JP7503736B2 - Drug placement confirmation system, drug placement confirmation method, and drug placement confirmation program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a drug placement confirmation system that confirms whether drug packaging is correctly placed in a drug setting device such as a medication calendar or a medication calendar. The present invention also relates to a drug placement confirmation method and a drug placement confirmation program.

Elderly patients (those taking the drug) and those whose symptoms have passed the acute phase often receive treatment at home. Patients who do not require emergency treatment, such as those with hypertension or hyperlipidemia, also often receive treatment at home. Patients who receive treatment at home must take their medication based on self-management.
For example, if a doctor's prescription calls for taking medication A and B in the morning, medication B at noon, and twice the amount of medication A and C after dinner, the patient needs to take the designated type and amount of medication from a medicine box or similar at the designated time and take them themselves.
However, in reality, people sometimes take the wrong type or amount of medicine, forget to take it, or end up taking the wrong medicine twice.
In particular, for elderly patients or patients with reduced energy, it is difficult to take out the prescribed amount of a prescribed type of medicine from a medicine box, etc., and they may not take the medicine correctly.

As a means for solving this problem, a device called a medication calendar or a medicine calendar has been proposed in Patent Documents 1 and 2.
The invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 provides a medicine containing section for containing medicine in a calendar.
In the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, four medicine containers are arranged below the date. Each of the four medicine containers corresponds to a timing (method of administration) of administration, and according to the description in Patent Document 1, they are labeled "morning,""afternoon,""evening," and "before the shower."
The medicine that corresponds to the timing of taking the medicine is stored in the medicine storage section of the medication calendar. When the time to take the medicine arrives, the medicine is taken out of the corresponding medicine storage section and taken.

The above-mentioned medication calendars tend to be used not only in private homes, but also in nursing homes for the elderly and hospitals with inpatient facilities.

JP 2001-258999 A JP 2013-248873 A

The medication calendar disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a medication setting device for setting medications, and is installed in the patient's home, a care facility, or the like.
A pharmacist from a visiting pharmacy may visit a patient's home or a nursing facility to replenish medications in the medication storage section of the medication calendar.
There are also cases where a pharmacist places medication in the medication placement section of a medication calendar at their own pharmacy (dispensing room) and then takes the medication calendar with the medication still placed in it to the patient's home or care facility.
As for the format of medication calendars, there are no specific legal requirements, and each facility uses a variety of calendars.
In either format, the medication calendar has multiple medication locations, each in a specific location determined based on the recipient and the timing of the medication.
Representative formats of medication calendars (shown in the figure as "medication calendar") are of three types as shown in Figures 15, 16, and 17.

The first type is a personal medication calendar 100 as shown in FIG. 15, which has a matrix shape (row and column shape) composed of an axis of days of the week and an axis of timing of medication.
Specifically, it is in a matrix format with the seven days of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) on the vertical axis and "morning,""afternoon,""evening," and "before bed" on the horizontal axis.
The personal medication calendar 100 is for exclusive use by one recipient, and contains, for example, the medications that the recipient Muramatsu takes in a week, sorted by day of the week and the timing of taking the medication.
For example, after lunch on Wednesday, the recipient, Muramatsu, takes the medicine stored in the lunch position in the Wednesday row.
Many personal medication calendars 100 use one week as a unit, but the number of days that constitute one unit is arbitrary, and may be in units of 10 days, two weeks, 28 days, or the like.

The second type is a daily medication calendar (labeled "medicine calendar") 101 for multiple recipients as shown in Figure 16. The daily medication calendar 101 has the days of the week when medication should be taken written in large letters, like a daily calendar. The daily medication calendar 101 also has the medicine containers arranged in a matrix based on the recipient's name and the timing of medication.
Specifically, the seven names - Muramatsu, Hayata, Arashi, Fuji, Ide, Kirishima, and Morohoshi - are on the vertical axis, and "morning use,""afternoonuse,""eveninguse," and "before bed" are on the horizontal axis, creating a matrix shape.
The daily medication calendar 101 is for joint use by a plurality of recipients, and contains, for example, medications to be taken by seven recipients in a day, sorted by recipient name and medication timing.
For example, on the morning of the day, seven people, Muramatsu, Hayata, Arashi, Fuji, Ide, Kirishima, and Morohoshi, will take the medicine stored in their "morning" medicine containers. After lunch, the seven people will take the medicine stored in their "afternoon" medicine containers.
The daily medication calendar 101 for multiple recipients is used in nursing homes and hospitals. The number of recipients per unit of the daily medication calendar 101 is arbitrary, and may be 5 or 10.

The third type is a medication calendar by medication time point (shown as a "medication calendar" in the figure) 102 for multiple recipients as shown in FIG.
Specifically, the timing of taking the medicine is written in large letters at the top, such as "Morning Use," and 28 names are listed, including Hongo, Ichimonji, ... Tojo, and Sano.
The medication calendar by time of administration 102 is used by multiple users in nursing homes, hospitals, etc. For example, the medications to be taken by each of 28 users at a specific time of the day are stored by user name.
For example, on the morning of that day, 28 people whose names appear on the calendar will take the medicine contained in the medicine container labeled with their name.
When all patients have taken their medication, the medication calendar by time of administration 102 is removed, and a daytime medication calendar by time of administration 102 is prepared.
In the medication calendar by time point 102, the number of recipients that is counted as one unit is arbitrary, and may be 10 or 30 recipients.

As mentioned above, medication calendars 100, 101, 102 come in several formats.
For example, the medication calendar disclosed in Patent Document 1 is installed in the patient's home or a care facility, and a pharmacist from a visiting pharmacy makes regular visits to the patient's home or care facility to replenish medication in the medication storage section.
In addition, if a pharmacist places medications in the medication placement sections of medication calendars 100, 101, and 102 at his or her own pharmacy (dispensing room) and then takes medication calendars 100, 101, and 102 with the medications placed therein to the patient's home or nursing facility, the pharmacist will place the specified medication in each medication placement section in accordance with the format of medication calendars 100, 101, and 102.
However, as described above, there are a number of different types of medication calendars 100, 101, and 102, which can be confusing and lead to mistakes.

The present invention focuses on the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and aims to develop a drug placement confirmation system, method, and computer program for checking whether drug packages are correctly placed in drug setting devices such as medication calendars.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a pharmaceutical setting device that holds a plurality of pharmaceutical packages, and a photographing means, the pharmaceutical packages each contain a single dose of pharmaceutical to be taken by a specific recipient, the pharmaceutical setting device has a plurality of pharmaceutical containers that are distributed in a plane and hold pharmaceutical packages for recipients and timing of taking the pharmaceutical package corresponding to the pharmaceutical containers, pharmaceutical package identification information that identifies the pharmaceutical package is attached to a visible position of the pharmaceutical package, the pharmaceutical setting device is attached to a visible position with a set device identification mark that includes information that identifies the pharmaceutical setting device, and at least one of the pharmaceutical setting device and the pharmaceutical package is photographed. At each visible position, drug package/set-tool-related information relating to the relationship between the drug package and the drug set tool that should hold it, and set position-related information relating to the position of the drug package to be held in the drug set tool are attached, and the state in which each drug package is contained in the drug storage section of the drug set tool can be photographed by the photographing means, and the drug placement confirmation system is characterized in that it determines whether each drug package held in the photographed drug set tool is properly contained in a genuine drug set tool based on the photographed drug package-specific information, set tool-specific display, drug package/set tool-related information, set position-related information, and the position of the photographed drug package.

It is desirable that the medicine setting device has a plurality of medicine containing sections, which are distributed in a plane and each of which is located at a specific position determined based on the recipient and the timing of administration.
It is desirable to determine whether or not each drug package held in the photographed drug set device is properly stored in a position corresponding to the legitimate user and timing of administration of the drug set device based on the position of the photographed drug package.

The "medicinal package identification information" is sufficient as long as it can identify the pharmaceutical package, and may be a symbol, code, bar code, etc. It is desirable that the "medicinal package identification information" is information that can identify which patient will take the pharmaceutical and when.
Information that identifies which patient a medication is for may include, for example, the patient's name or nickname, a patient card number or other number such as a My Number, or a symbolic, readable pattern such as a barcode or two-dimensional barcode.
The same applies to "information specifying when the medication is to be taken," which may be, for example, text such as morning or afternoon, numbers, or readable symbols such as bar codes or two-dimensional bar codes.

The drug package/setting tool related information and the setting position related information are attached to the drug package, and the drug package/setting tool related information may include information that identifies the drug setting tool that should hold the drug package, and the setting position related information may include information on the position of the drug package that should be held in the drug setting tool.

There may be a medicine package arrangement information storage means, which stores combination information of the medicine package and the medicine set device in which the medicine package is held, and the relative positions of the medicine package and the medicine set device held in the medicine set device, and the medicine package/set device related information and set position related information are attached to the medicine package, and information may be read from the medicine package arrangement information storage means based on the medicine package/set device related information and set position related information.

There may be a medicine package arrangement information storage means, which stores combination information of the medicine package and the medicine set device in which the medicine package is held, and the relative positions of the medicine package and the medicine set device held in the medicine set device, and the medicine package/set device related information and set position related information are attached to the medicine set device, and information may be read from the medicine package arrangement information storage means based on the medicine package/set device related information and set position related information.

Another aspect of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems is a drug placement confirmation system that includes a drug set device that holds multiple drug packages, a photographing means, and a drug package arrangement information storage means, the drug set device has multiple drug storage sections that are distributed in a plane and hold drug packages for users and drug package timings that correspond to the drug storage sections, drug package identification information that identifies the drug package is attached to a visible position of the drug package, the drug set device is attached to a visible position of a set device identification display that includes information that identifies the drug set device, there is a drug package arrangement information storage means, the drug package arrangement information storage means stores combination information of the drug package and the drug set device in which the drug package is held, and the relative positions of the drug package and the drug set device held in the drug set device, the photographing means can photograph the state in which each drug package is contained in the drug storage section of the drug set device, information is read from the drug package arrangement information storage means based on the photographed drug package identification information and the set device identification display, and the position of the photographed drug package is compared to determine whether each drug package held in the photographed drug set device is properly contained in a genuine drug set device.

Yet another aspect for solving the above-mentioned problems is a drug setting device that holds multiple drug packages, a drug package arrangement information storage means, an imaging means, and a comparison means, the drug packages each containing one dose of drug to be taken by a specific recipient, and a recipient identification mark for identifying the recipient and a dose timing identification mark for identifying the timing of taking the drug are written in a visible position on the drug package, the drug setting device is provided with a set device identification mark for identifying the drug setting device in a visible position, the drug setting device has multiple drug storage sections, the multiple drug storage sections are distributed in a plane and are each located in a specific position determined based on the recipient and the dose timing, drug packages for the recipient and the dose timing corresponding to the drug storage sections are held, and the drug package arrangement information storage means stores information about each of the drug storage sections corresponding to the drug storage sections of the drug setting device. This drug placement confirmation system is characterized in that it stores correct position information of drug packages when they are correctly stored for multiple drug set devices, can photograph the state in which each drug package is stored in the drug storage section of the drug set device using an imaging means, identifies the photographed drug set device from the photographed set device identification display, obtains actual position information of each drug package held in the drug set device from the recipient identification display and dosage timing identification display of the photographed drug package and the position of the photographed drug package, identifies the correct position information of the drug set device identified based on the set device identification display from the multiple correct position information stored in the drug package placement information storage means, and determines by a comparison means whether each drug package held in the photographed drug set device is correctly stored in a position corresponding to the recipient and dosage timing of the drug set device.

Examples of "user-specific markings" that may be displayed on the drug packaging include the patient's name or nickname, a patient card number or other number such as a My Number, or a symbolic, readable pattern such as a barcode or two-dimensional barcode.
The same applies to "dose timing specification markings," which may include text such as morning or afternoon, numbers, or symbolic, readable patterns such as bar codes or two-dimensional bar codes.
The "taker specific indication" and the "taker timing specific indication" may be combined into a single barcode or two-dimensional barcode, etc.
The same applies to the set tool identification marking, which may be a textual display such as "For Muramatsu-san,""For Fujita Clinic's morning use,""For Fujita Clinic's Monday use,""For Rokko Nursing Home's morning use," and "For Sanno Nursing Home's Monday use." The set tool identification marking may also be a number or symbol uniquely assigned by the hospital or pharmacy. Furthermore, the set tool identification marking may be a symbolized, readable pattern such as a barcode or two-dimensional barcode.

In the above-mentioned aspect, it is desirable that the medicine package arrangement information storage means stores information regarding the layout of a state in which each medicine package is correctly accommodated in the corresponding medicine storage section of the medicine set device as regular position information for the multiple medicine set devices, obtains information on the layout of each actual medicine package held in the medicine set device from the photographed recipient specific display and dosage timing specific display and their positions, identifies regular position information of the medicine set device identified based on the set device specific display from the photographed regular position information stored in the medicine package arrangement information storage means, and compares the information on the layout of each actual medicine package with the identified regular position information by the comparison means.

In each of the above aspects, it is desirable that the medicine package placement information storage means includes information on medicine containers that should be empty, and that an alert is issued when the image capturing means captures an image of a medicine container that should be empty and contains a medicine package.

In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that the medicine setting device is provided with an empty room indicator in a visible position to identify the medicine storage section that should be empty, the empty room indicator is photographed by the photographing means to identify the medicine storage section that should be empty, and an alert is issued when the photographing means photographs a medicine storage section that should be empty and contains a medicine package.

Another aspect for solving the same problem is a drug placement confirmation system that has a drug setting device that holds multiple drug packages and a photographing means, the drug packages are packaged in individual doses of drugs to be taken by a specific user, and a user identification mark that identifies the user and a dosage timing specific mark that identifies the timing of taking the drug are written in a visible position on the drug package, the drug setting device has multiple drug storage sections that are distributed in a plane and hold drug packages for users and dosage timings corresponding to the drug storage sections, the drug setting device has vacant room marks in visible positions that identify the drug storage sections that should be empty, the vacant room marks are photographed by the photographing means to identify the drug storage sections that should be empty, and an alert is issued when the photographing means photographs a drug package in a drug storage section that should be empty.

In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that the drug setting device has a visible drug storage section identification display that identifies each drug storage section, and the drug packaging has a drug storage section designation display that identifies the drug storage section to be held, and that the drug storage section identification display and the drug storage section designation display are photographed on the same screen by an imaging means, and the two are compared to determine whether each drug packaging held in the drug setting device is correctly stored in a position corresponding to the user of the drug setting device and the timing of taking the drug.

Another aspect for solving the same problem is a drug placement confirmation system that has a drug setting device that holds multiple drug packages and a photographing means, the drug packages are packaged in individual doses of drugs to be taken by a specific user, and a user identification mark that identifies the user and a dosage timing identification mark that identifies the timing of taking the drug are written in a visible position on the drug package, the drug setting device has multiple drug storage sections that are distributed in a plane and hold drug packages for users and dosage timings corresponding to the drug storage sections, there is a visible drug storage section identification mark that identifies each drug storage section, the photographing means can photograph the state in which each drug package is contained in the drug storage section of the drug setting device, the photographing means photographs the drug storage section identification mark and the drug storage section designation mark on the same screen, and the two are compared to determine whether each drug package held in the drug setting device is correctly contained in a position corresponding to the user and dosage timing of the drug setting device.

Another aspect for solving the same problem is a drug placement confirmation system that includes a drug setting device that holds multiple drug packages and a photographing means, the drug packages each contain one dose of a drug to be taken by a specific recipient, the drug setting device has multiple drug storage sections that are distributed in a plane and hold drug packages for recipients and drug timings corresponding to the drug storage sections, set position related information related to the position of the drug packages to be held in the drug setting device is attached to a visible position of the drug packages, the photographing means can photograph the state in which each drug package is contained in the drug storage section of the drug setting device, and whether each drug package held in the photographed drug setting device is properly contained in the drug setting device is determined based on the photographed set position related information and the position of the photographed drug package.

In each of the above-mentioned aspects, it is desirable that the medicine storage section of the medicine setting device is in the shape of a pocket that allows the interior to be seen through, that a part of a figure is illustrated on the medicine storage section, and that a part of a figure is also illustrated on the medicine packaging, and that when the medicine packaging is correctly placed in a position corresponding to the recipient of the medicine setting device and the timing of taking the medicine, the figure on the medicine storage section and the figure on the medicine packaging combine to complete a specific figure.

A method for determining whether a medicine set device is correctly stored in a position corresponding to the user and the timing of taking the medicine using the medicine placement confirmation system of each of the above aspects, in which the medicine set device is divided into multiple sections, photographed by a photographing means in a predetermined order, and sequentially compared with the correct position information stored in the medicine package placement information storage means.

Another aspect for solving the same problem is a drug placement confirmation program at least partially stored in a terminal equipped with an imaging means and a computer, and used by the terminal alone or in conjunction with another computer to confirm the placement of drug packaging in a drug set device, the drug packaging contains one dose of drug to be taken by a specific recipient, and a recipient identification mark for identifying the recipient and a dose timing identification mark for identifying the timing of taking the drug are written in a visible position on the drug packaging, the drug set device is provided with a set device identification mark for identifying the drug set device in a visible position, the drug set device has a plurality of drug storage sections, the plurality of drug storage sections are distributed in a plane and hold drug packaging for a recipient and a dose timing corresponding to the drug storage section, the computer of the imaging means or another computer has a drug package placement information storage means, and the drug package placement information storage means stores information on the drug package placement information. The information storage means stores, for a plurality of drug set devices, correct position information of the drug packages when each drug package is correctly stored in the corresponding drug storage section of the drug set device, the imaging means can image the state in which each drug package is stored in the drug storage section of the drug set device, the imaged drug set device is identified from the imaged set device identification display, real position information of each drug package held in the drug set device is obtained from the user identification display and the dosage timing identification display of the imaged drug package and the position of the imaged drug package, the correct position information of the drug set device identified based on the set device identification display is identified from the plurality of correct position information stored in the drug package arrangement information storage means, and it is determined whether each drug package held in the imaged drug set device is correctly stored in a position corresponding to the user and dosage timing of the drug set device.

Yet another aspect for solving the same problem is a drug placement confirmation program at least a part of which is stored in a terminal equipped with an imaging means and a computer, and which confirms the placement of drug packaging in a drug setting device in the terminal alone or in conjunction with another computer, the drug packaging is packaged with one dose of drug to be taken by a specific recipient, the drug setting device has a plurality of drug storage sections, the plurality of drug storage sections are distributed in a plane and drug packaging for a recipient and timing of taking the drug corresponding to the drug storage section is held, drug packaging identification information identifying the drug packaging is attached in a visible position on the drug packaging, and the drug setting device is provided with a setting information including information identifying the drug setting device in a visible position. A drug placement confirmation program characterized in that a drug package identification display is attached, and at least one of the drug set device and the drug package is provided at a visible position with drug package/set device related information relating to the relationship between the drug package and the drug set device that should hold it, and set position related information relating to the position of the drug package to be held in the drug set device, the state in which each drug package is contained in the drug storage section of the drug set device can be photographed by the photographing means, and whether each drug package held in the photographed drug set device is properly contained in a genuine drug set device is determined based on the photographed drug package identification information, set device identification display, drug package/set device related information, set position related information, and the position of the photographed drug package.

The drug placement confirmation system, method, and computer program of the present invention make it possible to confirm whether drug packaging is correctly contained in the drug setting device.

FIG. 2A is a front view of a personal medication calendar used in an embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which no medication packaging is held thereon, and FIG. 2B is a front view of the medication packaging. 4A and 4B are perspective views of a medicine packaging strip dispensed from a medicine packaging device. 1A is an explanatory diagram showing the situation when determining whether or not the drug packaging is properly contained in a genuine drug set device, using the personal medication calendar of FIG. 1 as the subject, and includes a front view of the personal medication calendar with the drug packaging held therein, and FIG. 1B is an enlarged view of a portion of the personal medication calendar. (a) shows the monitor screen of the photographing device, (b) to (d) are monitor screens when photographing a personal medication calendar with the photographing device, (b) shows a state in which photographing is possible, and (c) and (d) show a state in which a photographing error occurs. 1 is a block diagram of a medicine placement confirmation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a front view of a multiple-person medication calendar used in another embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which no medication packages are held, and FIG. 2B is a front view of the medication packages. FIG. 7A is a front view of the multi-person medication calendar of FIG. 6 showing a state in which drug packages are held, and FIG. FIG. 10A is a front view of a multiple-person medication calendar used in yet another embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which no medication packages are held, and FIG. 10B is a front view of the medication packages. FIG. 9A is a front view of the personal medication calendar of FIG. 8 showing a state in which a medication package is held, and FIG. 9B is an enlarged view of a portion thereof. 13A is a front view of a personal medication calendar used in yet another embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which no medication packages are held thereon, and FIG. 13B is a front view of a medication package arrangement information storage means. 11A is a front view of the personal medication calendar of FIG. 10 with a medicine package held therein, and FIG. 11B is an enlarged view of a portion thereof. 12A and 12B are detailed views showing the medicine storage section and its vicinity of the personal medication calendar of FIG. 9 and FIG. 11, where (a) shows the state before the medicine packaging is held in the medicine storage section, and (b) shows the state after the medicine packaging is held in the medicine storage section. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure for photographing a personal medication calendar by a photographing means. FIG. Each figure is a front view showing a modified example of the medicine packaging. FIG. 1 is a front view of a prior art personalized medication calendar. FIG. 1 is a front view of a prior art daily medication calendar. FIG. 1 is a front view of a conventional medication calendar by time of administration.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described further below.
The medicine placement confirmation system 16 of the first embodiment is for confirming whether or not the medicine packages 7 are correctly accommodated in the medicine setting device such as the medication calendar 1 .
The medication calendar 1 is, for example, a "medication calendar" as shown in Fig. 1. Hereinafter, it will be referred to as a "medication calendar" regardless of the display of the drawing.
The medication calendar (medication set device) 1 is a first type of personal medication calendar, and has a number of medication containers 3 provided on a flat base material 2.
The drug containing sections 3 are distributed in a planar and matrix pattern, each located at a specific position determined based on the recipient and the timing of administration, and each drug containing section 3 holds drug packaging for the recipient and timing of administration corresponding to that section.

In this embodiment, the medicine containers 3 are arranged in a matrix shape (rows and columns) defined by an axis representing days of the week and an axis representing timing of administration.
Specifically, it is in a matrix format with the seven days of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) on the vertical axis and "morning,""afternoon,""evening," and "before bed" on the horizontal axis.
The medication calendar (medication set device) 1 is for exclusive use by one recipient, and for example, the medications that the recipient Muramatsu takes in a week are stored in the medication storage section 3 by day of the week and timing of taking the medication.
In other words, the drug storage unit 3 is located at a specific location determined based on the user being determined to be only one person, "Muramatsu", and the timing of taking the drug is determined based on an indication such as "Monday morning, Monday afternoon...", and the drug storage unit 3 is located at a specific location determined based on the user and the timing of taking the drug.

The medicine container 3 is formed by attaching a small transparent sheet 5 to a sheet-like base material 2 to form a pocket-like bag.
Specifically, medicine container 3 has a structure in which the left and right sides and the bottom side of transparent sheet 5 are adhered to base material 2, and objects can be placed inside from the top side.
The medicine container 3 is a kind of pocket made of a transparent sheet 5, so that the inside can be seen through.

A set tool identification mark 17 for identifying the medication calendar 1 is attached to the sheet-like base material 2 at a visible position in the upper left. The set tool identification mark 17 is capable of identifying the medication calendar 1 and includes some kind of identification information (e.g., an identifier). Here, the identification information (e.g., an identifier) is not limited to a barcode or the like, and may be letters or numbers.
In this embodiment, the set tool identification mark 17 is a symbolized identifier, and is a pattern that can be read by a reading device such as a barcode reader. Specifically, the set tool identification mark 17 is a two-dimensional barcode.
Information for identifying the medication calendar 1 is written in the set tool identification display 17. Specifically, information that can identify the format of the medication calendar 1, who it is for, and when it is to be used is written. Here, "identifiable" includes not only the case where the information is directly written in the set tool identification display 17, but also the case where the information on the format of the medication calendar 1, who it is for, and when it is to be used can be searched for from other information sources using an identifier included in the set tool identification display 17 as a key.

To explain this embodiment, the format of the medication calendar 1 is a personal medication calendar format, and information identifying that the medication storage section 3 is arranged in a matrix shape (row and column shape) consisting of a day of the week axis and a dosage timing axis is written in the set tool identification display 17.
Further, information identifying the patient as Muramatsu is written in the set tool identification display 17 .

In this embodiment, the type of medication calendar 1 and information for identifying the user are obtained by the two-dimensional barcode, but all or part of these may be identified by characters written on the base material 2. The characters written on the base material 2 also contain information for identifying the medication calendar 1.
For example, the base material 2 may have characters 6 saying "Muramatsu-san" for identifying the user, and these characters may be used as an identifier to identify the user by reading them.
The format of the medication calendar 1 may also be specified by performing graphic recognition on the letters of the days of the week written on the base material 2, letters such as "morning" indicating the timing of taking the medication, and their layout.
In this case, the characters 6 of "Muramatsu-san" for identifying the user, characters such as "morning" indicating the timing of taking the medicine, and the layout function as a set-tool identifying display.

The medicine container 3 of the medication calendar 1 holds a medicine package 7 which contains medicine for a corresponding patient and which has a corresponding dosing timing.
All the medicines to be taken by a specific recipient at one time are contained in each medicine package 7. The medicines enclosed in one medicine package 7 may be one type of solid medicine or multiple types of solid medicines. In addition, solid medicines and powder medicines may be contained in the same package.

The drug packaging 7 is a package of drugs packaged in individual doses by a known drug packaging device (not shown). The drug packaging device can dispense and package powdered or solid drugs from a powdered or solid drug supply unit based on inputted prescription data. Additionally, the drug packaging 7 has a specified printing.

The medicine packages 7 are discharged as a long, continuous band-like medicine package strip 8 as shown in FIG. 2(a).
The drug packaging strip 8 has at its front an information printing section 10 on which prescription information is printed, followed by a number of drug packages 7 connected together.
The information printing section 10 has the name of the recipient, the name of the prescribed drug, the prescribed amount, etc. printed in the form of a two-dimensional bar code or the like.
Each drug package 7 is also provided with drug package identification information that identifies the drug package 7. That is, on each drug package 7, a recipient identification mark 11 that identifies the recipient and a dosage timing identification mark 12 that identifies the timing of dosage are written in text at a visible position as drug package identification information.
Specifically, the name of the user, "Muramatsu," is printed as the user identification mark 11. Furthermore, the words "morning,""afternoon," etc. are displayed as the dosage timing identification mark 12. These words and the like allow each drug package 7 to be distinguished from the others.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, a user usage specification pattern 15 is displayed as drug packaging specification information that can specify each drug package 7. That is, the user usage specification pattern 15 is displayed as a recipient specification display and a dosage timing specification display. The user usage specification pattern 15 is a two-dimensional barcode. The two-dimensional barcode that is the user usage specification pattern 15 has written therein information that can specify the recipient and the dosage timing. The two-dimensional barcode also distinguishes each drug package 7 from the others. Therefore, the two-dimensional barcode (user usage specification pattern 15) functions as drug packaging specification information that specifies the drug package 7. The two-dimensional barcode (user usage specification pattern 15) is one of the identifiers that specifies the drug package 7.
Here, "being able to identify the user and the timing of taking the drug" includes not only the case where the information is written directly in the user usage specification pattern 15, but also the case where information on the user and the timing of taking the drug can be searched for from other information sources using an identifier included in the user usage specification pattern 15 as a key.

The medicine packages 7 are cut from the medicine packaging band 8 and placed in the corresponding medicine storage sections 3 of the medication calendar 1 by a pharmacist or the like.
As mentioned above, the medicine containing section 3 is transparent, so when the medicine packaging 7 is placed in the medicine containing section 3, the recipient specific display 11, the dosage timing specific display 12, and the user usage specific pattern 15 (identifier) can be confirmed from the outside, as shown in Figure 3 (b).

Next, the medicine placement confirmation system 16 of the first embodiment will be described.
The medicine placement confirmation system 16 is mainly composed of a mobile terminal 20 and a headquarters device 21 .
The mobile terminal 20 is an electronic terminal that can be carried by a user, such as a portable computer such as a notebook computer, a smartphone, a mobile phone, etc. In addition, these may have external accessories. For example, a notebook computer, a smartphone, a mobile phone, etc. with an external barcode reader may be used as the mobile terminal 20.
5, the mobile terminal 20 has a built-in or external camera (photographing means) 18 and has a photographing function. The mobile terminal 20 also has a built-in computer 22. The computer 22 built into the mobile terminal 20 has a built-in CPU 23 and a built-in storage means 25.

The storage means 25 of the computer 22 of the mobile terminal 20 stores a computer program that functions as a comparison means 28 .
That is, it has the function of comparing the layout information of the medicine packaging obtained by the camera (photographing means) 18 with the regular position information obtained from the headquarters device 21.
The mobile terminal 20 also has a communication means 26 and can communicate with the headquarters device 21 via the Internet or the like.

5, the headquarters device 21 is a device mainly including a computer 27. The computer 27 of the headquarters device 21 includes a CPU 30 and a storage means 31.
The storage means 31 of the headquarters device 21 functions as a medicine package arrangement information storage means 33 .
The medicine package arrangement information storage means 33 stores information on the layout when each medicine package 7 is correctly accommodated in the corresponding medicine storage section 3 of the medicine dosage calendar 1 as normal position information. That is, the storage means 31 stores, for a plurality of medicine setting devices, normal position information of the medicine package 7 when each medicine package 7 is correctly accommodated in the corresponding medicine storage section 3 of the medicine setting device (medication calendar 1, etc.). In other words, the positional relationship between the medicine setting device (medication calendar 1, etc.) and the medicine package 7 when each medicine package 7 is correctly accommodated in the medicine setting device (medication calendar 1, etc.) is stored for a plurality of medicine setting devices.
In other words, the storage unit 31 stores an identifier for identifying the medicine package 7, an identifier of the medicine setting tool indicated by the medicine setting tool identification display 17, and regular position information in association with each other.

For example, which medicine setting tool (medication calendar 1, etc.) is for whom or for which facility, when it is to be used, and its format and layout are stored in the medicine package arrangement information storage means 33. Furthermore, the medicine package arrangement information storage means 33 stores in which medicine container 3 the medicine package 7 according to the prescription is to be contained.
For example, it is stored that a medicine package 7 to be taken "monthly morning" is stored at the intersection of the "month" axis and the "morning" axis as shown in Figure 3, and a medicine package 7 to be taken "monthly afternoon" is stored at the intersection of the "month" axis and the "afternoon" axis as shown in Figure 3.
Information on the medicine container 3 of the medicine setting device that does not contain the medicine package 7 (information indicating that the chamber is empty) is also stored.
For example, if there are days when the medicine is not taken or times when the medicine is not taken (morning, afternoon, etc.), that information is also stored in the storage means 31.
According to the embodiment, the patient Muramatsu is prescribed not to take medicine on Friday night. Therefore, as shown in Figure 3, the medicine container 3A at the position corresponding to night on Friday for Muramatsu on the medication calendar 1 is empty.
Information that it is Friday in Muramatsu on the medication calendar 1 and the medicine storage section 3 at the position corresponding to night is vacant is also stored in the storage means 31.

Furthermore, the correct position information of the drug package 7 when each drug package 7 is correctly contained in the drug container 3 stores the relative positions such as the distance and angle between each drug container 3 and each drug package 7, as well as the positional relationship with the base material 2. That is, not only the relative relationships between each drug container 3 and each drug package 7, but also the relative relationships between the base material 2 and each drug container 3 and each drug package 7 are stored as correct position information.
In other words, not only is the matrix in which each medicine containing section 3 and each medicine package 7 are arranged stored, but also the location of each medicine containing section 3 and each medicine package 7 on the base material 2 is stored.

The correct position information may also be information that associates an identifier for identifying the medicine package 7 with position information of the medicine package 7 when the medicine package 7 is correctly contained.
The regular position information indicates the relative positional relationship between the substrate 2 and the drug packaging 7. Specifically, it indicates the vertical and horizontal distances from a predetermined position of the substrate 2 (e.g., any of the four corners of the substrate 2) to a predetermined position of the drug packaging 7 (e.g., any of the four corners of the drug packaging 7 or the user usage specific pattern 15) in a state where the drug packaging 7 is contained in the drug containing section 3. Instead of the predetermined position of the drug packaging 7, a predetermined position of the drug containing section 3 where the drug packaging 7 should be contained (e.g., any of the four corners of the drug containing section 3) may be used.
The information on the vacant chamber is, for example, the vertical and horizontal distances from a predetermined position on the base material 2 to a predetermined position on the medicine container 3 that is to become the vacant chamber.

Next, the functions of the medicine placement confirmation system 16 of this embodiment will be described along with the usage procedure.
The user carries the medication calendar 1 containing the medicine package 7 to the patient's home, a hospital, a facility, etc. Here, the user carries the mobile terminal 20. Meanwhile, the headquarters device 21 is placed in a pharmacy.
Then, the user uses the photographing means 18 of the mobile terminal 20 to photograph the medication calendar 1 with the medicine package 7 already housed therein, as shown in FIG. 3( a ).
In principle, the entire medication calendar 1 is photographed from the front as one screen.

When photographing, a predetermined position of the base material 2 is included in the photographing range so that it can be determined whether the positional relationship between the medicine package 7 and the base material 2 corresponds to the correct position information.
For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, a rectangular frame 200 is displayed on the monitor screen of the camera (imaging means) 18 of the mobile terminal 20.
As shown in Fig. 4(b), the shutter is released when each side of the medication calendar 1 is approximately aligned with the frame 200. Note that an error occurs if the image of the medication calendar 1 extends beyond the frame 200 as shown in Fig. 4(c), or if the image of the medication calendar 1 is too small for the frame 200 as shown in Fig. 4(d).

The computer 22 of the mobile terminal 20 then analyzes the two-dimensional barcode of the photographed set tool identification display 17, and identifies the photographed medication calendar 1 based on the identifier or identification information contained in the two-dimensional barcode. The information is then transmitted to the computer 27 of the headquarters device 21 by the communication means 26 of the mobile terminal 20, received by the communication means 32 of the headquarters device 21, and input to the computer 27 of the headquarters device 21.
In addition, the information on the two-dimensional barcode of the photographed set tool identification display 17 may be directly transmitted to the computer 27 of the headquarters device 21, and the two-dimensional barcode may be analyzed on the headquarters device 21 side.

The computer 27 of the headquarters device 21 then identifies the medication calendar 1 corresponding to the identifier of the medication setting device indicated by the medication setting device identification display obtained by analyzing the two-dimensional barcode, and further reads out the normal position information of the identified medication calendar 1 from the memory means 31, which is the medication package placement information memory means 33.
The read regular position information is then sent to the computer 22 of the portable terminal 20 via the communication means 26 , 32 and temporarily stored in the storage means 25 of the portable terminal 20 .

Furthermore, the computer 22 of the mobile terminal 20 acquires information on the actual layout of each medicine package from the captured image.
Specifically, the characters of the photographed recipient specific display 11 and the characters of the dosage timing specific display are subjected to character analysis, and their arrangement is further detected. The arrangement includes the relative positions of the drug packages 7, such as the distance and angle between each drug package 7, as well as the positional relationship between each drug container 3. The arrangement also includes the positional relationship between each drug package 7 and the base material 2. In other words, it includes the relationship of where each drug package 7 is located on the base material 2.

For example, the captured image is analyzed, and the vertical and horizontal distances from a predetermined position (e.g., a side or corner) of the base material 2 to the position of each drug package 7 are identified. A mark or the like may be attached to the predetermined position of the base material 2 so that the computer 22 can identify the position from the captured image.

The position of the medicine package 7 here refers to, for example, the position on the image of the medicine package specific information (user usage specific pattern 15) attached to the medicine package 7.
The computer 22 associates the position of each medicine package 7 with the medicine package identification information (identifier) attached to that medicine package 7 .
That is, the photographed multiple pharmaceutical packages 7 are individually identified by their respective pharmaceutical package identification information (identifiers), and the location of each pharmaceutical package 7 on the base material 2 is identified.

Then, the computer 22 of the portable terminal 20 compares the actual layout of each medicine package obtained from the captured image with the regular position information temporarily stored in the storage means 25 of the portable terminal 20 .
In particular, the actual layout of each drug package 7 is compared with the positional relationship between each drug package 7 and each drug storage section 3, as shown in the normal position information temporarily stored in the storage means 25 of the mobile terminal 20. In other words, the information on the position of each drug package 7 on the base material 2, as temporarily stored in the storage means 25 of the mobile terminal 20, is compared with the actual position of the drug package 7 relative to the base material 2.
If the two match, a display is displayed on the mobile terminal 20 indicating that the arrangement of each medicine package 7 is correct, and if the two differ, a display is displayed to notify the user.
Specifically, if the photographed position and identifier of each drug package 7 match the position and identifier of the drug package 7 that should be there, a display will be displayed on the mobile terminal 20 indicating that the arrangement of each drug package 7 is correct, and if the two differ, a message to that effect will be displayed to notify the user.
Of course, the criteria for determining whether the two match is true are not limited to a perfect match; some discrepancy is also acceptable.
This is because the medicine container 3 is larger than the medicine package 7, and the position of the medicine package 7 is not constant even if it is properly contained in the medicine container 3.

If a medicine package 7 is detected at or near the position indicated by the vacant room information, a message is displayed indicating that a medicine package 7 is contained in the medicine container 3 that should be made vacant.
According to this embodiment, it is confirmed that each drug package 7 is held on the correct base material 2 (drug setting device), and that each drug package 7 is correctly stored in the correct storage position.

In the above embodiment, the computer program functioning as the comparison means 28 is stored in the storage means 25 of the computer 22 of the mobile terminal 20, but this may also be stored in the computer 27 of the headquarters device 21 and then imported. Also, the comparison process may be executed by the computer 27 of the headquarters device 21.

In the above embodiment, the two-dimensional barcode of the set tool identification display 17 is analyzed to identify the photographed medication calendar 1, but conversely, the medication calendar 1 to be stored may be identified from the user usage specific pattern 15 on the drug packaging 7, and the correct position information of the medication calendar 1 may be read by the computer 27 of the headquarters device 21. Also, the medication calendar 1 to be stored and the information on the position where it should be stored may be read directly from the user usage specific pattern 15 on the drug packaging 7.

The first embodiment described above uses a first type of personal medication calendar as a medicine setting device, but the second and third types of medicine setting devices described above can also be used.
6 and 7 show a medicine setting device (medication calendar 40) utilizing a second type of daily medication calendar.
The format of the medication calendar 40 is a daily medication calendar for multiple recipients, with the days of the week when medication should be taken written in large letters. In the medication calendar 40, the medication containers 3 are arranged in a matrix formed by the recipient's name and the medication timing axis, and the medication containers 3 are located in specific positions determined based on the recipient and the medication timing.
The medication calendar 40 also has a set tool identification mark 17 for identifying the medication calendar 40 at a visible position in the upper left corner.
Further, information for identifying which facility the medication calendar 40 is to be used in is written in the set tool identification display 17.

In this embodiment, the two-dimensional barcode also provides information identifying the format of the medication calendar 40 and the facility in which it will be used, but all or part of these may also be identified by characters written on the base material 2.
The format of the medication calendar 40 may also be specified by performing graphic recognition on the arrangement of patients written on the base material 2, characters such as "morning" indicating the timing of medication, and their layout.
In this case, the names of the users, such as "Muramatsu,""Hayada,""Arashi,""Fuji,""Ide,""Kirishima," and "Moroboshi," are used as the dose-identifying display 11, and the characters such as "Morning" indicating the timing of taking the medicine and the layout function as the dose-identifying display 12.

8 and 9 show a third type of medicine setting device (medication calendar 41) utilizing a medicine calendar for different times of administration.
A plurality of medicine containers are arranged in a matrix in the medication calendar 41. In the medication calendar 41, the patient's name is written near the medicine container 3, and the medicine container 3 is located in a specific position determined based on the recipient and the timing of administration.
The medication calendar 41 also has a set tool identification indicator 17 for identifying the medication calendar 41 at a visible position in the upper left corner.
Furthermore, information for identifying which facility the medication calendar 41 is to be used in is written in the set tool identification display 17.

In this embodiment, the two-dimensional barcode also provides information identifying the format of the medication calendar 41 and the facility in which it will be used, but all or part of this information may also be identified by characters written on the base material 2.

Next, referring to FIG. 2(b) and FIGS. 10 to 12, a second embodiment will be described in which a device that allows a user to visually determine whether or not the medicine packaging is in the correct position will be described.
In the second embodiment, a drug packaging strip 50 as shown in Fig. 2(b) is used. In the drug packaging strip 50, the information printing section 10 on which the prescription information is printed is at the beginning, followed by a drug package arrangement information storage means 51, and then a number of drug packages 52.

The medicine package arrangement information storage means 51 is a pattern having a large number of squares. In the second embodiment, there are 33 squares. Some of the squares correspond to the medicine containers 3. Some of the squares other than the four corners are blank and some are filled in.
The four filled corners are intended to enable the computer 22 to recognize the position of the medicine package arrangement information memory unit 51 from the image of the medication calendar 55 photographed by the photographing means 18.
The states of the squares other than the four corners represent ON or OFF. In the second embodiment, a blank square represents ON, and a filled square represents OFF.
The state of the squares indicates whether or not a medicine package 7 is placed in the medicine containing section 3, and a filled square indicates a medicine containing section 3 that should be empty (vacant indication).

The squares 1 to 28 of the medicine package placement information storage means 51 indicate whether or not the medicine package 7 is to be placed in each of the 28 medicine storage sections 3 of the medication calendar 55. Specifically, square 1 of the medicine package placement information storage means 51 indicates whether or not the medicine package 7 is to be placed in "Monthly Morning" of the medication calendar 55, square 2 of the medicine package placement information storage means 51 indicates whether or not the medicine package 7 is to be placed in "Monthly Afternoon" of the medication calendar 55, square 27 of the medicine package placement information storage means 51 indicates whether or not the medicine package 7 is to be placed in "Daily Evening" of the medication calendar 55, and square 28 of the medicine package placement information storage means 51 indicates whether or not the medicine package 7 is to be placed in "Daily Before Bed" of the medication calendar 55.

As shown in FIG. 12, the drug packaging 52 used in the second embodiment also has the above-mentioned recipient specific mark 11, dosage timing specific mark 12, and user usage specific pattern 15 printed thereon.
In addition, the medicine package 52 used in the second embodiment is provided with a medicine storage unit designation mark 60 and a graphic piece 61. The graphic piece 61 is a part of a specific shape such as a circle, triangle, square, or the like.
The shape of the graphic piece 61 varies for each medicine package 52 .
It is preferable that the graphic piece 61 is printed by the medicine packaging device.

The medicine container designation display 60 is a figure made up of a plurality of squares. In this embodiment, the number of squares is nine.
In this embodiment, there are blank squares and filled squares. The squares indicate binary numbers. That is, the filled squares and blank squares express binary numbers. The medicine container designation display 60 is different for each medicine package 7.

The medication calendar (medication set device) 55 shown in Figs. 10 and 11 is a first type of personal medication calendar, and has a similar structure to the previous embodiment.
The medication calendar 55 employed in the second embodiment additionally has a location information setting pocket 57 .
12, a graphic piece 63 is displayed on each medicine container 3. The graphic piece 63 is, for example, a part of a specific shape such as a circle, a triangle, or a square.
When a correct medicine package 52 is inserted, the graphic pieces 63 of each medicine container 3 match up to form a specific shape, as shown in FIG. 12(b).

Further, a medicine containing unit identifying mark 65 is printed near each medicine containing unit 3. The shape of the medicine containing unit identifying mark 65 is the same as the medicine containing unit designation mark 60 of the medicine package 52. Therefore, the medicine containing unit identifying mark 65 is different for each medicine containing unit 3.
The medicine containing section identifying mark 65 of each medicine containing section 3 is the same as the medicine containing section designating mark 60 of the medicine package 52 to be inserted therein.

In the second embodiment, the medicine package placement information storage means 51 is cut out and inserted into a placement information setting pocket 57 of a medication calendar 55. The placement information setting pocket 57 is transparent, and the medicine package placement information storage means 51 can be seen from the outside.
The medicine packages 52 are inserted into the corresponding medicine containers 3. When the medicine packages 52 are truly placed in the corresponding medicine containers 3, the graphic pieces 61 of the medicine packages 52 and the graphic pieces 63 of each medicine container 3 combine to form a specific shape.
Furthermore, since the graphic of the medicine containing unit designation mark 60 of the medicine package 52 and the graphic of the medicine containing unit specific mark 65 of each medicine containing unit 3 are the same, any mistake is easily noticeable.

In the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the photographing means 18 of the mobile terminal 20 is used to photograph the medication calendar 55 containing the drug packaging 52, and the comparison means 28 compares this with the correct position information obtained from the headquarters device 21 to determine whether the position of the drug packaging 52 is correct.
In the second embodiment, in addition to the above judgment method, a figure (vacant room indication) in the medicine package placement information storage means 51 is recognized, and it is confirmed that there are no medicine packages 52 in the medicine container 3 which should be vacant.
That is, the camera (photographing means) 18 of the mobile terminal 20 is used to photograph the medication calendar 55 to which the medication package 52 has been attached. By photographing, the figure (vacant room indication) in the medication package arrangement information storage means 51 is recognized, and the medication container 3 that should be in an unoccupied state is confirmed.
Then, by referring to information on the actual layout of each medicine package 52 obtained from the captured image, it is confirmed whether or not there is a medicine package 52 in the medicine container section 3 which should be empty.
If there is a medicine package 52 in the medicine container 3 which should be empty, some kind of error message is displayed to inform the user.

Specifically, the camera (photographing means) 18 of the mobile terminal 20 is used to photograph the medication calendar 55 to which the medication package 52 has been attached. The photographing range is set so that the medication arrangement information storage means 51 and the predetermined positions of the base material 2 are included.
The portable terminal 20 recognizes the figure in the medicine package arrangement information storage means 51 by photographing, and confirms the medicine containing units 3 that should be vacant and the medicine containing units 3 that should contain the medicine packages 7. The positional relationship between each medicine containing unit specific display 65 near each medicine containing unit 3 and a predetermined position on the base material 2 is stored in advance in the storage means 25.
From the positional relationship, the mobile terminal 20 specifies the position of the medicine containing unit identifying mark 65 provided near the medicine containing unit 3 that is to contain the medicine package 7 on the captured image. The mobile terminal 20 determines whether or not there is a medicine containing unit designating mark 60 having a shape corresponding to each identified medicine containing unit identifying mark 65 near the mark 65 on the captured image.
If there is a drug storage unit designation indicator 60 of a shape corresponding to each identified drug storage unit specific indicator 65 near that indicator 65, the mobile terminal 20 determines that the drug packaging is correctly stored, and if there is no such indicator, it notifies the user that the drug packaging is not correctly stored.
Furthermore, portable terminal 20 identifies the position of medicine containing unit identifying indicator 65 provided near medicine containing units 3 that should be vacant. Portable terminal 20 reports an error if any medicine containing unit designating indicator 60 is present near each identified medicine containing unit identifying indicator 65 on the captured image.

The computer 22 of the mobile terminal 20 also analyzes the captured image and compares the graphic of the drug storage unit designation display 60 of each drug package 52 with the graphic of the drug storage unit specific display 65 of each drug storage unit 3. If the two are not identical, some kind of error message is displayed.

In the second embodiment, a layout comparison confirmation is used in which the actual layout information of each drug package 52 obtained by photographing is compared with the normal position information obtained from the headquarters device 21 to determine whether the position of the drug package 52 is correct, and an individual confirmation is used in which the graphic of the drug storage section designation display 60 of each drug package 52 is compared with the graphic of the drug storage section identification display 65 of each drug storage section 3.
However, even if only individual confirmation is performed by comparing the graphic of the drug storage section designation mark 60 of each drug packaging 52 with the graphic of the drug storage section specific mark 65 of each drug storage section 3, it is possible to detect with a considerable probability that the drug packaging 52 has been placed in the wrong place.
Furthermore, by simply using the graphic recognition of the drug package placement information storage means 51 and checking for available space using information on the actual layout of each drug package 52 obtained from the captured image, it is possible with a considerable degree of probability to detect the placement of the drug package 52 incorrectly.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the two-dimensional barcode (user usage specific pattern 15) serving as drug packaging specific information on the drug packaging 7 contains information identifying the recipient and the timing of taking the drug. In addition, it is also recommended to write drug package/setting tool related information relating to the relationship between the drug packaging 7 and the medication calendars 1, 40, 41, 55 that should hold it (third embodiment).
For example, as the medicine package/setting tool related information, information for identifying the medication calendar 1 in which each medicine package 7 is to be held is written directly into the two-dimensional barcode (user usage specific pattern 15) of the medicine package 7. Specifically, information for identifying the type of medication calendar 1 in which each medicine package 7 is to be held, who the medication calendar 1 is for, and when it is to be used is written. Alternatively, the medication calendar 1 may have a serial number or code, and the number or code of the medication calendar 1 in which each medicine package 7 is to be held may be directly known. In short, the medicine package/setting tool related information that allows the medicine package 7 to be traced to the medication calendar 1 in which it is to be held is written into the two-dimensional barcode of the medicine package 7.

Furthermore, set position related information relating to the position of the drug package 7 to be retained in the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55 may also be written directly into the two-dimensional barcode (user usage specific pattern 15) of the drug package 7.
For example, among the information corresponding to the normal position information stored in the medicine package placement information storage means 33, information regarding the position where the medicine package should be placed is written in a two-dimensional barcode (user usage specific pattern 15).
For example, the two-dimensional barcode indicates at which position on the base material 2 the pharmaceutical packaging 7 is held, and how far away the pharmaceutical packaging 7 is held from multiple reference positions such as the top edge and side edge of the base material 2.
Of course, information related to the medicine package/setting device and setting position may be written in a bar code, symbol, character, etc. separate from the user usage specific pattern 15.

According to this configuration (third embodiment), it is possible to directly check whether the drug package 7 is correctly stored in the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55 without relying on the drug package placement information storage means 33 of the headquarters device 21.

In the third embodiment, the user also uses the photographing means 18 of the mobile terminal 20 to photograph the medication calendars 1, 40, 41, 55, etc., in which the medication package 7 has already been housed. The photographing method is the same as that described above, and the shutter is released when each side of the medication calendar 1 is approximately aligned with the frame 200, as shown in Fig. 4(b). Alternatively, when photographing, a predetermined reference position of the base material 2 is included in the photographing range so that it can be determined whether the positional relationship between the medication package 7 and the base material 2 corresponds to the regular position information.
For example, the medication calendar 1 contains a large number of drug packages 7, and a large number of drug packages 7 are photographed by the photographing means 18.
In the third embodiment, the two-dimensional barcode of each photographed drug package 7 is individually analyzed, and the drug package 7 is identified from information identifying the drug package calendar contained in the drug package/set device related information of each drug package 7.
On the other hand, the medication calendar that actually contains the medicine package 7 is identified from the set tool identification display 17 of the medication calendar being photographed. Then, the two are compared to determine whether each medicine package 7 is contained in the correct medication calendar.

Furthermore, in the third embodiment, the two-dimensional barcode of each photographed pharmaceutical package 7 is individually analyzed, and the position of the pharmaceutical package 7 to be held in the medication calendar 1 is identified.
On the other hand, the position of each medicine package 7 relative to the base material 2 is detected from the captured image. Then, the two images are compared to determine whether each medicine package 7 is contained in the correct position.

The third embodiment is a drug placement confirmation system in which drug package/set tool related information and set position related information are attached to drug package 7, the drug package/set tool related information includes information identifying drug set tools 1, 40, 41, and 55 that should hold drug package 7, and the set position related information includes information on the position of the drug package that should be held in drug set tools 1, 40, 41, and 55.

In the third embodiment, since the drug packaging specific information is not used to determine whether the drug packaging 7 is contained in the correct drug storage section 3 of the correct medication calendar 1, the user usage specific pattern 15 does not need to include the drug packaging specific information.

The drug package/setting tool related information relating to the relationship between the drug package 7 and the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55 that should hold it may be attached to the medication calendar 1. That is, information regarding which drug package 7 the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55 should hold may be attached to any part of the medication calendar 1. For example, it may be written in the two-dimensional barcode of the setting tool identification display 17 (fourth embodiment).
Set position related information relating to the position of the medicine package 7 may also be added to the medication calendar 1 side.

That is, which drug package 7 is held at which position on the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55 may be indicated on any part of the medication calendar 1. As specific information, information in which the drug package identification information and the position information are associated with each other may be indicated on any part of the medication calendar 1. For example, it may be written in the two-dimensional barcode of the set tool identification display 17.
When the medication calendar 1 is provided with information related to the medicine package/setting tool and setting position, the information is compared with the medicine package specific information provided on the medicine package 7 to determine whether each medicine package 7 is contained in the correct position.
In this case, it is not necessary to add the set tool identification information to the medication calendar. Furthermore, the medicine package/set tool related information does not need to include information that identifies the medication calendar to which the medicine package/set tool related information is added. At least, the medicine package/set tool related information needs to include information that identifies the drug package 7 to be contained in the medication calendar.

In the fourth embodiment, the drug package/setting device related information and the setting position related information are attached to the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55, the drug package/setting device related information includes information identifying the drug package 7 to be held in the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55, and the setting position related information includes information on the position of the drug package to be held in the drug setting device 1, 40, 41, 55, which is a drug placement confirmation system.

Either the medicine package/setting tool related information or the setting position related information may be attached to the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55, and the other may be attached to the medicine packaging 7.

Also, the headquarters device 21 may be utilized as in the first embodiment.
The fifth embodiment of the drug placement confirmation system simplifies the process of writing drug package/set item related information, for example, to a two-dimensional barcode on the drug package 7, and identifies the corresponding medication calendar from the drug package placement information storage means 33 of the headquarters device 21 using the drug package/set item related information on the drug package 7 as a search key.
On the other hand, the medication calendar that actually contains the medicine package 7 is identified from the set tool identification display 17 of the medication calendar being photographed. Then, the two are compared to determine whether each medicine package 7 is contained in the correct medication calendar.

Furthermore, the set position related information written to the two-dimensional barcode or the like of the drug package 7 is made simpler, and the set position related information is used as a search key to read out the position of the drug package 7 relative to the base material 2 from the drug package placement information storage means 33 of the headquarters device 21.
On the other hand, the position of each medicine package 7 relative to the base material 2 is detected from the captured image. Then, the two images are compared to determine whether each medicine package 7 is contained in the correct position.

The drug placement confirmation system of the fifth embodiment has a drug package placement information storage means 33, which stores combination information of the drug package 7 and the drug set device 1, 40, 41, 55 in which the drug package 7 is held, and the relative positions of the drug package 7 held in the drug set device 1, 40, 41, 55 and the drug set device 1, 40, 41, 55.
The fifth embodiment is a drug placement confirmation system in which drug package/setting tool related information and set position related information are attached to the drug packaging 7, and information is read out from the drug package placement information storage means 33 based on the drug package/setting tool related information and the set position related information.
In addition, the fifth embodiment is a drug placement confirmation system in which drug package/setting tool related information and set position related information are attached to the drug packaging 7, and information is read out from the drug package placement information storage means 33 based on the drug package/setting tool related information and the set position related information.
Moreover, it can be said that the fifth embodiment determines whether or not each drug package 7 is contained in the correct position based on the setting tool identification display and the drug package identification information.

Furthermore, as in the first embodiment, the headquarters device 21 may be utilized to add information related to the medicine package/setting device and information related to the setting position to the medication calendar 1 (sixth embodiment).
For example, the medicine package/set related information written in the two-dimensional barcode of the medication calendar 1 can be made simpler, and the medicine package/set related information of the medication calendar 1 can be used as a search key to identify the drug packaging 7 to be retained from the medicine package placement information storage means 33 of the headquarters device 21.

Furthermore, the set position related information written in the two-dimensional barcode or the like of the medication calendar 1 is made simpler, and the set position related information is used as a search key to read out the position of the drug package 7 relative to the base material 2 from the drug package placement information storage means 33 of the headquarters device 21.
On the other hand, the position of each medicine package 7 relative to the base material 2 is detected from the captured image. Then, the two images are compared to determine whether each medicine package 7 is contained in the correct position.

In the sixth embodiment, there is also a medicine package arrangement information storage means 33, and the medicine package arrangement information storage means 33 stores combination information of the medicine package and the medicine setting device 1, 40, 41, 55 in which the medicine package is held, and the relative positions of the medicine package 7 held in the medicine setting device 1, 40, 41, 55 and the medicine setting device 1, 40, 41, 55.
The sixth embodiment is a drug placement confirmation system in which drug package/setting device related information and setting position related information are attached to drug setting devices 1, 40, 41, and 55, and information is read out from the drug package placement information memory means 33 based on the drug package/setting device related information and the setting position related information.

Even when the headquarters device 21 is utilized, either the medicine package/setting tool related information or the setting position related information may be attached to the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55, and the other may be attached to the medicine packaging 7 side.
In addition, either the medicine package/setting device related information or the setting position related information may be simple.

Furthermore, the drug packaging 7 and the medication calendar 1 may not be provided with drug package/setting tool related information or setting position related information, and instead, drug packaging specific information that simply identifies each drug packaging 7 may be provided to the drug packaging 7, and the medication calendar 1 may be provided with a setting tool specific display 17, and the necessary information may be read out from the drug package placement information storage means 33 using these as search keys (seventh embodiment).

For example, the drug package specific information of each drug package 7 or the identifier of the drug package 7 read from the two-dimensional barcode which is the user usage specific pattern 15 is used as a search key to read out drug package/setting tool related information and setting position related information from the drug package placement information storage means 33 of the headquarters device 21.
Alternatively, the medication calendar 1 uses an identifier indicating a specific medication calendar 1 read from the two-dimensional barcode that is the set tool identification display 17 as a search key to read out medication package/set tool related information and set position related information from the medication package placement information storage means 33 of the headquarters device 21.

In the seventh embodiment, for example, the drug packages 7 may simply be provided with drug package identification information, which is an identifier for identifying each drug package 7. In the seventh embodiment, the identifiers of each drug package 7 are read by photographing with the photographing means 18. Since the drug packages 7 are identified by the identifiers, the medication calendar 1 that should hold the drug packages 7 corresponding to the identifiers is identified from the drug package arrangement information storage means 33 for each photographed drug package 7, and information (normal position information) regarding the layout when each drug package 7 is correctly accommodated in the corresponding drug storage section 3 of the medication calendar 1 is obtained from the drug package arrangement information storage means 33.
The medication calendar 1 also has a set tool identification display 17 that is an identifier of the medication set tool. In the seventh embodiment, the medication calendar 1 identified for each medication package 7 is compared with the set tool identification display 17 of the photographed medication calendar to confirm the relationship between the medication package 7 and the medication calendar 1.
Furthermore, the actual layout of each drug package obtained from the captured image is compared with the correct position information obtained from the drug package placement information storage means 33 to determine whether each drug package 7 is contained in the correct position.

In the seventh embodiment, drug packaging identification information that identifies the drug packaging 7 is attached to a visible position on the drug packaging 7, and drug setting devices 1, 40, 41, and 55 are attached to set device identification displays 17 that include information that identifies the drug setting devices 1, 40, 41, and 55 in a visible position.
The seventh embodiment also has a medicine package arrangement information memory means 33, and the medicine package arrangement information memory means 33 stores combination information of the medicine package 7 and the medicine set device 1, 40, 41, 55 in which the medicine package 7 is held, and the relative positions of the medicine package 7 held in the medicine set device 1, 40, 41, 55 and the medicine set device 1, 40, 41, 55.
The seventh embodiment is a drug placement confirmation system in which the state in which each drug package 7 is contained in the drug storage section 3 of the drug set device 1, 40, 41, 55 can be photographed by the photographing means 18, and information is read from the drug package placement information storage means 33 based on the photographed drug package identification information and the set device identification display 17, and the position of the photographed drug package 7 is compared to determine whether each drug package 7 held in the photographed drug set device 1, 40, 41, 55 is properly contained in a position corresponding to the legitimate user of the drug set device and the timing of taking the drug.

Either the medicine package/setting tool related information or the setting position related information may be read from the medicine package placement information storage means 33 of the headquarters device 21 using the identifier of the setting tool specific display 17 attached to the medication calendar 1, 40, 41, 55 as a search key, and the other may be read from the medicine package placement information storage means 33 of the headquarters device 21 using the medicine packaging specific information (e.g., an identifier) of the medicine package 7 as a search key (eighth embodiment).

In the first to eighth embodiments described above, the medication calendar 1, etc., and the drug packaging 7, etc. attached thereto are associated with each other by the set tool identification display 17 and the medicine package/set tool related information. However, as a simpler measure, the set tool identification display 17 and the medicine package/set tool related information may be eliminated, and the set position related information alone may be used to determine whether the drug packaging 7 is correctly stored in the correct position.
The following method can be used to check whether the medicine package 7 is contained in the correct medicine container 3 (ninth embodiment).
In the ninth embodiment, the set position related information is provided on the side of the drug package 7. The set position related information is position information indicating at which position on the base material 2 the drug package 7 is held, for example, how far away the drug package 7 is held from a plurality of reference positions such as the top edge and side edge of the base material 2.

The set position related information is not limited to position information, and may be, for example, information that specifically identifies the medicine storage section 3 of the medication calendar 1 or the like. For example, as in the case of the medicine packages 7 in a-1 and a-2 in FIG. 14, the set position related information 70 may be characters or symbols that indicate the matrix shape (row and column shape) of the medication calendar, such as "2nd row, number 2" or "2:2". Here, "2nd row, number 2" or "2:2" means the second row from the top and the second column from the left of the medication calendar, and for example, in the medication calendar 1 in FIG. 1, it indicates the medicine storage section 3 in which the medicine package 7 for Tuesday afternoon is stored. Also, in the medication calendar 40 for multiple people as in FIG. 6, it indicates the medicine storage section 3 in which the medicine package 7 to be taken by Hayata at noon is stored. Similarly, in the medication calendar 41 in FIG. 8, it indicates the medicine storage section 3 in which the medicine package 7 to be taken by Yamamoto is stored.

14(b-1)(b-2) may be used as the set position related information 70 since it is sufficient to specify the medicine containing unit 3. The number indicates the position when the medicine containing units 3 are numbered in order on the medication calendar, for example.
For example, if the set position related information 70 is number 6, for example, in the medication calendar 1 of Fig. 1, it indicates the medicine storage section 3 in which the medicine package 7 for Tuesday afternoon is stored. Also, in the medication calendar 40 for multiple persons as shown in Fig. 6, it indicates the medicine storage section 3 in which the medicine package 7 to be taken by Hayata in the afternoon is stored.
The set location related information 70 may be, for example, a bar code as shown in Fig. 14c. Also, characters such as "Tuesday morning" may be used as the set location related information.

In the ninth embodiment, the photographing means 18 of the mobile terminal 20 is used to photograph the medication calendar 1 in which the medicine package 7 is already housed.
Then, information on the actual layout of each medicine package is obtained from the captured image, and it is confirmed whether each medicine package 7 is located in the position according to the set position relating information 70.
In the ninth embodiment, it is not possible to judge whether the medication calendar is appropriate, but it is possible to judge whether the medicine package 7 is in the correct position.

The ninth embodiment is a drug placement confirmation system in which set position related information 70 relating to the position of the drug package 7 to be held in the drug setting device 1 is attached to a visible position of the drug package 7, and the state in which each drug package 7 is contained in the drug storage section 3 of the drug setting device 1 can be photographed by an imaging means, and whether each drug package 7 held in the photographed drug setting device 1 is properly contained in the drug setting device 1 is determined based on the photographed set position related information 70 and the position of the photographed drug package.

In the first to ninth embodiments described above, the entire medication calendar 1 is photographed as one screen, but the medication calendar 1 may be divided into areas and photographed. For example, each row or each column may be photographed in order. Also, each medicine container may be photographed separately. For example, photographing may be performed in a zigzag pattern as shown by the arrow in FIG. 13.
In either case, images are taken in a preset order, and the images are compared with the regular position information obtained from the headquarters device 21 in the preset order.

1, 40, 41, 55 Medication calendar (medication set)
3 Drug storage section 7, 52 Drug packaging 11 User specific display 12 Drug timing specific display 15 User usage specific pattern 16 Drug placement confirmation system 17 Set specific display 18 Camera (photographing means)
20 Portable terminal 21 Headquarters device 22 Computer 27 Computer 28 Comparison means 51 Medicine package arrangement information storage means 57 Arrangement information installation pocket 60 Medicine storage unit designation display 61 Graphic piece 63 Graphic piece 65 Medicine storage unit specific display 70 Set position related information

Claims (7)

A medicine setting device for holding a plurality of medicine packages and a photographing means,
The pharmaceutical package contains a pharmaceutical to be taken by a specific recipient,
The medicine setting device has a plurality of medicine containing sections, the plurality of medicine containing sections are distributed in a plane, and medicine packages for users and dosing timings corresponding to the medicine containing sections are held in the medicine containing sections,
Drug packaging identification information for identifying the drug packaging is attached at a visible position of the drug packaging,
The medicine setting device is provided with a setting device identification mark including information for identifying the medicine setting device at a visible position,
At least one of the medicine set tool and the medicine package has medicine package/set tool-related information relating to the relationship between the medicine package and the medicine set tool that should hold it attached to a visible position of the medicine set tool and the medicine package.
This drug placement confirmation system is characterized in that it is possible to photograph the state in which each drug package is contained in the drug storage section of the drug set device using an imaging means, and it is determined whether each drug package held in the photographed drug set device is contained in a genuine drug set device based on the photographed drug package identification information, set device identification display, and drug package/set device related information. At least one of the medicine setting tool and the medicine package has set position related information associated with a position of the medicine package to be held in the medicine setting tool attached to a visible position of the medicine setting tool, the medicine package/set tool related information and the set position related information are attached to the medicine package, and the medicine package/set tool related information includes information for identifying the medicine setting tool that is to hold the medicine package,
The medicine placement confirmation system according to claim 1, characterized in that the set position related information includes information on the position of the medicine package to be held in the medicine setting device. a medicine package arrangement information storage means is provided, and the medicine package arrangement information storage means stores combination information of the medicine package and the medicine set tool in which the medicine package is held;
2. The medicine placement confirmation system according to claim 1, wherein the medicine package/set related information is attached to the medicine packaging, and information is read from the medicine package placement information storage means based on the medicine package/set related information. a medicine package arrangement information storage means is provided, and the medicine package arrangement information storage means stores combination information of the medicine package and the medicine set tool in which the medicine package is held;
The drug placement confirmation system described in claim 1, characterized in that the drug placement information and the set position information are attached to the drug placement device, and information is read out from the drug placement information storage means based on the drug placement information and the set position information. The medicine setting device has a visible medicine container unit identification mark for identifying each medicine container unit,
The drug placement confirmation system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the drug packaging has a drug container section designation mark which identifies the drug container section to be held, and the drug container section designation mark and the drug container section designation mark are photographed on the same screen by an imaging means, and the two are compared to determine whether each drug package held in the drug setting device is correctly stored in a position corresponding to the user of the drug setting device and the timing of taking the drug. The medicine storage section of the medicine setting device is in the form of a pocket that allows the inside to be seen through, and a part of the figure is illustrated on the medicine storage section and on the medicine packaging,
A drug placement confirmation system as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that when the drug packaging is correctly placed in a position of the drug set device corresponding to the recipient and the timing of administration, the shape of the drug storage section and the shape of the drug packaging combine to complete a specific shape. A medicine placement confirmation program, at least a part of which is stored in a terminal having an imaging means and a computer, for confirming the placement of medicine packaging in a medicine setting device by the terminal alone or in conjunction with another computer,
The pharmaceutical package contains a pharmaceutical to be taken by a specific recipient,
The medicine setting device has a plurality of medicine containing sections, the plurality of medicine containing sections are distributed in a plane, and medicine packages for users and dosing timings corresponding to the medicine containing sections are held in the medicine containing sections,
Drug packaging identification information for identifying the drug packaging is attached at a visible position of the drug packaging,
The medicine setting device is provided with a setting device identification mark including information for identifying the medicine setting device at a visible position,
At least one of the medicine set tool and the medicine package has medicine package/set tool-related information relating to the relationship between the medicine package and the medicine set tool that should hold it attached to a visible position of the medicine set tool and the medicine package.
A drug placement confirmation program characterized in that an imaging means can photograph the state in which each drug package is contained in the drug storage section of a drug set device, and based on the photographed drug package identification information, set device identification display, and drug package/set device related information, it is determined whether each drug package held in the photographed drug set device is contained in a genuine drug set device.

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