Medicine packing apparatus

• US 20020143429A1
• Filed: 03/26/2002
• Published: 10/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Shimizu, Nobuyuki, Shimizu, Hirohisa, Yuyama, Hiroyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,603,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/216
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

The memory 5 stores shelf numbers of the respective shelf sections and the respective kinds of medicines housed in the medicine containers. The control unit 6 allows the memory 5 to store the corresponding relationship between the kind of a medicine housed in the medicine container and the shelf number upon attaching the medicine container to the shelf sections. The control unit 6 erases the corresponding relationship from the memory 5 upon detaching the medicine container from the shelf. Thus, it possible to carry out operations of attaching, detaching and exchanging medicine containers during a medicine packing operation.

Claims

1. A medicine packing apparatus in which medicine containers housing medicines classified into respective kinds are attached to a plurality of shelf sections so as to supply and pack the corresponding medicine from the corresponding medicine container of the shelf section, comprising:

storing means of storing shelf numbers of said respective shelf sections and the respective kinds of medicines housed in said medicine containers; and

control means of allowing said storage means to store the corresponding relationship between the kind of a medicine housed in said medicine container and the shelf number upon attaching said medicine container to said shelf sections, and of erasing said corresponding relationship from said storage means upon detaching said medicine container from the shelf.

2. The medicine packing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a display means of displaying the corresponding relationship between the shelf number of the shelf section to which said medicine container is attached and the medicine placed therein or the corresponding relationship between the shelf number of the shelf section from which said medicine container is detached and the medicine detached therefrom.

3. The medicine packing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said display means displays shelf numbers of the shelf sections to which medicine containers containing medicines included in prescription data are attached and shelf numbers of the shelf sections to which the other medicine containers that contain no medicines included in the prescription data are attached.

4. The medicine packing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising

a medicine container detecting means of detecting the presence or absence of a medicine container on the shelf section, wherein

said control means allows said display means to display the shelf number of the shelf section to which said medicine container is attached or the shelf number of the shelf section from which said medicine container is detached, based upon a detection signal from said medicine container detecting means.

5. The medicine packing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising

a medicine identifying information reading means of reading medicine identifying information of a medicine container on a shelf section, wherein

said control means allows said display means to display the medicine and the shelf number of the corresponding shelf section, based upon a detection signal from said medicine identifying information reading means.