Abstract
The invention relates to an arrangement for packing drug portions into dispensing packages. A dispensing machine includes a plurality of storing and metering stations having a plurality of drug portions, a packing device that receives the drug portions dispensed by the storing and metering stations and places them into dispensing packages, and a control device. Each storing and metering station includes a stationary part fixed to a frame, a removable part containing a refillable reservoir and has an information memory for storing an identifier of the removable part. A reading device for reading the information memory is functionally assigned to the stationary part. Each information memory contains a memory location for a filling code. Every time the reservoir has been refilled, the filling code is changed at the charging station so that the refilling can be detected by the control device when the information memory is read by the reading device after the removable part has been placed back onto the stationary part of the same or a different storing and metering station.
Claims
1. A drug packing system, comprising: a controller; a dispensing machine comprising: at least one storing and metering station configured to discharge drug portions individually, the storing and metering station comprising: a stationary portion fixed to the dispensing machine; and a removable portion, the removable portion comprising: a refillable reservoir; and an information memory configured to store an identifier of the removable portion, the information memory having a memory location for a filling code wherein the memory location is configured to store a first bit for the filling code; a packager configured to place the discharged drug portions into dispensing packages; and a charging station configured to refill additional drug portions into the reservoir of the removable portion, wherein a value of the stored first bit for the filling code is inverted by the controller after each refilling at the charging station.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the filling code is a time stamp corresponding to the time at which the charging station is refilled.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to detect the refilling when the information memory is read by a reading device after the removable portion has been placed back onto the stationary portion of the same or a different storing and metering station.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein a reading device is functionally assigned to the stationary portion and includes a device for wireless communication with the information memory.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein wireless communication procedures of neighboring storing and metering stations are configured to not interfere with each other.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the stationary portion includes a reading device.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the information memory is a nonvolatile solid-state memory.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the information memory is contained in an RFID component.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the stationary portion includes a first part of a dispensing device, the first part having a drive for driving a separating mechanism to output individual drug portions, and wherein the removable portion includes a second part of the dispensing device, the second part having an outlet opening of the reservoir.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the second part of the dispensing device contains the separating mechanism, which is matched to the shape of the drug portions.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the charging station has a read/write device for reading information comprising the identifier of the removable portion from the information memory, and for writing information comprising the filling code to the information memory.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory location is configured to store a second bit for the filling code, the second bit being a check bit.
13. A method for refilling a reservoir of a first storing and metering station of a dispensing machine with drug portions, the method comprising: a) removing a removable part of the first storing and metering station, the removable part having an information memory that stores an identifier and contains a memory location for a filling code, wherein the memory location contains a first value for the filling code; b) transporting the removable part to a charging station; c) reading the identifier at the charging station, refilling the removable part with a specified amount of drug portions, and writing a second value for the filling code into the memory location; d) saving the second value, together with the identifier that has been read, in a database configured to be read by a control device; e) transporting the refilled removable part back to the dispensing machine, placing the removable part on a stationary part of the first or a different storing and metering station, and reading the identifier and the filling code of the information memory; and f) comparing the identifier and the value of the filling code to corresponding respective values in the database, and generating an error signal if they do not match wherein the memory location stores a first bit for the filling code, the value of which is inverted by the charging station in step c) after each refilling at the charging station, and the inverted value is saved in the database in step d).
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the filling code is a time stamp which corresponds to the time at which the charging station is refilled, wherein the time stamp is stored in step c) in the memory location for the filling code, and is saved in the database in step d).
15. The method according to claim 13, wherein an entry which stores the filling code in the database is addressed in step d) by the identifier that has been read.
16. The method according to claim 13, wherein, in step d), in addition to the filling code, details of the new contents of the reservoir are also saved in the database.
17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the details include the number and the expiration date of the drug portions which have been filled.
18. The method according to claim 13, wherein, in step c), the database is queried using the identifier that has been read, and a determination is made using the information saved there as to which type of drug portions must be refilled.
19. The method according to claim 13, wherein, prior to the refilling in step c), a charging reservoir is provided, an identifier attached to the charging reservoir is read, and a determination is made, using the charging reservoir identifier that has been read and the identifier that has been read from the information memory of the removable part, as to whether the charging reservoir contains the correct drug portions to be refilled.
20. The method according to claim 13, wherein the memory location stores a second bit for the filling code that is a check bit.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) The invention is explained in greater detail below with reference to a preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, wherein:
(2) FIG. 1: shows a schematic illustration of the arrangement according to the invention, and of processes in the removal and replacement of the removable part;
(3) FIG. 2: shows a schematic perspective view of a dispensing machine which can be used in implementing the invention;
(4) FIG. 3: shows a schematic side view of the dispensing machine in FIG. 2; and
(5) FIG. 4: shows a schematic perspective view of a storing and metering station which can be used in implementing the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(6) FIGS. 2 to 4 show a schematically illustrated dispensing machine 1 which is described in patent application EP 12 182 634.1 (not yet published), and which is used in the arrangement according to the invention and/or is used to carry out the method according to the invention. It is hereby noted at this point that the arrangement according to the invention and the method according to the invention can be carried out with a plurality of dispensing machines with varying forms.
(7) The dispensing machine 1 according to FIG. 2 has a plurality of storing and metering stations 2 arranged in a plane next to and above each other in rows and columns, of which one is shown in FIG. 4. Such a storing and metering station 2 has a stationary part 4 fixed to a frame 8, and a removable part 3 which can be placed thereon. The removable part 3 contains a reservoir 5 for a plurality of identical drug portions, such as tables or capsules, by way of example. The storing and metering station 2 contains a dispensing device by means of which individual drug portions can each be removed from the reservoir 5 and discharged, via the outlet opening situated at right in FIG. 4, via a guide chute included in the stationary part 4, onto a transport path which finally deflects the drug portions in a targeted manner to a packing device wherein they are then placed into dispensing packages in prespecified quantities. For this purpose, each storing and metering station 2 has a controller inside its stationary part 4 which is connected to the central control device 9 of the dispensing machine 1, said controller in turn driving a drive motor of a separation mechanism if the central control device 9 requests the discharge of a drug portion from the associated reservoir 5. The separation mechanism, which is not described in greater detail here, has, in addition to the controller and the drive in the stationary part 4, a separating mechanism which is contained in the removable part 3 and is driven by the drive, said separating mechanism being adapted to the specific shape of the drug portions contained in the respective reservoir 5. By way of example, the separating mechanism has a so-called separation wheel—that is, a rotating cylinder having vertical guide channels adapted to the diameter of the drug portions, able to receive on its upper end, from a prespecified opening of the reservoir 5, a drug portion, and to transfer to the stationary part 4, via an opening on its lower end, at a position which is offset from the opening by rotation, the drug portion contained in the guide channel, such that the drug portion discharged on the stationary part travels through an inclined guide chute and is then discharged at the outlet opening of the stationary part 4. The guide chute through which the drug portion moves is optionally monitored by a sensor to detect the passage of the drug portion. This sensor which detects the drug portion is in turn coupled to the controller of the stationary part 4.
(8) As can be particularly seen in FIG. 3, a vertical column of storing and metering stations 2 arranged above each other can be coupled to a vertical drop shaft 32 in such a manner that inlet openings (not visible) of the drop shaft 32, arranged at right in FIG. 3, are coupled to associated outlet openings of the stationary part 4 of the storing and metering stations 2 in such a manner that drug portions exiting the storing and metering stations 2 enter into the drop shaft 32. In the same, they fall down perpendicularly, wherein the inner walls of projections 33 which protrude into the drop shaft cushion the fall by deflecting the movement of the falling drug portion laterally. Once the drug portions falling in the drop shaft 32 have reached the lower end of the drop shaft 32, they exit the drop shaft 32 and fall into a collecting container 40. In general, multiple drug portions are collected in the collecting containers 40, and must be placed into a dispensing package prepared by the dispensing machine. For this purpose, the collecting containers 40 are emptied from the packing device 30 in such a specific manner that the drug portions exiting the collecting containers 40 fall into an open pocket of a dispensing package provisioned under the collecting containers 40. The pocket and/or the dispensing package is subsequently closed.
(9) In the dispensing machines illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4, the vertical drop shafts 32 move past the matrix of the storing and metering stations 2 in the horizontal direction such that the inlet openings of the drop shafts 32 are successively connected to the outlet openings of the storing and metering stations 2 arranged horizontally next to each other in a row. To enable this horizontal movement of the vertical drop shafts 32, they are connected both on their upper side and their lower side to transport belts 31a, 31b running in a horizontal plane, wherein the transport belts 31a, 31b are guided around drive wheels 34. The drive wheels 34 are in turn mounted on a shaft 35 driven by a drive motor 36. Both transport belts 31a, 31b have installation fittings 37 at equidistant spacings, wherein the drop shafts 32 are attached to the same. FIG. 2 only shows one vertical drop shaft 32 so as to render the illustration more clearly. In the actual arrangement, the transport belts 31a and 31b are entirely fitted with drop shafts 32 all around the peripheral surface thereof. A further transport belt 38 is guided via drive wheels underneath the horizontally circulating drop shafts 32, moving at the same speed as the transport belts 31a, 31b. Installation fittings 39—likewise at equidistant spacings—are positioned on the transport belt 38, and the spacing thereof corresponds to that of the installation fittings 37. The collecting containers 40 are installed on the installation fittings 39, wherein in FIG. 2 only six such collecting containers 40 are shown, by way of example. The entire transport belt 38 is actually covered by collecting containers 40 around its complete peripheral surface. The spacings between the collecting containers correspond to the spacings between the drop shafts. While the drop shafts 32 are moved past the matrix of the storing and metering stations 2 at a prespecified speed, on the lower ends of the drop shafts 32, associated collecting containers 40 are moved synchronously. After one revolution, the collecting containers 40 leave the position of the drop shafts 32 moving along with the same, because the transport belt 38 is guided beyond the region of the transport belts 31a, 31b, as can be seen in FIG. 2 in the left, forward area. The collecting containers 40 are then guided past the packing device 30 and successively unloaded into corresponding, initially still open, dispensing packages. The dispensing packages are made of weldable plastic films. A continuous film strip 41 can be seen in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. It is supplied to the packing device 30 (for example from a film roll).
(10) FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a housing of the central control device 9, at lower left. This control device 9 is connected via line links (not illustrated) to both the packing device 30 and to all drive motors and all storing and metering stations 2. Moreover, the control device is connected to all of the sensors which monitor the operation of the dispensing machine.
(11) FIG. 4 shows the storing and metering station 2 in the configuration wherein the removable part 3 sits on the stationary part 4. At left in FIG. 4, a vertical hand grip of the removable part 3 can be seen. An RFID component with an information memory 6 is preferably attached at the lower end of the hand grip, which is wirelessly connected to a reading device 6 inserted in the stationary part 4 adjacent to the grip. When the removable part 3 is in place, the reading device 7 can read the information memory 6. The data which is read first arrives at the controller inside the stationary part 4, and from there arrives at the central control device 9.
(12) According to the invention, the information memory 6 stores, among other things, an identifier of the removable part 3, and a filling code—preferably in the form of a time stamp which characterizes the time point of the filling.
(13) The arrangement according to the invention is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1. In addition to the dispensing machine 1, for example with the components described above in reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, the arrangement according to the invention has a charging station 10. Reservoirs of a removable part 3, which has been removed, of a storing and metering station 2, said reservoirs having been emptied, are each filled during operation with a prespecified quantity of drug portions of the same type and size. The charging station 10 contains a read/write device 11 which is able to communicate with the information memory of a removable part 3, placed on the charging station 10, of a storing and metering station 2, in such a manner that it can write a new filling code into the information memory. Every time the reservoir (5) has been refilled, the filling code is changed at the charging station (10), and preferably a time stamp of the filling is written into the information memory 6. The charging station 10 illustrated schematically in FIG. 1 has a controller 12 which is connected to the read/write device 11. The charging station 10 can also have a scales by means of which the weight of the removable part 4 can be continuously determined. In this way, it is possible to check that the correct number of drug portions (with known individual weights) has been filled.
(14) As illustrated in FIG. 1, both the control device 9 of the dispensing machine 1 and the controller 12 of the charging station 10 are coupled to a database 13. The database 13 saves at least one dataset for each removable part 3 of a storing and metering station 2, said dataset containing information on the contents of the reservoir 5 such as the number, type, and the expiration date of the drug portions, by way of example, in addition to the identifier of the removable part 3 and the filling code (time stamp). The control device 9 of the dispensing machine 1 can access the datasets of the database 13 to determine, by querying the database 13 when the discharge of a certain drug portion into a certain dispensing package is requested, which storing and metering station 2 must be activated.
(15) According to the invention, so that the control device 9 always contains the correct data of the drug portions contained in the reservoirs 5 of the storing and metering stations 2, when a reservoir 5 is refilled the following procedure is carried out. First, the assumption is made that the information memory 6 of a removable part 3 of a storing and metering station 2, having an empty reservoir 5, stores an identifier ID of the removable part 3 and a time stamp TS1 of the earlier filling. This removable part 3 is then removed and moved to the charging station 10, which is indicated by the arrow 20. Next to the arrow 20, the indication ID+TS1 shows that the information memory 6 contains the old time stamp TS1 in addition to the identifier ID. After the removable part 3, with the reservoir 5, has been placed on the charging station 10, the controller triggers the charging station 10 to read the information memory 6 by means of the read/write device 11. By means of the identifier ID which has been read, the charging station 10 queries the database 13 and thereby determines the type of the drug portions to be filled. A charging reservoir which is not illustrated in FIG. 1 is brought to the charging station 10, where an identifier attached to the charging reservoir is read. Using the information of the charging reservoir which has been read, and the information queried from the database 13, a check is made as to whether the charging reservoir contains the correct drug portions to be filled. If this is the case, the reservoir 5 is filled from the charging reservoir. In this process, a scales of the charging station 10 is used to check whether the quantity to be filled has been fully deposited into the reservoir 5. If this is not the case, the controller 12 of the charging station 10 triggers its writing device 11 to write a new time stamp as a filling code into the information memory 6 of the removable part 3. This is shown in FIG. 1 by the arrow 21. At the same time, or shortly thereafter, the controller 12 has the new filling code—that is, the new time stamp TS2—written into the database 13 with an assignment to the identifier ID. At the same time, additional information on the drug portions which have been filled is saved in the database 13. This is shown by the arrow 22 in FIG. 1. Next, the newly filled removable part 3 is placed back on its stationary part 4 of the storing and metering station 2, wherein it now contains the identifier ID in its information memory 6 together with the new time stamp TS2. This is shown by the arrow 23. After the placement on the stationary part 4, the control device 9 triggers a reading of the information memory 6 by the reading device 7 of the stationary part 4. This reading of the identifier and of the new time stamp (ID+TS2) is shown by the arrow 24. At the same time, the control device 9 reads the time stamp saved in the dataset of the database 13 addressed with the identifier ID from the database 13, which must be the new time stamp TS2 if the data has been correctly transmitted. This is shown by the arrow 25. Finally, the control device 9 compares the identifier and the time stamp, and generates an error signal if they do not agree. An operator of the arrangement is provided with a message to the effect that either the database 13 or the replaced removable part 3 does not have the required, correct time stamp. Next, a check can be made as to whether there was not a correct transmission of the data from the charging station 10 to the database 13, or whether other errors have arisen. As long as the errors have not been addressed, the affected storing and metering station 2 is deactivated—that is, the discharge of drug portions from this station is halted.
