Filling station and method for filling a transport tray

• US 10,293,963 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2016
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CareFusion Germany 326 GmbH
• Original Assignee: CareFusion Germany 326 GmbH
• Inventors: Hellenbrand, Christoph
• Primary Examiner(s): Weeks, Gloria R
• Application Number:
  US15/010,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20170217619A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,208 Days
• Field of Search: 53473, 53474, 53494, 53495
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 2210/04 Customised on demand packaging by determining a specific characteristic, e.g. shape or height, of articles or material to be packaged and selecting, creating or adapting a packaging accordingly, e.g. making a carton starting from web material
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/30 Arranging and feeding articles in groups
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/103 for packaging pills or tablets
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/00 Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method for filling a transport tray having a reduced risk of incorrect fillings. In accordance with the disclosure, a target filling of a plurality of receptacles in the transport tray is transmitted to the control device and at least one filling template is produced based on the target filling and on a filling regime and is displayed by means of a display device. Then drug portions corresponding to the filling template are transferred to the receptacles, and an image of at least the receptacles to be filled in accordance with the target filling is produced by means of an optical detection device and the actual filling is determined using the image and is compared to the target filling. If no target deviation is found, the transport tray is released for transferring the drug portions to the machine tray.

Claims

1. A method for filling a transport tray for transferring drug portions to a machine tray of an automatic dispensing station, the method comprising:

transmitting a target filling of a plurality of receptacles in the transport tray to a control device, wherein the target filling includes at least one of information about at least one type of drug to be filled and the number of drug portions per type of drug and receptacle;

generating at least one filling template based on the transmitted target filling and on a filling regime;

displaying the generated filling template on a display device;

projecting the generated filling template onto the transport tray;

transferring drug portions corresponding to the filling template to the receptacles of the transport tray;

generating, by an optical detection device, an image of at least the receptacles to be filled in accordance with the target filling;

detecting, determining, and comparing, using the image, the actual filling, quantity, and quality of the added drug portions to the target filling;

determining if there is a target deviation between the actual filling and the target filling; and

releasing the transport tray for transferring the drug portions to the machine tray if no target deviation is found.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated filling template includes all receptacles to be filled and all drug types to be filled.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a plurality of filling templates, each filling template including all receptacles to be filled for one drug type; and

filling the receptacles corresponding to each filling template until the target filling of all receptacles to be filled is achieved.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a plurality of filling templates, each filling template including all drug portions to be filled for one receptacle; and

filling the receptacles corresponding to each filling template until the target filling of all receptacles to be filled is achieved.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the displayed filling template comprises a plurality of partial filling templates.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the drug portions are filled in corresponding receptacles in a transfer tray arranged above the transport tray prior to being transferred to the receptacles in the transport tray, based on the filling template.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an image for a plurality of filling templates;

detecting, determining, and comparing, using each generated image, the actual filling, quantity, and quality of the added drug portions to the corresponding filling template;

determining if there is a filling deviation between the actual filling and the filling template; and

if no filling deviation is found, displaying the next filling template.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising repeating the steps for each filling template until the target filling of all receptacles to be filled is achieved.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein transfer of the drug portions from a filling tray to the transport tray is released when no filling deviation is found.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the filling template is projected onto the filling tray.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, if a filling deviation is found, the filling deviation on the display device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the target deviation is projected onto the transport tray.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated image is stored.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein after drug portions corresponding to the filling template have been transferred into the receptacles to be filled, an image of at least the receptacles to be filled in accordance with the filling template is generated by the optical detection device and, using the image, the actual filling is determined and compared to the filling template, and, if no deviation is found, a next filling template is displayed.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a plurality of filling templates are displayed simultaneously and the display is updated after each filling template has been processed.

16. A system for filling a transport tray for transferring drug portions to a machine tray of an automatic dispensing station, the system comprising:

a transport tray;

a machine tray;

a control device;

a display device;

an optical detection device;

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory machine-readable medium embodying instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

transmit a target filling of a plurality of receptacles in the transport tray to the control device, wherein the target filling includes at least one of information about at least one type of drug to be filled and the number of drug portions per type of drug and receptacle;

generate at least one filling template based on the transmitted target filling and on a filling regime;

display the generated filling template on the display device;

project the generated filling template onto the transport tray;

transfer drug portions corresponding to the filling template to the receptacles of the transport tray;

generate an image of at least the receptacles to be filled in accordance with the target filling;

detect, determining, and comparing, using the image, the actual filling, quantity, and quality of the added drug portions to the target filling;

determine if there is a target deviation between the actual filling and the target filling; and

release the transport tray for transferring the drug portions to the machine tray if no target deviation is found.