System for supporting medicine filling operation

• US 8,494,870 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2006
• Issued: 07/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Yuyama, Hiroyuki, Nakata, Kiyoyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): O'Connor, Gerald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ng, Jonathan K
• Application Number:
  US11/887,029
• Publication Number:
  US 20090204255A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,673 Days
• Field of Search: 221/211, 221/222, 221/289, 705/2, 705/3, 242/97, 235/375
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers

Abstract

Provided is a system for supporting medicine filling operation determines whether or not a combination of a medicine container and a medicine is appropriate and performs filling operation reliably and quickly without making a mistake. A control means (7) determines whether or not a medicine and a mounting object conform to each other based on medicine identification information or mounting objects identification information received by a communication means (6) and based on a medicine master, mounting master, and exchange table stored in a storage means (4). Information on the medicine, information on the mounting objects, or determination result that is read by the control means (7) and received via the communication means (6) and communication section (10) can be displayed on a display section (9) of a portable terminal (3).

Claims

1. A system for resupplying a supply cassette with medicine from a supply package, the supply cassette supplying a medicine packaging operation, comprising:

a plurality of handheld terminals, each including an input section adapted to accept medicine identification information and supply cassette information for alternatively inputting one of medicine identification information for identification of the medicine within the supply package and supply cassette information for identification of the supply cassette on which the supply package is to be mounted, each handheld terminal further comprising a display section, a communication section, and an image reading section, and;

a server including;

a storage device for storing a medicine master composed of medicine information associated with the medicine identification information, a mounting master composed of supply cassette information associated with the supply cassette identification information, an exchange table for associating the medicine information and the supply cassette information with each other, and an image master composed of image information concerning the medicine;

a communication device adapted to receive the medicine identification information and the supply cassette information for alternatively receiving one of the medicine identification information and the supply cassette identification information inputted with the input section of one of the plurality of handheld terminals via the communication section; and

a control device for judging whether the medicine within the supply package and the supply cassette on which the supply cassette is to be mounted correspond to each other based on one of the medicine identification information and the supply cassette identification information received by the communication device and based on the medicine master, the mounting master, and the exchange table stored in the storage device,

wherein the image reading section receives the image information stored in the storage device via the communication section and the communication device and enables display thereof on the display section under a state where the medicine information is displayed on the display section,

wherein the storage device stores the exchange table in which one medicine is associated with a plurality of supply cassettes,

wherein, when one of the medicine identification information and the supply cassette identification information is received by the communication device, the control device is configured to read one of the medicine identification information based on the medicine master and the supply cassette identification information based on the mounting master stored in the storage device, and to read the other of the corresponding medicine identification information and the supply cassette identification information from the exchange table, and

wherein the display section of the handheld terminal is adapted to display the medicine information and the supply cassette information read by the control device and received via the communication device and the communication section.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

when one of the medicine identification information and the supply cassette identification information has been received by the communication device, the control device reads a corresponding one of the information based on the medicine master or the mounting master stored in the storage device and reads the other remaining one of the information associated with the read information based on the exchange table; and

the display section of the handheld terminal is adapted to display the medicine information and the supply cassette information read by the control device and received via the communication device and the communication section.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the control device reads one of the medicine information and the supply cassette information stored on the exchange table in the storage device based on the one of medicine identification information and the supply cassette identification information received via the communication section and the communication device and sends the read information to the communication section of the handheld terminal via the communication device; and

when the medicine information is displayed on the display section of the handheld terminal, a plurality of corresponding supply cassettes are displayed together with the medicine information.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the control device calculates a remaining amount of the medicine on each supply cassette based on a filling amount of the medicine into the supply cassette and a delivery amount of the medicine from the supply cassette, determines whether or not filling of the medicine is required based on the calculated remaining amount of the medicine, and displays corresponding supply cassette information on the display section of the handheld terminal when it has been determined that the filling is required.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the control device stores a filling record together with a filling person name in the storage device based on a filling completion signal from the handheld terminal.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein when there is an error in information inputted with the input section of the handheld terminal, the control device stores an error record in the storage device and causes the display section of the handheld terminal to display error information based on the error record.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the control device is constructed using a web server.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein:

the storage device is installed at a main server; and

the web server is installed in each unit of the plurality of handheld terminals that are collectively used.