JP7801673B2 - Medicine dispensing device - Google Patents

Description

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

In recent years, large hospitals and pharmacies have been introducing medicine dispensing machines with powder medicine packaging functions. These medicine dispensing machines are capable of packaging individual doses of powder medicine based on prescription information, automating much of the powder medicine packaging work that was previously performed.

Such a medicine dispensing device is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1.
The medicine dispensing device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a powder medicine packaging device that packages powder medicine individually for each dose.

More specifically, in this powdered medicine packaging device, before carrying out a packaging operation in which powdered medicine is individually packaged for each dose, the powdered medicine to be used in the packaging operation needs to be placed in an input hopper.
The amount of powdered medicine required for the packaging operation is fed into the feeding hopper, but this required amount is measured out manually by the device user, such as a pharmacist. That is, the user takes the medicine bottle containing the prescribed powdered medicine from the medicine shelf, measures out the required amount using a scale such as a balance, and feeds it into the feeding hopper.

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

This allows the powdered medicine to be dispersed evenly and move slowly toward the tip at a constant speed. The powdered medicine moving at the front falls from the tip of the trough into the distribution tray. The powdered medicine that follows also falls into the distribution tray at a constant rate per time.
As mentioned above, the distribution tray rotates at a predetermined speed. Therefore, the powdered medicine falling from the trough onto the distribution tray is evenly dispersed on the distribution tray. In other words, the powdered medicine falls onto the distribution tray little by little, and since the distribution tray rotates at a constant speed, the powdered medicine is evenly dispersed on the distribution tray.

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

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-85703

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

The present invention aims to provide a medicine dispensing device that can speed up powder medicine packaging operations.

One aspect of the present invention, developed to solve the above problems, is a drug dispensing device having a powdered medicine storage container containing powdered medicine, a container holding stand, a dispensing unit, a cleaning device, a container moving means, a control unit, an operation display unit, and an information reading means provided near the container holding stand , wherein the drug dispensing device discharges powdered medicine from a powdered medicine storage container placed on the container holding stand into the dispensing unit and performs a cleaning operation of the dispensing unit with the cleaning device, the cleaning device has an suction port that sucks up remaining medicine in the vicinity of the dispensing unit while the dispensing unit is rotated at a predetermined speed, the powdered medicine storage container includes a manual medicine container into which an operator has placed powdered medicine that has been manually weighed in advance , the manual medicine container has an RFID tag, and the drug dispensing device is configured such that the operator selects one or more of the following settings (1) or (2) on the operation display unit as the timing for the cleaning operation of the dispensing unit with the cleaning device.
(1) When an operator places a manual medicine container on a container holder by hand without using a container moving means, and the control unit performs an information reading operation to read the information stored in the RFID tag of the manual medicine container using an information reading means , determines that the type of medicine provided in the prescription included in the prescription data matches the type of medicine stored in the manual medicine container placed on the container holder, and terminates the dispensing of powdered medicine,
(2) When an operator places a manual medicine container on a container holding stand by hand without using a container moving means, and the control unit performs an information reading operation to read the information stored in the RFID tag of the manual medicine container using an information reading means , determines that the type of medicine provided in the prescription included in the prescription data matches the type of medicine stored in the manual medicine container placed on the container holding stand, terminates the dispensing of powdered medicine, and then begins dispensing powdered medicine according to a new prescription.
One aspect of the present invention, developed to solve the above problems, is a drug dispensing device having a powdered medicine storage container containing powdered medicine, a container holding stand, a dispensing unit, a cleaning device, and a control unit with a data memory unit, which discharges powdered medicine from the powdered medicine storage container placed on the container holding stand to the dispensing unit, and the data memory unit of the control unit stores information about the powdered medicine, including an item for each powdered medicine indicating whether or not it is subject to a cleaning operation, and when the user sets the item for a specific powdered medicine stored in the data memory unit to information indicating that a cleaning operation is required, the control unit performs a cleaning operation of the dispensing unit using the cleaning device after the packaging operation of the powdered medicine is completed.
A preferred embodiment is a drug dispensing device in which, in the case of a powdered medicine for which the item is set to information indicating that a cleaning operation is required, when a packaging operation using the powdered medicine is carried out, either a setting in which a cleaning operation is not carried out before the start of the packaging operation, but is carried out after the packaging operation is completed, or a setting in which a cleaning operation is carried out before the start of the packaging operation, and also a cleaning operation is carried out after the packaging operation is completed, when a packaging operation using the powdered medicine is carried out.
Another aspect of the present invention, developed to solve the above problems, is a cleaning method for a drug dispensing device having a powdered medicine storage container containing powdered medicine, a container holding stand, a dispensing unit, a cleaning device, and a control unit with a data memory unit, wherein the drug dispensing device discharges powdered medicine from a powdered medicine storage container placed on the container holding stand to the dispensing unit, and the data memory unit of the control unit stores information about the powdered medicine, including an item indicating whether or not the powdered medicine is subject to cleaning operation, and when the user sets the item for a specific powdered medicine stored in the data memory unit to information indicating that a cleaning operation is required, the method for cleaning a drug dispensing device performs a cleaning operation of the dispensing unit using the cleaning device after the powdered medicine has been packaged.
Another aspect of the present invention, developed to solve the above problems, is a method for setting the cleaning operation of a drug dispensing device having a powdered medicine storage container containing powdered medicine, a container holding stand, a dispensing unit, and a cleaning device, wherein the drug dispensing device discharges powdered medicine from a powdered medicine storage container placed on the container holding stand into the dispensing unit and performs a cleaning operation of the dispensing unit using the cleaning device, and the method for setting the cleaning operation of the drug dispensing device allows the user to select one or more of the settings (1) to (5) below as the timing for the cleaning operation of the dispensing unit using the cleaning device.
(1) When the dispensing of powdered medicine for one prescription is completed,
(2) When starting to dispense powdered medicines based on a new prescription,
(3) When the dispensing of powdered medicines based on a prescription containing a specific powdered medicine is completed,
(4) When the powdered medicine container is placed on the container holder by the user's hand without using the container moving means and the dispensing of the powdered medicine is completed,
(5) When the user places the powdered medicine container on the container holder by hand without using the container moving means, the dispensing of the powdered medicine is completed, and then a new dispensing of powdered medicine according to a single prescription is about to begin.
Another aspect of the present invention, developed to solve the above problems, is a medicine dispensing device that has a plurality of powder medicine storage containers, a container moving means, a powder medicine dispensing device that dispenses powder medicine, and a plurality of container mounting devices, and is capable of moving the plurality of powder medicine storage containers using the container moving means and mounting them on the plurality of container mounting devices, and discharging powder medicine from the plurality of powder medicine storage containers, and is capable of installing powder medicine storage containers in all of the container mounting devices, and after the powder medicine storage containers have been installed in all of the container mounting devices, when a predetermined amount of powder medicine has been discharged from any of the powder medicine storage containers installed in all of the container mounting devices, removing the powder medicine storage container that has been discharged and emptying the container mounting device, and moving a separate powder medicine storage container using the container moving means and installing the separate powder medicine storage container in the vacant container mounting device.
A preferred aspect is a medicine dispensing device that, when performing an operation of dispensing more types of powdered medicine than the number of all container mounting devices, when a predetermined amount of powdered medicine has been discharged from any of the powdered medicine storage containers installed in all of the container mounting devices, includes the operation of removing the powdered medicine storage container from which the powdered medicine has been discharged from the container mounting device, moving a separate powdered medicine storage container with a container moving device, and placing the separate powdered medicine storage container on the container mounting device on which the powdered medicine storage container from which the powdered medicine has been discharged was placed.
An even more preferred embodiment is a medicine dispensing device that has an order determination function that estimates the time required to completely discharge a predetermined amount of powder medicine from a powder medicine storage container placed on a container mounting device, and changes the order in which the powder medicine storage containers are placed on the container mounting device, taking into account the length of the time required for discharge.
An even more preferred embodiment is a medicine dispensing device that is configured so that a user can manually place and remove a powder medicine storage container on a container mounting device without using a container moving means, and that performs an alarm operation to notify information to the effect that if a powder medicine storage container placed by the user's hand remains on a container mounting device even though the discharge of powder medicine from the powder medicine storage containers placed on all container mounting devices has been completed.
In a further preferred embodiment, the medicine dispensing device further has two or more distribution trays, and multiple container mounting devices are installed near the two or more distribution trays, and the medicine dispensing device is capable of performing a mixed prescription operation in which powder medicine storage containers containing different types of powder medicine are placed on the multiple container mounting devices and the different types of powder medicine are poured into one of the two or more distribution trays.
In a more preferred embodiment, the cleaning device further includes a cleaning device for cleaning the distribution tray, and the timing for cleaning the distribution tray with the cleaning device is determined to be one of the following conditions (1) to (5):
(1) When the dispensing of powdered medicine for one prescription is completed,
(2) When starting to dispense powdered medicines based on a new prescription,
(3) When the dispensing of powdered medicines based on a prescription containing a specific powdered medicine is completed,
(4) When the powdered medicine container is placed on the container mounting device by the user's hand without using the container moving means and the dispensing of the powdered medicine is completed,
(5) When the user manually places the powdered medicine container on the container mounting device without using the container moving means, and the dispensing of the powdered medicine is completed and a new dispensing of the powdered medicine according to one prescription is to be started,
The medicine dispensing device is capable of selecting one or more of the above.
Another aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is a medicine dispensing device having a housing, a plurality of powder medicine storage containers built into the housing, container moving means, a powder medicine dispensing device for dispensing powder medicine, a plurality of container mounting devices, and a dispensing tray, wherein the container moving means can move the plurality of powder medicine storage containers and mount them on the plurality of powder medicine storage containers, and the powder medicine can be discharged from the plurality of powder medicine storage containers, the housing has a door section that can be used to insert and remove the powder medicine storage containers inside the housing, the powder medicine storage container can also be placed on the container mounting device by a user without using the container moving means, a prescription operation can be performed by mounting a plurality of powder medicine storage containers containing different types of medicine on the plurality of container mounting devices and pouring the different types of powder medicine into the dispensing tray, and when it is necessary to both place the powder medicine storage container on the container mounting device by the container moving means and place the powder medicine storage container on the container mounting device by a user, the medicine dispensing device can select which to perform first.
Another aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is a method for automatically placing a plurality of powder medicine storage containers on the container placement devices by using a plurality of powder medicine storage containers, a container moving means, a plurality of container placement devices, and a distribution tray. The method can also be a manual method for manually placing a plurality of powder medicine storage containers on the container placement devices without using the container moving means. The method can include two or more distribution trays, and the plurality of container placement devices are installed near the two or more distribution trays, and different containers are placed on the plurality of container placement devices. This medicine dispensing device is capable of performing a mixed prescription operation in which powder medicine storage containers containing different types of powder medicine are placed on the dispensing tray and different types of powder medicine are poured into the dispensing tray, and is capable of selecting between a separate placement method in which powder medicine storage containers are placed on all container placement devices near a specific dispensing tray by an automatic placement method and powder medicine storage containers are placed on all container placement devices near other specific dispensing trays by a manual placement method, and a method in which powder medicine storage containers are placed on container placement devices near one dispensing tray by the automatic placement method or the manual placement method.
Another aspect of the present invention for solving the above problem is a medicine dispensing device that discharges a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from a powdered medicine storage container, divides it into a predetermined number of pieces, and then packages and discharges them individually, the medicine dispensing device comprising: a distribution unit that distributes the powdered medicine discharged from the powdered medicine storage container; a scraping device that scrapes out the powdered medicine put into the distribution unit; and a container mounting device on which the powdered medicine storage container is placed and which acts on the powdered medicine storage container to discharge the powdered medicine from the powdered medicine storage container, the container mounting device having a vibration table section that vibrates to disperse the powdered medicine from the container mounted thereon. This medicine dispensing device is characterized in that vibrations can be transmitted to the powder medicine storage containers placed on the container placement device, multiple container placement devices are installed near the dispensing unit, and the powder medicine storage containers containing different types of powder medicine can be placed on the multiple container placement devices to dispense the different types of powder medicine into the dispensing unit, and when this operation is performed, the vibration table section of the container placement device on which the powder medicine storage containers are placed begins to vibrate without waiting until all of the powder medicine storage containers to be placed have been placed on the container placement device.
The term "powdered medicine" as used herein includes medicines that have been made into powder by crushing solid medicines such as tablets.

In this aspect of the medicine dispensing device, the vibration table of the container mounting device on which the powder medicine storage container is placed begins vibrating without waiting until all of the powder medicine storage containers to be placed are placed on the container mounting device. Therefore, when multiple powder medicine storage containers are placed on different container mounting devices, the powder medicine can be supplied to the dispensing unit from the powder medicine storage container that has already been placed. In other words, the supply of powder medicine from a previously placed powder medicine storage container can be carried out in parallel with the placement of a subsequently placed powder medicine storage container on the container mounting device. This speeds up the powder medicine packaging process compared to a configuration in which the powder medicine supply process begins after all of the powder medicine storage containers have been placed on the container mounting device. This improves the efficiency of the powder medicine packaging process.

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

This preferred aspect makes it possible to, for example, place powder medicine containers containing medicines that require a longer discharge time on the container mounting device in order, and begin discharging the powder medicines in order from the powder medicine containers placed on the container mounting device first. In other words, by discharging medicines that require a longer discharge time first, the overall discharge time for discharging multiple medicines can be shortened.

In addition, in this preferred aspect, it is also possible to place powder medicine containers containing medicines that require a short discharge time on the container placing device in order.
Here, when a large number of medicines need to be discharged to the dispensing unit, once the medicine has been discharged from a powder medicine container previously placed on the container mounting device, the powder medicine container is moved from the container mounting device, a new powder medicine container is placed on the container mounting device where the moved powder medicine container was placed, and the medicine is discharged from the new powder medicine container. In this case, by first placing a powder medicine container containing a medicine that requires a shorter discharge time on the container mounting device, the time from when the medicine discharge operation begins to when the powder medicine container replacement operation is performed can be shortened. In other words, when performing a powder medicine container replacement operation, by placing the powder medicine containers in order of shortest discharge time, the overall discharge time for the operation of discharging multiple medicines can be shortened.

In this aspect, a comparison operation is performed for two or more target powdered medicines, comparing each of the following factors for each target powdered medicine: ease of dispensing the powdered medicine from the powdered medicine container, the amount of powdered medicine contained in the powdered medicine container, the specific gravity of the powdered medicine, and the amount of powdered medicine used in packaging. The comparison operation compares the factors in descending order of priority until a determination is made as to the length of dispensing time between the powdered medicines being compared, and it is preferable that the ranking is performed based on the results of the comparison operation.

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

According to this preferable aspect, it is possible to prevent the user from forgetting to retrieve the powder medicine container, and it is possible to prevent the powder medicine container from being left inside the medicine dispensing device by mistake.
However, if the powdered medicine container is left inside the medicine dispensing device, it may interfere with the subsequent packaging operation (powdered medicine packaging work). However, according to this preferred aspect, the powdered medicine container can be prevented from being left inside the medicine dispensing device, so that the subsequent packaging operation can be carried out smoothly.

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

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

This invention makes it possible to speed up powdered medicine packaging work.

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

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings. Note that the following embodiments are examples of specific embodiments of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these examples.

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

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

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

The temporary container placement section 18 is a section that can hold the automatic medicine container 4 through mechanical engagement; placing the automatic medicine container 4 engages the automatic medicine container 4 with the temporary container placement section 18. Conversely, when the automatic medicine container 4 and temporary container placement section 18 are engaged, lifting the automatic medicine container 4 disengages them. In other words, the automatic medicine container 4 can be removed from the temporary container placement section 18.

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

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

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

In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 2, the drum member 25 is divided into three sections vertically, and multiple container mounting sections are formed in each divided section. In other words, a group of 11 container mounting sections is provided across three levels. In other words, the container storage section 23 can hold a total of 33 automatic medicine containers 4.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The hand portion 53 is roughly composed of a main portion 54 and a container holding portion 55 , which are integrally attached via a mounting bracket 56 .
The main part 54 is attached to the tip of the intermediate arm member 52 via a vertical shaft (not shown), and is rotatable horizontally around the tip of the intermediate arm member 52 .

As shown in Figure 5, the container holder 55 is rotatably attached via a horizontal axis to the mounting bracket 56, which is laid horizontally. Therefore, the container holder 55 can be in either a parallel position (see Figure 5(a)) or a vertical position (see Figure 5(b)).

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

For this reason, when the container holder 55 picks up the automatic medicine container 4 (details will be described later), as shown in Figure 6, the outwardly protruding portion of the lid member 61 can be inserted into the opening 58, and this outwardly protruding portion can be positioned between the two abutment plates of the opening/closing member 57. Then, by swinging the opening/closing member 57 in this state, the lid member 61 can be opened and closed.

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

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

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

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

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

The container holder 36 is equipped with a vibration table and a weight measuring means.

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

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

As a result, by placing a medicine container on the container holder 36, the medicine container is vibrated, and the powdered medicine contained in the medicine container is discharged into the dispensing unit 35. The weight measurement means can then detect the change in the weight of the medicine container as the powdered medicine is discharged.

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

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

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

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

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

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

As shown in Figure 9, the automatic medicine container 4 is a container with an external shape that is approximately rectangular parallelepiped, and is provided with a medicine discharge section 67 for discharging powdered medicine or powdered medicine stored inside to the outside. This medicine discharge section 67 is an opening-like portion that communicates between the inside and the outside. Note that this medicine discharge section 67 can be opened larger by removing surrounding components, and also functions as a medicine input section for introducing medicine.
Furthermore, iron plates are attached to two different surfaces of this automatic medicine container 4. The iron plate attached to one surface (upper iron plate member 63) is a part that is attracted to the magnet of arm unit 30 when automatic medicine container 4 is held by arm unit 30. The iron plate attached to the other surface (lower iron plate member 62) is a part that is attracted to the magnet of container holder 36 when placed on container holder 36, which will be described later.
Additionally, an RFID tag is provided on the automatic medicine container 4, and information about the medicine contained therein can be stored. That is, the RFID tag functions as a container-side information storage means.

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

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

The lid member 61 has a structure including a movable lid portion 70 in the shape of an upright plate, and an engagement piece 71 and a pad portion 72 that both protrude inward from the inner surface of the movable lid portion 70. The engagement piece 71 protrudes inward from a portion of the inner surface of the movable lid portion 70 that is slightly above the center in the height direction, and the pad portion 72 protrudes inward from near the bottom end.
The lid member 61 is attached integrally to the container body 60 so that the movable lid portion 70 covers the end of the container body 60 where the chemical outlet 68 is located. When attached to the container body 60, the lid member 61 is able to swing around a part of the engagement piece portion 71.

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

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

The control unit includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM (EEPROM), and a data storage unit.
The CPU is a processor that executes various types of calculations, the ROM is a non-volatile memory in which programs such as the BIOS are pre-stored, and the RAM is a volatile or non-volatile memory used to load various programs and temporarily store data.

The data storage unit is a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) that stores various programs and data. More specifically, it stores various databases, and various drug-related information, such as "patient name" and "recommended dosage," is associated with and stored.

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

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

As shown in Figure 13, an opening 306 is also provided in the bottom portion of the main body 303. The opening area of this lower opening 306 is smaller than that of the upper opening 305. These two openings 305, 306 are spaced apart and face each other, and each serves as an opening that connects the space surrounded by the side wall 304 to the outside.

An RFID tag is provided on the side of the main body 303, which can store information about the medicine being dispensed and the ID of the manual medicine container 5 (an identifier for identifying a specific medicine container from multiple medicine containers). In other words, this RFID tag functions as a container-side information storage means.

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

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

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

Here, as shown in Figure 14, one end of the bottom-forming member 302 in the longitudinal direction does not have a vertical wall-like portion, leaving the side open. This open side constitutes the medicine discharge section 315. In contrast, the other end of the bottom-forming member 302 in the longitudinal direction has a vertical wall 316, leaving the side closed.

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

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

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

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

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

Two pins 324 hanging down from the ceiling are provided inside the guide receiving member 313.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By placing the manual medicine container 5 on such a temporary table 9, medicine can be poured into the manual medicine container 5 while keeping the manual medicine container 5 in a stable position.
More specifically, the manual medicine container 5 is placed on the temporary table 9 with the inclined wall 311 of the bottom forming member 302 of the manual medicine container 5 aligned with the inclined surface of the installation groove 341 of the temporary table 9 and the vertical wall 316 of the bottom forming member 302 abutting against the vertical wall 342 of the temporary table 9. This causes the bottom forming member 302 to assume an inclined position, stabilizing the position of the manual medicine container 5 with the medicine discharge portion 315 facing upward. Positioning the medicine discharge portion 315 upward in this manner prevents the medicine from spilling from the medicine discharge portion 315.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That is, the user can input each of the above items by performing a predetermined operation.
When inputting the item "Whether cleaning operation is required" among the above items, it is possible to first select and set whether cleaning operation is required. If it is set to "cleaning operation is required," it is possible to select either "only after using the manual distribution cassette" or "also clean every time before distribution."

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

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

In this way, with the settings related to the cleaning operation having been made in advance, a predetermined operation is performed on the operation display unit 3 and information related to the prescription is input to the powder medicine dispensing and packaging device 1.
In addition, prescription information does not need to be entered directly into the operation display unit 3. An external PC or control device and the powder medicine packaging device 1 can be set in a state where they can send and receive data (signals) to each other via a communication network such as an in-house communication network (LAN), and prescription information (data) can be sent from an external device to the powder medicine packaging device 1.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Specifically, the cleaning operation involves lowering the tip end portion of the cleaning device 38 so that it is close to the distribution unit 35. Then, an operation is performed to rotate the distribution unit 35 at a predetermined speed.
The cleaning device 38 is provided with a suction device for sucking up remaining medicine, and has a rotatable brush-like portion and a suction port for the suction device formed at the tip end portion.
That is, the cleaning operation involves the brush-like portion in contact with the dispensing unit 35 scraping out the remaining medicine, and the suction device sucking up the remaining medicine that has been blown up.

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

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

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

If the confirmation operation confirms that the automatic medicine container 4 containing the medicine to be used is placed on the container holder 36, the vibration table portion of the container holder 36 begins to vibrate, causing the automatic medicine container 4 to vibrate and the powdered medicine contained in the automatic medicine container 4 to slowly fall into the dispensing unit 35. In other words, the powdered medicine is supplied (discharged) from inside the automatic medicine container 4 to the dispensing unit 35 (STEP 7).

Here, because different types of medicine (powdered medicine) have different particle sizes and hygroscopicity, the behavior of the medicine in the medicine container when the container holder 36 is vibrated will differ depending on the type of medicine. Furthermore, some medicines tend to straighten and flow easily when subjected to vibration, while others do not. The amount of medicine that moves with one vibration also differs depending on the type of medicine.
For these reasons, there is a problem that the amount of medicine discharged is unstable in the initial stage of discharge. Therefore, in the powder medicine dispensing device 1 of this embodiment, a vibration control operation, which will be described later, is performed to stabilize the amount of medicine discharged and improve the discharge speed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From this state, the container holder 55 is again brought close to the automatic medicine container 4, bringing the suction surface of the container holder 55 (the bottom surface in Figure 18) into close contact with the surface of the automatic medicine container 4 to which the upper iron plate member 63 is attached (the top surface in Figure 18). Then, a magnetic force is generated in the electromagnet (not shown) of the container holder 55, causing the automatic medicine container 4 to be attracted to the container holder 55. The opening/closing member 57 is then swung again to close the lid member 61 (full closing operation). This closing operation of the lid member 61 ensures that the lid member 61 is securely closed. Then, in this state, the arm unit 30 is operated to move the automatic medicine container 4 together with the container holder 55.

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

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

Specifically, as described above, powdered medicine is discharged from the medicine container into the dispensing unit 35, and as the dispensing unit 35 rotates, the powdered medicine is spread evenly over the entire upper surface of the dispensing unit 35. Then, after the discharge from the medicine container into the dispensing unit 35 stops, the rotation of the dispensing unit 35 stops, and the medicine dividing operation begins.

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

In this state, the dispensing unit 35 is rotated an angle corresponding to the number of divided doses of powdered medicine, so that some of the powdered medicine spread on the dispensing unit 35 is gathered around the collecting plate 172 (see Figure 19 (c)). The collecting plate 172 is then rotated to deposit the gathered powdered medicine into the medicine inlet 39. By repeating this operation, the medicine dividing operation is performed, depositing the medicine supplied to the dispensing unit 35 into the medicine inlet 39 one dose at a time.

The single dose of medicine introduced into the medicine inlet 39 reaches the medicine packaging area 14 and is supplied to the medicine packaging device, where it is packaged into individual doses.

When this series of operations is complete, all of the medications supplied to the distribution unit 35 are supplied to the medication packaging device, and packaging is complete, marking the end of the fully automatic packaging operation. Note that if the device is configured to perform a cleaning operation after the packaging operation, the cleaning operation will be performed after the fully automatic packaging operation is complete.

Furthermore, when mixing and packaging multiple powdered medications (No in STEP 6), the above-described operation of placing the automatic medicine containers 4 on the container holder 36 is repeated, and multiple automatic medicine containers 4 are placed on different container holders 36. Then, by performing a vibration operation on each container holder 36, multiple types of powdered medications are supplied to the dispensing unit 35, and the multiple types of powdered medications are mixed as the dispensing unit 35 rotates.

Specifically, when mixing and packaging multiple powdered medications, the system determines whether the prescription for the first packaging operation includes four or more drugs. Furthermore, the system determines whether information about prescriptions for other packaging operations has been input (or transmitted) following information about the prescription for the first packaging operation. In other words, the system determines whether packaging operations for different prescriptions will be performed consecutively.
Then, based on the results of these determination operations, a unit-to-be-used determination operation is performed to determine the distribution unit 35 to be used in the packaging operation (STEP 10). In this unit-to-be-used determination operation, it is determined whether the packaging operation will be performed using two distribution units 35 or using one of the distribution units 35.

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

In other words, if there are four or more types of medicine, using two dispensing units 35 makes it possible to simultaneously place four or more (e.g., four) automatic medicine containers 4 on the container holder 36 (see Figure 20). This eliminates the need to replace an automatic medicine container 4a, from which medicine has been dispensed, with a new automatic medicine container 4b (see Figures 21(b) and 21(c)), and all automatic medicine containers 4 can be placed on the container holder 36, thereby shortening the time required to complete the packaging operation.

However, when performing consecutive packaging operations, if two dispensing units 35 are used in the first packaging operation, it will be necessary to wait until the first packaging operation is completed before starting the subsequent packaging operation for a different prescription. Therefore, even if the time until the first packaging operation is completed can be shortened slightly, the waiting time may be longer than the shortened time, which could significantly extend the time required to perform the two packaging operations. In other words, it may take even longer to perform the two packaging operations.

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

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

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

Furthermore, even if the same type and amount of medicine is stored, the time required to completely dispense the medicine will naturally vary depending on the amount used in the packaging operation. For example, when dispensing 10 g of medicine, it will take longer to completely dispense the medicine than when dispensing 1 g.

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

For example, when determining whether the discharging time of a medicine container containing a chemical A or a medicine container containing a chemical B is longer, the ease of discharging (flow coefficient, described below) of chemical A is first compared with the ease of discharging of chemical B. If one of the chemicals is less easy to discharging (harder to flow) than the other, the discharging time of the chemical with the lower ease of discharging is determined to be longer than the discharging time of the other chemical.
Conversely, if the ease of discharging the drug A and the ease of discharging the drug B are equal, the inventory amount of the drug A is compared with the inventory amount of the drug B. At this time, if the inventory amount of either drug is smaller than the other, it is determined that the discharging time of the drug with the smaller inventory amount is longer than the discharging time of the other drug.

Furthermore, if the ease of dispensing of chemical A and chemical B is similar and the stock amounts are the same, the specific gravity of the chemicals is compared. If one of the chemicals has a lower specific gravity than the other, it is determined that the dispensing time of the chemical with the lower specific gravity is longer than that of the other chemical.
Furthermore, when the ease of dispensing of chemical A and chemical B is similar, the stock amounts are the same, and the specific gravities are similar, the amounts used in the packaging operation are compared. At this time, if the amount used in the packaging operation of one of the chemicals is greater than that of the other, it is determined that the dispensing time of the chemical used in the packaging operation is longer than that of the other chemical.

In this way, the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment can obtain the comparison results of the dispensing times of each medicine provided in a prescription by comparing each weighted element (ease of dispensing the medicine, inventory amount, specific gravity of the medicine, and amount used in the packaging operation) in order of importance. By performing such a comparison calculation, each medicine can be ranked according to the length of its dispensing time. In other words, the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment can automatically perform a comparison calculation of the dispensing times of medicines provided in a prescription and rank them according to the dispensing times based on this.

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

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

In the cassette placement order determination operation described above, a comparison calculation is performed to compare the ease of dispensing the medicine, the stock amount, the specific gravity of the medicine, and the amount used in the packaging operation in order to compare the dispensing time, and the order in which the medicine containers are placed is determined based on the comparison calculation. However, the cassette placement order determination operation is not limited to this.
For example, when there are many types of medicines and the prescribed amounts (amounts used in the packaging operation) of most of the medicines are small, it is necessary to frequently replace automatic medicine containers 4a, from which the medicines have been discharged, with new automatic medicine containers 4b. Therefore, in order to improve the overall speed of the packaging operation, it is desirable to first load medicine containers containing medicines that will be used in small amounts in the packaging operation and then replace them as needed, starting with those that have been discharged. Therefore, in such cases, the medicine containers may be prioritized so that medicine containers containing medicines that will be used in small amounts in the packaging operation are loaded first. In other words, instead of first performing a calculation to compare the "ease of drug discharge," a calculation to compare the "amounts used in the packaging operation" may be performed.
It is preferable that the ranking of each drug to determine the order in which drug containers are placed is determined comprehensively, taking into account the number of prescriptions, etc. In other words, the order in which each element is compared and calculated, and each element itself, can be changed as needed.

Next, according to the determined medicine container installation order, the first automatic medicine container 4 to be installed is placed on the container holder 36 corresponding to one of the dispensing units 35 (STEP 12). Then, the vibration table portion of the container holder 36 begins to vibrate, causing the automatic medicine container 4 to vibrate, causing the powdered medicine contained in the automatic medicine container 4 to slowly fall into the dispensing unit 35.

Furthermore, the second and subsequent automatic medicine containers 4 to be installed are sequentially placed on the container holder 36 (SETP13). Then, the container holder 36 on which the automatic medicine containers 4 are placed begins to vibrate, and as each automatic medicine container 4 vibrates on the container holder 36, the powdered medicine contained in each automatic medicine container 4 slowly falls into the dispensing unit 35.

In this embodiment of the powder medicine packaging device 1, the vibration operation of the container holder 36 on which the automatic medicine container 4 is placed begins before all of the automatic medicine containers 4 to be used are placed on the container holder 36. In other words, rather than all of the container holders 36 simultaneously starting their vibration operation after all of the automatic medicine containers 4 have been placed on different container holders 36, only the container holder 36 starts its vibration operation when the first automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holder 36.

Therefore, when the second automatic medicine container 4 is placed on another container holder 36, the container holder 36 on which the first automatic medicine container 4 is placed will simultaneously perform a vibration operation. This allows for faster packaging operations compared to the configuration described above in which all of the container holders 36 simultaneously begin vibrating.

Then, when the supply of all the medicines (powdered medicines) to the dispensing unit 35 is completed, the medicine dividing operation is performed in which the powdered medicines supplied to the dispensing unit 35 are introduced into the medicine inlet 39 one dose at a time, and the medicines are divided into individual doses and packaged (STEP 9). This operation is the same as the above, so a detailed explanation will be omitted.
When this series of operations is completed, all of the medicines supplied to the distribution unit 35 are supplied to the medicine packaging device, and packaging is completed, completing the fully automatic packaging operation. Note that if the system is set to perform a cleaning operation after the packaging operation, the cleaning operation is performed after the fully automatic packaging operation is completed.
[Vibration control operation]

Here, the vibration control operation will be described in detail.
As mentioned above, there is a problem that the amount of drug discharged is unstable in the early stages of drug discharge, and that the behavior of the drug inside the drug container varies depending on the type of drug. Therefore, a configuration is recommended in which the vibration pattern of the vibration table part of the container holding table 36 can be changed depending on the type of drug, the time of discharge, and the total amount discharged.

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

Explaining in more detail, the vibration table section of the container holder 36 in this embodiment is designed to be able to vary the magnitude of vibration according to a preset setting value (the vibration frequency and amplitude are variable). Furthermore, a "flow coefficient" is assigned, classified into nine levels from "flow coefficient 1" to "flow coefficient 9," according to the target setting value (hereinafter also referred to as the vibration value) when operating the vibration table section to discharge each chemical.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When mixing and packaging multiple medicines, the above operation of introducing an automatic medicine container 4 through the door section 16 and placing the external automatic medicine container 4 on the container holder 36 is repeated as needed. In addition, the operation of moving the automatic medicine container 4 from the container storage section 23 and placing it on the container holder 36, i.e., the automatic medicine container 4 transport operation similar to the fully automatic packaging operation described above, is performed as needed. This operation is also performed repeatedly as needed.

From this state, as in the fully automatic packaging operation described above, the medicines are supplied to the dispensing unit 35, and then supplied dose by dose to the medicine packaging device. The medicine packaging device then packages the supplied powder medicines dose by dose. This results in the medicines supplied to the dispensing unit 35 being packaged in the specified number of doses.
Then, when the operation of supplying medicines to the dispensing unit 35 is completed, the arm unit 30 returns the automatic medicine container 4 to the temporary container storage section, the door unit 16 is opened, and the automatic medicine container 4 is manually removed. This completes the semi-automatic packaging operation.
[Manual packaging operation]

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

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

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

Then, the vibration table portion of the container holder 36 begins vibrating, and medication is supplied from the manual medicine container 5 to the dispensing unit 35. At this time, just like the fully automatic packaging operation and semi-automatic packaging operation described above, the feeder rotation operation that rotates the dispensing unit 35 and the medication dividing operation that divides the medication into individual doses are performed, and the medication is supplied to the medication packaging device one dose at a time.

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

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

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

Prior to performing the semi-automatic packaging operation, a procedure setting operation is performed in advance to set the installation procedure for the automatic medicine container 4 and the manual medicine container 5.

This procedure setting operation allows the user to select between a setting in which the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holder 36 before the manual medicine container 5 can be placed on the container holder 36, and a setting in which the user places the manual medicine container 5 on the container holder 36 before the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holder 36.

If the former setting is selected, the arm unit 30 first moves the automatic medicine container 4 to the container holder 36 and places the automatic medicine container 4 on the container holder 36. Then, once it is confirmed that the arm unit 30 has retracted to the specified position, the front door 34 is unlocked, allowing the front door 34 to be rotated upward (or the small window to be moved to an open position). In this state, as with the manual packaging operation described above, a specified operation is performed on the operation display unit 3 to rotate the front door 34 upward (or move the small window to an open position), opening the front of the medicine dividing area 13 (or the small window). Then, the operator manually places a specified number of manual medicine containers 5, each pre-filled with medicine, on the container holder 36.

In contrast, if the latter setting is selected, a predetermined operation is first performed on the operation display unit 3 to rotate the front door 34 upward (or transition the small window to an open state) and open the front of the medicine dividing area 13 (or the small window). That is, the front of the medicine dividing area 13 is opened using the same procedure as the manual packaging operation. Then, the operator manually places a predetermined number of manual medicine containers 5, each pre-filled with medicine, on the container holder 36. Thereafter, the front door 34 is transitioned to a closed state (or the small window is transitioned to a closed state). Then, in this state, the arm unit 30 moves the automatic medicine container 4 to the container holder 36, and the operation of placing the automatic medicine container 4 on the container holder 36 is performed.

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

Therefore, when semi-automatic packaging operations are performed, a manual medicine container 5 is placed on at least one container holder 36, and automatic medicine containers 4 brought from the container storage section 23 or temporary container placement section are placed on the other container holders 36.

The semi-automatic packaging operation of this embodiment may use both automatic medicine containers 4 brought from the container storage section 23 and automatic medicine containers 4 brought from the temporary container placement section. For example, the semi-automatic packaging operation may involve placing a manual medicine container 5 on one of three container holders 36 associated with one distribution unit 35, placing an automatic medicine container 4 brought from the container storage section 23 on another, and placing an automatic medicine container 4 brought from the temporary container placement section on the remaining one.

In this embodiment, the powdered medicine packaging device 1 is configured so that, depending on the setting operation performed in advance by the user, it is determined whether the packaging operation will be performed using two dispensing units 35 or using only one of the dispensing units 35, and the container holder 36 on which the medicine container to be used is placed is determined accordingly.

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

On the other hand, a setting may be adopted in which two automatic medicine containers 4 and one manual medicine container 5 are placed on the container holder 36 associated with one of the dispensing units 35. If this setting is adopted, the operation of placing the automatic medicine container 4 on the container holder 36 may not be performed unless the operation of placing the manual medicine container 5 on the container holder 36 is completed by the user's hand. This can improve safety.
That is, the user can select and use either one of the two different settings described above.

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

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

Once it is confirmed that the automatic medicine container 4 and the manual medicine container 5 are correctly placed on the container holder 36, the vibration table portion of the container holder 36 begins vibrating, and medicine is supplied from the automatic medicine container 4 and the manual medicine container 5 to the dispensing unit 35. At this time, similar to the operations described above, the feeder rotation operation that rotates the dispensing unit 35 and the medicine dividing operation that divides the medicine into individual doses are performed, and the medicine is supplied to the medicine packaging device one dose at a time.

In a packaging operation using a manual medicine container 5, such as the manual packaging operation or semi-automatic packaging operation described above, the user rotates the front door 34 upward (or moves the small window to the open position), manually places the manual medicine container 5 on the container holder 36, and closes the front door 34 (or moves the small window to the closed position) to perform the packaging operation. After the packaging operation is completed, the user rotates the front door 34 upward again (or moves the small window to the open position), opening the front of the medicine dividing area 13, and manually removes the manual medicine container 5.

Here, there is a risk that the user may forget to remove the manual medicine container 5 from inside the powder medicine packaging device 1 after performing the packaging operation. In particular, when the manual medicine container 5 is inserted and removed by opening and closing a small window rather than rotating the entire front door 34, it is likely that the manual medicine container 5 will be forgotten, as this does not require a major operation. If the user forgets to remove the manual medicine container 5, the manual medicine container 5 will remain placed on the designated container holder 36. In this case, there is no problem if the designated container holder 36 is not used in the subsequent packaging operation. However, if the designated container holder 36 is used, the forgotten manual medicine container 5 will get in the way of the packaging operation.

The powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is therefore capable of implementing a collection notification operation that prompts the user to collect any manual medicine containers 5 that they have forgotten to take. This collection notification operation will be described in detail below.

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

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

This recovery notification operation may be performed on the condition that it is detected that the manual medicine container 5 remains placed on the container holding table 36 during the subsequent packaging operation.
For example, when a packaging operation is performed after a manual packaging operation or a semi-automatic packaging operation has been previously performed, a determination operation may be performed immediately before operating the arm unit 30 in the subsequent packaging operation to determine whether the manual medicine container 5 used in the previous packaging operation is placed on the container holder 36. If this determination operation confirms that the manual medicine container 5 is placed on the container holder 36, a collection notification operation may be performed. In this case, the operation of moving the automatic medicine container 4 by the arm unit 30 may be temporarily interrupted, and the collection notification operation may be performed.

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

As described above, the powder medicine packaging device 1 (medicine dispensing device) of this embodiment has a container moving means (container moving unit), a powder medicine dispensing device (medicine dividing area) that dispenses powder medicine, and a container mounting device. The powder medicine dispensing device has a power-rotating distribution tray (distribution unit) and a medicine scraping device that discharges medicine from the distribution tray. The container mounting device is used to mount medicine containers (medicine containers) and includes a vibration table (vibration table section), a vibration means for vibrating the vibration table, a container holding means for temporarily fixing the medicine container to the vibration table, and a weight measuring means for directly or indirectly measuring the weight of the medicine container. The container moving means moves the medicine container from another location and places it on the vibration table, and the container holding means lifts and lowers the medicine container. This medicine dispensing device is characterized in that it is fixed to a vibration table, vibrates the vibration table to discharge medicine from the medicine discharge section, and can detect the amount of medicine discharged using a weight measuring means, and discharges medicine from medicine containers while rotating the distribution tray and deposits the medicine onto the distribution tray, and multiple container mounting devices are installed near the distribution tray, and a mixing and prescription operation is possible in which medicine containers containing different types of medicine are placed on the multiple container mounting devices and the different types of medicine are deposited onto the distribution tray, and when performing the mixing and prescription operation, it is possible to start vibration of the vibration table of the container mounting device on which the medicine containers are placed without waiting for all of the medicine containers to be placed on the container mounting devices.

The system also includes a container moving means, a powder medicine dispensing device that dispenses powder medicine, and a container mounting device. The powder medicine dispensing device includes a power-rotating distribution tray and a medicine scraping device that discharges medicine from the distribution tray. The container mounting device is used to mount the medicine container and includes a vibration table, a vibration means that vibrates the vibration table, a container holding means that temporarily fixes the medicine container to the vibration table, and a weight measuring means that directly or indirectly measures the weight of the medicine container. The container moving means moves the medicine container from another location and places it on the vibration table, the container holding means fixes the medicine container to the vibration table, and the vibration table is vibrated to discharge the medicine from the medicine discharge section, and the weight measuring means can detect the amount of medicine discharged. The medicine is removed from the medicine container while the distribution tray is rotating. This medicine dispensing device discharges medicines and deposits them into a distribution tray. Multiple container mounting devices are installed near the distribution tray, and a mixing and prescription operation is possible in which medicine containers containing different types of medicine are placed on the multiple container mounting devices and the different types of medicine are deposited into the distribution tray. It is also possible to perform a mixing and prescription operation in which more types of medicine than the number of container mounting devices installed near the distribution tray are deposited into the distribution tray. After all container mounting devices have medicine containers installed, when a predetermined amount of medicine has been discharged from one of the medicine containers, the discharged medicine container can be removed to empty the container mounting device, and another medicine container can be moved by a container moving means and placed in the empty container mounting device.

In other words, this medicine dispensing device removes a predetermined amount of powdered medicine from a powdered medicine storage container, divides it into a predetermined number of pieces, and then individually packages and discharges it. It includes a distribution unit that distributes the powdered medicine discharged from the powdered medicine storage container, a scraping device that scrapes out the powdered medicine fed into the distribution unit, and a container mounting device on which the powdered medicine storage container is placed and which acts on the powdered medicine storage container to discharge the powdered medicine from the powdered medicine storage container. The container mounting device has a vibration table section that vibrates to transmit vibrations to the powdered medicine storage container placed on the container mounting device. A container moving device is also provided for moving the powdered medicine storage container. One or more powdered medicines are placed on the distribution tray. This medicine dispensing device is characterized in that multiple container mounting devices are associated with it, and it is possible to load more types of powdered medicine into one dispensing tray than the number of container mounting devices associated with that tray.When performing this operation, the powdered medicine storage containers are placed on all of the container mounting devices, and when a predetermined amount of powdered medicine has been dispensed from one of the powdered medicine storage containers, the powdered medicine storage container from which the powdered medicine has been dispensed is removed from the container mounting device, a separate powdered medicine storage container is moved by the container moving device, and the separate powdered medicine storage container is placed on the container mounting device on which the powdered medicine storage container from which the powdered medicine has been dispensed was placed.

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

In addition, the powder medicine packaging device 1 (medicine dispensing device) of this embodiment has a container moving means, a powder medicine dispensing device that dispenses powder medicine, and a container mounting device. The powder medicine dispensing device has a distribution tray that rotates by power and a medicine scraping device that discharges medicine from the distribution tray. The container mounting device is used to mount medicine containers and has a vibration table, a vibration means that vibrates the vibration table, and a container holding means that temporarily fixes the medicine container to the vibration table. The container moving means moves the medicine container from another location and places it on the vibration table, the container holding means fixes the medicine container to the vibration table, and the vibration table is vibrated. This medicine dispensing device is capable of discharging medicine from the medicine discharge section by rotating the dispenser tray and detecting the amount of medicine discharged using a weight measuring means. The medicine is discharged from the medicine container while the dispenser tray is rotated and then deposited on the dispenser tray. The medicine container can be manually placed on the container mounting device by the user without using the container moving means. This medicine dispensing device is also characterized by the fact that if medicine containers placed by the user remain on the container mounting device even after all medicine containers placed on each container mounting means have finished discharging medicine, a specified notification is issued.

The powdered medicine packaging device 1 (medicine dispensing device) of this embodiment also features two or more distribution trays, multiple container mounting devices installed near the distribution trays, a mixing and prescribing operation in which medicine containers containing different types of medicine are placed on the multiple container mounting devices and the different types of medicine are poured into the distribution tray, and a mixing and prescribing operation in which more types of medicine than the number of container mounting devices installed near the distribution tray are poured into the distribution tray. After medicine containers have been placed on all container mounting devices, when a predetermined amount of medicine has been dispensed from one of the medicine containers, the dispensed medicine container can be removed to empty the container mounting device, and another medicine container can be moved using a container moving means and placed in the vacant container mounting device.

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

Similarly, this medicine dispensing device has a housing that houses a container moving means, a powder medicine dispensing device that dispenses powder medicine, and a container mounting device. The container moving means moves the medicine container from another location and places it on the vibration table, the container holding means secures the medicine container to the vibration table, and the vibration table is vibrated to discharge the medicine from the medicine discharge section, which then discharges the medicine from the medicine container and deposits it into the distribution tray. The housing has a door that allows medicine containers to be inserted and removed from the interior. The medicine container can also be manually placed on the container mounting device without using the container moving means. Multiple container mounting devices are installed near the distribution tray, allowing for a mixing and prescription operation in which medicine containers containing different types of medicine are placed on the multiple container mounting devices and the different types of medicine are deposited into the distribution tray. When performing a mixing and prescription operation and both placing the medicine container using the container moving means and manually placing the medicine container are necessary, the device allows the user to select which to perform first.

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

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

If powdered medicine adheres to this rubber (or resin) part, the powdered medicine will not be introduced into the medicine inlet 39. This could result in a problem where the amount of powdered medicine per packet is less than expected.

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

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

Furthermore, as described above, in powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, while a medicine container is placed on container holder 36, the vibration table portion of container holder 36 is vibrated to supply powder medicine from the medicine container to dispensing unit 35. As described above, a vibration control operation can be performed to change the vibration pattern of the vibration table portion depending on the type of powder medicine to be discharged, the discharge time, and the total discharge amount.
However, the vibration control operation of this embodiment is not limited to the above, and may be an operation that changes the vibration pattern depending on the temperature and humidity in the internal space (internal space of housing 10) of powder medicine packing device 1. When changing the vibration pattern depending on the temperature and humidity in the internal space of powder medicine packing device 1, a pulverizing operation (described in detail below) may be performed to pulverize the discharged lump powder medicine.

To explain in more detail, for example, if the humidity inside the housing 10 becomes high, it is conceivable that the powdered medicine will form clumps inside the automatic medicine container 4 held in the container storage unit 23. In this case, even if the vibration table unit performs a vibration operation while the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36, there is a possibility that the powdered medicine will not be discharged from inside the automatic medicine container 4. In other words, there is a possibility that the clumped powdered medicine that has reached the vicinity of the medicine discharge outlet 68 inside the automatic medicine container 4 will get caught on the medicine discharge outlet 68, etc., and will not be discharged to the outside from the medicine discharge outlet 68.
Furthermore, if the powdered medicine clumps inside the automatic medicine container 4 and these clumps are relatively small, the clumped powdered medicine may fall from the medicine discharge port 68 onto the dispensing unit 35. In this case, even if the dispensing unit 35 is rotated as described above, there is a possibility that the powdered medicine may not be spread evenly over the top surface of the dispensing unit 35.

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

For this reason, for example, the RFID tag attached to the medicine container may be configured as an RFID tag with a temperature and humidity sensor capable of detecting temperature and humidity, and a vibration control operation may be performed to change the vibration pattern when at least one of the detected temperature and humidity is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference value (or less than the predetermined reference value). As a result, when the humidity is equal to or greater than the reference value and the powdered medicine is likely to form clumps, the vibration level of the vibration table may be increased above the normal vibration level. This allows the strong vibration to break down the clumps of powdered medicine inside the medicine container into powder, allowing it to be discharged smoothly.
The above-mentioned reference values are values determined through experiments conducted in advance, and are assigned to each drug type, and are the temperature or humidity values at which each drug type is likely to form clumps.

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

Furthermore, the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of performing a pulverization operation using the scraping device 37. This pulverization operation involves bringing the scraping device 37 into contact with a lump of powder medicine that has fallen into the dispensing unit 35, thereby pulverizing the lump of powder medicine. This operation may be performed when a lump of powder medicine has fallen. In this case, the discrimination operation for determining whether a lump of powder medicine has fallen may be a discrimination operation using an image captured by the camera member 40 described above. In other words, an image processing system may be further provided in the powder medicine packaging device 1, and an operation for analyzing the image captured by this image processing system may be performed. Furthermore, it may be determined that a lump of powder medicine has fallen when a sudden change in weight is detected during the weight measurement operation described above.
Specifically, this pulverization operation is performed after the medicine container is placed on the container holder 36 and the vibration table section is caused to vibrate. In other words, this operation is performed after the powdered medicine is dropped from the medicine container onto the dispensing unit 35.

In this pulverization operation, the arm member 171 of the scraping device 37 is rotated downward to bring the peripheral portion of the scraping plate 172 into contact with the powdered medicine on the distribution unit 35, and the arm member 171 of the scraping device 37 is rotated upward to move it away from the powdered medicine on the distribution unit 35. This operation is repeated multiple times (or each operation is performed once). In other words, the scraping plate 172 is brought into contact with the mass of powdered medicine from above, thereby crushing the mass of powdered medicine.
This operation may be performed while rotating the distribution unit 35. More specifically, the rotation speed of the distribution unit 35 when performing the pulverization operation may be the same as when spreading the powdered medicine over the entire upper surface, or may be faster or slower. However, from the viewpoint of more reliably crushing the powdered medicine clumps, it is preferable to perform the pulverization operation by the scraping device 37 while rotating the distribution unit 35 very slowly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The display switch button 361 is a button for switching the medicines displayed in the medicine display unit 360. Each time the display switch button 361 is pressed, it switches between a state in which medicines stored in automatic medicine containers 4 held by the container storage unit 23 are displayed and a state in which medicines stored in automatic medicine containers 4 stored on an external management shelf are displayed.
When the medicines stored in the container storage unit 23 are displayed, this display switch button 361 displays "Display outside management shelf" (see FIG. 22), and when the medicines stored on an external management shelf are displayed, it displays "Display inside management shelf." When the display switch button 361 is pressed and the display in the medicine display unit 360 is switched, the text displayed on the display switch button 361 is also switched.
In other words, the display switching button 361 does not display information indicating the storage location of the medicine currently being displayed, but rather displays information indicating the storage location of the medicine that will be displayed after being pressed.

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

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

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

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

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

The capacity input section 371 is a section (approximately square in the drawing) that has an input section for inputting the total amount of medicine to be used in the packaging operation, and is a section for inputting the total value of the amount per dose. For example, if the medicine supplied to the distribution unit 35 is to be packaged into three packages, the total amount of the three packages is input.
When an input is made to the capacity input section 371, the total value of the dosage is automatically calculated and compared with the input value. If the comparison shows that the input value and the total value of the dosage are different and the state is currently set to "allocation by real number" (details will be described later), the state is automatically switched to "allocation by ratio" (details will be described later).

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

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

The dosage input display section 373 displays information indicating the number of packets in the packaging operation in the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)), whereas in the non-uniform display state (see FIG. 24(b)), it functions as a section for inputting the amount of medicine per packet.
More specifically, in the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)), a predetermined maximum number (eight in this embodiment) of rectangular input sections are displayed, of which only the number of packages to be packaged in the packaging operation (three in FIG. 24) is displayed filled in a different color. In other words, this input section filled in a different color corresponds to the packaging of one package in the packaging operation. Each time this input section filled in a different color is pressed, it can be switched between a selected state and a deselected state.
As a result of the above, in the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)), all input sections are filled with a predetermined color, and it is not possible to input values.

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

As described above, the uniform/ununiform switching button 374 can be used to switch between the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)) and the ununiform display state (see FIG. 24(b)). That is, each time the uniform/ununiform switching button 374 is pressed, the display state switches between the uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)) and the ununiform display state (see FIG. 24(b)).
When the screen is turned on, it is in a uniform display state (see FIG. 24(a)).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The clear button 379 is a button used to return the input value to the capacity input field 371, the input value to the single dose input display field 373, and the selection of whether to "allocate by actual number" or "allocate by ratio" on the powder medicine cassette packet quantity setting screen to the state they were in when the screen was first launched.

As described above, the powder medicine cassette packet quantity setting screen allows you to set the amount of medicine to be packaged so that each packet contains an equal amount of medicine, or to set the amount of medicine to be packaged so that each packet contains an uneven amount of medicine.
For example, when setting the device to package medicine so that the amount of medicine in each packet is equal, the dosage (the amount of medicine to be used in the packaging operation) is input into the volume input section 371 in the equal display state (see FIG. 24(a)). In this case, the amount of medicine in each packet is automatically calculated so that the amount of medicine in each packet is the same. Therefore, the setting is completed by inputting the dosage into the volume input section 371 and pressing the enter button 376.
On the other hand, when setting the medicine to be divided into packets so that the amount of medicine per packet is unequal, the "distribute by actual number" state is selected in the unequal display state (see FIG. 24(b)), and the dose is input into the capacity input section 371, and the amount of medicine for one packet is input into each input section of the dose input display section 373. In other words, the amount of medicine is input for each packet. Furthermore, when inputting, the input value in the capacity input section 371 and the total value of the values input into each input section of the dose input display section 373 are input so that they are equal. Then, when input is complete, the enter button 376 is pressed, and the setting is completed.

As described above, the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of automatically switching to "allocation by ratio" when the input value in the volume input unit 371 differs from the total dose in "allocation by actual number" mode; automatically switching between "allocation by actual number" and "allocation by ratio" depending on the input status into the volume input unit 371 and the dose input display unit 373; notifying the user when the input value into the dose input display unit 373 does not match the input value into the volume input unit 371; and prompting the user to reflect the input dose in the value into the volume input unit 371. This prevents incorrect settings from being made due to input errors by the user.

Furthermore, as has been described in detail so far, in the powder medicine packaging device 1 of this embodiment, the automatic medicine container 4 is placed on the container holding table 36, and the container holding table 36 has a vibration table section, and when the vibration table section vibrates, vibrations are transmitted to the automatic medicine container 4 placed on the container holding table 36, which acts on the automatic medicine container 4 to discharge the powder medicine from the automatic medicine container 4; however, it is also necessary to consider the influence of unexpected vibrations and the like due to the ambient environment of the device main body.
More specifically, while powder medicine packaging device 1 is distributing (supplying) powder medicine from automatic medicine container 4 to dispensing unit 35, vibrations occurring nearby (for example, vibrations caused by a person bumping into a wall in the room where powder medicine packaging device 1 is installed) may cause the entire powder medicine packaging device 1 to detect shaking, and the weight measuring means of container holding base 36 may mistakenly detect the shaking as weight, which may result in the distribution of powder medicine being completed earlier than the scheduled distribution time.

To address this issue, after powder medicine packaging device 1 has completed distributing powder medicine from automatic medicine container 4 to dispensing unit 35 based on prescription information, it performs a weight check using the weight measuring means of container holder 36 to confirm whether the desired amount of powder medicine has been discharged from automatic medicine container 4 to dispensing unit 35. At this time, it is preferable to allow a certain period of time for stabilization to occur, which is not affected by ambient vibrations, before performing the weight check measurement (it is preferable to perform the gravity check measurement operation after a predetermined period of time has elapsed). If this weight check reveals that the prescribed amount has not been discharged, it may issue a warning, and a screen may be displayed prompting the operator to either retrieve the medicine due to an abnormal termination, or to select whether to continue the packaging operation.
That is, if it is determined as a result of the gravity confirmation measurement operation that the prescribed amount has not been dispensed, a notification operation may be performed to notify the operator of this fact. This notification operation may be an audio notification operation or an operation to display an image on the operation display unit 3. Furthermore, as part of this notification operation, an operation may be performed to display a screen on the operation display unit 3 to prompt the operator to select whether to recover the medicine on the dispensing unit 35 and terminate the operation abnormally, or to continue the packaging operation as is.

As another example, if it is found by weight confirmation using the weight measuring means that the amount of medicine dispensed is not the prescribed amount, a possible method is to calculate the difference between the amount actually dispensed and the amount dispensed based on the prescription, and dispense the calculated amount as the shortfall.
This means that even if an error occurs in the distribution of powdered medicine due to unexpected vibrations to the device body caused by the surrounding environment, it is possible to alert the operator or automatically add the missing amount, making it possible to distribute powdered medicine more accurately and allowing the packaging operation to continue without stopping.

Specifically, if it is determined that the prescribed amount of medicine has not been dispensed, the prescribed amount cannot be packaged, and normally, the packaging operation must be stopped and restarted from the beginning. However, by adopting the above-described means, it is not necessary to restart the packaging operation from the beginning. Instead, an additional dispensing operation for the missing amount is performed following the already performed drug dispensing operation, and the operations following the drug dividing operation described above can be performed continuously. Furthermore, since the drug dispensing operation for the missing amount is performed following the drug dispensing operation, the feeder rotation operation that rotates the distribution unit 35, which is performed in conjunction with the drug dispensing operation, can also be performed without interruption.
In other words, even if the medicine is not discharged in the prescribed amount during the first discharge operation, the series of operations can be carried out without stopping, just as if the discharge operation had been carried out normally (discharged in the prescribed amount), and the medicine can be packaged in the prescribed amount.

1. Powder medicine packaging device (medicine dispensing device)
4. Automatic medicine container (powder medicine container)
5. Manual medicine container (powder medicine container)
35 Distribution unit 37 Scraper device 36 Container holder (container placement device)

Claims (1)

A medicine dispensing device having a powdered medicine storage container containing powdered medicine, a container holder, a dispensing unit, a cleaning device, a container moving means , a control unit, an operation display unit, and information reading means provided near the container holder ,
The medicine dispensing device discharges powdered medicine from a powdered medicine storage container placed on a container holding stand to a dispensing unit, and performs a cleaning operation of the dispensing unit using a cleaning device,
The cleaning device has a suction port that is located close to the dispensing unit and sucks in the remaining medicine while the dispensing unit is rotated at a predetermined speed,
The powdered medicine container includes a manual medicine container into which a predetermined amount of powdered medicine has been manually weighed in advance by an operator, and the manual medicine container has an RFID tag;
This is a medicine dispensing device in which an operator selects one or more of the following settings (1) or (2) on an operation display unit as the timing for performing a cleaning operation of the dispensing unit by the cleaning device.
(1) When an operator places a manual medicine container on a container holder by hand without using a container moving means, and the control unit performs an information reading operation to read the information stored in the RFID tag of the manual medicine container using an information reading means , determines that the type of medicine provided in the prescription included in the prescription data matches the type of medicine stored in the manual medicine container placed on the container holder, and terminates the dispensing of powdered medicine,
(2) When an operator places a manual medicine container on a container holding stand by hand without using a container moving means, and the control unit performs an information reading operation to read the information stored in the RFID tag of the manual medicine container using an information reading means , determines that the type of medicine provided in the prescription included in the prescription data matches the type of medicine stored in the manual medicine container placed on the container holding stand, terminates the dispensing of powdered medicine, and then begins dispensing powdered medicine according to a new prescription.