JPH04339701A - Medicine packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a medicine packaging machine with superior practicality, which can pack various types of medicine which is shown on a prescription in a single subdivision-pack, without increasing the electrical capacity or using a separate universal tablet case, which is not used for the original purpose, as a temporary remedy. CONSTITUTION:For a medicine packaging machine which picks up medicine which is stored in a plurality of tablet cases and packs them in a subdivision- pack in a lump, base on dispensing data such as types of medicine, or number of tablets, etc., which is input by a key input unit 12, a control unit 14, which outputs a signal in such a manner that the medicine which corresponds with the previously mentioned dispensing data is divided into a unit of a specified number of medicine types, and picked up from tablet cases 5 by a plural number of times, is provided.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention can be used in hospitals, pharmacies, etc.
The present invention relates to a drug packaging machine that selects and automatically packages one or more types of drugs based on dispensing data created from different prescriptions for each patient.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Currently, there are thousands of types of tablets among the drugs dispensed in hospitals, pharmacies, etc., but the number of tablets actually used is limited to about 800 types. Therefore, conventionally, tablet packaging machines have been used that can store approximately 250 types of tablets per machine and can automatically package tablets according to the prescription simply by inputting the desired dispensing data into a controller such as a computer. There is. The structure of such a tablet packaging machine is, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 58-46962, a plurality of rectangular parallelepiped tablet cases are stacked and stored in several stages in the upper part, and a funnel-shaped hopper or the like is installed in the lower part. The tablet case is equipped with a casing that houses the packaging machine section through a shutter, and this tablet case is driven by inputting a predetermined signal to the controller, extracts the tablets, introduces them into the hopper through the falling passage, and then closes the shutter. It is configured so that one package is discharged to the packaging machine section through the container.

0003

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, due to limitations in electric capacity, the above-mentioned tablet packaging machine can usually only drive a maximum of 16 tablet cases at the same time.
The memory that can store prescription data has a capacity equivalent to 16 drug types. For this reason, the maximum number of drug types that can be packaged in a sachet is 16.

On the other hand, since prescriptions sometimes contain 16 or more drug types, in this case, the overlapping tablet case is stored in a UTC (universal tablet case) built into the tablet packaging machine separately from the tablet case. Set the medicine for the tablet case, and remove the medicine from the tablet case at the same time.
An emergency measure was taken by discharging the excess amount of medicine from C and packaging it into one package. Note that UTC is used when prescribing special drugs that are rarely used. (Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 1986-
122903)) The present invention has been made in view of these points, and it can be used without increasing the capacitance or using a separate UTC that is not intended for its original purpose. An object of the present invention is to provide a practical drug packaging machine that can package drugs (for example, more than 16 drug types) into a sachet.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention extracts medicines stored in a plurality of tablet cases and puts them all at once into a sachet, based on dispensing data such as the medicine type and the number of medicines input through a key input unit. This medicine packaging machine is equipped with a control device that outputs a signal to extract medicines corresponding to the dispensing data from the tablet case in multiple batches of a predetermined number of medicine types.

[0006]

[Operation] With the above-described structure, the present invention has a large number of drug types that must be dispensed by the packaging machine among the drugs specified in the prescription, and when the number of tablet cases exceeds the number of tablet cases that can be driven at once, For example, if the number of tablet cases that can be driven is 16 at a time, and the tablet cases are driven in multiple batches, it is possible to package 16 or more drug types in one package, which was previously impossible. As a result, a large number of drugs specified in a prescription can be packaged in a sachet without increasing the capacitance or temporarily using UTC for which it is not intended.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an external view of a drug packaging machine, which is composed of a controller 10 and a packaging machine 11. The controller 10 creates dispensing data based on the prescription through key operations on the key input unit 12, displays this on the display device 22, and
The above-mentioned dispensing data consisting of drug type, number of drugs, and number of days is sent to the packaging machine 1.
1, and the packaging machine 11 performs a packaging operation based on the transferred dispensing data.

Reference numeral 11A denotes a casing, and this casing 11A has a tablet case storage section 1 formed thereon as a drug storage section, and a hopper 2 below it.
A shutter 3 as a loading mechanism and a packaging mechanism 4 are also arranged. The tablet case storage section 1 is divided into a plurality of sections in a plane by a grid-like partition plate, and a tablet case 5 formed elongated in the vertical direction is independently stored in each section. Tablet cases 5 are set in this tablet case storage section 1 according to the type of medicine, and the tablet cases 5 are driven by the input of a predetermined signal to take out medicines one by one. It is configured to output a drug extraction signal and introduce it into the hopper 2. The drug extraction signal is sent to a control device 14, which will be described later, and is also transferred to the control circuit section 13 via interfaces 15, 16 and a transmission line 17.

The packaging mechanism 4 includes a roller 7 around which a packaging sheet 6 which can be thermally welded and is folded in half in advance is wound, a tension roller 8, and predetermined items such as prescription data and patient's name are printed on the packaging sheet 6. printer 30 and packaging sheet 6
a T-shaped heat-sealing mechanism 9 that heat-seals the sheets into a T-shape to form continuous sachets; a feed roller 10 that intermittently feeds out the sheet-like sachets; It is composed of a conveyor 45 that delivers medicine packages to a discharge port.

The feed roller 10 is driven intermittently to convey the packaging sheet 6, and when this intermittent operation is stopped, the heat sealing mechanism 9 heat-welds the packaging sheet 6 into a T-shape and opens the upper half of the opening side. Form sachets.

The medicine discharged from the lower part of the tablet case 5 and conveyed to the center of the casing by two conveyors (not shown) falls into the shutter 3 from between the two conveyors. The shutter 3 has openings on the upper and lower surfaces, and the lower opening is closed by a bottom plate.The shutter 3 has openings on the upper and lower surfaces, and the lower opening is closed by a bottom plate. , paper opening device (not shown)
opens the top of the sachet, and the shutter 3 moves forward on the bottom plate toward the sachet.

[0013] When the shutter 3 advances further forward of the bottom plate, the lower opening of the shutter 3 is opened, so that the medicine inside the shutter 3 falls into the sachet, which prevents the medicine from being put into the sachet. is completed. The shutter 3 moves rearward and stops at a predetermined position due to the injection of the medicine.

[0014] Thereafter, by the operation of the heat sealing mechanism 9 accompanying the operation of forming the next sachet, the opening in the upper half of the sachet is thermally welded, and the sachet containing the medicine is sealed.

FIG. 2 shows a control circuit according to the invention, 13
14 is a control circuit section on the controller 10 side, and 14 is a control circuit section on the packaging machine 11 side, that is, a control device. 17.

The control circuit unit 13 on the controller side includes a central processing unit 18, a system memory 19 in which control procedures for the system are programmed, and a keyboard that detects operations on the key input unit 12 and generates key input signals. interface 2
0, CRT controller 21, and C as a display device.
It is composed of an RT 22 and a buffer memory 23 that stores prescription data including drug type, number of drugs, and number of days created by key input using the key input unit 12.

On the other hand, the control device 14 includes a central processing unit 24
, a system memory 25 in which control procedures for the packaging machine 11 are programmed, and a buffer memory 26 for storing dispensing data including drug type, number of drugs, and number of days transmitted from the control circuit section 13 of the controller 10. A packaging machine controller 28 that controls the packaging operation of the packaging machine 11, a printer interface 29, a printer 30, and registers R1, R2, R.
3 and R4.

Here, the drug type is written in R1, the number of drugs in R2, the number of drugs corresponding to the number of tablet cases 5 driven at one time in R3, and the number of days in R4. The above R1 and R2 are registers capable of storing n types (at least 16 or more) of drug types.

The control device 14 includes a control circuit section 1 on the controller side.
Packaging control is performed based on the dispensing data transmitted from 3, and the transfer mode between the control circuit units 13 and 14 is started when the control device 14 transmits a transfer request signal to the control circuit unit 13. At this time, the control device 14 periodically transmits this transfer request signal without performing packaging control.

The operation of the control circuit section 13 will be explained below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The central processing unit 18 determines the presence or absence of a transfer request signal in step N1, and if the transfer request signal is not output, determines the presence or absence of a key input in step N2. When the key input unit 12 is operated and the names of medicines to be packaged in the morning, noon, evening, and before bedtime, as well as the number of medicines and the number of days, are entered, in step N3, the prescription data based on the key input contents according to a predetermined format is entered. is created and stored in the buffer memory 23.

On the other hand, when it is detected in step N1 that a transfer request signal is being transmitted from the control circuit section 14, the process moves to step N4 and it is determined whether or not there is prescription data. When the key input for packaging is made, the prescription data is stored in the buffer memory 23 in the process of the above-mentioned step N3, and the prescription data is transferred to the control circuit section 14 through the transmission line 17 in the step N5. However, at this time, the prescription data is serially converted by the interface 15 and transmitted. In step N6, the contents of the buffer memory 23 are cleared and the process returns to step N1.

Next, the operation of the control circuit section 14 on the packaging machine 11 side will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the transfer request signal is output and the prescription data is received in the M1 step, the prescription data is stored in the buffer memory 26 in steps M2 and M3.

In step M4, the drug type code stored in the storage area of the buffer memory 26 is stored in R1, and the drug number data is stored in R2. Here, R1 and R2 are of n types (
This register has a capacity that can store at least 16 (or more) drug types.

In step M5, it is determined whether the number of drugs corresponding to all the drug types stored in R2 is 0 or not, and if at least one drug type is other than 0, the process moves to step M6.

In step M6, it is determined whether or not the number of drugs for each drug type is 0 among the drug number data stored in R2.
If not, the process goes to step M7, reads the drug type code whose number of drugs is not 0, writes it to R3, subtracts 1 from the number of drugs corresponding to that drug type, shifts the address of R2, and writes it. , shift the address of R3.

Here, if the number of drugs for each drug type stored in R2 in step M6 is 0, step M7 is skipped and the process moves to step M8. That is, R3 is a number (number of drug types) corresponding to the number of tablet cases 5 to be driven at one time.
In the case of this embodiment, up to 16 types of drug type data can be written. Therefore,
In step M7, drug type data (the NO code of the tablet case 5 may also be used) for driving the tablet case 5 at one time is written in R3.

In step M8, the addresses of R1 and R2 are shifted.

[0028] In step M9, it is determined whether the dosage type code stored in R1 has reached the final address. If it has not reached the final address, the process moves to step M10 and the dosage type code stored in R3 is Determine whether you have reached the final stage.

[0029] When the drug type code stored in R3 reaches the final address (when 16 types of drug type codes are written in R3), the process moves to step M11, and if it has not reached the final address, the process returns to step M6. This operation is repeated until the final address is reached.

[0030] Here, if the drug type code stored in R1 in step M9 reaches the final address, M9
The step is skipped and the transition is made to the M11 step.

This means that, for example, if there are 20 drug types stored in R1, after going through the M10 step once, there are only 4 drug types remaining, and if there are 4 types and the M10 step is entered again, the coating will be permanently stored. Generally, R3 cannot reach the final address (because R3 exceeds 16 drug types)
, to prevent this.

[0032] In step M11, it is determined whether or not there is a drug type code for each address stored in R3, and if there is a drug type code, step M12 is performed to extract the corresponding drug type in R3. After outputting the signal to the tablet case 5, proceed to step M13 and press R3.
Shift the address of.

Here, 17 addresses are set in R3, and a symbol indicating that there is no drug type code (0 may be used) is written in the final address, ie, the 17th address.

Therefore, when shifted from the 16th address of R3, it is determined in step M11 that there is no drug type data, and extraction signals for all 16 drug types stored in R3 are output. Then, the process returns to step M5 and repeats the above-described operation.

When the output of the extraction signal for the number of drugs corresponding to all the drug type codes stored in R1 is completed, all drug number data stored in R2 becomes 0 in step M5, so step M14 is completed. to move to.

In step M14, the packaging machine controller 2
8 is driven to give control signals to the shutter 3 and the heat sealing mechanism 9 to control various operations such as drug injection, sealing of sachets, and formation of sachets. A control signal is given to the packaging sheet 6 to move the packaging sheet 6 by a predetermined length in the longitudinal direction, thereby completing the packaging of one package.

In step M15, 1 is subtracted from the number of days data stored in register R4 of the control device 14,
The above operation is repeated until the number of days data becomes 0 in step M16, that is, until the dispensing for a predetermined number of days is completed.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the control device 1
4, a register R1 with a large capacity that can store 16 or more types of drug type codes, a register R2 with a corresponding capacity that can store drug number data;
Since it is equipped with a register R3 that stores a code for the number of medicines corresponding to the number of tablet cases 5 to be driven at different times (not necessarily at the same time), the medicines to be put into one sachet can be stored in R3. Unit of the number of stored drug type codes (
The tablet case 5 can be driven in batches (16 types constitute one unit), and when more than 16 types of drugs are required to be dispensed by the packaging machine among the drugs indicated in the prescription. However, it is possible to make it into one package.

[0039]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there are many types of medicines that must be dispensed by the packaging machine among the medicines specified in the prescription, and the number of tablet cases exceeds the number of tablet cases that can be driven at one time. By setting the number of tablet cases that can be driven at one time to, for example, 16, and driving them in multiple batches, it is possible to package more than 16 drug types in one package, which was previously impossible.

[0040] As a result, a large number of drugs specified in a prescription can be packaged in a single sachet without increasing the capacitance or using UTC for an emergency purpose other than its original purpose.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a drug packaging machine.

FIG. 2 is a control system diagram of the drug packaging machine.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the controller.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the packaging machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

5 Tablet case 10 Controller 11 Packaging machine 12 Key input section 13 Control circuit section 14 Control device

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A drug packaging machine that picks out drugs stored in a plurality of tablet cases and packs them all at once into sachets based on dispensing data such as drug type and number of drugs entered through a key input unit. A drug packaging machine according to the invention, further comprising a control device that outputs a signal to extract drugs corresponding to the dispensing data from the tablet case in a plurality of batches in units of a predetermined number of drug types.