Medicine dispensing apparatus, method of dispensing medicines, medicine dispensing program and storage medium
Inventors
Yuyama, Hiroyuki • Tanaka, Tooru • Sugimoto, Tomohiro • Terada, Tetsuya • Miwa, Kento
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-10045914-B2
Publication Date
2018-08-14
Expiration Date
Abstract
Provided is a medicine dispensing apparatus including a plurality of medicine cassettes for respectively dispensing desired types of medicines. The medicine dispensing apparatus allocates medicine information on a medicine to be dispensed to one of the medicine cassettes when the medicine information is given. Then, the medicine dispensing apparatus drives the medicine cassette according to a predetermined driving condition corresponding to the medicine information allocated to the medicine cassette to dispense the medicine from the medicine cassette. By using the medicine dispensing apparatus, it is possible to reduce a user work for dispensing the desired types of medicines.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to a medicine dispensing apparatus that includes a plurality of medicine cassettes comprising specified medicine cassettes and unspecified medicine cassettes. An allocating portion selects one medicine cassette from the plurality of specified medicine cassettes or from the plurality of unspecified medicine cassettes and allocates medicine information to the selected medicine cassette based upon medicine information pertaining to medicine to be dispensed. If no specified medicine cassette contains medicine corresponding to the medicine to be dispensed, the allocating portion allocates the medicine information to an unspecified medicine cassette.
A driving control portion drives the selected medicine cassette to adjust a driving condition according to a physical characteristic of the medicine corresponding to the allocated medicine information. The allocation and driving control are tied to prescription data and/or medicine information obtained from a one-dimensional code or a two-dimensional code, and to driving correspondence information linking medicine information to driving conditions.
The document further extends display-state control during dispensing and remaining-medicine collecting, including calculation of a medicine shortage amount from prescription quantity versus already dispensed quantity, selectable display of the shortage amount versus a short-supply indication, completion detection, mid-flow termination branching, continuous-use display behavior with allocation of the same medicine type to the same cassette, and exceptional display interrupt handling when abnormality and prescription-deleting statuses occur.
Claims Coverage
The independent claims comprise three claims. Across these claims, the core coverage comprises selecting between specified and unspecified medicine cassettes, allocating medicine information, and driving the selected medicine cassette to adjust a driving condition based on a physical characteristic of the corresponding medicine.
Specified and unspecified cassette allocation based on medicine information
Allocating medicine information to one medicine cassette selected from a plurality of specified medicine cassettes or a plurality of unspecified medicine cassettes based upon medicine information pertaining to medicine to be dispensed; allocating to an unspecified medicine cassette if no specified medicine cassette contains medicine corresponding to the medicine to be dispensed.
Driving condition adjustment based on physical characteristic
Driving the one medicine cassette to adjust a driving condition of the one medicine cassette according to a physical characteristic of the medicine corresponding to the medicine information allocated to the one medicine cassette.
Program storage for cassette allocation and driving control
Storing a medicine dispensing program on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the program allowing a computer to execute allocating medicine information to one medicine cassette and driving the one medicine cassette to adjust a driving condition according to a physical characteristic of the medicine corresponding to the allocated medicine information.
The independent claims cover allocation of medicine information using a specified/unspecified cassette selection rule with an unspecified fallback when no specified cassette matches, and driving a selected cassette to adjust a driving condition based on a physical characteristic of the corresponding medicine. The storage medium claim covers a program implementing these steps.
Stated Advantages
Documented Applications
No documented applications found
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