In the above aspect, it is preferable that the output operation is an operation of printing and outputting a code indicating the cancellation-related information on a paper medium.

The present invention can provide a medicine packaging device with high work efficiency.

1 is a perspective view showing a medicine packaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the medicine packaging device of FIG. 1 with the housing shown in perspective; FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the divided regions of FIG. 2 . 3A is a perspective view showing the scraping device of FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B is an enlarged perspective view showing the periphery of the scraping mechanism of FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a medicine container is placed on the container mounting device of FIG. 2 to constitute a medicine feeder. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an enlarged view of a part of the medicine division region of FIG. 2. FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view showing the drug container of FIG. 5, and FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view showing a drug container according to an embodiment different from that shown in FIG. 5A. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the packaging device and a hopper closing member of FIG. 2. 9A is an oblique view showing the introduction hopper and hopper blocking member of FIG. 8, illustrating the state in which the hopper blocking member is brought close to the introduction hopper, and FIG. 9B is an oblique view showing the hopper blocking member of (a) as viewed from below. 4A to 4C are diagrams showing a schematic view of a hopper cleaning operation being performed in the medicine packaging apparatus of FIG. 1, the operation being performed in this order. 11A and 11B are diagrams showing the state in which the introduction hopper is blocked by the hopper blocking member in the hopper cleaning operation of FIG. 10, which is executed in this order. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which a medicine container is placed on a container placing device in the divided area of FIG. 3 . FIG. 13A to 13C are explanatory diagrams showing a state in which a scraping operation and a scraping operation are performed in sequence in the divided area of FIG. 12, and are performed in this order. 1A is an explanatory diagram showing a state before the execution of the scraping device confirmation operation, FIG. 1B is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the scraping plate is rotated after the scraping mechanism is lowered in the scraping device confirmation operation, and FIG. 1C is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the scraping mechanism is lowered in the scraping device confirmation operation without the seal member attached. 2 is a block diagram showing a dispensing support system including the medicine packaging device of FIG. 1. 9 is a perspective view showing the introduction hopper of FIG. 8 and a hopper blocking member of an embodiment different from that of FIG. 9, showing a state where the hopper blocking member is brought close to the introduction hopper. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where powdered medicine is introduced into the introduction hopper on the left, and an explanatory diagram showing a state where a hopper blocking member and an introduction hopper are provided in a medicine packaging device according to an embodiment different from the above-mentioned embodiment, and a tablet is introduced from the opposite side to the powdered medicine. 17A and 17B are explanatory diagrams showing the movement of the hopper blocking member shown in Figure 16, where (a) shows the movement toward the introduction hopper, (b) shows the state in which the rotating part is positioned above the introduction hopper following (a), and (c) shows the movement away from the introduction hopper. This figure shows the state in which the hopper blocking member shown in Figure 17 (b) is transitioned from a closed state to an open state, where (a) is an oblique view of the closed state on the left and a cross-sectional view of the closed state on the right, and (b) is an oblique view of the open state on the left and a cross-sectional view of the open state on the right.

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. Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, the front-back, up-down, and left-right directions are described based on the position in Figure 1. In the following description, "powdered medicine" includes medicine that has been made into a powder by grinding solid medicine such as tablets.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the drug packaging device 1 of this embodiment includes a main body device 2 and an operation display unit 3. The operation display unit 3 is a so-called touch panel, and is formed by combining a display device such as a liquid crystal panel with a position input device such as a touch pad. In other words, various operations can be performed by performing various operations on the operation display unit 3.

The drug packaging device 1 has various devices built into a housing 10. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the inside of the housing 10 is divided into a container placement area 12, a drug division area 13, and a drug packaging area 14. A control device (not shown) for controlling various operations is also built into the housing 10. This control device includes a calculation unit such as a CPU, a memory unit (storage means) having a main memory device such as a ROM or RAM, and a communication unit such as an I/O port.

As shown in Fig. 1, two door sections 15 are provided in the portions of the housing 10 that form the outer wall surfaces of the container placement area 12 and the drug dividing area 13. The two door sections 15 are double-hinged (double-hinged) doors that can be opened and closed individually. One of the door sections 15 is provided with an upper small door 16 and a first lower small door 17, and the other door section 15 is provided with a second lower small door 18.
In other words, in addition to opening and closing the door unit 15, the medicine packaging device 1 can also open and close each of the three sub-doors while keeping the door unit 15 closed. When the sub-doors are opened, the inside and outside of the housing 10 communicate with each other.
The upper small door 16 is formed at a position away from the container storage device 21 toward the front side (see FIG. 2). The first lower small door 17 is formed below the upper small door 16. The second lower small door 18 is formed at a position away from the first lower small door 17 in the left-right direction (horizontal direction).

As shown in FIG. 2, the container placement area 12 (container storage section) is provided with a container storage device 21 that holds the drug containers 20. For ease of drawing, only some of the drug containers 20 are labeled with reference numbers, and the reference numbers for the other drug containers 20 are omitted. Similarly, in the following explanation, when multiple identical items or items with the same main parts are depicted in each drawing, some reference numbers will be omitted as necessary. Note that a shelf member may be provided instead of the container storage device 21.

The container storage device 21 has multiple container mounting sections on the outer circumferential surface of a drum member that rotates around a rotation axis that extends in the vertical direction. Each container mounting section is capable of holding a drug container 20 by mechanical engagement.

The multiple drug containers 20 stored inside the housing 10 by the container storage device 21 are each capable of individually storing powdered medicine (medicine). Here, in the container storage device 21, multiple types of powdered medicine are stored in n drug containers 20 (n is an integer equal to or greater than 1) for each type. For example, of the multiple drug containers 20 held in the container storage device 21, two drug containers 20 each store drug A, another drug container 20 stores drug B, and three other drug containers 20 each store drug C, and so on.

In other words, the multiple drug containers 20 held in the container storage device 21 are divided into multiple container groups. One or multiple drug containers 20 belong to one container group, and drug containers 20 belonging to the same container group contain powdered medicine of the same type (same drug name).
In this manner, in the container storage device 21, one type of powdered medicine is stored in one medicine container 20. Among the stored medicine containers 20, some contain the same type of powdered medicine. The number of medicine containers 20 containing the same type of powdered medicine may be determined based on the frequency of provision, for example. In detail, among the multiple types of powdered medicine, powdered medicines that are provided more frequently are stored in multiple medicine containers 20, and powdered medicines that are provided less frequently are stored in one medicine container 20.

The medicine packaging device 1 also stores information about the type and amount of medicine (powders) contained in each medicine container 20 stored in the container storage device 21. Furthermore, information about the container groups stored in the container storage device 21 is stored. That is, information about the type of medicine contained in each container group and information about the number of medicine containers 20 belonging to each container group are stored.

A container moving means 25 is provided in the area extending from the container placement area 12 to the drug dividing area 13. The container moving means 25 is a type of robot, and has an arm 25a, a lifting mechanism 25b for raising and lowering the arm 25a, and a hand 25c provided at the tip of the arm 25a. The hand 25c is provided with an electromagnet (not shown) for attracting the drug container 20.

In the drug dividing area 13, a device that divides the drug into the desired number of pieces using a distribution plate method is arranged. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, a distribution plate 30, a scraping device 31, a container mounting device 32 (container mounting means), and a drug input section 33 are provided.

The distribution plate 30 is a member in which a continuous drug injection groove 38 is formed in a circular shape and can be rotated by a rotation mechanism (not shown). This rotation mechanism includes a motor.

In this embodiment, multiple (two) distribution trays 30a, 30b are arranged in parallel. Each distribution tray 30a, 30b is associated with one scraping device 31 and multiple (three) container mounting devices 32. The scraping device 31 and container mounting device 32 associated with one distribution tray 30 are arranged around that one distribution tray 30.

Specifically, three container mounting devices 32 consisting of a first mounting device 32a, a second mounting device 32b, and a third mounting device 32c are associated with one distribution plate 30a, in order from the side closest to the first small lower door 17 (see FIG. 2). These are disposed in a portion adjacent to the outer edge of the medicine input groove 38 of this distribution plate 30a. In addition, a scraping device 31 associated with this distribution plate 30a is disposed inside the medicine input groove 38 of this distribution plate 30b.
Similarly, the other distribution plate 30b is associated with three container mounting devices 32, consisting of a first mounting device 32d, a second mounting device 32e, and a third mounting device 32f, in order from the side farthest from the second lower small door 18 (see FIG. 2). These are disposed in a portion adjacent to the outer edge of the medicine input groove 38 of this distribution plate 30b. In addition, a scraping device 31 associated with this distribution plate 30b is disposed inside the medicine input groove 38 of this distribution plate 30b.

As shown in FIG. 4, the scraping device 31 has a scraping arm 45, a support member 46 that supports the scraping arm 45, and a scraping mechanism 47 provided at the tip of the scraping arm 45.

The scraping arm 45 is provided so as to be freely swingable with respect to the support member 46, and the tip portion can be raised and lowered. In particular, when the tip portion rises, the base portion descends, and when the tip portion descends, the base portion rises. That is, when the tip portion rises and descends, the base portion rises and descends in the opposite direction. An attachment detection sensor 48 is provided at the base end portion of the scraping arm 45. The attachment detection sensor 48 is a contact sensor, and by contacting a protrusion 46a that is part of the support member 46, it detects that the tip side of the scraping arm 45 (scraping mechanism 47) has descended to a height that is equal to or lower than a predetermined height. In other words, it is possible to detect that the amount of movement of the tip side has reached a certain level when the tip side descends.

The scraping mechanism 47 includes a scraping plate 50 and a scraping plate 51 that are integrally formed. The scraping plate 50 is a disk-shaped member (disk) made of a thin plate and rotated by power. The scraping plate 51 is located on the outside of one main surface of the scraping plate 50, and is composed of a plate-shaped scraping portion 51a and a partition plate portion 51b.

Here, a seal member 52 is attached to the circumferential portion of the scraper plate 50. It is detachable from the scraper plate 50, attached to the peripheral portion of the scraper plate 50, and covers the end face of the scraper plate 50. When attached to the scraper plate 50, it is continuous in a circular ring shape along the edge portion (end face) of the scraper plate 50. In other words, this seal member 52 is a ring-shaped elastic body made of resin such as rubber, high-friction material such as silicone rubber, synthetic resin, etc., and is the part that is in close contact with the drug injection groove 38 (see FIG. 13, details will be described later).

As shown in FIG. 5, the container mounting device 32 and the drug container 20 form a drug feeder 60.

As shown in FIG. 5, the container mounting device 32 has a vibration table 66 equipped with a vibration means 65 and a weight measuring means 67 (a weighing means and a discharge amount detection means), and the vibration table 66 vibrates when electricity is applied to the vibration means 65.

The vibration table 66 has a trough-shaped container holding portion 68. As shown in Fig. 6, the container holding portion 68 is provided with a container holding means 68a for holding the drug container 20. In this embodiment, a magnet (electromagnet) is used as the container holding means 68a. The weight measuring means 67 measures the weight of the drug container 20 directly or indirectly.
Note that container holding means 68a may be a fitting type holding means in which at least a part of the drug container is fitted into the container holding portion, instead of using a type that employs a magnet or electromagnet.

An alarm member 69 is provided on the rear end side (the front side in FIG. 6) of the container holding portion 68. The alarm member 69 is composed of a lamp such as an LED, and in this embodiment, lamps of multiple colors are used. More specifically, red, green, and blue lamps are used as the alarm member 69.

The notification member 69, which will be described in detail later, is capable of performing a notification operation for notifying the container mounting device 32 on which the medicine container 20 should be mounted during the manual packaging operation.
The notification member 69 uses lamps of multiple colors, and when performing a light emitting operation, each lamp can be operated individually in various lighting patterns.
For example, an alarm operation indicating that the container mounting device 32 on which the above-mentioned drug container 20 should be placed and an alarm operation indicating that a container mounting device 32 has experienced a malfunction such as a breakdown may each execute a different light-emitting operation.

In this embodiment, the medicine container 20 is placed on the container mounting device 32 and the medicine container 20 is vibrated, so that the powdered medicine contained in the medicine container 20 can be discharged into the distribution tray 30. The weight measurement means 67 can detect the change in weight of the medicine container 20 that accompanies the discharge of the powdered medicine. In this embodiment, the weight measurement means 67 functions as the discharged amount detection means, and the discharged amount of powdered medicine is detected by the change in weight of the medicine container 20.

The drug container 20 is a cylindrical container with an approximately rectangular parallelepiped outer shape and a length in a predetermined direction, and as shown in FIG. 5, has a container body 72 and a lid portion 73. The lid portion 73 is detachable from the container body 72. In this embodiment, when filling the drug container 20 with powdered medicine, the lid portion 73 is removed from the container body 72, and one end of the container body 72 is opened widely before filling.

This medicine container 20 is capable of storing (accumulating) medicine in the powder medicine storage section 75, which is an internal space. Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the lid section 73 has a lid plate section 73b attached to a lid main body section 73a so that the lid plate section 73b can swing. By swinging the lid plate section 73b, the medicine container 20 can be switched between an open state and a closed state.

In the open state, powdered medicine storage section 75 communicates with the outside via medicine discharge section 76. Medicine discharge section 76 is an opening portion formed by opening lid section 73. In other words, by opening lid section 73, a part of one end side of container body 72 becomes open (a state in which the inside and outside are communicated with each other).
On the other hand, in the closed state, the medicine discharge portion 76 is closed by the cover plate portion 73b, and the powdered medicine storage portion 75 becomes a sealed space. That is, the cover plate portion 73b is closed, and one end side of the container body 72 is closed. In this manner, the medicine discharge portion 76 is provided at one end side of the medicine container 20 in the longitudinal direction.

In this embodiment, the posture of the drug container 20 when it is stored in the container storage device 21 (see FIG. 2 ) is different from the posture of the drug container 20 when it is placed on the container mounting device 32 (see FIG. 5 ). The posture of the drug container 20 when it is stored (storage posture) is a posture in which the drug container 20 is upright (vertical posture) and the lid portion 73 (drug discharge portion 76) faces upward.
In contrast, the posture when the drug container 20 is placed on the container mounting device 32 (mounted posture) is a posture in which the drug container 20 is laid down (horizontal posture), and the lid portion 73 (drug discharge portion 76) faces to the side.

When the drug container 20 is moved between the container storage device 21 and the container placement device 32 by the container moving means 25, the position of the drug container 20 is changed by the container moving means 25 during the movement. In other words, when the drug feeder 60 is formed and the drug container 20 is vibrated to discharge the powdered medicine onto the distribution tray 30, the drug container 20 is in the placement position.

The size of the powder (particle size) of the powdered medicine contained in the medicine container 20 varies depending on the type of powdered medicine, and the medicine container 20 may contain powdered medicine with a small powder size. When the medicine feeder 60 is configured to discharge the powdered medicine into the distribution tray 30, if the powdered medicine contained is small in size, the powdered medicine may block the medicine discharge section 76 when attempting to discharge a large amount in a short period of time. In this case, air will not enter the medicine container 20, and it is thought that the amount of powdered medicine discharged per hour will be reduced.

In this embodiment, therefore, in order to prevent such problems from occurring, an air hole 78 (air supply hole) is provided in the medicine container 20. This air hole 78 is a hole that communicates between the inside and outside of the medicine container 20 (the powdered medicine storage section 75 and the outside). Furthermore, the air hole 78 is formed in the upper part when the medicine container 20 is in the position when placed. Note that the "upper part" here refers to a part that is located above the center part in the vertical direction when the medicine container 20 is in the position when placed.
In other words, the air hole 78 is a side wall portion of the medicine container 20, and is a hole penetrating the wall portion that forms the top surface when the medicine container 20 is in the placed posture.

The drug container 20 of this embodiment has a blocking member 79 that blocks the air hole 78. As shown in FIG. 7(a), the blocking member 79 of this embodiment is a plug member that is detachable (separable) from the drug container 20 (air hole 78). This blocking member 79 may be attached and detached by a robot arm such as the container moving means 25, or may be attached and detached manually by an operator as necessary.

7(b), a blocking member 179 may be provided in which a flat plate-shaped member is integral with the drug container 20 and is rotatably (position-changeable) attached to the drug container 20. The blocking member 179 maintains a blocking position that blocks the air hole 78 by placing the drug container 20 in an upright position (storage position), and maintains an open position that opens the air hole 78 by placing the drug container 20 in a lying position.
Alternatively, the blocking member may be structured to move in conjunction with the lid portion 73 (not shown). That is, a power transmission member may be provided between the blocking member and the lid portion 73, and the blocking member may open and close the air hole 78 by swinging the lid plate portion 73b. In this case, the blocking member maintains an open position that opens the air hole 78 by swinging the lid plate portion 73b to open the medicine discharge portion 76. Then, the blocking position that blocks the air hole 78 is maintained by blocking the medicine discharge portion 76 with the lid plate portion 73b.
The blocking member may be structured to block the medicine discharge portion 76, and maintain a blocking posture blocking the air hole 78 when the medicine container 20 is sealed and the internal space of the medicine container 20 becomes negative pressure. In this case, the blocking member no longer maintains the blocking posture and transitions to an open posture in which the air hole 78 is opened when the medicine discharge portion 76 is opened and the internal space of the medicine container 20 is no longer under negative pressure.

In other words, when a blocking member is provided, it is preferable to provide it so that when the drug discharge section 76 is opened, the air hole 78 is opened, and when the drug discharge section 76 is closed, the air hole 78 is closed.

Iron plates 80, 81 are attached to two different sides of the drug container 20. The iron plate 80 attached to one side is a part for attracting the drug container 20 to the magnet of the arm portion 25a when the drug container 20 is held by the arm portion 25a. The iron plate 81 attached to the other side is a part for attracting the drug container 20 to the electromagnet of the container mounting device 32 when the drug container 20 is placed on the container mounting device 32.
5, the drug container 20 is provided with an RFID tag 83 as information storage means. The RFID tag 83 stores information about the drug contained therein, and by reading the information, it is possible to identify the type and amount of the drug contained therein and the container group to which the drug container 20 belongs.

As shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 8, the drug packaging area 14 is provided with an internal packaging device 85. This internal packaging device 85 (packaging device) is a machine for packaging drugs one packet at a time, and as shown in Fig. 8, has an introduction hopper 90 and a packaging section 91.

The introduction hopper 90 is a funnel-shaped member located below the medicine input section 33 (see FIG. 3). In other words, it is a member through which the unpackaged medicine that has been input into the medicine input section 33 is introduced.

The introduction hopper 90 has an upper introduction side opening 90a with a large opening area and a lower discharge side opening 90b with a small opening area. The discharge side opening 90b is located at the lower end of the introduction hopper 90, and is provided with an opening/closing plate 95. The opening/closing plate 95 can be opened and closed by power, and can open and close the discharge side opening 90b. The discharge side opening 90b also reaches the packaging section 91, and serves as an outlet for the medicine when the powdered medicine is introduced into the folded packaging paper 116 (described in detail later).

In this embodiment, a suction device 96 is connected to the middle of the introduction hopper 90. The suction device 96 (suction means) is a known vacuum suction machine, and is composed of a negative pressure generating device such as a blower and a vacuum hose. In this embodiment, the vacuum hose is connected to the middle of the introduction hopper 90. In other words, the introduction hopper 90 has a suction port inside.

The drug packaging device 1 of this embodiment also has a hopper blocking member 98, which is a lid member that blocks the introduction side opening 90a of the introduction hopper 90. The hopper blocking member 98 is a movable member, and can be switched between a state in which it is close to the introduction side opening 90a and a state in which it is waiting at a position away from the introduction side opening 90a.

As shown in FIG. 9, the hopper blocking member 98 has a blocking member main body portion 98a (lid main body portion) and a thin plate portion 98b (plate member) fixed to the back side of the blocking member main body portion 98a.

The blocking member main body 98a is a cover member having a flat plate-like portion, and is formed so that its size in plan view is larger than the introduction side opening 90a of the introduction hopper 90 (see FIG. 8).
The thin plate portion 98b is a metal plate-like body, and is a substantially flat member formed thin with a certain thickness (1 mm or less). Although not particularly limited, the thin plate portion 98b in this embodiment is made of stainless steel and has a thickness of about 0.1 mm. Note that the term "about" includes an error of a few percent.

The thin plate portion 98b is attached in a cantilever manner to the blocking member main body portion 98a.
That is, one end side of the thin plate portion 98b in a predetermined direction is a free end portion, and a part of the free end side is a protruding portion 100 that does not overlap with the blocking member main body portion 98a in a plan view. The protruding portion 100 is a portion that extends at an angle with respect to the base end side portion of the thin plate portion 98b, and extends diagonally upward (diagonally downward in FIG. 9(b)). In other words, the protruding portion 100 is a portion that is formed by bending a part of the thin plate portion 98b diagonally upward.
In this embodiment, a cutout portion 100a is formed in part of the protruding portion 100, extending from the tip end side to the base end side in the extension direction.

Furthermore, the thin plate portion 98b has a fixing portion 101, which is a portion that is fixed to the blocking member main body portion 98a, on the other end side in the predetermined direction.
When the hopper blocking member 98 and the introduction hopper 90 are brought close to each other (see FIG. 9A), the portion located between the fixed portion 101 and the protruding portion 100 becomes a blocking plate portion 102 that covers the introduction side opening 90a (see FIG. 8). The fixed portion 101 and the blocking plate portion 102 are entirely (almost entirely) located below the blocking member main body portion 98a.

In the above-mentioned predetermined direction, the direction in which the fixed portion 101, the closing plate portion 102, and the protruding portion 100 are arranged is defined as the longitudinal direction, and the direction intersecting the longitudinal direction in a plan view is defined as the width direction, in which the longitudinal lengths are longest in the order of the closing plate portion 102, the fixed portion 101, and the protruding portion 100. Furthermore, the closing plate portion 102 and the protruding portion 100 have the same widthwise lengths, and the fixed portion 101 has a shorter widthwise length in comparison.
When the hopper blocking member 98 and the introduction hopper 90 are brought close to each other (see FIG. 9(a)), the protruding portion 100 and the fixed portion 101 are positioned so as not to overlap the introduction side opening 90a (see FIG. 8) in a plan view. Meanwhile, at this time, the blocking plate portion 102 covers the entire introduction side opening 90a from above. That is, in a plan view, the blocking plate portion 102 overlaps both the introduction side opening 90a of the introduction hopper 90 and the edge portion surrounding the introduction side opening 90a.

Here, a hopper cleaning operation that can be performed by the medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment will be described.
The hopper cleaning operation is an operation for cleaning the introduction hopper 90.
10, the medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is provided with a cleaning agent injection device 105 near the inlet opening 90a of the inlet hopper 90. In addition, an air nozzle 106 is provided near the outer side of the opening/closing plate 95.

In the first step, as shown in FIG. 10(a), the opening and closing plate 95 is closed and cleaning agent is poured into the introduction hopper 90. Next, the introduction side opening 90a is blocked with the hopper blocking member 98.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 11(a), the hopper blocking member 98 is moved to a position above the introduction hopper 90 and close to the introduction hopper 90. Then, in this state (close state), the suction device 96 is caused to perform a suction operation. As a result, the position of the blocking member main body 98a remains the same, and the thin plate portion 98b is sucked toward the introduction hopper 90. In other words, the posture of the thin plate portion 98b is changed so that the blocking plate portion 102 and the protruding portion 100, which are the free end side portions of the thin plate portion 98b, move downward. Then, as shown in FIG. 11(b), the lower surface of the blocking plate portion 102 comes into contact (close contact) with the upper portion of the introduction hopper 90, i.e., the edge portion located around the introduction side opening 90a. As a result, the introduction side opening 90a is blocked by the thin plate portion 98b.

When the introduction side opening 90a is closed, a gap (part indicated by reference symbol 108) is formed between the underside of the blocking member main body 98a and the thin plate portion 98b (blocking plate portion 102). If a gap is formed between the blocking member main body 98a and the thin plate portion 98b before the thin plate portion 98b moves, the gap between them becomes larger.

As shown in FIG. 10(b), by continuing to operate the suction device 96 even after the introduction side opening 90a is blocked by the hopper blocking member 98, the suction device 96 performs a suction operation with the introduction side opening 90a blocked. This causes the inside of the introduction hopper 90 to be sucked into negative pressure, generating a strong air flow inside the introduction hopper 90 and causing the cleaning agent to swirl violently. The cleaning agent then collides with the inner wall of the introduction hopper 90, causing the powdered medicine adhering to the inner wall to be peeled off.

After a certain period of time has elapsed, the opening and closing plate 95 is opened as shown in Fig. 10C. More preferably, the opening and closing of the opening and closing plate 95 is repeated.
When the opening/closing plate 95 is opened, air is introduced from the discharge side opening 90b. Therefore, the air flow moves from the bottom to the top while swirling along the inner wall of the introduction hopper 90. As a result, the introduced cleaning agent strips off the powdered medicine adhering to the inner wall of the introduction hopper 90, and the powdered medicine is lifted up together with the cleaning agent and discharged by the suction device 96.
When the opening and closing plate 95 is repeatedly opened and closed, the cleaning agent is agitated while remaining in the introduction hopper 90, and then agitated while air is introduced to discharge a portion of the cleaning agent.

The medicine adhering to the outer surface of the opening/closing plate 95 is removed by blowing air from the air nozzle 106. The air nozzle 106 is positioned so that the sprayed air hits the opening/closing plate 95 when the opening/closing plate 95 is in the open position. Also, since there is a packaging paper 116 near the opening/closing plate 95, the medicine peeled off by the air is collected in the packaging paper 116.

In other words, in the hopper cleaning operation, cleaning agent is poured into the introduction hopper 90 and suction is started, and in the latter half of the suction, the opening and closing plate 95 begins to open and close, and at that time, air is blown directly from the air nozzle 106 toward the outside of the opening and closing plate 95. Then, after 5 to 10 seconds, the suction and air blowing are stopped.

As shown in FIG. 8, the packaging unit 91 is a device that packages the powdered medicine introduced through the introduction hopper 90 into individual doses. This packaging unit 91 has a medicine packaging paper holding means 110, a feed roller 111, an end sensor 112 (pill packaging paper detection means), a printing means 113, a triangular plate 114, a heating roller 115, and a cutting means (not shown).

The medicine wrapping paper holding means 110 is a member that holds the sheet roll R, which is a roll of wrapping paper 116 (medicine wrapping paper), in a freely rotatable state. The medicine wrapping paper holding means 110 includes a support shaft portion 110a on which the sheet roll R is attached. The support shaft portion 110a has a central shaft and a hollow shaft (shaft portion) that is rotatably attached to the outside of the central shaft via a bearing (detailed illustration is omitted). The core of the sheet roll R is attached to the hollow shaft of the support shaft portion 110a (fixed together), so that the sheet roll R and the hollow shaft are freely rotatable about the central shaft.
The medicine wrapping paper holding means 110 has a brake mechanism (not shown) that applies a load to the rotation of the sheet roll R and the hollow shaft. The brake mechanism is a motor brake mechanism and has a small AC motor. In other words, the brake mechanism applies a braking force by applying a DC voltage as a power supply, and the braking force can be varied by changing the applied voltage.

The brake mechanism may be a mechanical brake mechanism, such as a brake mechanism that presses a rubber plate or the like against a shaft (hollow shaft) that rotates together with the core of the sheet roll R, or a brake mechanism that clamps the shaft that rotates together with the core of the sheet roll R.

The feed roller 111 functions as a sheet feed means for feeding the rolled packaging paper 116, and also functions as a tension roller for applying a certain tension to the fed packaging paper 116.

The end sensor 112 is capable of detecting whether or not there is any remaining amount of sheet roll R by passing the packaging paper 116 pulled out from the sheet roll R through it. It is also capable of detecting the end portion of the sheet roll R. This end sensor 112 is located downstream of the first feed roller 111a, which is the first one located most upstream in the payout direction of the packaging paper 116, and upstream of the second feed roller 111b, which is the second one from the upstream side. In other words, it is located downstream of the first feed roller 111a, which is located closest to the sheet roll R.

Here, the end sensor 112 of this embodiment is capable of not only detecting the end of the sheet roll R, but also of detecting that the starting end portion of the sheet roll R has passed (hereinafter also referred to as the starting end detection operation). That is, the end sensor 112 also functions as a packet paper detection sensor that detects the packet paper 116 (the starting end portion of the packet paper 116) that has been paid out from the sheet roll R. Therefore, when a new sheet roll R is held by the medicine packaging paper holding means 110, packet paper 116 is paid out from the sheet roll R, and the packet paper 116 passes through the detection area of the end sensor 112, it is detected that the starting end portion of the sheet roll R has passed through.
The starting end detection operation may, for example, determine that the starting end of the sheet roll R has been passed when the packet paper 116 has not yet been passed through the end sensor 112, and then the packet paper 116 has been passed through the end sensor 112 and the end of the sheet roll R has not been detected.

Printing means 113 is a machine for printing predetermined information onto medicine packages 120 (sachet bags). Specifically, printing is performed on packaging paper 116 before it is formed into a bag shape.
The triangular plate 114 is a member for folding the sent packet paper 116 in half at approximately the center in the width direction.
Heating roller 115 is a sealing device that includes a heater roller or the like and heat-seals overlapping sachet paper 116 by thermal fusion. Triangular plate 114 and heating roller 115 function as a bag forming means for forming drug package 120 (sachet bag). That is, after a drug is introduced from introduction hopper 90 between the inner surfaces of sachet paper 116 folded in half, the periphery of the part where the drug has been introduced is closed to form drug package 120. Note that instead of heating roller 115, a sealing device that seals sachet paper 116 by pressure bonding or the like may be used. It is sufficient for the sealing device to be able to form sachet paper 116 into a bag shape by tightly adhering sachet paper 116 in a state where it does not separate.

The cutting means is equipped with a cutter (cutting blade) capable of cutting the packaging paper 116, and by cutting the packaging paper 116 that contains medicine inside and is in the form of a bag, a medicine package 120 or a medicine package band made up of a series of medicine packages 120 is formed.

In the drug packaging device 1 of this embodiment, a characteristic operation is that when a new sheet roll R is attached to the internal packaging device 85, an attachment assistance operation is performed to prevent excessive unwinding of the sheet roll R.
That is, when the operator holds a new sheet roll R in the medicine packaging paper holding means 110, pays out the packaging paper 116 from the sheet roll R, and passes (introduces) the starting end portion of the paid-out sheet roll R through the end sensor 112, the starting end detection operation is executed.
Then, when the end sensor 112 detects that the sachet paper 116 (the starting end portion of the sheet roll R) has passed through the starting end detection operation, the medicine packaging paper holding means 110 performs a brake operation to apply a load to the rotation of the sheet roll R in the unwinding direction. The unwinding direction of the sheet roll R is the direction in which the core rotates in response to the unwinding of the sachet paper 116 when the sachet paper 116 is unwound (pulled out) from the sheet roll R. This applies resistance to the rotation of the sheet roll R in the unwinding direction, suppressing rotation in the same direction. In this way, the attachment support operation is an operation that sequentially executes the starting end detection operation and the brake operation. Then, by executing the attachment support operation, it is possible to prevent (suppress) the occurrence of a problem in which the sheet roll R rotates excessively when the sachet paper 116 is pulled and unwound when a new sheet roll R is attached, causing the sachet paper 116 to be unwound more than necessary.

Next, operations that can be performed by the medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment will be described.
The medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of performing a packaging operation (packaging operation) in which prescription information is input from an external device and powder medicine is packaged one packet at a time (e.g., one dose at a time) based on the information. The medicine packaging device 1 is capable of automatic packaging operation and manual packaging operation.

[Automatic packaging operation]
In the automatic packaging operation, the medicine packaging device 1 automatically performs the operations of removing the medicine containers 20 from the container storage device 21, moving the removed medicine containers 20 to the vicinity of the distribution tray 30, placing the medicine containers 20 on the container mounting device 32 to form the medicine feeder 60, feeding a predetermined amount of medicine into the distribution tray 30, supplying the medicine from the distribution tray 30 to the internal packaging device 85 one package at a time, and returning the medicine containers 20 to the container storage device 21. Each of these operations is controlled by a control device (not shown).

That is, in the automatic packaging operation, the container moving means 25 removes the medicine container 20 containing the medicine to be packaged from the container storage device 21. The container moving means 25 then moves the removed medicine container 20 to the vicinity of the distribution tray 30 and places it on the container mounting device 32 (see FIG. 12). When the medicine container 20 is placed on the container mounting device 32, a confirmation operation is performed to confirm that the medicine container 20 containing the medicine to be used has been correctly selected and transported. In this confirmation operation, an information reading means provided near the container mounting device 32 reads information from the RFID tag 83 of the medicine container 20, and an operation is performed to identify the type of medicine contained in the medicine container 20.

The medicine packaging device 1 is capable of simultaneously discharging powdered medicine from multiple medicine containers 20 onto one distribution tray 30. In this case, as shown in FIG. 12, the medicine containers 20 are placed on multiple container mounting devices 32 associated with one distribution tray 30. The above-mentioned confirmation operation is performed each time a medicine container 20 is placed on the container mounting device 32.

For example, if three types of medicine are to be contained in one medicine package 120, three medicine containers 20, each containing a different type of powdered medicine, are placed one by one on a different container placement device 32.

Before or after (for example, before) placing the drug container 20 on the container mounting device 32, an operation of rotating the distribution tray 30 is performed. In addition, after placing the drug container 20 on the container mounting device 32, the container moving means 25 opens the lid 73 of the drug container 20. Then, a drug discharge operation is performed to discharge the drug from the drug container 20.

The drug discharge operation is an operation in which the vibration table 66 of the container mounting device 32 starts a vibration operation, vibrating the mounted drug container 20 and discharging powdered medicine from the drug discharge section 76 of the drug container 20. Here, while the drug discharge operation is being performed, the weight of the drug container 20 from which the drug is being discharged is constantly detected, and when the discharged amount reaches a specified amount, the vibration operation is stopped and the drug discharge operation is terminated. The discharged amount is obtained by comparing the original weight of the drug container 20 obtained before the start of the drug discharge operation with the current weight of the drug container 20, which is continuously obtained during the execution of the drug discharge operation. In other words, while the drug discharge operation is being performed, the drug packaging device 1 constantly continues to calculate the discharged amount of drug.

When the supply (discharge) of powdered medicine from all of the medicine containers 20 (one or more medicine containers 20) to the distribution tray 30 is complete, the rotation of the distribution tray 30 is stopped. At this time, the medicine that has been supplied is evenly spread throughout the medicine input groove 38 of the distribution tray 30 (see FIG. 13). In this state, the scraping and scraping operations described below are performed, and the powdered medicine on the distribution tray 30 is inserted into the medicine input section 33 one packet at a time. The inserted medicine is then packaged one packet at a time by the internal packaging device 85. When this series of operations is completed, all of the medicine supplied to the distribution tray 30 is supplied to the internal packaging device 85, and packaging is completed, completing the automatic packaging operation.

When a specified amount of powdered medicine is supplied to the distribution tray 30 and the vibration operation is stopped, the weight of the medicine container 20 when the supply of medicine to the distribution tray 30 is completed is measured, and an information writing operation is performed to store the measured weight in the RFID tag 83. The medicine container 20 is then returned to the container storage device 21 by the container moving means 25. This makes it possible to obtain the amount of medicine contained in the medicine container 20 when the supply of medicine is completed.

In the above-mentioned scraping operation, as shown in FIG. 13, a scraping mechanism lowering operation that lowers the scraping mechanism 47 of the scraping device 31 and a rotation operation that rotates the distribution plate 30 by an angle corresponding to the division number with the seal member 52 of the scraping plate 50 in contact (closeness) with the distribution plate 30. As a result, a predetermined amount (one packet) of medicine is gathered around the scraping mechanism 47. In other words, the scraping operation is an operation in which the scraping plate 50 and the distribution plate 30 are moved relative to each other to scrape the powdered medicine on the distribution plate 30 near the scraping plate 50. Note that the scraping operation that is executed following the following scraping operation is an operation in which the rotation operation is executed while the scraping mechanism 47 is in a lowered state.

The above-mentioned scraping operation is an operation in which the scraping plate 50 is rotated while being in contact with the medicine input groove 38 with the medicine gathered around the scraping mechanism 47, as shown in FIG. 13(c). Specifically, a scraping plate rotation operation is performed in which the scraping plate 50 is rotated so that the scraping plate 51 (scraping portion 51a) moves in a direction crossing the circumferential direction of the medicine input groove 38. That is, the scraping plate 50 is rotated so that the scraping plate 51 moves in a direction along the arc direction of the cross section of the medicine input groove 38, from the inside to the outside of the distribution plate 30 (from the left to the right in FIG. 13(c)). As a result, the scraping portion 51a comes into contact with the powdered medicine gathered from the radial inside of the distribution plate 30, and the gathered powdered medicine is pushed out of the distribution plate 30 and dropped into the medicine input section 33. In other words, the scraping operation is an operation in which the scraping plate 51 scrapes out the medicine that has been scraped near the scraping plate 50 from the distribution tray 30. Note that if the medicine input section 33 is formed inside the medicine input groove 38, the rotation direction of the scraping section 51a is reversed.

Here, in the drug packaging device 1 of this embodiment, when there are multiple drug containers 20 belonging to the same container group, a priority order is assigned to each of the drug containers 20 belonging to the same container group when used in normal automatic packaging operations.
For example, suppose that drug container A1 and drug container A2 belong to a container group that contains drug A. Assume that it is determined that drug container A1 and drug container A2 are used in this order in normal automatic packaging operations. In this case, drug container A1 is used every time the automatic packaging operation for packaging drug A is performed (the operation of placing drug container A1 on container mounting device 32 and discharging the drug is performed). Then, when the amount of drug contained in drug container A1 becomes the same as the allocated amount (set amount), drug container A2 is used instead of drug container A1.

The allocation amount is a predetermined specified amount, for example, a minute amount such as 0.5 g. This allocation amount can be changed by operating the operation display unit 3, etc. In the drug packaging device 1 of this embodiment, it is possible to switch between an allocation amount setting mode and an allocation amount non-setting mode. The allocation amount setting mode is a mode in which various operations are performed (the drug packaging device 1 is operated) without using up all the drug contained in the drug container 20, and when the amount of drug contained in the drug container A1 reaches the allocation amount, the drug supply operation (discharge operation) from the drug container A1 is not performed. In contrast, the allocation amount non-setting mode is a mode in which the operation of using up all the drug contained in the drug container 20 is possible.

That is, even if the discharging operation is performed until the amount of medicine contained in the medicine container 20 theoretically becomes 0 g, it is possible that a small amount of medicine will actually remain in the medicine container A1. That is, even if the theoretical inventory amount, which is the theoretical inventory amount (capacity) of the medicine container A1, is set to 0 g, the actual inventory amount, which is the actual inventory amount (capacity), will not be 0 g, and the theoretical inventory amount and the actual inventory amount may differ. In order to prevent problems caused by such unintended differences between the theoretical inventory amount and the actual inventory amount, it is preferable to operate the medicine packaging device 1 in the allocation amount setting mode. In other words, the allocation amount is an amount intentionally allocated in advance to the medicine container in order to realize more reliable and stable dispensing after predicting the occurrence of a difference between the theoretical inventory amount and the actual inventory amount, and is the amount of medicine intentionally left in the medicine container at the time of dispensing.

When all the medicine in the medicine container A1 has been used, new medicine will be refilled into the medicine container A1. Now consider the case where the same type of medicine is refilled into the medicine container A1 when there is medicine remaining in the medicine container A1. In this case, the medicine remaining in the medicine container A1 and the medicine to be newly refilled may be from different manufacturers' lots (including expiration date). Since it is not desirable to mix medicines from different lots in the same medicine container A1, it may be possible to operate the system in a no allocation setting mode.

In other words, after a specified amount (amount planned to be used) of medicine is discharged from medicine container A1 to distribution tray 30 in the automatic packaging operation, if the amount of medicine contained (remaining amount) in medicine container A1 reaches the allocated amount (or runs out), medicine container A2 will be used in the automatic packaging operation to package medicine A from the next time onwards.

On the other hand, when one automatic packaging operation starts discharging medicine from medicine container A1 to distribution tray 30, if the amount of medicine in medicine container A1 reaches the allocated amount (or runs out) before a specified amount of medicine is discharged to distribution tray 30, the medicine container is replaced and one automatic packaging operation is continued.
For example, assume that the planned discharge amount of the A medicine in one automatic packaging operation is 10 g, the amount of the medicine in the medicine container A1 before the start of the first automatic packaging operation is 4.5 g, and the allocated amount of the medicine container A1 is 0.5 g. In this case, when the first automatic packaging operation is started, the medicine container A1 is placed on the container mounting device 32, and an operation of discharging the medicine from the medicine container A1 to the distribution tray 30 is executed. Then, when 4 g of the medicine is discharged from the medicine container A1, an operation of stopping the discharge of the medicine (vibration operation) and returning the medicine container A1 to the container storage device 21 is executed. Next, an operation of moving the medicine container A2 from the container storage device 21 to the vicinity of the container mounting device 32, an operation of placing the medicine container A2 on the container mounting device 32, and an operation of discharging the medicine from the medicine container A2 are executed. Then, when 6 g of the medicine is discharged from the medicine container A2, the discharge of the medicine is stopped, and the discharge of the A medicine to the distribution tray 30 is completed, and so on.
When there are three or more drug containers 20 belonging to the same container group, the second and subsequent drug containers are used in the order of priority.

The medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of executing a high-speed supply operation that increases the supply speed of medicine to the distribution tray 30 as a characteristic operation. In the high-speed supply operation, when medicine is supplied to the distribution tray 30 in the automatic packaging operation, an operation is executed (discharge amount allocation operation) that determines in advance the supply amount (discharge amount) of medicine for each of the multiple medicine containers 20. Then, an operation is executed to discharge the predetermined supply amount of medicine from each of the multiple medicine containers 20.

Specifically, when prescription information (prescription data) is input, a storage status confirmation operation is performed prior to the execution of the automatic packaging operation. The storage status confirmation operation is an operation for confirming the storage status of the medicine in the container storage device 21, and the number of medicine containers 20 containing medicines (medicines to be used) to be packaged in the automatic packaging operation to be performed is confirmed. In addition, the amount of medicine in the medicine containers 20 containing the medicine to be used is confirmed. If the medicine to be used is contained in multiple medicine containers 20, the amount of medicine contained in each container is confirmed. In other words, a container group containing the medicine to be used is identified, and the number of medicine containers 20 belonging to the container group and the amount of medicine contained in each container of the medicine containers 20 belonging to the container group are confirmed. Furthermore, based on the prescription data, the amount of medicine to be used in the automatic packaging operation to be performed (amount to be used) is identified. In addition, a comparison operation is performed to compare the amount to be used with the amount of medicine contained in the medicine container 20 with the highest priority among the container groups.

Then, if the result of the storage status confirmation operation indicates that there are multiple drug containers 20 belonging to the container group containing the drug to be used, and the drug capacity of the entire container group is equal to or greater than the planned amount to be used, a supply amount allocation operation is executed. Note that if there is only one drug container 20 belonging to the container group containing the drug to be used, the high-speed supply operation is not performed, and the automatic packaging operation is executed with a normal supply operation. Also, if the drug capacity of the entire container group is less than the planned amount to be used, a notification operation is executed to notify this fact.

The supply amount allocation operation is an operation for determining the number of drug containers 20 that will discharge the same type of drug, the multiple drug containers 20 that will be used to discharge (supply) the drug, and the amount of drug to be discharged from each drug container in a target automatic packaging operation. In this embodiment, as the supply amount allocation operation, an allocation operation when there is a shortage (first discharge amount allocation operation) and an allocation operation when there is a large amount (second discharge amount allocation operation) are executed. Below, an example will be described in which there are two drug containers 20 (drug containers A1 and A2) that will supply (discharge) the same type of drug, and the allocation amount setting mode is in effect.

The allocation operation in the event of a stockout is an operation that is executed when, as a result of the above-mentioned comparison operation, the amount of drug contained in the drug container A1 with the highest priority is less than the amount planned to be used, i.e., when it is predicted that there will be a shortage of drug if the drug container A1 with the highest priority is used for supply.
In the allocation operation when the medicine is out of stock, the maximum amount that can be discharged (dischargeable amount) is allocated to the medicine container A1, which has the highest priority, and the remaining amount is allocated to the medicine container A2. For example, assume that the planned amount of medicine A to be used is 6 g, and the amount of medicine A contained in the medicine container A1 is 3 g. In this case, 2.5 g (the value obtained by subtracting the allocated amount from the amount of medicine contained) is allocated to the medicine container A1, and the remaining amount of 3.5 g is allocated to the medicine container A2.

Then, when the stockout allocation operation is completed, a first multiple discharge operation is executed. In the first multiple discharge operation, the multiple drug containers A1, A2 to which discharge amounts have been allocated in the stockout allocation operation are placed on separate container mounting devices 32, and a discharge operation (supply operation) is executed to discharge drugs from the drug containers A1, A2 to the distribution tray 30.

At this time, it is preferable to simultaneously execute the drug discharge operation from one drug container (e.g., drug container A1) and the drug discharge operation from the other drug container (e.g., drug container A2). For example, two drug discharge operations may be started simultaneously. Alternatively, the drug discharge operation from one drug container and the drug discharge operation from the other drug container may be started sequentially. In this case, the other drug discharge operation is started between the start and end of the drug discharge operation from the drug container that was started earlier. That is, after the other drug discharge operation is started, the two drug discharge operations are executed simultaneously.
According to this configuration, the time required to supply medicines to the distribution tray 30 can be shortened compared to the above-mentioned operation in which the medicine container is replaced and the automatic packaging operation is continued.

It is also possible that after the medicine discharging operation from one medicine container is completed, the medicine discharging operation from the other medicine container is started continuously or substantially continuously. In this case, the operation of mounting the other medicine container on the container mounting device 32 is completed before the medicine discharging operation from one medicine container is completed.
Note that "substantially continuous" includes cases where there is a short interval of about a few seconds.

Even with this configuration, it is possible to speed up the operation of supplying medicine to the distribution tray 30, compared to the operation of replacing the medicine container and continuing one automatic packaging operation as described above. Specifically, in the operation of performing replacement as described above, after the discharge operation using one medicine container is completed, time is required to move the container for replacement, and it takes a long time before the discharge operation using the other medicine container can be started.
In contrast, in the high-speed supply operation (discharge operation after stockout allocation operation) of this embodiment, the drug container is not replaced after completion of drug supply from one drug container, so that the supply time can be shortened.

In addition, when the allocation amount is not set in the mode and all the medicine contained in one medicine container is discharged, an operation is required to confirm that all the medicine has been discharged from the medicine container. This operation is performed under the condition that the medicine container is continuously vibrated and no medicine is discharged for a predetermined time or more (e.g., 5 seconds or more). Therefore, if the medicine container is replaced after this operation, a particularly long time is required from the start of supplying one medicine to the completion of supply (completing the discharge of the medicine from each of the two medicine containers).
Therefore, when operating in the non-allocation amount setting mode, it is preferable to perform a high-speed supply operation to shorten the drug supply time.

The large amount allocation operation is an operation that is executed when the planned amount to be used is equal to or greater than the specified amount, and is an operation that is executed when it is predicted that it will take a long time to supply using one drug container 20. Note that the specified amount in this case is a preset amount that is much greater than the planned amount to be used in a normal packaging operation, for example, 100 g.

In the large quantity allocation operation, the supply amount (discharge amount) is allocated equally to each of the multiple drug containers A1 and A2. For example, if the planned amount of drug A to be used is 100 g, 50 g is allocated to each of the two drug containers A1 and A2. In this case, if the amount of drug contained in one drug container falls below the planned allocation amount of 50 g, the maximum amount that can be discharged is allocated to one drug container, as in the stockout allocation operation described above, and the remaining amount is allocated to the other drug container.

Then, when the large amount allocation operation is completed, a second multiple discharge operation is executed. In the second multiple discharge operation, the multiple drug containers A1, A2 to which discharge amounts were allocated in the large amount allocation operation are placed on separate container mounting devices 32, and a discharge operation is executed to supply drugs from the drug containers A1, A2 to the distribution tray 30. The specific steps of this second multiple discharge operation are the same as those of the first multiple discharge operation described above, so a duplicated explanation will be omitted.

In the above example, the drug supply amount is allocated to two drug containers A1 and A2 in the out-of-stock allocation operation and the large quantity allocation operation, but the present invention is not limited to this. The number n1 of drug containers to which the drug supply amount is allocated in the out-of-stock allocation operation and the large quantity allocation operation is more than one (an integer of 2 or more) and is a number that is less than or equal to the number of container mounting devices 32 associated with the distribution tray 30 to be used (3 in this embodiment). In the drug packaging device 1 of this embodiment, n1 is 2 or 3.

In the allocation operation when a stockout occurs, when allocating the supply of medicine to three or more medicine containers, the maximum amount that can be discharged is allocated to the medicine container 20 with the highest priority, and the remaining amount is allocated to the remaining medicine containers 20. In this case, the remaining amount may be divided equally or approximately equally, or may be divided unequally.

In the above-mentioned large amount allocation operation, an example was shown in which the drug supply amount was allocated equally to each of the multiple drug containers, but the amount of drug allocated to each drug container may be unequal. However, in terms of shortening the time required for drug supply, it is preferable to allocate the drug supply amount equally or approximately equally to each drug container and to start the drug discharge operation from each drug container simultaneously or approximately simultaneously in succession. Note that "approximately equally" includes cases in which the remainder is allocated to one of the drug containers when the amount cannot be divided evenly, or the remainder is divided and allocated to multiple drug containers.

[Manual packaging operation]
In the manual packaging operation, at least one of the first small lower door 17 and the second small lower door 18 is opened by operating the operation display unit 3 (see Figs. 1 and 2). That is, when the operation is to be performed using one distribution tray 30a (see Fig. 3), the first small lower door 17 is opened, and when the operation is to be performed using the other distribution tray 30b, the second small lower door 18 is opened.

Then, the operator inserts a manual medicine container (not shown) into the housing 10 through the opened lower sub-door, and manually places it on the container placement device 32. Prior to this, the operator places medicine weighed in advance in the manual medicine container.
In this embodiment, one of the multiple container mounting devices 32 associated with one distribution tray 30 is a container mounting device 32 (a manual container mounting means, hereinafter also referred to as a manual mounting device) capable of mounting a manual medicine container in a manual packaging operation. Specifically, the manual mounting device when performing a manual packaging operation using one distribution tray 30a is the first mounting device 32a, and the manual mounting device when performing a manual packaging operation using the other distribution tray 30b is the third mounting device 32f.

In this embodiment, when the lower sub-door is opened, a placement location notification operation is performed to indicate which container placement device 32 is the manual placement device. For example, when a manual packaging operation is performed using one distribution tray 30a, the notification member 69 (see FIG. 6) of the first placement device 32a, which is a manual placement device, may be lit in a predetermined color, and the notification members 69 of the second placement device 32b and the third placement device 32c may be kept in an unlit state. Conversely, the first placement device 32a may be kept in an unlit state, and the others may be kept in a lit state. In addition, the notification member 69 of the manual placement device may perform a light emission operation with a predetermined content (content not executed by other notification operations).
In other words, the placement location notification operation is an operation in which the notification member 69 of a manual placement device among multiple container placement devices 32 associated with the same distribution tray 30 performs an operation different from the notification members 69 of the other container placement devices 32. The placement location notification operation may be performed by the notification member 69 of the manual placement device alone, or may be performed together with the notification member 69 of the container placement device 32 associated with the same distribution tray 30.

When a manual medicine container is placed on the container placement device, a confirmation operation is performed to confirm whether the manual medicine container is placed correctly. In this confirmation operation, an operation is performed to read information from the information storage means of the manual medicine container, as described above. If it is determined that the manual medicine container is placed correctly, the lower sub-door is closed by operating the operation display unit 3 (or automatically). Note that the placement location notification operation may be terminated on the condition that it is determined that the manual medicine container is placed correctly in the confirmation operation.

Then, an operation to rotate the distribution tray 30 is performed, and a drug discharge operation is performed to drop the drug from the manual drug container onto the distribution tray 30. In the drug discharge operation, similar to the automatic packaging operation described above, the vibration table 66 of the container mounting device 32 starts a vibration operation. This causes the manual drug container to vibrate, and the powdered drug is discharged from the manual drug container. Here, unlike the automatic packaging operation described above, the manual packaging operation does not perform an operation to measure the amount of drug discharged (supplied), and all of the drug contained in the manual drug container is supplied to the distribution tray 30.

When the supply (discharge) of powdered medicine to the distribution tray 30 is completed, similar to the automatic packaging operation described above, the operation of stopping the rotation of the distribution tray 30, the operation of feeding the powdered medicine on the distribution tray 30 one packet at a time into the medicine feeding section 33, and the operation of packaging the fed medicine one packet at a time by the internal packaging device 85 are executed. When this series of operations is completed, the manual packaging operation is completed.

However, when a manual packaging operation is to be performed using one of the distribution trays 30a, the first placement device 32a may break down for some reason. In this case, it is possible to perform the manual packaging operation using the other distribution tray 30b, but if another packaging operation is being performed on the other distribution tray 30b, it is necessary to wait for the completion of this packaging operation. In addition, in this case, even if the manual packaging operation can be performed on the other distribution tray 30b, if the manual packaging operation is performed using the other distribution tray 30b, the other packaging operation using the other distribution tray 30b cannot be performed until the manual packaging operation is completed. In other words, when a malfunction occurs in the first placement device 32a, it is not preferable to perform the manual packaging operation that was scheduled to be performed on one distribution tray 30a on the other distribution tray 30b, as this leads to a decrease in work efficiency when multiple packaging operations are continuously performed by the medicine packaging device 1.

In the present embodiment, when a malfunction occurs in the manual placement device, the medicine packaging device 1 can execute a placement change operation that allows a container placement device 32 that is not normally used to place a manual medicine container to be used as a manual placement device. The placement change operation is an operation in which one of the other container placement devices 32 associated with the same distribution tray 30 as the original manual medicine container with the malfunction is used as an alternative manual medicine container.

The placement destination change operation may be an operation that is automatically executed when a malfunction is detected in the original manual placement device, or an operation that is executed by a user operating the operation display unit 3. In other words, it may be an operation that is executed by a user who knows an operation of the operation display unit 3 after an operation of notifying a malfunction of the manual placement device is executed.
The configuration may be such that the user can specify the container mounting device 32 to be used as the alternative manual mounting device. When the process is executed automatically, the container mounting device 32 to be used as the manual mounting device is specified in advance, and information for identifying the container mounting device 32 to be used as the alternative manual mounting device is stored as setting information. On the other hand, when the process is executed by operating the operation display unit 3, the user operates the operation display unit 3 to specify the container mounting device 32 before starting the process.

For example, when a malfunction occurs in the first placement device 32a and a placement destination change operation is performed, either the second placement device 32b or the third placement device 32c becomes the alternative manual placement device. The placement location notification operation described above is an operation to notify that the alternative manual placement device will become the placement location of the manual medicine container. For example, when the second placement device 32b becomes the alternative manual placement device automatically or by user designation, in the placement location notification operation, the notification member 69 of the second placement device 32b performs an operation different from the notification members 69 of the first placement device 32a and the third placement device 32c.
Of course, even if a problem occurs in the third placement device 32f, the placement destination can be changed in the same manner as described above.

Here, the medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of performing a scraping device confirmation operation (seal discrimination operation) to detect whether the scraping device 31 (see FIG. 4) can be used normally before performing the above-mentioned packaging operation.

Specifically, the scraping device checking operation includes a first determination operation for determining whether or not the seal member 52 (see FIG. 4) is attached to the scraping plate 50. In addition, if it is determined in the first determination operation that the seal member 52 is attached, a second determination operation for determining whether or not the seal member 52 is worn is included. That is, in the scraping device checking operation, the first determination operation is first performed, and the second determination operation is performed depending on the result. In the following description of the scraping device checking operation, a state in which the seal member 52 attached to the scraping plate 50 is normal is referred to as a normal state, and a state in which the seal member 52 attached to the scraping plate 50 is worn is referred to as a worn state. In addition, a state in which the seal member 52 is not attached to the scraping plate 50 is referred to as an unattached state.

In the first determination operation, as shown in Fig. 14(a) and Fig. 14(b), a scraping mechanism lowering operation is performed to move the scraping mechanism 47 downward. Here, when the mechanism is not attached (see Fig. 14(c)), the scraping plate 50 can move further downward than when the mechanism is normal (see Fig. 14(b)).

In other words, in the normal state, as shown in FIG. 14(b), the scraper plate 50 can be lowered until the seal member 52 contacts the distribution plate 30 (medicine insertion groove 38). The positioning height of the scraper plate 50 at this time is the positioning height of the scraper plate 50 when performing the scraping operation or the scraping operation (hereinafter also referred to as the operating height). When the scraper plate 50 is positioned at the operating height, the lower end portion of the scraper plate 50 is positioned above the lowest portion of the medicine insertion groove 38 of the distribution plate 30.

In contrast, when the scraper plate 50 is not attached, as shown in FIG. 14(c), when the scraper plate 50 is placed at the operating height, a gap (part indicated by reference symbol 125) is formed between the peripheral portion of the scraper plate 50 and the drug injection groove 38. Therefore, this gap provides a movement allowance for the scraper plate 50, so the scraper plate 50 can move further downward.

Therefore, in the first discrimination operation, the scraping mechanism 47 is moved downward, and when the height of the scraping plate 50 is lowered to a specified height or lower, it is determined that the sealing member 52 is not attached to the scraping plate 50. At this time, the attachment detection sensor 48 (see FIG. 4) comes into contact with the protrusion 46a, thereby detecting that the scraping mechanism 47 (scraping plate 50) has been lowered to a certain height or lower.

The "prescribed height" here is a height lower than the operating height and is a height equal to or higher than the arrangement height (hereinafter also referred to as the minimum arrangement height) when the scraper plate 50 is lowered until it contacts the medicine insertion groove 38. The minimum arrangement height is the arrangement height when the scraper plate 50 is moved to the lowest position within the movable range.
In addition, it is preferable that the "prescribed height" is set to a height higher than the minimum arrangement height, and when the arrangement height of the scraper plate 50 reaches the prescribed height, the descent of the scraper plate 50 is stopped. With this configuration, damage to the scraper plate 50 and the distribution plate 30 caused by contact between the scraper plate 50 and the distribution plate 30 can be prevented.

If it is determined that the seal member 52 is attached to the scraper plate 50, a scraper plate rotation operation is performed in which the scraper plate 50 is rotated in a lowered state as shown in FIG. 14(b). Specifically, the scraper plate 50 is rotated once clockwise or counterclockwise in a plan view with the thickness direction of the scraper plate 50 as the line of sight.

Then, in the scraper plate rotation operation, the time required to rotate the scraper plate 50 once is acquired. In other words, in a worn state, the time required to rotate once is shorter than when the seal member 52 is not worn and is in close contact with the medicine injection groove 38, since there is less (or no) resistance. Therefore, it is determined that the seal member 52 is worn when the time required to rotate once is equal to or less than a predetermined time.

As described above, in the scraping device confirmation operation, a first discrimination operation is performed to determine whether or not the seal member 52 is attached to the scraping plate 50. Then, if it is determined as a result of the first discrimination operation that the seal member 52 is attached, a second discrimination operation is performed to determine whether or not the seal member 52 is worn. The scraping device confirmation operation of this embodiment can determine whether or not the seal member 52 is correctly attached by the operation of moving the scraping mechanism 47 downward (scraping mechanism lowering operation) performed in the scraping operation and the operation of rotating the scraping plate 50 (scraping plate rotation operation) performed in the scraping operation.

When the first discrimination operation determines that the sealing member 52 is attached, or when the second discrimination operation determines that the sealing member 52 is worn, a notification operation is executed to notify the user of this fact. The notification operation is an operation to display a message on the operation display unit 3, or an operation to generate a sound (error announcement) or a warning sound from a sound generating device such as a speaker device provided in the medicine packaging device 1.

In the above-mentioned second determination operation, an example was described in which the scraper plate 50 was rotated once, but the amount of rotation of the scraper plate 50 rotated in the second determination operation may be changed. For example, it may be one and a half rotations, or two rotations. The time required to rotate the scraper plate 50 at a specified rotation amount in a normal state may be compared with the time required to rotate the scraper plate 50 at the same rotation amount. Whether the scraper plate 50 has rotated at the specified rotation amount can be determined by obtaining the number of pulses of the motor that rotates the scraper plate 50.

In addition, the second determination operation may be an operation of comparing the current value of the motor (the motor that rotates the scraper plate 50) when the scraper plate 50 is rotated at a specified rotation amount, instead of an operation of comparing the time required to rotate the scraper plate 50 at a specified rotation amount. In other words, when the resistance when rotating the scraper plate 50 decreases, the current value of the motor tends to decrease. Therefore, the current value of the motor when rotating the scraper plate 50 at a specified rotation amount in a normal state may be compared with the current value of the motor when rotating the scraper plate 50 at the same rotation amount, and it may be determined that the seal member 52 is worn if the current value is equal to or less than the specified value.

Next, a dispensing support system 130 including the above-mentioned drug packaging device 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 15, the dispensing support system 130 includes a host control device 131, a drug weighing device 132 (powdered drug weighing device), a powdered drug packaging machine 133, a journal printer 134, and the above-mentioned drug packaging device 1 (drug packaging means, automatic powdered drug packaging device). These devices are connected to each other via an in-house communication network (LAN) or the like in a state in which they can send and receive data (signals).

The upper control device 131 includes a calculation unit such as a CPU, a memory unit for storing various programs and data, a communication unit such as an I/O port, a display device such as an LCD or organic EL display, and input devices such as a mouse and a keyboard.

The drug weighing device 132 is equipped with a balance unit formed including a balance platform, a balancing circuit, a force coil, etc. This drug weighing device 132 has an operation display means that displays various information and accepts various inputs, and an information reading and writing means. Specifically, the operation display means is a touch panel. The information reading and writing means is a reader/writer that can read and write information from an information storage medium (RFID tag or IC tag) provided in a weighing container (not shown), and in this embodiment, is an RFID reader/writer. Note that the above-mentioned manual drug container may also be used as the weighing container.

The powdered medicine packaging machine 133 is a type of packaging machine that does not have a container placement area 12 or a container moving means 25, and receives powdered medicine from a supply hopper, divides the powdered medicine into individual doses (each packet), and packages it.

The journal printer 134 is a printing device that prints and outputs various information, such as the history of packaging operations and prescription records, on a medium such as paper.

Furthermore, the dispensing support system 130 of this embodiment has an information reading device (information reading means) that is integrated with the drug weighing device 132 or is formed so as to be capable of transmitting and receiving signals. The information reading device is a reader device (e.g., a barcode reader) that reads information from codes such as one-dimensional codes and two-dimensional codes. In other words, the information reading device executes an information reading operation, thereby making it possible to obtain the information read by the drug weighing device 132.

In the dispensing support system 130 of this embodiment, a manual powdered medicine packaging means 138 (one medicine packaging means) is configured by a medicine weighing device 132 and a powdered medicine packaging machine 133. In addition to carrying out the packaging operation by the medicine packaging device 1, the manual powdered medicine packaging means 138 can also perform packaging.
When packaging is performed by the manual powder medicine packaging means 138, the pharmacist places the powder medicine in a weighing container (not shown) and weighs it with the medicine weighing device 132, then moves the weighing container with the weighed powder medicine placed therein to the powder medicine packaging machine 133 and feeds the powder medicine into the powder medicine packaging machine 133. The fed powder medicine is then divided into doses (packets) and packaged by the powder medicine packaging machine 133.

Here, in the dispensing support system 130, the packaging operation that was scheduled to be performed by the medicine packaging device 1 can be stopped, and the medicine package that was scheduled to be produced by the stopped packaging operation can be produced by the manual powder packaging means.

That is, assume that information based on a specific prescription is input to the drug packaging device 1, and it is decided that the drug packaging device 1 will perform a packaging operation based on the specific prescription. In this state, the user can cancel the scheduled packaging operation by operating the operation display unit 3 before the packaging operation is actually performed. When the packaging operation is canceled, a signal indicating this is sent from the drug packaging device 1 to the journal printer 134, and the journal printer 134 performs a printing operation. In this embodiment, information that can identify the prescription corresponding to the canceled packaging operation (cancellation-related information) is sent to the journal printer 134. Then, an operation of printing the cancellation-related information as a code (output operation) is performed. Specifically, the code is printed and output on a paper medium. The information that can identify the prescription is specifically a recipe number, etc.

Then, when the user receives the output paper medium and reads the code printed on the paper medium with an information reading device, the drug weighing device 132 obtains the discontinuation-related information.
Usually, when packaging is performed by the manual powder packaging means 138, it is necessary to manually operate the operation display means of the drug weighing device 132 and specify the prescription corresponding to the weighing to be performed from a list or the like displayed on the operation display means. Then, after specifying the prescription, the drug weighing device 132 executes weighing.
In contrast, in the present embodiment, the code printed on the paper medium can be read by an information reading device and weighing can be performed directly, making it easy to identify the prescription (the prescription for which the packaging operation has been stopped) and facilitating the weighing operation.

In the above example, an output operation is performed in which a code (one-dimensional code) is printed and output on a paper medium, but the medium on which information is output is not limited to a paper medium. For example, the output operation may be an output operation in which a code is displayed on a mobile device that the user can carry, such as a smartphone. It is sufficient that the output is readable by an information reading means.

The dispensing support system 130 in the above-described embodiment includes two packaging machines (packaging devices), namely, the drug packaging device 1 and the powdered medicine packaging machine 133. However, the dispensing support system 130 may include three or more packaging machines.
In addition, the dispensing support system may perform the following operations when it cancels a packaging operation that was scheduled to be performed by one of the packaging machines belonging to the system (e.g., the medicine packaging device 1) and executes the canceled packaging operation by another packaging machine belonging to the system or the manual powdered medicine packaging means 138.
In other words, on the condition that a stop operation is executed in any of the packaging machines, a list of other dispensing equipment such as other packaging machines and other manual powder packaging means 138 (drug weighing device 132) is displayed on the display device of that packaging machine (operation display unit 3, monitor, etc.).

The dispensing equipment displayed in the list here is a packaging machine capable of carrying out the canceled packaging operation, or a dispensing equipment capable of carrying out the work (weighing, etc.) required to produce the drug package that was scheduled to be produced in the canceled packaging operation. In addition, the list display lists information that can individually identify the dispensing equipment, such as the name of the dispensing equipment such as a packaging machine, and the number assigned to the dispensing equipment (information indicating which machine it is).

The operator selects the desired dispensing device to be used for packaging from the displayed list of dispensing devices. When the dispensing device is selected, prescription information regarding the discontinued packaging operation is sent to the selected dispensing device, and the received information regarding the prescription information is displayed on the display device (display screen) of the selected dispensing device. For example, assume that the drug weighing device 132 is selected. In this case, information regarding the received prescription information, such as prescription number or other information that can identify the prescription, is displayed on the screen of the drug weighing device 132. Then, the operator can select the displayed prescription to perform weighing. In other words, when the operator selects a prescription on the dispensing device to which the prescription information was sent, a packaging operation based on that prescription, or an operation for preparing a drug package based on that prescription is executed (or becomes executable).

The high-speed supply operation described above is an operation for increasing the speed at which medicines are supplied to the distribution tray 30, but the target to which the medicines are supplied is not limited to the distribution tray 30.
Specifically, the medicine packaging device may use different containers instead of the same container for the medicine container for storing powdered medicine inside (hereinafter also referred to as the powdered medicine storage container) and the medicine container used when dispensing powdered medicine to the distribution tray (hereinafter also referred to as the temporary powdered medicine storage container). That is, a predetermined amount based on prescription data may be discharged from the powdered medicine storage container to the temporary powdered medicine storage container, and then the temporary powdered medicine storage container may be placed on a placement unit (vibration device) corresponding to the distribution tray (disk), and all of the medicine (powdered medicine) in the container stored in the temporary powdered medicine storage container may be discharged to the distribution tray.
In such a medicine packaging device, medicines may be discharged from a plurality of powder medicine containers to one temporary powder medicine storage container. In such a case, the high-speed supply operation may be an operation for speeding up the supply of medicines from the powder medicine containers to the temporary storage container, or the supply amount may be allocated before the supply of medicines to the temporary storage container.

Incidentally, when performing a discharge operation (drug discharge operation) to discharge (supply powdered medicine) medicine from the medicine container 20 (automatic medicine container) or the manual medicine container to the distribution tray 30, the following operation may be performed to improve the discharge speed of the powdered medicine while also improving the discharge accuracy.

First, prior to the execution of the discharge operation, a usage amount determination operation is executed to determine whether the powdered medicine (medicine) to be discharged is a small amount or a large amount. Specifically, if the planned usage amount is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount X, it is determined that a large amount will be discharged, and if it is less than the predetermined amount X, it is determined that a small amount will be discharged.
Here, the powdered medicine to be discharged may be easily discharged from the medicine container (highly fluid) or difficult to be discharged depending on the type. Therefore, in this embodiment, the predetermined amount X is set to a different amount depending on the type of powdered medicine. For example, if the planned amount of use of the A medicine is 50 g or more, it is determined that a large amount is being discharged, and if the planned amount of use of the B medicine is 100 g or more, it is determined that a large amount is being discharged.
That is, the usage amount determination operation is an operation for determining whether the amount of medicine to be discharged is a large amount or a small amount based on the type of powdered medicine (medicine) used in the discharge operation and the planned amount to be used.

When it is determined that the discharge amount is large, even if it is detected that the powdered medicine has started to be discharged from the medicine container (the powdered medicine has started to fall), the vibration is not relaxed and the discharge is carried out while maintaining the magnitude of the vibration amount.
On the other hand, if it is determined that the discharge amount is small, when it is detected that the powdered medicine has started to be discharged from the medicine container (the powdered medicine has started to fall), an operation to ease the vibration, i.e., an operation to reduce the vibration amount is executed. In this embodiment, an operation to ease the vibration is executed once, and specifically, an operation to gradually increase the vibration amount after greatly reducing the vibration amount is executed.

When a large amount is dispensed, it takes time to dispense the target amount based on the prescription (amount planned to be used), so the dispense rate can be increased by dispensing an amount close to the target amount with a strong vibration. When a small amount is dispensed, slowing down the vibration temporarily can prevent too much powder from falling off (dispensing more than the target amount).

The above-mentioned operation of gradually increasing the vibration amount may be an operation of increasing the vibration amount every time a predetermined time has elapsed, or an operation of increasing the vibration amount every time a predetermined amount of powdered medicine is detected. When the operation of increasing the vibration amount is performed multiple times, the vibration amount (the increase in the vibration amount) increased each time may be the same or different. When the operation of increasing the vibration amount after decreasing the vibration amount is performed once or multiple times, the final vibration amount may be higher or lower than the vibration amount before the decrease. However, it is preferable to make it lower from the viewpoint of improving accuracy. In the above example, the predetermined amount X is set to a different amount based on the type of powdered medicine, but it is also possible to set the predetermined amount X to the same amount for all powdered medicines.
The amount of vibration is increased or decreased by changing the number of vibrations per unit time (frequency) or the magnitude of the amplitude.

In the above-described medicine packaging device 1, a confirmation operation is performed to check whether the correct amount of medicine has been discharged during the packaging operation. This operation is also a failure detection operation to determine whether the weight measuring means 67 has failed when the powdered medicine is discharged from the medicine container 20 to the distribution tray 30 during the packaging operation.
In the normally performed confirmation operation, first, the weight of the drug container 20 after the drug has been discharged is measured by the weight measuring means 67 of the container mounting device 32. Next, the drug container 20 is moved to the vicinity of a small door (either the upper small door 16, the first lower small door 17, or the second lower small door 18). Furthermore, the weight of the moved drug container 20 is measured by another weight measuring means (not shown) located near the small door. Then, if the weight value of the drug container 20 measured in advance by the weight measuring means 67 and the weight value of the drug container 20 measured by the weight measuring means (not shown) located near the small door are the same, it is determined that the correct amount of drug has been discharged. On the other hand, if these are not the same, it is determined that the correct amount of drug has not been discharged (the weight measuring means 67 was broken when the drug was discharged).

Here, in pharmacies and the like, pre-packaging may be carried out in which the same medicine packages are prepared in large quantities and stored, and the medicine packaging device 1 may be used for this pre-packaging.
At this time, the medicine packaging device 1 continues to perform the packaging operation endlessly using one of the two distribution trays 30 (e.g., distribution tray 30a). Then, in the confirmation operation performed at this time, the medicine container 20 is moved to another container mounting device 32 associated with the other of the two distribution trays 30 (e.g., distribution tray 30b), and the medicine container 20 is mounted on the other container mounting device 32. Then, the weight of the medicine container 20 is measured by the weight measuring means 67 of the other container mounting device 32.

In other words, the weight of the medicine container 20 after the medicine has been discharged is measured by the weight measuring means 67 of one container mounting device 32 that was placed when the medicine (powdered medicine) was discharged. Then, the weight of the medicine container 20 after the medicine has been discharged is measured by the weight measuring means 67 of another container mounting device 32 associated with a distribution tray 30 different from the distribution tray 30 used when the medicine (powdered medicine) was discharged. Then, if the measured weights of the medicine containers 20 are the same, it is determined that the correct amount of medicine has been discharged.

The drug packaging device 1 of this embodiment performs the confirmation operation described above, thereby making it possible to speed up the entire packaging operation performed by the drug packaging device 1, as well as the series of operations of placing the drug container 20 on the container loading device 32 and supplying the powdered medicine to the distribution tray 30.
Specifically, for example, when one distribution tray 30a is used to perform a packaging operation for pre-packaging and the other distribution tray 30b is used to perform another packaging operation, a specific medicine container 20 used in the packaging operation for pre-packaging may also be used in the other packaging operation. In other words, the same powdered medicine (powdered medicine contained in the same medicine container 20) may be used in the packaging operation for pre-packaging and the other packaging operation.
In such a case, after supplying powdered medicine for pre-packaging from a specific medicine container 20 to one distribution tray 30a, the specific medicine container 20 is placed on the container mounting device 32 associated with the other distribution tray 30b, and the above-mentioned confirmation operation is performed. That is, it is determined whether the powdered medicine for pre-packaging supplied to one distribution tray 30a is the correct amount. Then, an operation of discharging the powdered medicine from the specific medicine container 20 is performed as it is, and the powdered medicine is supplied to the other distribution tray 30b. That is, when supplying powdered medicine from one medicine container 20 to one distribution tray 30a and another distribution tray 30b in sequence, an operation of determining whether the amount of powdered medicine supplied to one distribution tray 30a is the correct amount is performed using the container mounting device 32 associated with the distribution tray 30b to which the powdered medicine is next supplied. According to this operation, after moving the medicine container 20 to the vicinity of the small door and performing the confirmation operation, it is not necessary to move the medicine container 20 to the container mounting device 32 associated with the other distribution tray 30. As a result, it is possible to speed up the entire packaging operation performed by the pharmaceutical packaging device 1, and to speed up a series of operations related to other packaging operations performed simultaneously with or following the packaging operation for pre-prepared packaging.

In addition, in the case of the configuration in which the above-mentioned confirmation operation is performed, a pre-packaging discrimination operation may be performed to determine whether the packaging operation to be performed is a pre-packaged one. Then, when it is determined by the pre-packaging discrimination operation that pre-packaging is to be performed, the above-mentioned operation may be performed. The pre-packaging discrimination operation may be an operation for discriminating based on the number of drug packages to be produced. That is, it may be an operation for discriminating that pre-packaging is to be performed on the condition that the number of drug packages to be produced is a predetermined number (e.g., 50 packages) or more. It may also be a discrimination based on the planned amount of drugs to be used in the production. For example, it may be determined that pre-packaging is to be performed when the planned amount is a predetermined amount or more. It may also be determined that pre-packaging is to be performed on the condition that the user has made a predetermined input to the operation display unit 3.
In the above example, a container mounting device 32 corresponding to a different distribution tray 30 was used for each of the preceding measurement and the subsequent measurement. However, it is also possible to use two different container mounting devices 32 corresponding to the same distribution tray 30. For example, the preceding measurement is performed by mounting the medicine container 20 on the first mounting device 32a and discharging the powdered medicine, and then measuring the weight of the medicine container 20. Then, the medicine container 20 is moved to and mounted on the third mounting device 32c, and the subsequent measurement is performed, and so on.

In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which the hopper closing member 98 having the thin plate portion 98b is provided. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a hopper closing member 298 shown in FIG. 16(a) may be used as the hopper closing member.
As shown in FIG. 16, the hopper closing member 298 has a closing member main body portion 298a and a rotating portion 298b.

The blocking member main body 298a is a plate-shaped member and has a through-hole 200. The through-hole 200 penetrates the blocking member main body 298a in the thickness direction. The rotating part 298b is a plate-shaped member and is supported by the blocking member main body 298a in a rotatable state.

The hopper closing member 298 can be switched between a closed position and an open position by rotating the rotating part 298b to change the position. The rotation of the rotating part 298b is supplied with power from a power source such as a motor (not shown) and can be performed automatically.
In the closed position, as shown in FIG. 16(a), the thickness direction of the blocking member main body 298a and the thickness direction of the rotating part 298b are the same. Then, most of the rotating part 298b is arranged in the through-hole part 200, and the entire area or substantially the entire area of the through-hole part 200 is blocked. In other words, the medicine cannot pass through the through-hole part 200. In the closed position, the two main surfaces of the rotating part 298b are in a horizontal position (parallel to the horizontal plane). Note that the rotating part 298b has a guide surface part 201, and in this embodiment, the main surface located on the lower side in the closed position becomes the guide surface part 201 (see the right diagram of FIG. 18(a)). That is, the guide surface part 201 faces downward (the introduction side opening 90a side) in the closed position.

In the open position, for example, as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 16(b), the two main surfaces of the rotating part 298b are inclined (inclined with respect to the horizontal plane). At this time, the rotating part 298b is in a position in which the guide surface part 201 faces the drug introduction direction (the introduction source side). That is, as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 16(b), if the drug is introduced from the diagonally upper right, the rotating part 298b is in a position facing the diagonally upper right. Also, in this embodiment, the guide surface part 201 is inclined so as to have a downward slope as it approaches the drug introduction side (the introduction source). That is, as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 16(b), if the drug is introduced from the diagonally upper right, the lower side of the rotating part 298b is disposed closer to the right side (the drug introduction side) than the upper side.
In the open position, many parts of the through-hole portion 200 are in communication in the vertical direction compared to the closed position. That is, the medicine introduced from above the hopper blocking member 298 can pass through the through-hole portion 200. In this embodiment, a part of the rotating portion 298b is located below the introduction side opening 90a and inside the introduction hopper 90, and another part is located above the upper surface of the blocking member main body 298a (above the upper opening of the through-hole portion 200).
The open position may be a position in which the two main surfaces of the rotating portion 298b are in a vertical position (perpendicular to the horizontal plane).

17, the hopper closing member 298 is located below the intermediate plate member 205 and is movable above the introduction hopper 90. That is, the hopper closing member 298 is supplied with power from a power source such as a motor (not shown), and the entire member moves automatically horizontally (linearly).
The middle plate member 205 is a metal plate-like member that is located below the distribution dish 30 and supports the distribution dish 30. The middle plate member 205 has a medicine introduction hole portion 205a above the introduction side opening 90a. The medicine introduction hole portion 205a is a through hole that penetrates the middle plate member 205 in the up-down direction (thickness direction).

17(a) and 17(b), the hopper blocking member 298 is moved and positioned above the introduction hopper 90. That is, the rotating portion 298b is positioned between the medicine introduction hole portion 205a of the middle plate member 205 and the introduction side opening 90a of the introduction hopper 90 (see FIG. 17(b)).
When the medicine is introduced into the introduction hopper 90 from this state, as shown in FIG. 18, the hopper blocking member 298 is shifted from the closed state (see FIG. 18(a)) to the open state (see FIG. 18(b)) to introduce the medicine. At this time, a part of the rotating part 298b is located above the upper opening of the medicine introduction hole 205a, and another part is located inside the medicine introduction hole 205a. Furthermore, as described above, another part is located inside the through hole 200, and the lower part is located inside the introduction hopper 90. This ensures (forms) an introduction path for the medicine that passes through the medicine introduction hole 205a and the through hole 200 and reaches the introduction hopper 90. At this time, as described above, the guide surface part 201 is in a state facing the introduction direction of the medicine (see the left diagram of FIG. 16(b)). The guide surface part 201 becomes an abutment surface against which the medicine abuts when the medicine is introduced. In other words, the rotating part 298b functions as a guide member when the medicine is introduced. More specifically, for example, when powdered medicine is poured in as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 16(b), as described above, the scraping plate 51 (scraping portion 51a) rotates with the rotation of the scraping plate 50, and the powdered medicine is scraped out of the distribution plate 30 from the distribution plate 30 and poured into the medicine pouring portion 33 (see FIG. 4, FIG. 13, etc.). At this time, the powdered medicine that is about to exceed the introduction hopper 90 (medicine pouring portion 33) due to the momentum of the rotation abuts against the guide surface portion 201 and is guided to the inside of the introduction hopper 90. That is, the rotating portion 298b functions as a guide member that blocks the movement of the powdered medicine that has flown out with force and guides it to the introduction hopper 90.

17(b), when the introduction hopper 90 is closed, at least a part of the hopper closing member 298 is moved downward, and a part of the lower surface of the hopper closing member 298 comes into contact with the introduction hopper 90. As described above, a part of the hopper closing member 298 may be moved by suction. That is, the hopper closing member 298 functions as a lid member that covers and closes the introduction side opening 90a from above. In addition, in the closed position, the rotating part 298b closes the through hole part 200, so the introduction path of the medicine described above is not formed (it is cut off (blocked) in the middle).
In this embodiment, the same cleaning operation as described above may also be performed with the introduction hopper 90 blocked. After the medicine is introduced into the introduction hopper 90, the hopper blocking member 298 is changed from the open position to the closed position, the introduction hopper 90 is blocked, and the cleaning operation is performed, whereby the medicine (powders) and the like that have adhered to the guide surface portion 201 during the medicine introduction operation can be cleaned.

Here, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 17, the lid cleaning member 210 is provided at a position horizontally away from the introduction hopper 90. The lid cleaning member 210 has a plate-shaped portion formed of an elastic body (rubber), and is arranged at a position where the plate-shaped portion contacts the underside of the hopper blocking member 298. That is, as shown in FIG. 17(c), the underside of the hopper blocking member 298 is brought into contact with the lid cleaning member 210, and the hopper blocking member 298 is moved in parallel, so that powdered medicine and the like adhering to the underside of the hopper blocking member 298 (rotating portion 298b) can be cleaned. As a result, powdered medicine adhering to the underside of the hopper blocking member 298 that could not be removed by the above cleaning operation can be removed as if scraped off.

According to the above-mentioned configuration, it is possible to reduce the number of parts, since it is not necessary to provide a guide member for introducing the medicine separately from the cover member for closing the introduction hopper 90. Furthermore, it is not necessary to remove and clean the separately provided guide member, which reduces the effort of cleaning.
The above-mentioned medicine packaging device 1 may be provided with a tablet manual dispensing device that puts tablets into the medicine input section 33, or a tablet supplying device that supplies tablets stored in a cassette. That is, the device may be capable of producing medicine packages that package one or both of powdered medicine and tablets. In this case, as shown in FIG. 16(b), the medicine may be introduced from the opposite direction when introducing powdered medicine into the introduction hopper 90 and when introducing tablets into the introduction hopper 90. In this case, the direction of the guide surface portion 201 when the hopper blocking member 298 is in the open state may be opposite when introducing powdered medicine and when introducing tablets.

In the above example, in the closed position, most of the rotating part 298b is arranged inside the through-hole part 200. However, the rotating part provided in the hopper blocking member may be arranged so that the lower surface of the rotating part, which is in a horizontal position when in the closed position, is adjacent to the upper side of the upper opening of the through-hole part 200. In this case, the shaft part of the rotating part is also arranged above the upper surface of the blocking member main body. In other words, it is sufficient that the rotating part is arranged in a position that overlaps the entire or almost entire through-hole part 200 in a plan view. Therefore, at least a part of the rotating part that is in a horizontal position may be located inside the through-hole part 200, or the entire part may be located above the through-hole part 200.

Incidentally, the medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment executes a packaging result output operation for outputting a packaging result (dispensing result) after executing a packaging operation. In the packaging result output operation, information such as prescription information and the actual discharge amount of powdered medicine (hereinafter simply referred to as the actual discharge amount) calculated based on the actual measurement value acquired by the weight measuring means during the packaging operation are displayed in a visible state on an output medium such as a paper medium or a display means.
Here, when the medicine packaging device 1 performs the packaging operation, as described above, it discharges the target amount (planned amount to be used) based on the prescription, but for some reason, there is a possibility that an error will occur in the amount of powdered medicine discharged to the distribution tray 30. In other words, it is possible that the actual amount of powdered medicine discharged will be a value different from the target amount (target amount to be discharged) based on the prescription.
Therefore, in the packaging result output operation, if the discharge target amount and the actual discharge amount of powdered medicine are different, the error rate is displayed in percentage notation. For example, if the discharge target amount is 0.2 g and the actual discharge amount of powdered medicine is 0.18 g, information indicating that the "error rate" is -10% is displayed. Also, if the discharge target amount is 0.2 g and the actual discharge amount of powdered medicine is 0.21 g, information indicating that the "error rate" is +5% is displayed. In other words, information indicating whether the actual discharge amount of powdered medicine is more or less than the discharge target amount and information indicating how much the actual discharge amount of powdered medicine differs from the discharge target amount are displayed in a state that can be understood at a glance. Note that, although not limited to this, it is preferable to display the error rate in percentage notation as described above because the display regarding the error specified in the dispensing guidelines is in percentage notation, which is an easy notation for pharmacists to check in their daily dispensing work.

The packing result output operation may be an operation in which the drug packaging device 1 has a printing means and information is displayed on a paper medium that is output. In this case, the printing means may be, for example, a printer device that is provided integrally with the main device 2. The printing means may also be a printer device provided separately from the main device 2, and may be capable of transmitting and receiving information to and from the main device 2 via wired or wireless communication. The printing means may also be a printer device provided in the internal packaging device 85. In this case, the packing result output operation may be an operation to print information on drug packaging paper. For example, when preparing drug packaging, an empty package portion (an empty package portion into which no drug has been introduced) may be provided at a position adjacent to the drug packaging, and information may be printed on the empty package portion. Information may also be printed on the drug packaging to be prepared. The packing result output operation may also be an operation to display information on the operation display unit 3. It may also be an operation to display information on an external device (for example, a mobile terminal carried by the user) that has a display means such as a display.

Incidentally, the above-mentioned medicine container 20 may contain medicines that have been powdered by crushing solid medicines such as tablets (crushed medicines, hereinafter also referred to simply as powdered medicines). In this case, depending on the type of medicine, there are some medicines that are preferably not stored in a crushed (powdered) state for a long period of time (some medicines are preferably stored for a limited number of days).
Therefore, in the drug packaging device 1 of this embodiment, a storage period confirmation operation is performed when the drug packaging device 1 is turned on at the start of work for the day, or after it has been decided to perform the packaging operation and before the operation is started.

To be more specific, the storage period confirmation operation obtains information regarding the storage period of the powdered processed drug that has been stored in advance, and determines whether the powdered processed drug has been stored beyond the storage period. If the storage period has been exceeded, a notification operation is performed to notify the user of this fact. The notification operation may be an operation to display a message on the display means of the operation display unit 3, or an operation to generate a voice (error announcement) or a warning sound from a sound generating device such as a speaker device provided in the drug packaging device 1.

The information regarding the storage period of the powdered medicine may be manually input by the user including the actual date of crushing, or may be stored in advance (stored as a database) in association with the type of medicine and the storage period including the actual date of crushing. The information regarding the storage period of the powdered medicine may be stored in the RFID tag 83 of the medicine container 20, or may be stored in the memory of the control device of the medicine packaging device 1.
For example, the information may be stored when the medicine is crushed and stored in the medicine container 20, or the medicine container 20 containing the weighed powdered medicine may be placed on the medicine weighing device 132 and the medicine weighing device 132 may be operated to manually input and store the information in the RFID tag 83 of the medicine container 20. That is, an external device different from the medicine packaging device 1 may be operated to store the information. Alternatively, when the medicine container 20 containing the powdered medicine is stored in the container storage device 21, the operation display unit 3 may be operated to manually input and store the information in the storage unit. In these cases, the information on the number of storage days may be stored in association with information on the ID of the medicine container 20 (information that uniquely identifies the medicine container 20). In addition, the above-mentioned database may be created in advance and stored in the storage unit of the control device. Then, when the storage days confirmation operation is performed, the information on the number of storage days of the powdered medicine is obtained by referring to the RFID tag 83 or the storage unit of the control device.

In the above example, the weight measuring means 67 is used as the discharge amount detection means. That is, the discharge operation (medicine discharge operation) detects that the medicine has started to be discharged from the medicine container 20 by measuring the weight change of the medicine container 20. However, the configuration for detecting that the medicine has started to be discharged by the discharge operation is not limited to this.
For example, a sensor member for detecting whether or not a medicine is present at a predetermined position may be provided near the container mounting device 32 (medicine feeder 60). As this sensor member, an ultrasonic sensor, an optical sensor, or the like may be used.
That is, the sensor member detects whether or not a medicine (powders) is present below the medicine discharge portion 76 of the medicine container 20 placed on the container mounting device 32. Then, if the presence of the medicine is detected, it is determined that the medicine has started to be discharged. As an example, a sensor member may be disposed immediately below the medicine discharge portion 76 so that the presence or absence of the medicine being discharged from the medicine container 20 can be immediately detected.

This configuration makes it possible to detect the start of drug discharge more quickly than a structure that detects the start of drug discharge by a change in weight. In other words, when the start of drug discharge is detected by a change in weight, the discharge of a predetermined amount of drug has already been completed (a predetermined amount of drug has been supplied to the distribution tray 30) when the start of drug discharge is detected. In contrast, when the configuration is provided with the sensor member described above, it is possible to detect the presence of the powdered drug that falls first among the powdered drug discharged in the drug discharge operation, and therefore it is possible to detect the start of drug discharge more quickly.

For this reason, when performing a discharge operation in a configuration in which the above-mentioned sensor member is provided, an operation of reducing the vibration amount may be performed on the condition that it is detected that the discharge of the medicine has started. In other words, the vibration amount is made relatively large from the time when the medicine container 20 starts to be vibrated until the medicine starts to be discharged, shortening the time until the discharge starts. Then, after the discharge starts, the vibration amount is reduced to prevent excessive discharge of the medicine.

Here, the time until the vibration amount is reduced and/or the amount of vibration to be reduced when reducing the vibration amount (the amount of reduction in the vibration amount) may be determined (changed) based on the amount of drug contained in the drug container 20 and/or the type of drug contained in the drug container 20.
For example, when the amount of drug contained in the drug container 20 is large, it is considered that a large amount of drug will be discharged (fall) as soon as discharge starts. For this reason, it is preferable to reduce the vibration amount more quickly or to reduce the vibration amount significantly. On the other hand, when the amount of drug contained in the drug container 20 is small, the amount discharged (falls) immediately after discharge starts is very small, and it is considered that it takes time for the drug to be fully discharged (from an excessively small amount of discharge per unit time at the same vibration amount to a certain amount or more). For this reason, it is preferable to make the time until the vibration amount is reduced longer or to reduce the vibration amount.

For example, as mentioned above, depending on the type of drug, some are easily excreted (those with high fluidity) and some are difficult to excrete. Therefore, if the drug is easy to excrete, it is preferable to shorten the time until the vibration amount is reduced or to reduce the vibration amount significantly. On the other hand, if the drug is difficult to excrete, it is preferable to lengthen the time until the vibration amount is reduced or to reduce the vibration amount significantly.

In addition, when changing the time until the vibration amount is reduced based on the type of drug, the drug's flowability (ease of discharge) may be tested in advance by experiment or the like, and all drugs that can be discharged may be classified into multiple stages. For example, this may be called the "flow coefficient," and drugs may be classified into flow coefficients "1" to "3." Then, the time until the vibration amount is reduced and the reduction range of the vibration amount are associated with each flow coefficient classification. For example, for a drug with a flow coefficient of "1," the time until the vibration amount is reduced is set to X seconds, and for a drug with a flow coefficient of "2," the time until the vibration amount is reduced is set to Y seconds.
Similarly, the amount of the medicine may be divided into stages when the time until the amount of vibration is reduced is changed based on the amount of medicine contained in the medicine container 20. When the time until the amount of vibration is reduced is changed based on both the type of medicine (ease of flow) and the amount of the medicine, one of them may be used as the discrimination criterion with priority, or each may be divided into stages and then both may be used as the discrimination criterion in combination.

1: drug packaging device, 20: drug container, 30: distribution tray, 32: container placement device

Claims (9)

The device has a plurality of drug containers, each of which is filled with a drug, a distribution tray, and a plurality of container placement means,
the container mounting means is located near the distribution tray, and is capable of mounting the medicine container thereon, and acts on the mounted medicine container to discharge the medicine;
The plurality of drug containers include two or more drug containers filled with the same type of drug,
The medicine container is capable of discharging medicines from the medicine container and performing a packaging operation of packaging the discharged medicines in individual packets;
When a planned amount of one type of medicine to be used in the packaging operation exceeds a dischargeable amount of the medicine from one of the medicine containers containing the one type of medicine, a first multiple discharge operation is executed to discharge the one type of medicine from each of the two or more medicine containers,
The drug packaging device , wherein the dischargeable amount is an amount obtained by subtracting a predetermined set amount from the amount of drugs contained in one of the drug containers before the drugs are discharged . The drug packaging device according to claim 1, further comprising: a first discharge allocation operation that determines a discharge amount of drug from each of the two or more drug containers prior to the first multiple discharge operation. The medicine packaging device according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the first multiple discharging operation comprises an operation of simultaneously discharging medicines from a plurality of the medicine containers. The drug packaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein in the first discharge allocation operation, the dischargeable amount is set to the dischargeable amount of the drug from one of the drug containers in which the dischargeable amount is smaller than the planned amount of use, and the total amount of drug discharged from one or more of the other drug containers is set to the planned amount of use minus the dischargeable amount. The drug packaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first discharge amount allocation operation is an operation for determining the amount of drug discharged from each of the two drug containers. When a planned amount of the medicine of the type to be used in the packaging operation is equal to or exceeds a specified amount, a second multiple discharging operation is performed to discharge the medicine of the type from each of the two or more medicine containers,
performing a second dispensing allocation operation prior to the second plurality of dispensing operations, the second dispensing allocation operation determining an amount of drug dispensed from each of the two or more drug containers;
The medicine packaging device according to claim 1 , wherein in the second discharge amount allocation operation, the amounts of medicine discharged from the two or more medicine containers are set to be the same or approximately the same. The drug packaging device according to claim 6, wherein, in a case where the dischargeable amount of drug in one of the drug containers is less than the discharge amount of drug from one of the drug containers determined in the second discharge allocation operation, the dischargeable amount of drug from one of the drug containers is set as the dischargeable amount, and the total amount of drug discharged from one or more of the other drug containers is set as the planned amount to be used minus the dischargeable amount. The container mounting means vibrates the medicine container to discharge the medicine,
determining whether the amount of medicine to be used in the packaging operation is large or small;
When it is determined that the amount of medicine is large, even if it is detected that the medicine has been discharged from the medicine container, the medicine is discharged while maintaining the vibration amount,
A medicine packaging device as described in any one of claims 1 to 7, which, when it is determined that the amount of medicine is small, reduces the amount of vibration and discharges the medicine, provided that it is detected that the medicine has been discharged from the medicine container. A drug packaging method for dispensing drugs from a drug container into a distribution tray, dividing the dispensed drugs into individual doses, and packaging the divided doses,
There are two or more drug containers filled with the same type of drug,
When a planned amount of a type of drug to be used based on a prescription exceeds a drug dischargeable amount of the drug from one of the drug containers containing the type of drug, the type of drug is discharged from each of the two or more drug containers ;
The drug packaging method , wherein the dischargeable amount is an amount obtained by subtracting a predetermined set amount from the amount of drug contained in one of the drug containers before the drug is discharged .

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