Medicinal substance recognition system and method

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus for identifying a medicinal substance. A tray receives and concurrently supports a plurality of pills formed at least in part from the medicinal substance. A computer-readable memory stores a drug database including one or more identifying features for identifying different pills formed at least in part from different medicinal substances. A recognition device is arranged to interrogate the pills on the tray and detect at least one of the identifying features from the pills. A controller receives the identifying feature(s) detected by the recognition device and determines the identity of the medicinal substance from among the different medicinal substances in the drug database based on the identifying feature(s).

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for identifying a medicinal substance, the apparatus comprising:
 a tray that receives and concurrently supports a plurality of pills formed at least in part from the medicinal substance;   a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing a drug database comprising a plurality of identifying features for identifying different pills formed at least in part from different medicinal substances;   a recognition device arranged to interrogate the pills on the tray and detect at least one of the identifying features from the pills on the tray; and   a controller that receives the at least one of the identifying features detected by the recognition device and determines the identity of the medicinal substance from among the different medicinal substances in the drug database based on the at least one of the identifying features detected by the recognition device.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a scanner that interrogates a machine-readable code associated with a container from which the plurality of pills to be identified are removed, wherein
 a signal indicative of the machine-readable code transmitted by the scanner in response to interrogating the machine-readable code is processed by the controller to identify the medicinal substance included in the pills. 
 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2  further comprising a warning component that issues an alert when conflicting medicinal substances are identified based on the at least one of the identifying features detected by the recognition device and based on interrogation of the machine-readable code. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a scale that weighs the pills on the tray and transmits a weight signal indicative of a weight of the pills on the tray to the controller. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the recognition devices detects a number of the pills present on the tray during interrogation of the pills and transmits a quantity signal indicative of the number of the pills to the controller. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the controller processes the weight signal and the quantity signal to determine whether the weight of the pills on the tray determined using the scale is consistent with the number of the pills on the tray determined using the recognition device, and issues a warning if the weight of the pills is not consistent with the number of the pills on the tray. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the recognition device comprises:
 an illumination source that emits light having a plurality of different wavelengths to be imparted onto the pills on the tray; and   a sensor that senses a response of the pills to being illuminated by light having the plurality of different wavelengths.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a plurality of recognition devices for interrogating the pills on the tray from a plurality of different vantage points. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein at least a portion of the tray is formed from a material that is substantially transparent to at least one of the recognition devices to allow for interrogation of the pills on the tray through the substantially transparent material by the at least one of the recognition devices. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of recognition devices comprise:
 a first recognition device to be arranged at an elevation vertically above the tray to interrogate the pills on the tray from above; and   a second recognition device to be arranged at an elevation vertically below the tray to interrogate the pills on the tray through the portion formed from the material that is substantially transparent to the second recognition device from below.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a marking system provided to the tray in a manner that is detectable by the recognition device, wherein the marking system provides the recognition device with a reference for detecting a physical feature of the pills on the tray. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the marking system comprises a grid pattern that forms a reference for measuring at least one of a size and a shape of the pills on the tray. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the recognition device comprises a camera that captures an image of the pills on the tray, and the controller analyzes the image to determine at least one of: a size of the pills, a shape of the pills, a color of the pills, and a character visible on a surface of the pills. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a printer for printing a patient label to be applied to a container in which at least a portion of the pills on the tray are to be conveyed to the patient, wherein the printer prints label content comprising a computer-readable code onto the patient label. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 14  further comprising:
 a user interface that can output information to a user; 
 a scanner that is operable to interrogate the computer-readable code on the patient label and transmit a signal to the controller to be processed and used to generate a confirmation notice that is to be output by the user interface to the user to notify the user of the medicinal substance identified by the computer-readable code; and 
 a warning component that issues a warning to the user when the medicinal substance identified by the computer-readable code does not match the identity of the medicinal substance determined based on the at least one of the identifying features detected by the recognition device. 
 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising a warning component that issues an alert to a user if at least one of the following conditions is determined to exist by the controller:
 the identity of the medicinal substance is not determinable based on the at least one of the identifying features detected by the recognition device; 
 the at least one of the identifying features detected by the recognition device corresponds to more than one of the different medicinal substances in the drug database; 
 the pills on the tray comprise a first pill formed at least in part from a first medicinal substance and a second pill formed at least in part from another medicinal substance; and 
 the pills on the tray comprise pills with different dosages of the medicinal substance.