Medication identification and verification

• US 9,406,127 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2015
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mint Solutions Holding BV
• Original Assignee: Mint Solutions Holding BV
• Inventors: Helgason, Ivar S., Reynisson, Gauti Thor, Runarsdottir, Maria
• Primary Examiner(s): Tabatabai, Abolfazl
• Application Number:
  US14/743,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20150350570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 411 Days
• Field of Search: 382128-134, 356/301, 424/464
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/03 for pills or tablets containers for pills or tablets with special dispensing means therefor B65D83/04
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2200/70 Device provided with specific sensor or indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2205/20 Colour codes
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2205/40 by shape or form, e.g. by using shape recognition
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0084 for multiple medicaments
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/10 Constructive solid geometry [CSG] using solid primitives, e.g. cylinders, cubes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10028 Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10048 Infrared image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/145 Illumination specially adapted for pattern recognition, e.g. using gratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/66 Trinkets, e.g. shirt buttons or jewellery items recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/06 Recognition of objects for industrial automation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/10 Recognition assisted with metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/20 for generating image signals from infrared radiation only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20

Abstract

A pill identification system includes a device which is configured to collect three-dimensional image data of surfaces of one or more pills, generate geometric features of the pill(s) from the three-dimensional image data, and identify the pill(s) using the geometric features. In some embodiments, the identified pills can be verified for patient administration by comparing the identified pills to prescription information.

Claims

1. A medication identification system comprising:

an imaging device including a structured light scanner having a camera configured to collect surface image data of one or more pills;

a controller configured to control the imaging device to collect the image data of the one or more pills;

the system being configured to use the surface image data of the one or more pills to generate three-dimensional geometric data for each pill and to determine the identity of each of the one or more pills based on at least the geometric data;

wherein

the system further includes lights which are configured to illuminate the one or more pills in a manner which creates shadows of the one or more pills, and a camera configured to record images of these shadows and to record color information;

the light includes lights of different colors from the group including white light, ultraviolet light, red light, green light, blue light and infrared light;

the system is configured to capture and analyze shadow images for each pill, and to capture and analyze color information for each pill in conjunction with the geometric data; and

the system comprises a chamber into which the one or more pills to be identified are placed, which is closed to ambient light.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the camera configured to record images of the shadows and to record color information is a separate camera from the camera configured to collect surface image date.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the structured light scanner includes a laser light source, and the camera is configured to capture images of laser light reflecting from the surfaces of the one or more pills, the laser light projecting a line of laser light on the surface of the pills and sweeping the line across the surface of the pills.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein the laser light source comprises a 650 nm laser diode module.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the lights are positioned so that the one or more pills are illuminated from different directions.

6. A system according to claim 1 further comprising a pill support and a chamber configured to house the pill support.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the pill support comprises a tray which is removable from the chamber.

8. A system according to claim 7 wherein the pill tray is configured to be vibrated to separate overlapping pills.

9. A system according to claim 1, wherein the structured light scanner includes a laser light source, and the camera is configured to capture images of laser light reflecting from the surfaces of the one or more pills, the laser light projecting a dot of laser light on the surface of the pills and sweeping the dot across the surface of the pills.

10. A system according to claim 1, wherein the structured light scanner includes a laser light source, and the camera is configured to capture images of laser light reflecting from the surfaces of the one or more pills, the laser light projecting a grid pattern of laser light on the surface of the pills.