Medicine issuing device and container identifying device

{
  "publication_number": "US9073692B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Medicine issuing device and container identifying device",
  "abstract": "This medicine issuing device is a container identifying device for identifying tubular medicine containers (1,2,3) provided with identifying marks (4,5,6) on their external circumference, said medicine issuing device comprising: an operation component (7) that takes the medicine containers (1,2,3) out of a cassette (403); a movement path component (8) that moves the medicine containers (1,2,3) taken out by the operation component (7) to an identification position (9); a container rotation component (10) that rotates the medicine containers (1,2,3) that were moved to a specific identification position by the movement path component (8), around an outer peripheral face; and an identifying mark reader (11) that reads the identifying marks (4,5,6) of the medicine containers (1,2,3) rotated by the container rotation component (10).",
  "claims": [
    "1. A medicine issuing device, comprising: a cassette in which are loaded a plurality of tubular medicine containers provided with identifying marks on the outer peripheral face of the tubular medicine containers; an operation component configured to take the medicine containers out of the cassette; a movement path component configured to move the medicine containers taken out by the operation component to a specific identification position; a container rotation component configured to rotate the medicine containers around the outer peripheral face until the reading of the identifying marks on the medicine containers is complete at the identification position; and an identifying mark reader configured to read the identifying marks on the medicine containers rotated by the container rotation component; wherein the movement path component has a downward slope that causes the tubular medicine containers to roll under their own weight; and wherein the container rotation component has: a stopper configured to temporarily stop the movement of the medicine containers moving in the slope direction of the movement path component; and a rotation component configured to rotate the medicine containers, whose movement in the slope direction has been temporarily stopped by the stopper, around the outer peripheral face at that position.",
    "2. The medicine issuing device according to claim 1, further comprising a placement component configured to place the medicine containers taken out by the operation component into a tray.",
    "3. The medicine issuing device according to claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary roller configured to assist the rotation of the medicine containers, at the identification position.",
    "4. The medicine issuing device according to claim 1, wherein the container rotation component rotates the medicine containers in the opposite direction from the rolling direction of the medicine containers in the movement path component.",
    "5. The medicine issuing device according to claim 1, wherein the stopper has a belt configured to catch the medicine containers that have rolled down on the movement path component, and the rotation component has a motor configured to rotate the belt.",
    "6. The medicine issuing device according to claim 1, wherein the stopper has a plurality of belts configured to catch the containers rolling down the movement path component, and the belts are disposed spaced a specific distance apart, and come into contact with the outer peripheral part of the medicine containers.",
    "7. The medicine issuing device according to claim 1, wherein the belt is a rubber belt.",
    "8. The medicine issuing device according to claim 1, wherein the container rotation component is able to move with respect to the movement path component, and moves the container rotation component closer to the movement path component prior to when the medicine containers are taken out of the cassette by the operation component.",
    "9. The medicine issuing device according to claim 1, comprising a container removal head that includes the operation component, the container rotation component, the identifying mark reader, and the movement path component.",
    "10. A container identifying device for identifying a tubular container provided with an identifying mark on its outer peripheral face, said container identifying device comprising: an operation component configured to take a medicine container out of a cassette filled in with a plurality of the medicine containers; a movement path component configured to move the containers taken out by the operation component to a specific identification position; a container rotation component configured to rotate the containers around the outer peripheral face of the containers until the reading of the identifying marks on the containers is complete at the identification position; and an identifying mark reader configured to read the identifying marks on the containers rotated by the container rotation component; wherein the movement path component has a downward slope that causes the tubular medicine containers to roll under their own weight; and wherein the container rotation component has: a stopper configured to temporarily stop the movement in the slope direction of the containers moving in the slope direction of the movement path component; and a rotation component configured to rotate the containers, whose movement in the slope direction has been temporarily stopped by the stopper, around the outer peripheral face at that position.",
    "11. The container identifying device according to claim 10, further comprising an auxiliary roller configured to assist the rotation of the containers, at the identification position.",
    "12. The container identifying device according to claim 10, wherein the container rotation component rotates the containers in the opposite direction from the rolling direction of the containers in the movement path component.",
    "13. The container identifying device according to claim 10, wherein the stopper has a belt configured to catch the containers that have rolled down the movement path component, and the rotation component has a motor configured to rotate the belt.",
    "14. The container identifying device according to claim 10, wherein the stopper has a plurality of belts configured to catch the containers rolling down the movement path component, and the belts are disposed spaced a specific distance apart, and come into contact with the outer peripheral part of the containers.",
    "15. The container identifying device according to claim 13, wherein the belt is a rubber belt.",
    "16. The container identifying device according to claim 10, wherein the container rotation component is able to move with respect to the movement path component, and moves the container rotation component closer to the movement path component prior to when the containers are taken out of the cassette by the operation component.",
    "17. The container identifying device according to claim 10, comprising a container removal head that includes the operation component, the container rotation component, the identifying mark reader, and the movement path component."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates to a medicine issuing device and a container identifying device for identifying medicine containers, for example.\n\nConventional container identifying devices of this type have been widely used in medicine issuing devices, for example, and have had the following configuration.\n\nA conventional medicine issuing device comprised a cassette in which are loaded a plurality of tubular medicine containers provided with identifying marks on the outer peripheral face, a container removal head for taking medicine containers out of this cassette, and a placement component for placing in a tray the medicine containers taken out by this container removal head (see Patent Literature 1 below, for example).\n\nPatent Literature 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2007-209599\n\nWith the conventional configuration above, the medicine containers are taken out of the cassette by the container removal head, and then the medicine containers are placed in a tray by the placement component, but sometimes the right container could not be removed from the cassette by the container removal head.\n\nSpecifically, if the wrong medicine container was loaded into the cassette, there was no means for identifying that the container held medicine that was different from the desired medicine, so it could not be recognized that the proper container had not been taken out of the cassette, and there was the risk that it would remain that way in the tray.",
  "cpc": [
    "B65G 1/1371",
    "A61J 3/00",
    "A61M 2205/6072",
    "B65G 1/06",
    "G07F 11/165",
    "G07F 17/0092"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "A61J 3/00",
    "B65G 1/06",
    "B65G 1/137",
    "G06K 19/00",
    "G07F 11/16",
    "G07F 17/00"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Panasonic Healthcare Holdings Co Ltd"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Masaharu OONO",
    "Taizo Isshiki",
    "Michimori Nakano"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2013-11-26",
  "publication_date": "2015-07-07",
  "grant_date": "2015-07-07",
  "priority_date": "2011-06-27",
  "application_number": "US-201314090449-A",
  "family_id": "47423683",
  "cited_by_count": 1,
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}