Drug information acquisition device and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016104282-A1
Application number	US-201514973879-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 18, 2015
Priority date	Jun 19, 2013
Publication date	Apr 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A row of V-shaped grooves is formed in the bottom of each of imaging trays 110 A and 110 B which temporarily hold a dose of drug. After drugs are inserted into the imaging tray, the imaging tray is vibrated to remove the overlap between the drugs corresponding to a dose and to correct the posture of the drugs using a first inclined surface 112 A and a second inclined surface 112 B of the V-shaped groove. Two cameras 130 A and 130 B are provided so as to face the first inclined surface 112 A and the second inclined surface 112 B of the V-shaped groove 112 , respectively, and capture the images of the drugs which have stable postures that have been corrected on the V-shaped grooves, in two directions. The first and second images of the drugs captured in two directions are processed to accurately acquire drug information including at least outward appearance information of the drugs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A drug information acquisition device comprising:
an imaging tray that is provided between a drug supply unit which supplies each dose of a plurality of types of drugs and a packet insertion guide, temporarily holds a dose of drug supplied from the drug supply unit, and has a bottom in which a row of V-shaped grooves, each having a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface, is formed; a mechanical unit that removes an overlap between the drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray and corrects the posture of the drugs using the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove; an illumination unit that illuminates the drugs on the imaging tray; first and second imaging units that are provided so as to face the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface in the bottom of the imaging tray, respectively, and capture images of the drugs, whose posture is corrected by the mechanical unit and which are illuminated by the illumination unit, on the imaging tray; and a drug information acquisition unit that processes a first image and a second image which are respectively acquired from the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit to acquire drug information including at least outward appearance information of the drugs in the first image and the second image.

2 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the mechanical unit is a vibration unit that vibrates the imaging tray.

3 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a moving mechanism; and a control unit, wherein a plurality of the imaging trays are provided, the moving mechanism moves the plurality of imaging trays between at least two of a position where the drug is supplied from the drug supply unit to the imaging tray, a position where the vibration unit vibrates the imaging tray, a position where the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit capture the image of the drug in the imaging tray, and a position where the drug is discharged from the imaging tray to the packet insertion guide after the image capture, and the control unit simultaneously operates the plurality of imaging trays at the two or more positions.

4 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 2 , further comprising:
an image acquisition unit that instructs at least one of the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit to continuously capture the image of the drug on the imaging tray while the vibration unit is vibrating the imaging tray and acquires a continuous image; a determination unit that determines whether the overlap between the drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray has been removed and whether the posture of the drugs has been corrected, on the basis of the image acquired by the image acquisition unit; and a control unit that stops the vibration of the imaging tray by the vibration unit when the determination unit determines that the overlap between the drugs has been removed and that the posture of the drugs has been corrected, wherein the drug information acquisition unit acquires the drug information on the basis of the first image and the second image which are acquired from the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit, respectively, after the vibration of the imaging tray is stopped.

5 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove have the same inclination angle, and an angle formed between the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface is equal to or greater than 60 degrees and equal to or less than 150 degrees.

6 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove have different inclination angles, and an angle formed between the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface is equal to or greater than 60 degrees and equal to or less than 150 degrees.

7 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the drug information acquisition unit includes a storage unit that stores size correction information corresponding to an object distance of each V-shaped groove in the row of the V-shaped grooves in the bottom of the imaging tray, reads the corresponding size correction information from the storage unit according to which of the V-shaped grooves in the row of the V-shaped grooves of the imaging tray the drug is located in, and corrects size information which is included in the outward appearance information acquired by the image processing with the read size correction information.

8 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit are provided in an obliquely upward direction with respect to the imaging tray.

9 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 8 , further comprising:
third and fourth imaging units that are provided so as to face the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit, respectively, with the imaging tray interposed therebetween, wherein at least the bottom of the imaging tray is a transparent member, the third imaging unit and the fourth imaging unit capture images of the drugs through the transparent member, and the drug information acquisition unit processes each of first to fourth images acquired by the first to fourth imaging units to acquire drug information including at least outward appearance information of the drugs in the first to fourth images.

10 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 1 ,
wherein at least the bottom of the imaging tray is a transparent member, and the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit are provided in an obliquely downward direction with respect to the imaging tray and capture the image of the drug through the transparent member.

11 . The drug information acquisition device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the drug information acquisition unit further acquires at least one of color information, character information, and a secant line of the drug in the image, using the image processing.

12 . A drug information acquisition method that is performed in a drug information acquisition device including an imaging tray that is provided between a drug supply unit and a packet insertion guide and has a bottom in which a row of V-shaped grooves, each having a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface, is formed, a vibration unit that vibrates the imaging tray, an illumination unit that illuminates drugs on the imaging tray, first and second imaging units that are provided so as to face the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface in the bottom of the imaging tray, respectively, and a drug information acquisition unit, the method comprising:
a drug supply step of supplying each dose of a plurality of types of drugs from the drug supply unit to the imaging tray;
a vibration step of vibrating the imaging tray with Ube vibration unit to remove an overlap between the drugs corresponding to a dose supplied to the imaging tray and to correct the posture of the drugs using the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface of the V-shaped groove;
an imaging step of capturing images of the drugs on the imaging tray illuminated by the illumination unit, using the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit, to acquire a first image and a second image after the vibration step; and
a drug information acquisition step of processi

Assignees

• Fujifilm Corp

Inventors

• Takahashi Ippei

Classifications

• H04N23/10

  for generating image signals from different wavelengths · CPC title

• G06T7/90

  Determination of colour characteristics · CPC title

• G01N21/251

  Colorimeters; Construction thereof · CPC title

• G06T7/0012 Primary

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• B65B5/103

  for packaging pills or tablets · CPC title