Method and system with electronic control devices for blending of Chinese medicine

• US 6,681,549 B1
• Filed: 09/25/2001
• Issued: 01/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Shenzhen 999 Pharmaceutical Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Shenzhen 999 Pharmaceutical Company Limited
• Inventors: Liu, Yingping, Huang, Jinlong, Wu, Pinglong, Zhao, Xinxian
• Primary Examiner(s): Rada, Rinaldi I.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DESAI, HEMANT
• Application Number:
  US09/857,900
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• Field of Search: 534/74, 534/425, 535/02, 531/41, 534/93, 532/37, 532/21, 532/22
• US Class Current: 53/443
• CPC Class Codes: A61K 9/009 Sachets, pouches characterised by the material or function of the envelope with gastric retention A61K9/0065; sachets which are not administered but function merely as a container are classified according to the content, e.g. sachets comprising powder for reconstitution of a drink A61K9/0095

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a system with electronic control devices for blending of Chinese herbal medicine. The system includes a container consisting of a multiplicity of cases having units for storing a series of bags packed with specified concentrated medicinal herbal particles; a taking device for getting certain amount of the said bags from the specified units according to the computer instruction; a guide device for guiding the bags to the conveyor belt; a warning and pilot device for warning of running short and wrong filling the medicine. With such kind of method and system, the packed Chinese herbal medicine can be offered easy for carrying and convenient for serving. With the warning and pilot device, missing or wrong-filling of medicine can be avoided, and the reliability and safety are greatly improved.

Claims

1. A system for blending of Chinese herbal medicines comprising:

one or more medicine-containers consisting of a number of storage units for storing different sorts of Chinese medicines,

a fetching means for fetching a certain quantity of medicine bags from the storage unit,

a transmitting and guiding means for putting medicine bags from the fetching means onto a conveyer belt,

a warning means for identifying and warning if certain medicine bags run down or are misplaced,

a control device for controlling said fetching, transmitting and guiding, and warning means according to a prescription for blended Chinese herbal medicines,

a checking system for counting the quantity of the medicine fetched out by said fetching means,

a packing means used for packing the medicine bags checked,

a final gathering means used for gathering the medicine bags packed, and

a labeling means for printing a label on medicine bags packed.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein every storage unit consists of one fetching means such that each said fetching means in each unit is provided with a guiding means which is used for conveying the medicine bags onto conveying straps.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1:

wherein all of the storage units share one fetching means; and

wherein the medicine container further comprises a servo-mechanism which can drive said medicine fetching means to move to any storage unit predetermined along a guide track according to an instruction from a computer.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3:

wherein said guide track can be an upside or downside guide track;

wherein said servo-mechanism comprises a vertical guide track which can shift horizontally along the upside or downside guide track; and

wherein said medicine fetching means can move up and down along said vertical guide track.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4 wherein said servo-mechanism comprises a means which can drive said medicine fetching means to advance and retreat in a Z direction and pull out the medicine bags from the storage unit.

6. The system as claimed in claim 4:

wherein said guiding means is installed on said medicine fetching means shared;

wherein said guiding means is made up of the vertical frame with a placket and an antileak patch with a bit superposition on the two sides of the placket; and

wherein said medicine fetching means moves up and down along two sides of the antileak patch so as to fetch the medicine bags and drop said medicine bags down on the conveying strap.

7. The system as claimed in claim 4:

wherein said guiding means includes an upright supply bucket with a side channel on a side of the medicine fetching means shared, and a transport groove between the bottom of said medicine fetching means and the supply bucket; and

wherein from the connection of the supply bucket to the placket of said upright supply bucket, there is an antileak patch which can move up and down along with the transport groove for protecting the leaking of the drug from an opening of the supply bucket.

8. The system as claimed in claim 4:

wherein said guiding means is a small box that is connected with said medicine fetching means; and

wherein a pack of the drug is delivered to the small box and the medicine fetching means will delivery said small box to an exit of a tank after fetching one set pack of the medicine.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1:

wherein said warning means includes a bar-code reader, and a signal lamp on every unit storing the medicine containers;

wherein the signal lamp for an empty medicine container will light after the medicine runs out of stock in that medicine container,

wherein the bar-code reader will read a bar code on the medicine container when the medicine container is positioned in the unit, and the said signal lamp will flicker if the medicine indicated by the bar code is the same as the medicine desired for the unit; and

wherein after the drugs are loaded, the bar code reader also reads a bar code of a cover of the unit so that if the medicine read from the medicine container the same and hence the medicine container is loaded correctly, the signal lamp will turn off.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1:

wherein said warning means comprises the bar-code reader and an indicator such that after the medicine in a certain unit has been fetched out, the indicator displays the drug'"'"'s name and place; and

wherein when loading the medicine container, the bar-code reader will read a bar code on the medicine container and detect if the medicine therein is the right medicine for that unit.

11. A system for blending of Chinese herbal medicines comprising:

one or more medicine-containers consisting of a number of storage units for storing different sorts of Chinese medicines,

a fetching means for fetching a certain quantity of medicine bags from the storage unit,

a transmitting and guiding means for putting medicine bags from the fetching means onto a conveyer belt,

a warning means for identifying and warning if certain medicine bags run down or are misplaced,

a control device for controlling said fetching, transmitting and guiding, and warning means according to a prescription for blended Chinese herbal medicines,

wherein said medicine fetching means comprises a first valve, a second valve, and a control system, said control system controlling said first and second valves such that said first valve will open and deliver the certain quantity of medicine bags and then close, whereby in the end, the second valve will open and the drugs are fetched.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11 wherein every storage unit consists of one fetching means such that each said fetching means in each unit is provided with a guiding means which is used for conveying the medicine bags onto conveying straps.

13. The system as claimed in claim 11:

wherein all of the storage units share one fetching means; and

wherein the medicine container further comprises a servo-mechanism which can drive said medicine fetching means to move to any storage unit predetermined along a guide track according to an instruction from a computer.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13:

wherein said guide track can be an upside or downside guide track;

wherein said servo-mechanism comprises a vertical guide track which can shift horizontally along the upside or downside guide track; and

wherein said medicine fetching means can move up and down along said vertical guide track.

15. The system as claimed in claim 13 wherein said servo-mechanism comprises a means which can drive said medicine fetching means to advance and retreat in a Z direction and pull out the medicine bags from the storage unit.

16. The system as claimed in claim 13:

wherein said guiding means is installed on said medicine fetching means shared;

wherein said guiding means is made up of the vertical frame with a placket and an antileak patch with a bit superposition on the two sides of the placket; and

wherein said medicine fetching means moves up and down along two sides of the antileak patch so as to fetch the medicine bags and drop said medicine bags down on the conveying strap.

17. The system as claimed in claim 13:

wherein said guiding means includes an upright supply bucket with a side channel on a side of the medicine fetching means shared, and a transport groove between the bottom of said medicine fetching means and the supply bucket; and

wherein from the connection of the supply bucket to the placket of said upright supply bucket, there is an antileak patch which can move up and down along with the transport groove for protecting the leaking of the drug from an opening of the supply bucket.

18. The system as claimed in claim 13:

wherein said guiding means is a small box that is connected with said medicine fetching means; and

wherein a pack of the drug is delivered to the small box and the medicine fetching means will delivery said small box to an exit of a tank after fetching one set pack of the medicine.

19. The system as claimed in claim 11:

wherein said warning means includes a bar-code reader, and a signal lamp on every unit storing the medicine;

wherein the signal lamp for an empty medicine container will light after the medicine runs out of stock in that medicine container,

wherein the bar-code reader will read a bar code on the medicine container when the medicine is positioned in the unit, and the said signal lamp will flicker if the medicine indicated by the bar code is the same as the medicine desired for the unit; and

wherein after the drugs are loaded, the bar code reader also reads a bar code of a cover of the unit so that if the medicine read from the medicine container the same and hence the medicine container is loaded correctly, the signal lamp will turn off.

20. The system as claimed in claim 11:

wherein said warning means comprises the bar-code reader and an indicator such that after the medicine in a certain unit has been fetched out, the indicator displays the drug'"'"'s name and place; and

wherein when loading the medicine container, the bar-code reader will read a bar code on the medicine container and detect if the medicine therein is the right medicine for that unit.

21. A system for blending of Chinese herbal medicines comprising:

one or more medicine-containers consisting of a number of storage units for storing different sorts of Chinese medicines,

a fetching means for fetching a certain quantity of medicine bags from the storage unit,

a transmitting and guiding means for putting medicine bags from the fetching means onto a conveyer belt,

a warning means for identifying and warning if certain medicine bags run down or are misplaced,

a control device for controlling said fetching, transmitting and guiding, and warning means according to a prescription for blended Chinese herbal medicines,

wherein said medicine fetching means comprises paired input wheels and paired output wheels which engage the medicine bag, the conveying belt being between both pairs for conveying the medicine bags along a movement direction of the bags,

wherein a length between said input and the output wheels is equal to length “

a”

of the medicine bags, and

wherein a rotational speed of said input wheels is slower than a rotational speed of the output wheels.

22. The system as claimed in claim 21 wherein every storage unit consists of one fetching means such that each said fetching means in each unit is provided with a guiding means which is used for conveying the medicine bags onto conveying straps.

23. The system as claimed in claim 21:

wherein all of the storage units share one fetching means; and

wherein the medicine container further comprises a servo-mechanism which can drive said medicine fetching means to move to any storage unit predetermined along a guide track according to an instruction from a computer.

24. The system as claimed in claim 23:

wherein said guide track can be an upside or downside guide track;

wherein said servo-mechanism comprises a vertical guide track which can shift horizontally along the upside or downside guide track; and

wherein said medicine fetching means can move up and down along said vertical guide track.

25. The system as claimed in claim 24 wherein said servo-mechanism comprises a means which can drive said medicine fetching means to advance and retreat in a Z direction and pull out the medicine bags from the storage unit.

26. The system as claimed in claim 24:

wherein said guiding means is installed on said medicine fetching means shared;

wherein said guiding means is made up of the vertical frame with a placket and an antileak patch with a bit superposition on the two sides of the placket; and

wherein said medicine fetching means moves up and down along two sides of the antileak patch so as to fetch the medicine bags and drop said medicine bags down on the conveying strap.

27. The system as claimed in claim 24:

wherein said guiding means includes an upright supply bucket with a side channel on a side of the medicine fetching means shared, and a transport groove between the bottom of said medicine fetching means and the supply bucket; and

wherein from the connection of the supply bucket to the placket of said upright supply bucket, there is an antileak patch which can move up and down along with the transport groove for protecting the leaking of the drug from an opening of the supply bucket.

28. The system as claimed in claim 24:

wherein said guiding means is a small box that is connected with said medicine fetching means; and

wherein a pack of the drug is delivered to the small box and the medicine fetching means will delivery said small box to an exit of a tank after fetching one set pack of the medicine.

29. The system as claimed in claim 21:

wherein said warning means includes a bar-code reader, and a signal lamp on every unit storing the medicine;

wherein the signal lamp for an empty medicine container will light after the medicine runs out of stock in that medicine container,

wherein the bar-code reader will read a bar code on the medicine container when the medicine is positioned in the unit, and the said signal lamp will flicker if the medicine indicated by the bar code is the same as the medicine desired for the unit; and

wherein after the drugs are loaded, the bar code reader also reads a bar code of a cover of the unit so that if the medicine read from the medicine container the same and hence the medicine container is loaded correctly, the signal lamp will turn off.

30. The system as claimed in claim 21:

wherein said warning means comprises the bar-code reader and an indicator such that after the medicine in a certain unit has been fetched out, the indicator displays the drug'"'"'s name and place; and

wherein when loading the medicine container, the bar-code reader will read a bar code on the medicine container and detect if the medicine therein is the right medicine for that unit.

31. A system for blending of Chinese herbal medicines comprising:

one or more medicine-containers consisting of a number of storage units for storing different sorts of Chinese medicines,

a fetching means for fetching a certain quantity of medicine bags from the storage unit,

a transmitting and guiding means for putting medicine bags from the fetching means onto a conveyer belt,

a warning means for identifying and warning if certain medicine bags run down or are misplaced,

a control device for controlling said fetching, transmitting and guiding, and warning means according to a prescription for blended Chinese herbal medicines,

wherein the medicine fetching means comprises two gears moving in opposite directions and wherein the two gears can deliver one pack of drug whenever the two gears turn into a preselected angle, whereby the medicine fetching means can deliver a certain quantity of the drugs by controlling a rotating angle of the two gears.

32. The system as claimed in claim 31 wherein every storage unit consists of one fetching means such that each said fetching means in each unit is provided with a guiding means which is used for conveying the medicine bags onto conveying straps.

33. The system as claimed in claim 31:

wherein all of the storage units share one fetching means; and

wherein the medicine container further comprises a servo-mechanism which can drive said medicine fetching means to move to any storage unit predetermined along a guide track according to an instruction from a computer.

34. The system as claimed in claim 33:

wherein said guide track can be an upside or downside guide track;

wherein said servo-mechanism comprises a vertical guide track which can shift horizontally along the upside or downside guide track; and

wherein said medicine fetching means can move up and down along said vertical guide track.

35. The system as claimed in claim 34 wherein said servo-mechanism comprises a means which can drive said medicine fetching means to advance and retreat in a Z direction and pull out the medicine bags from the storage unit.

36. The system as claimed in claim 34:

wherein said guiding means is installed on said medicine fetching means shared;

wherein said guiding means is made up of the vertical frame with a placket and an antileak patch with a bit superposition on the two sides of the placket; and

wherein said medicine fetching means moves up and down along two sides of the antileak patch so as to fetch the medicine bags and drop said medicine bags down on the conveying strap.

37. The system as claimed in claim 34:

wherein said guiding means includes an upright supply bucket with a side channel on a side of the medicine fetching means shared, and a transport groove between the bottom of said medicine fetching means and the supply bucket; and

wherein from the connection of the supply bucket to the placket of said upright supply bucket, there is an antileak patch which can move up and down along with the transport groove for protecting the leaking of the drug from an opening of the supply bucket.

38. The system as claimed in claim 34:

wherein said guiding means is a small box that is connected with said medicine fetching means; and

wherein a pack of the drug is delivered to the small box and the medicine fetching means will delivery said small box to an exit of a tank after fetching one set pack of the medicine.

39. The system as claimed in claim 31:

wherein said warning means includes a bar-code reader, and a signal lamp on every unit storing the medicine;

wherein the signal lamp for an empty medicine container will light after the medicine runs out of stock in that medicine container,

wherein the bar-code reader will read a bar code on the medicine container when the medicine is positioned in the unit, and the said signal lamp will flicker if the medicine indicated by the bar code is the same as the medicine desired for the unit; and

wherein after the drugs are loaded, the bar code reader also reads a bar code of a cover of the unit so that if the medicine read from the medicine container the same and hence the medicine container is loaded correctly, the signal lamp will turn off.

40. The system as claimed in claim 31:

wherein said warning means comprises the bar-code reader and an indicator such that after the medicine in a certain unit has been fetched out, the indicator displays the drug'"'"'s name and place; and

wherein when loading the medicine container, the bar-code reader will read a bar code on the medicine container and detect if the medicine therein is the right medicine for that unit.