Medicine inspection assistance device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10373311-B2
Application number	US-201515514190-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2015
Priority date	Sep 25, 2014
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

Inspection of a shape-fixed medicine is performed before packing. A medicine inspection assistance device includes: a medicine support part for rotatably supporting a shape-fixed medicine by a first rotating roller and a second rotating roller, and a medicine imaging part having an imaging means for imaging the shape-fixed medicine supported by the medicine support part from above. The medicine support part is configured such that a contact position between the first rotating roller and the shape-fixed medicine is located above the second rotating roller and the contact position is closer to an axis of the first rotating roller than a gravity center position of the shape-fixed medicine.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A medicine inspection assistance device, comprising a medicine imaging device having:
a medicine support mechanism including a first rotating roller and a second rotating roller, the first and second rotating rollers being configured to rotatably support a shape-fixed medicine; and
a camera configured to image the shape-fixed medicine supported on the first rotating roller and the second rotating roller from above,
wherein the first rotating roller has an outer circumferential surface whose diameter dimension gradually increases toward an axial-directional central portion, and
wherein the second rotating roller has an outer circumferential surface whose diameter dimension gradually decreases toward an axial-directional central portion and the second rotating roller is disposed along the outer circumferential surface of the first rotating roller.

2. The medicine inspection assistance device of claim 1 , wherein an axis of the second rotating roller is located above an axis of the first rotating roller, and
wherein the second rotating roller is configured to be rotated in the same direction as a rotation direction of the first rotating roller which faces toward the second rotating roller at an area in which the shape-fixed medicine is placed.

3. The medicine inspection assistance device of claim 1 , wherein the first rotating roller and the second rotating roller are configured to be relatively moved toward or away from each other, and
wherein the medicine imaging device further includes a guide member configured to guide one of the first and second rotating rollers to relatively move toward or away from the other, the guide member being disposed at a lateral side of a gap formed between the first rotating roller and the second rotating roller when the first rotating roller and the second rotating roller are moved away from each other.

4. The medicine inspection assistance device of claim 1 , wherein the shape-fixed medicine is specified based on an appearance information of the shape-fixed medicine imaged by the camera.

5. The medicine inspection assistance device of claim 1 , further comprising a device body to which the medicine support mechanism is attached,
wherein the device body has a light illuminator configured to illuminate the shape-fixed medicine supported on the medicine support mechanism from above, and
wherein the medicine support mechanism has a reflector configured to reflect light emitted from the light illuminator and to irradiate the reflected light on a lateral side of the shape-fixed medicine supported on the medicine support mechanism.

6. The medicine inspection assistance device of claim 5 , wherein the reflector is configured to irradiate the reflected light emitted from the light illuminator on an obliquely upper side of the shape-fixed medicine.

7. A medicine inspection assistance device, comprising a medicine imaging device having:
a medicine support mechanism including a first rotating roller and a second rotating roller, the first and second rotating rollers being configured to rotatably support a shape-fixed medicine; and
a camera configured to image the shape-fixed medicine supported on the first rotating roller and the second rotating roller from above,
wherein a rotation direction of the second rotating roller is reversed when the first rotating roller and the second rotating roller are relatively moved away from each other.

8. A medicine inspection assistance device, comprising a medicine imaging device having:
a medicine support mechanism including a first rotating roller and a second rotating roller, the first and second rotating rollers being configured to rotatably support a shape-fixed medicine; and
a camera configured to image the shape-fixed medicine supported on the first rotating roller and the second rotating roller from above,
wherein the medicine inspection assistance device comprises a plurality of the medicine support mechanisms, and
wherein the plurality of the medicine support mechanisms are disposed annularly and are synchronously rotated by a predetermined pitch in a circumferential direction.

Assignees

• Yuyama Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yuyama Shoji
• Koike Naoki
• Fukada Masao
• Maeda Akira

Classifications

• A61J3/00 Primary

  Devices or methods specially adapted for bringing pharmaceutical products into particular physical or administering forms · CPC title

• B65B57/145

  for fluent material · CPC title

• G06T7/0012 Primary

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• A61J1/03 Primary

  for pills or tablets (containers for pills or tablets with special dispensing means therefor B65D83/04) · CPC title

• B65B65/08

  Devices for counting or registering the number of articles handled, or the number of packages produced by the machine · CPC title