U.S. patent application number 11/677992 was filed with the patent office on 2008-05-15 for method for controlling medicine compounding in an automatic medicine packing machine.
Invention is credited to Jun Ho Kim.
Application Number | 20080110131 11/677992 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39229603 |
Filed Date | 2008-05-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080110131 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kim; Jun Ho |
May 15, 2008 |
Method for Controlling Medicine Compounding in an Automatic
Medicine Packing Machine
Abstract
A method for controlling medicine compounding in an automatic
medicine packing machine includes steps of extracting medicine
information wherein medicine code and medicine information are
extracted from prescription data that is input to the automatic
medicine packing machine from a server computer, analyzing medicine
code consistency wherein whether the medicine code extracted and
medicine code of a reference medicine that is preset coincide is
compared and analyzed, analyzing medicine information consistency
wherein when the medicines codes are found not to coincide, whether
the medicine information extracted and the medicine information of
the reference medicine coincide is compared and analyzed, and
compounding medicine when the medicine information coincide.
Inventors: |
Kim; Jun Ho; (Daego,
KR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
PARK LAW FIRM
3255 WILSHIRE BLVD, SUITE 1110
LOS ANGELES
CA
90010
US
|
Family ID: |
39229603 |
Appl. No.: |
11/677992 |
Filed: |
February 22, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
53/154 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G07F 11/62 20130101;
G07F 17/40 20130101; G16H 20/13 20180101; G07F 17/0092
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
53/154 |
International
Class: |
B65B 35/54 20060101
B65B035/54 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 13, 2006 |
KR |
10-2006-0111796 |
Claims
1. A method for controlling medicine compounding in an automatic
medicine packing machine comprising steps of: a) extracting
medicine information wherein medicine code and medicine information
are extracted from prescription data that is input to the automatic
medicine packing machine from a server computer; b) analyzing
medicine code consistency wherein whether the medicine code
extracted and medicine code of a reference medicine that is preset
coincide is compared and analyzed; c) analyzing medicine
information consistency wherein when the medicines codes are found
not to coincide, whether the medicine information extracted and the
medicine information of the reference medicine coincide is compared
and analyzed; and d) compounding medicine when the medicine
information coincide.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising step of displaying the
same medicine after the step of analyzing medicine information
consistency, in which the extracted medicine code and the reference
medicine code, the medicine information of which coincide, are
displayed on a display.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising after the step of
analyzing medicine information steps of: a) analyzing the same
medicine, in which whether there is a medicine that has the same
medicine name among medicines that have inconsistent medicine
information is analyzed, when the medicine information are found
not to coincide; b) analyzing accord possibility wherein whether
the amounts may be accorded by changing the amount of the reference
medicine for medicines having the same medicine name is analyzed
when there is a medicine that have the same medicine name; and c)
modifying prescription data wherein the prescription data is
modified by adjusting dispensing amount of the reference medicine
so that the amounts are accorded when it is found that accord is
possible.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising after the step of
modifying prescription data step of displaying medicine that can be
accorded, wherein the medicine information of the medicine
according to the prescription data and the reference medicine that
have the same medicine name and are possible to make the amount
consistent are displayed.
5. The method of claim 3, further comprising after the step of
analyzing accord possibility step of displaying manual compounding,
wherein the medicine that cannot be accorded is displayed, whereby
a user recognizes the displayed medicine that cannot be compounded
automatically.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising after the step of
compounding medicine step of deciding exclusion of medicine,
wherein whether to supplement medicine or to continue compounding
excluding the medicine is decided when a tablet supplement signal
input during operating the tablet cassette according to the
prescription data.
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising after the step of
deciding exclusion of medicine step of printing excluded medicine,
wherein the medicine name and amount for the excluded medicine are
printed on a packing envelope for the medicine when medicine
exclusion has been decided.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein in the step of printing excluded
medicine, the medicine name and amount of the excluded medicine are
printed on an outer surface of the packing envelope into which the
excluded medicine should be contained.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein in the step of printing excluded
medicine, the medicine name and amount of the excluded medicine are
printed on an outer surface of a vacant packing envelope that is
provided at the header of packing envelope bundles that contain the
excluded medicine.
Description
CLAIMING FOREIGN PRIORITY
[0001] The applicant claims and requests a foreign priority,
through the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial
Property, based on patent applications filed in the Republic of
Korea (South Korea) with the filing date of Nov. 13, 2006 with the
patent application number 10-2006-0111796 by the applicant, the
contents of which are incorporated by reference into this
disclosure as if fully set forth herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to an automatic medicine
packing machine. More particularly, the present invention relates
to controlling method for medicine compounding in an automatic
medicine packing machine, in which matters regarding a medicine
having multiple identification codes are handled effectively.
[0003] Generally, an automatic medicine packing machine
continuously packs medicine that is dispensed per dose.
Construction and operation of an automatic medicine packing machine
are explained referring to FIG. 3. The automatic medicine packing
machine includes a plurality of tablet cassettes 100 that are
received on a shelf in the upper part of the machine, a manual
tablet dispenser 200 that is provided in the lower part, a hopper
300 that is provided below the tablet cassettes 100 and the tablet
dispenser 200, a printing unit 400, and a sealing unit 500 that
moves and seals packing envelopes on which labels are printed by
the printing unit 400.
[0004] The operation of the tablet cassette 100, the printing unit
400, and the sealing unit 500 is controlled by a controller C that
is provided inside the machine. The controller C controls the
tablet cassette 100, the printing unit 400, and the sealing unit
500 to continuously compound medicine per dose according to
prescription data provided by a server S that is provided outside
the machine, and a bundle of sealed envelopes is created.
[0005] The manual tablet dispenser 200 allows a user to manually
prepare medicine that is not contained in the tablet cassette 100
and include the medicine in the packing envelopes.
[0006] FIG. 4 shows that a medicine bundle 18, which is created by
an automatic medicine packing machine, includes a plurality of
packing envelopes 16, each of which contains medicine for one dose,
a header packet 10 and a footer packet 22, which are vacant packing
envelopes and provided on the leading end and trailing end of the
bundle, respectively.
[0007] A bar code 20 and additional print data 14 are printed on
the front surface of the packing envelope 16. On the upper part of
the header packet, data for patient and packed medicine are
printed. On the lower part of the header packet, a warning message
12 for the medicine is printed. Data for patient and packed
medicine are printed on the footer packet as well.
[0008] The prior art has following disadvantages. When the medicine
code in the prescription data that is input to the machine is
different from the medicine code that is preset in the controller,
that is the medicine code for the medicine contained in the tablet
cassette, it is impossible to prepare and pack the medicine, even
though the medicine is the same while the medicine codes are
different. In this case, separate setting operation is required to
make the medicine codes consistent, thereby increasing
inconvenience and delaying preparation and packing of medicines.
Also, it is not possible to prepare a medicine when the amounts are
different for the same medicine, thereby requiring manual
preparation. In addition, when a medicine inside a tablet cassette
is exhausted during preparation or packing and supplement of the
medicine is required, it is impossible or takes substantial time to
supplement. Resultant delay is a big problem especially medicines
required in emergency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention contrives to solve the disadvantages
of the prior art.
[0010] An objective of the invention is to provide a method for
controlling medicine compounding in an automatic medicine packing
machine that facilitates compounding of a medicine that has
different medicine codes, prevents stopping due to inconsistency of
medicine codes, and prevents inconvenience in usage and delay of
compounding.
[0011] Another objective of the invention is to provide a method
for controlling medicine compounding in an automatic medicine
packing machine that facilitates checking inconsistency by a user
by displaying medicines that have inconsistent medicine codes and
improves precision against inconsistency.
[0012] Still another objective of the invention is to provide a
method for controlling medicine compounding in an automatic
medicine packing machine that eliminates manual compounding due to
a medicine that has different amounts and increases compounding
speed.
[0013] Still another objective of the invention is to provide a
method for controlling medicine compounding in an automatic
medicine packing machine that continues compounding and excludes
medicine that is impossible or takes long time to supplement,
thereby preventing delay of medicine compounding.
[0014] In order to achieve the above objective, the present
invention provides a method for controlling medicine compounding in
an automatic medicine packing machine that comprises steps of
extracting medicine information wherein medicine code and medicine
information are extracted from prescription data that is input to
the automatic medicine packing machine from a server computer,
analyzing medicine code consistency wherein whether the medicine
code extracted and medicine code of a reference medicine that is
preset coincide is compared and analyzed, analyzing medicine
information consistency wherein when the medicines codes are found
not to coincide, whether the medicine information extracted and the
medicine information of the reference medicine coincide is compared
and analyzed, and compounding medicine when the medicine
information coincide.
[0015] The method further comprises step of displaying the same
medicine after the step of analyzing medicine information
consistency, in which the extracted medicine code and the reference
medicine code, the medicine information of which coincide, are
displayed on a display.
[0016] The method further comprises after the step of analyzing
medicine information steps of analyzing the same medicine, in which
whether there is a medicine that has the same medicine name among
medicines that have inconsistent medicine information is analyzed,
when the medicine information are found not to coincide, analyzing
accord possibility wherein whether the amounts may be accorded by
changing the amount of the reference medicine for medicines having
the same medicine name is analyzed when there is a medicine that
have the same medicine name, and modifying prescription data
wherein the prescription data is modified by adjusting dispensing
amount of the reference medicine so that the amounts are accorded
when it is found that accord is possible.
[0017] The method further comprises after the step of modifying
prescription data step of displaying medicine that can be accorded,
wherein the medicine information of the medicine according to the
prescription data and the reference medicine that have the same
medicine name and are possible to make the amount consistent are
displayed.
[0018] The method further comprises after the step of analyzing
accord possibility step of displaying manual compounding, wherein
the medicine that cannot be accorded is displayed, whereby a user
recognizes the displayed medicine that cannot be compounded
automatically.
[0019] The method further comprises after the step of compounding
medicine step of deciding exclusion of medicine, wherein whether to
supplement medicine or to continue compounding excluding the
medicine is decided when a tablet supplement signal is input during
operating the tablet cassette according to the prescription
data.
[0020] The method further comprises after the step of deciding
exclusion of medicine step of printing excluded medicine, wherein
the medicine name and amount for the excluded medicine are printed
on a packing envelope for the medicine when medicine exclusion has
been decided.
[0021] In the step of printing excluded medicine, the medicine name
and amount of the excluded medicine are printed on an outer surface
of the packing envelope into which the excluded medicine should be
contained. Alternatively, in the step of printing excluded
medicine, the medicine name and amount of the excluded medicine are
printed on an outer surface of a vacant packing envelope that is
provided at the header of packing envelope bundles that contain the
excluded medicine.
[0022] The advantages of the present invention are: (1) compounding
of the same medicine having different medicine codes are
facilitated, stopping of compounding due to inconsistent medicine
codes is prevented, inconvenience in usage due to medicine code
inconsistency is eliminated, delay in compounding is prevented; (2)
checking inconsistency by a user is facilitated by displaying
medicines that have inconsistent medicine codes and precision
against inconsistency is improved thereby performing compounding
and packing of medicine more precisely; (3) manual compounding due
to a medicine that has different amounts is not needed and
compounding speed is substantially increased by reduction of manual
compounding; and (4) compounding is continued excluding medicine
that is impossible or takes long time to supplement, thereby
preventing delay of medicine compounding.
[0023] Although the present invention is briefly summarized, the
fuller understanding of the invention can be obtained by the
following drawings, detailed description and appended claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] These and other features, aspects and advantages of the
present invention will become better understood with reference to
the accompanying drawings, wherein:
[0025] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram showing a method for controlling
medicine compounding in an automatic medicine packing machine
according to the present invention;
[0026] FIG. 2 is another flow diagram for the method;
[0027] FIG. 3 is an elevation view showing an automatic medicine
packing machine; and
[0028] FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a bundle of medicine packing
envelopes.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0029] FIG. 1 shows a method for controlling medicine compounding
in an automatic medicine packing machine. The method includes step
S10 of extracting medicine information that extracts medicine
information from prescription data, step S20 of analyzing medicine
code consistency that compares and analyzes whether medicine codes
coincide, step S30 of analyzing medicine information consistency
that compares and analyzes whether medicine information coincide
when the medicines codes do not coincide, step S50 of compounding
medicine when the medicine information coincide.
[0030] In step S10, medicine code and medicine information for each
medicine are extracted from prescription data that is input from a
server computer. The prescription data is input to a controller of
the packing machine from the server computer, and the controller
extracts the medicine code and medicine information from the input
prescription data. The medicine code is a unique number for a
medicine assigned by a user. The medicine information refers to
name, kind, capacity, etc. for the medicine.
[0031] In step S20, the medicine code extracted in S10 and a
reference medicine code that is preset are compared and analyzed
and consistency of them is checked. The reference medicine code
refers to a medicine that is assigned to a medicine that is
contained in a tablet cassette of the automatic medicine packing
machine. Therefore, the reference medicine refers to the medicine
contained in the tablet cassette, and the reference medicine
information refers to information for the medicine received in the
tablet cassette. The controller analyzes whether the extracted
medicine code and the reference medicine code coincide.
[0032] When the medicine codes are found to coincide with the
analysis, compounding medicine according to the prescription data
is performed since the medicine that coincides with the
prescription data exists in the tablet cassette. The process of
compounding medicine includes driving the tablet cassette that
contains the medicine corresponding to the medicine recorded in the
prescription data, dispensing of medicine by the tablet cassette
and collecting dispensed medicine per dose. The medicine collected
in this way is discharged downward and packed with packing
envelopes.
[0033] In step S30, when the medicine codes are found not to
coincide in step S20, whether the medicine information for the
extracted medicine code and the medicine information for the
reference medicine code are compared and analyzed to check
consistency. This step enables finding a medicine that has
different medicine codes but has the same medicine information and
compounding of the medicine. Medicine codes may be set differently
by different hospitals or users for the same medicine. The present
invention enables direct compounding of such medicine without
separate changing of the medicine code.
[0034] In step S50, compounding according to the prescription data
is performed by driving the tablet cassette when the medicine is
found to have the same medicine information in step S30.
[0035] The method further comprises step S31 of displaying the same
medicine after step S30, in which the extracted medicine code and
the reference medicine code, the medicine information of which
coincide, are displayed on a display. In this step, a user can
recognize the same medicine having different medicine codes and
subsequent operations including changing medicine codes are
facilitated. As the display, a monitor for the server computer or a
monitor installed on the automatic medicine packing machine may be
used.
[0036] The method further comprises step S40 of analyzing the same
medicine that analyzes whether there is a medicine that has the
same medicine name among medicines that have inconsistent medicine
information, step S41 of analyzing accord possibility that analyzes
whether the amounts may be accorded for medicines having the same
medicine name, and step S43 of modifying prescription data that
modifies the prescription data when it is found that accord is
possible so that the amounts are accorded.
[0037] Step S40 follows step S30. When the medicine information are
found not to coincide with the analysis of medicine information,
whether there is a medicine, the name of which coincides with the
name of the reference medicine, among the medicines that have
inconsistent medicine information is compared and analyzed in step
S40. This step finds a medicine that has the same name with the
reference medicine among medicines that have inconsistent medicine
codes and inconsistent medicine information. In other words, this
step finds a medicine that has the same name but has different
amounts and therefore the medicine information does not coincide
with the reference medicine. The amount of medicine is an amount of
the medicine that is used for one dose. For example, when the
amount of medicine extracted from the prescription data is 1
aspirin tablet of 400 mg but there is no 400 mg weight tablet of
aspirin in the tablet cassette, it is analyzed that whether there
is aspirin among the reference medicines contained in the tablet
cassettes.
[0038] In step S41, when a medicine that has the same medicine name
is found in step S40, whether making the same amount by changing
the number of reference medicine is possible is analyzed. For
example, when the amount of medicine extracted from the
prescription data is 1 tablet of aspirin with 400 mg weight, and
the reference medicine found, that is the medicine contained in the
tablet cassette is aspirin tablet with 200 mg weight, it is decided
that accord is possible since two 200 mg tablets correspond to one
400 mg tablet. On the other hand, if the reference medicine is a
300 mg tablet, it is decided that accord is not possible since
changing dispensing amount from the table cassette can not
correspond to a 400 mg tablet.
[0039] In step S43, when accord is found possible in step S41, the
prescription data is modified so that the dispensing amount of the
reference medicine is adjusted to be the same with the amount of
the medicine that has inconsistent amount. For example, if one dose
amount of the medicine extracted from the prescription data is one
400 mg aspirin tablet and the table cassette contains 200 mg
aspirin tablets, the prescription data is modified into two 200 mg
aspirin tablets so that the amount of medicine becomes
consistent.
[0040] The method further comprises step S44 of displaying medicine
that can be accorded, after step S43, which displays medicine
information of the medicine and the reference medicine that have
the same medicine name and are possible to make the amount
consistent. This step enables a user to recognize medicine
information of the medicine and the reference medicine that have
the same medicine name and are possible to make the amount
consistent, and prevents erroneous misjudgment with the different
number of tablets in a visual check of packed medicine.
[0041] The method further comprises step S42 of displaying manual
compounding, after step S41, which displays medicine that cannot be
accorded, so that the medicine should be compounded manually. A
user recognizes the displayed medicine that cannot be compounded by
operating the table cassette. The user compounds the medicine
manually with a manual dispensing device.
[0042] The method further comprises step S60 of deciding exclusion
of medicine, after step S50, which decides whether to supplement
tablets or to continue compounding excluding the medicine when a
tablet supplement signal is input during operating the tablet
cassette according to the prescription data. The decision is made
in a way that if supplementation is not possible or takes
substantial time, compounding is continued excluding the medicine
that requires supplementation.
[0043] The method further comprises step S61 of printing excluded
medicine after step S60, which prints medicine name and amount for
the excluded medicine on the packing envelope when medicine
exclusion has been decided. The printing facilitates adding the
excluded medicine later. The name and amount of excluded medicine
are printed on the packing envelope into which the excluded
medicine should be contained, or on a vacant packing envelope that
is provided at the header of packing envelope bundles that should
contain the excluded medicine. In other words, the data are printed
on the outer surface of the packing envelope that contains one dose
or on the header packet, thereby facilitating addition of the
excluded medicine.
[0044] FIG. 2 shows the flow of the method of the present
invention. In step S10, when the automatic medicine packing machine
is operating and the prescription data is input from the server
computer to the controller, the controller extracts the medicine
code and medicine information for the medicine recorded in the
prescription data.
[0045] In step S20, whether the extracted medicine code and the
medicine code of the reference medicine coincide is determined by
comparing them.
[0046] When the medicine codes are found to coincide, the medicine
is compounded according to the prescription data in step S50. On
the other hand, if the medicine codes are found not to coincide,
whether the medicine information extracted from the prescription
data and the medicine information of the reference medicine
coincide is analyzed in step S30. When the analyzed result
indicates that the medicine information coincide while the medicine
codes do not coincide, the data regarding the medicine are
displayed so that the user can recognize in step S31, and the
process moves to step S50, in which the medicine is compounded
according to the prescription data.
[0047] When the analyzed result indicates that both the medicine
codes and the medicine information do not coincide, whether there
is a medicine that has the same name is analyzed from the medicine
information in step S40. When the analyzed result finds no medicine
that has the same name, the medicine of the prescription data can
not be compounded automatically with the tablet cassette and manual
compounding is displayed in step S42, so that the user compounds
the medicine manually with the manual dispensing device, and the
process returns to the beginning and receives another prescription
data.
[0048] When the analyzed result finds a medicine that has the same
medicine name even though it has not the same medicine code or the
medicine information, whether according the amount is possible is
decided in step S41.
[0049] If it is decided that according the amount is not possible,
the medicine of the prescription data can not be compounded
automatically with the tablet cassette and manual compounding is
displayed in step S42, so that the user compounds the medicine
manually with the manual dispensing device, and the process returns
to the beginning and receives another prescription data.
[0050] If it is decided that according the amount is possible, the
prescription data is modified in step S43, so that the amount of
medicine extracted from the prescription data coincides with the
dispensing amount from the tablet cassette, and the process goes to
step S50, in which medicine is compounded according to the modified
prescription data.
[0051] When medicine contained in the table cassette is exhausted
during compounding medicine according to the modified prescription
data, medicine supplement signal is input to the controller in step
S51. In step S60, the controller decides whether to exclude the
medicine that is in shortage and to continue compounding under the
state that the table cassette is stopped from operating. The
decision may be performed by setting by a user in which a
particular medicine should be excluded when the medicine is
signaled to require supplement, or by direct input of medicine
exclusion signal by a user.
[0052] When the medicine is supplemented by with decision of the
controller, the automatic medicine packing machine waits until a
user supplements the medicine in step S62, and continues and
completes compounding in step S70 after the medicine is
supplemented.
[0053] When the medicine requiring supplement is excluded and
compounding is performed instantly by the decision of the
controller, the list of excluded medicine is printed in step S61,
and compounding is performed and completed excluding the medicine
requiring supplement in step S70.
[0054] While the invention has been shown and described with
reference to different embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated
by those skilled in the art that variations in form, detail,
compositions and operation may be made without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying
claims.
* * * * *