Method and apparatus for determination of ingredients of tablets

• US 5,094,786 A
• Filed: 09/20/1990
• Issued: 03/10/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lion Engineering Co. Ltd. (Lion Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lion Engineering Co. Ltd. (Lion Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Kazuhiko, Suzuki, Norimichi, Nagashima, Jiro, Utsunomiya, Masatoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): THEISEN, MARY LYNN F
• Application Number:
  US07/585,814
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• Field of Search: 264/40.2, 264/40.4, 264/113, 264/40.1, 425/136, 425/140, 425/148, 425/353, 425/352, 73/433, 73/865
• US Class Current: 264/411
• CPC Class Codes: B30B 11/005 Control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/285 using photoelectric detection means
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 9/00 Methods of, or apparatus for, the determination of weight, not provided for in groups G01G1/00 - G01G7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/15 Medicinal preparations ; Physical properties thereof, e.g. dissolubility

Abstract

A tablet determining method and an apparatus therefor capable of accurately determining ingredients of a multi-layer tablet without breaking the tablet. A multi-layer tablet is lighted from light sources, an area of the side surface of the tablet on which a boundary line between the layers appears is detected by image processing, an area of the side surface of at least one of the layers of the tablet which are separated by the boundary line is detected by image processing, and data obtained by the image processing and data on the total weight of the tablet are used for determining the layer by processing.

Claims

1. A method for determining the weight of a component layer of a tablet, the method comprising the steps of:

weighing a tablet to measure a weight W₀ of the tablet;

taking an image of the whole side surface of the tablet to measure a side surface area A₀ of the tablet;

taking an image of the side surface of a layer of at least one predetermined component of the tablet to measure a side surface area A₁ of the layer; and

calculating a weight W₁ of the predetermined component according to a predetermined formula using the weight W₀, whole side surface area A₀ and side surface area A₁.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the image of the whole side surface of the tablet is taken by laterally lighting the side surface of the table.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 or 2, wherein the layer is translucent;

the image of the side surface of the layer being taken by vertically lighting the layer.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the lighting on said layer is carried out downwardly.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the formula is

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of controlling the weight of components of tablets to be fed, depending upon the calculated weight of said predetermined component.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, wherein the amount of the predetermined component is controlled.

8. A method for determining the weight of a component layer of a tablet, said method comprising the steps of:

weighing a tablet to detect a weight W₀ of the tablet;

taking an image of a whole side surface of the tablet to measure a side surface area A₀ of the tablet;

taking an image of a side surface of a layer of at least one predetermined component of the tablet to measure a side surface area A₁ of the layer; and

obtaining a weight W₁ of the predetermined component using the weight W₀, whole side surface area A₀ and side surface area A₁ by applying a formula

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">W.sub.1 =B.sub.0 +B.sub.1 A.sub.1 +B.sub.2 A.sub.0 +B.sub.3 W.sub.0

wherein B₀, B₁, B₂ and B₃ are parameters determined by a multiple regression analysis.

9. A method for determining the weight of a component layer of a tablet, the method comprising the steps of:

weighing a tablet to detect a weight W₀ of the tablet;

taking an image of a whole side surface of the tablet to measure a side surface area A₀ of the tablet;

taking an image of a side surface of a layer of at least one predetermined component of the tablet to measure a side surface area A₁ of the layer;

obtaining a weight W₁ of the predetermined component according to a predetermined formula using the weight W₀, whole side surface area A₀ and side surface area A₁ ; and

controlling the amount of the predetermined component of the tablet to be fed for preparing the tablet, depending upon the obtained weight of the predetermined component.

10. Apparatus for determining the weight of a component layer of a tablet, the apparatus comprising:

a weighing means for weighing a tablet to detect a weight W₀ of said tablet;

an image-taking means for taking an image of the whole side surface of said tablet to measure a side surface area A₀ of said tablet;

said image-taking means also taking an image of the side surface of a layer of at least one predetermined component of said tablet to measure a side surface area A₁ of said layer; and

a processing means for obtaining a weight W₁ of said predetermined component according to a predetermined formula using said weight W₀, whole side surface area A₀ and side surface area A₁.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein said image of said whole side surface of said tablet is taken by laterally lighting the side surface of said table.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 10 or 11, wherein said component layer is translucent;

said image of said side surface of said layer being taken by vertically lighting said layer.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the lighting on said layer is carried out downwardly.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein said formula is

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 10, further comprising a control means for controlling the amount of at least one component of tablets which are to be fed, depending upon the obtained weight of said predetermined component.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the amount of said predetermined component is controlled.

17. An apparatus for determining the weight of a component layer of a tablet, the apparatus comprising:

a weighing means for weighing a tablet to detect a weight W₀ of said tablet;

an image-taking means for taking an image of the whole side surface of said tablet to measure a side surface area A₀ of said tablet;

said image-taking means also taking an image of the side surface of a layer of at least one predetermined component of said tablet to measure a side surface area A₁ of said layer; and

a processing means for obtaining a weight W₁ of said predetermined component by using said weight W₀, whole side surface area A₀ and side surface A₁ and a formula

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">W.sub.1 =B.sub.0 +B.sub.1 A.sub.1 +B.sub.2 A.sub.0 +B.sub.3 W.sub.0

wherein B₀, B₁, B₂ and B₃ are parameters determined by a multiple regression analysis.

18. An apparatus for determining the weight of a component layer of a tablet, the apparatus comprising:

a weighing means for weighing a tablet to detect a weight W₀ of the tablet;

an image-taking means for taking an image of the whole side surface of said tablet to measure a side surface area A₀ of said tablet;

said image-taking means also taking an image of the side surface of a layer of at least one predetermined component of said tablet to measure a side surface area A₁ of said layer; and

a processing means for obtaining a weight W₁ of said predetermined component according to a predetermined formula using said weight W₀, whole side surface area A₀ and side surface area A₁ ; and

a control means for controlling the amount of at least one component of said tablet to be fed depending upon the obtained weight of said predetermined component.

19. A method for determining the weight of a component of a tablet, said method comprising the steps of:

taking sample tablets;

determining a formula which relates total weights W₀, whole side surface areas a₀, and component side surface areas a₁ of the sample tablets to weights w₁ of components of the sample tablets;

taking a tablet for determination;

weighing the tablet for determination to detect a total weight W₀ of the tablet for determination;

taking an image of a whole side surface of the tablet for determination to measure a side surface area A₀ of the tablet for determination;

taking an image of a side surface of a layer of a component of the tablet for determination to measure a side surface area A₁ of the layer; and

applying the formula to the measured values of W₀, A₀, and A₁ of the tablet for determination to determine the weight of the component of the tablet for determination.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of:

controlling the weight of components of tablets to be fed depending upon the determined weight of the component of the tablet for determination.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of determining the formula further comprises:

weighing each sample tablet to detect a weight W₀ of each sample tablet;

taking an image of a whole side surface of each sample tablet to measure a side surface area a₀ of each sample tablet;

taking an image of a side surface of a layer of a component of each sample tablet to measure a side surface area a₁ of the layer;

weighing the component of each sample tablet to detect a weight w₁ of the component of each sample tablet;

determining values of parameters B₀, B₁, B₂, and B₃ of a regression formula w₁ =B₀ +B₁ a₁ +B₂ a₀ +B₃ w₀ by a multiple regression analysis applied to the data of the measured values of w₀, a₀, a₁, and w₁ for each sample tablet; and

wherein

the step of applying the formula to the measured values of W₀, A₀ and A₁ comprises the step of respectively substituting the measured values for W₀, A₀, and A₁ into the formula.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of determining the formula further comprises the steps of applying a multiple regression analysis to each of the total weights w₀, each of the whole side surface area a₀, each of the component side surface areas a₁, and each of the component weights w₁ to determine the parameters B₀, B₁, B₂, and B₃.