Patent Grant
10441731
This is a National Stage Application under 35 U.S.C. § 365 of International Application PCT/JP2014/081096, with an international filing date of Nov. 25, 2014, which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-273255 filed on Dec. 27, 2013. The entire disclosures of International Application PCT/JP2014/081096 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-273255 are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Certain implementations relate to a pharmaceutical injection device for injecting a pharmaceutical, such as insulin or a growth hormone, as well as to a method for controlling a pharmaceutical injection device.
A conventional pharmaceutical injection device of this type was configured to comprise a main body case having a pharmaceutical cartridge holder, a piston that pushed the pharmaceutical of the pharmaceutical cartridge housed in the holder inside the main body case to the outside of the pharmaceutical cartridge, and a controller that was connected to this piston.
The configuration was also such that the controller was connected to a light emitting element that shined white light onto the pharmaceutical cartridge disposed in the holder, and a color sensor that received light that was shined from the light emitting element onto the pharmaceutical cartridge and reflected by this pharmaceutical cartridge.
A color label for identifying the type of pharmaceutical cartridge was attached to this cartridge. When white light was shined onto this color label, the color of the color label was reflected, this reflected light was received by a light receiving element, and the color label was sensed by the color sensor.
Therefore, the controller was able to identify the type of pharmaceutical cartridge from the color sensed by the color sensor.
However, a problem encountered with the above-mentioned conventional pharmaceutical injection device was that soiling of the color sensor would sometimes prevent the proper identification of the type of pharmaceutical cartridge.
Actually, a transparent cover is usually provided to the front side of the color sensor, and soiling of this transparent cover can make it impossible to properly identify the type of pharmaceutical cartridge.
Specifically, since the pharmaceutical cartridge is housed in the holder, if dust or dirt should get into the holder as the cartridge is being put in, for example, and this dust or dirt should adhere to the transparent cover, then the color sensor will no longer be able to perform its function.
More specifically, as is well know, with a color sensor serving as a reflected light sensor, numerous RGB sensors or the like are disposed, but if some of those sensors should be covered with dust or dirt, they will no longer be able to sense the corresponding R, G, or B components.
The controller senses the color of the color label affixed to the pharmaceutical cartridge based on the sensed amount of the R, G, and B components, so in a state in which some of the R, G, or B components cannot be sensed as mentioned above, the color may end up being incorrectly identified, and it may be impossible to properly identify the type of pharmaceutical cartridge.
In view of this, it is preferred to be able to properly identify the type of pharmaceutical cartridge.
To achieve the stated object, the pharmaceutical injection device may comprise a main body case having a pharmaceutical cartridge holder, a piston that pushes the pharmaceutical of the pharmaceutical cartridge housed in the holder inside the main body case to the outside of the pharmaceutical cartridge, a light emitting component that shines light of different colors on the pharmaceutical cartridge disposed in the holder, a light receiving component that receives light shined from the light emitting component onto the pharmaceutical cartridge and reflected by the pharmaceutical cartridge, and a controller that successively shines light of different colors from the light emitting component onto the pharmaceutical cartridge, and identifies the type of pharmaceutical cartridge on the basis of the amount of light received by the light receiving component for each color. The controller issues a warning output if the amount of light of the sensed color exhibiting the greatest amount of light out of the light quantities for the various colors received by the light receiving component is lower than a specific value.
Specifically, the pharmaceutical injection device may comprise a light emitting component that shines light of different colors onto the pharmaceutical cartridge disposed in the holder, and a light receiving component that receives light shined from the light emitting component onto the pharmaceutical cartridge and reflected by the pharmaceutical cartridge.
Also, the controller successively shines light of different colors from the light emitting component onto the pharmaceutical cartridge, and identifies the type of pharmaceutical cartridge on the basis of the amount of light received by the light receiving component for each color.
Accordingly, even if dirt or dust should adhere to the light receiving component, when light of different colors is shined from the light emitting component onto the pharmaceutical cartridge, the amount of light received by the light receiving component for each color will just decrease as the overall sensed level, and in this state, the controller will still be able to properly identify the type of pharmaceutical cartridge from the amount of light of each color.
With the pharmaceutical injection device and the method for controlling a pharmaceutical injection device, the type of pharmaceutical cartridge can be properly identified.
Implementations will now be described through reference to the drawings.
External Configuration of Pharmaceutical Injection Device
As shown in
A pharmaceutical injection switch 4, a display component 5, and setting switches 6 for setting the pharmaceutical dose are provided in that order from top to bottom on the front portion of this main body case 1. The setting switches 6 consist of a setting switch 6a in the middle, a setting switch 6b on the left side, and a setting switch 6c on the right side.
As shown in
That is, the cartridge holder 7 is first opened up as indicated by the arrow A in
Internal Configuration of Pharmaceutical Injection Device
As shown in
Configuration of Cartridge Holder 7 and Nearby Area
The cartridge holder 7 will now be described in detail through reference to
As discussed above, the cartridge holder 7 is cylindrical in shape, having the insertion opening 8 in its top face, and as shown in
A needle detector switch 15 is also provided to this injection needle mounting component 3. As shown in
An axial support 17 for supporting the cartridge holder 7 so that it can be opened and closed with respect to the main body case 1 is provided to the lower outer peripheral face of the cartridge holder 7.
The opposite side (inner side) of this axial support 17 from the open side of the cartridge holder 7 is linked to one end of an ejector spring 18, which is used as an example of a biasing member. The other end of the ejector spring 18 is linked to the main body case 1 above.
Specifically, as shown in
That is, the cartridge holder 7 is such that when a force is applied in the direction in which the ejector spring 18 contracts, the insertion opening 8 portion above is biased in the direction of opening with respect to the main body case 1, as shown in
Also, a latched component 19 is provided as shown in
Furthermore, an ejector pawl 20 that latches the latched component 19 is provided above the latched component 19 in the main body case 1. This ejector pawl 20 is adjacent to the lower end side of a protrusion 22a on the lower end side of a slender lever 22, and is linked to the protrusion 22a. A spring 21 is in contact with the opposite side of the protrusion 22a from the ejector pawl 20, and the protrusion 22a and the ejector pawl 20 are biased in the downward latched component 19 direction (the insertion direction C) (see
The ejector pawl 20 also has on its inside a contact face 20a formed parallel to the movement direction of the piston 10. When the cartridge holder 7 has been closed, a contact face 19a formed parallel to the movement direction of the piston 10 is disposed on the outside of the latched component 19. Thus, the contact face 20a and the contact face 19a come into contact with each other, and this holds the cartridge holder 7 closed.
The ejector pawl 20 also has a sloped part 20b that slopes outward from the lower end of the contact face 20a. The latched component 19 has a sloped part 19b that slopes inward from the upper end of the contact face 19a. In the closing of the cartridge holder 7, the sloped part 20b slides upward with respect to the sloped part 19b, which affords smooth closure.
As shown in
Specifically, as shown in
Configuration of Origin Sensor 23 and Nearby Area
As shown in
A protrusion 10b that protrudes to the lever 22 side is also provided to the piston 10. The protrusion 10b provided on the rear end part of the piston 10 and on lower than the protrusion 22b of the lever 22 (on the insertion direction C side). The protrusion 10b hits the protrusion 22b and retracts the entire lever 22 (moving upward in
On the other hand, during pharmaceutical injection (the state in
Thus, the structure is such that the latched component 19 provided in the main body case 1 engages with the ejector pawl 20 adjacent to the protrusion 22a on the lower end side of the lever 22, and the cartridge holder 7 is held closed.
Specifically, the ejector pawl 20 attached to the protrusion 22a on the lower end side of the lever 22 returns to the origin position once the piston 10 has finished injecting all of the pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical cartridge, and after the ejector pawl 20 has moved further upward, the ejector pawl 20 is disengaged from the latch component 19, and the cartridge holder 7 opens up.
In the above example, the ejector pawl 20 and the lever 22 are separate members that are linked, but this is not the only option, and they may instead be formed integrally.
Operation During Pharmaceutical Injection
Specifically, the injection of the pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 is started by pressing an inject button (see
More specifically, the motor 13 (a part of the piston drive mechanism 100) is actuated, the gear 12 linked to the motor 13 rotates, and the rotation of the gear 12 rotates the feed screw 11. The piston drive mechanism 100 thus converts the rotational motion of the motor 13 into linear motion of the piston 10.
When the piston 10 moves downward, the distal end of the piston 10 hits a gasket 41 (see
Operation During Ejection of Cartridge Holder 7
Next, the operation of the cartridge holder 7 during ejection will be described through reference to
When the pharmaceutical administration (injection) operation described in
More specifically, in
After this, the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 needs to be replaced, so as shown in
At this point, the protrusion 10b at the upper end of the piston 10 is in contact with the protrusion 22b of the lever 22, so the lever 22 moves upward together.
The ejector pawl 20 attached to the lower end of the lever 22 also moves upward together, while compressing the biased spring 21. This operation disengages the latched component 19 and the ejector pawl 20.
At this point, the cartridge holder 7 opens outward from the main body case 1 under the biasing force of the ejector spring 18, with the axial support 17 as the fulcrum.
Whether or not the cartridge holder 7 has opened up here can be detected by an opening/closing detector switch 24 provided near the ejector pawl 20 (see
For instance, when the cartridge holder 7 is closed, the opening/closing detector switch 24 is pushed down by the cartridge holder 7 to the ON state, and it is detected that the cartridge holder 7 has been closed. When the cartridge holder 7 has been opened, the pressing down of the opening/closing detector switch 24 by the cartridge holder 7 is released to the OFF state, and it is detected that the cartridge holder 7 is open.
Before this eject operation is performed, for the sake of safety, the injection needle 16 attached to the injection needle mounting component 3 must be removed, so a message prompting the user to remove the injection needle 16 is displayed on the display component 5 provided to the front face of the main body case 1.
As to the removal of the injection needle 16, the needle detector switch 15 can detect that the injection needle 16 has been removed.
Operation During Closing of Cartridge Holder 7
At this point, as the piston 10 is returning to its origin position, the lever 22 and the ejector pawl 20 also move downward, and the piston 10 moves to its origin position and goes back to the initial state (see
However, since the cartridge holder 7 is still open here, the latched component 19 and the ejector pawl 20 are not engaged.
After this, when the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 is replaced and the cartridge holder 7 is moved so as to close toward the main body case 1 side, the sloped part 19b of the latched component 19 moves up and over the sloped part 20b of the ejector pawl 20 as shown in
That is, the piston 10 goes back to its initial state, and the cartridge holder 7 holding the new pharmaceutical cartridge 9 is held inside the main body case 1.
Control Blocks
More specifically, in regard to operation components, the CPU 250 of the controller 25 is connected to the power switch 2, the pharmaceutical injection switch 4, the setting switches 6, and so forth, and checks the input of various control switches.
In regard to detecting states, the CPU 250 of the controller 25 is connected to the needle detector switch 15, which detects the attachment state of the injection needle 16, the opening/closing detector switch 24, which detects whether the cartridge holder 7 is open or closed, and, as will be discussed in detail below, a light emitting component 34 and a light receiving component 35 for identifying the pharmaceutical cartridge 9.
In regard to the drive system of the piston 10, the motor 13 that drives the piston 10 is connected to the CPU 250 inside the controller 25 via a dedicated motor control circuit 27 that controls the motor. An encoder 28 that senses position information about the piston 10 is connected to the motor 13, and outputs pulses corresponding to the rotation of the motor 13 to the CPU 250. The CPU 250 counts the pulses outputted by the encoder 28, and calculates the amount of movement by the piston 10. Furthermore, the origin sensor 23, which senses the origin position of the piston 10, is connected to the CPU 250, and the CPU 250 uses the output of the encoder 28 and the output of the origin sensor 23 to recognize the current piston position.
A memory 32 is connected to the CPU 250, and holds this recognized current piston position as piston position information. The piston position information is a positive or negative numerical value. When the piston position information is zero, it means that the piston 10 is in its origin position. When the piston position information is positive, it means that the piston 10 is lower than the origin position. Conversely, when the piston position information is negative, it means that the piston 10 is higher than the origin position. The absolute value of the piston position information refers to the movement distance from the origin position.
More specifically, when the rear end side of the protrusion 10a provided to the piston 10 crosses the origin sensor 23, the CPU 250 determines that the piston 10 is in its origin position, and resets the piston position information stored in the memory 32 to zero. The CPU 250 then updates the value by adding or subtracting one piece of piston position information according to the drive direction of the motor 13, each time the encoder 28 connected to the motor 13 outputs one pulse. Thus, the CPU 250 can always use the piston position information held in the memory 32 to recognize the current piston position. The memory 32 is constituted by a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM, so the piston position information stored in the memory 32 will be preserved even if power to the device is cut off. This piston position information is always reset to zero when the rear end side of the protrusion 10a provided to the piston 10 crosses the origin sensor 23. That is, the origin sensor 23 is used to correct the piston position. The CPU 250 monitors the output of the origin sensor 23, and when the error with respect to zero in the piston position information stored in the memory 32 when the origin sensor 23 has sensed the origin position exceed the predetermined threshold, since there is the possibility of some kind of trouble occurring in the operation of the device, processing is performed to display a warning on the display component 5 and halt the operation, etc.
In addition, in the controller 25 a buzzer 30 that apprises the user that an error has occurred is connected to the CPU 250 via a buzzer drive circuit 29 that controls this buzzer. In the controller 25 the display component 5, which displays various messages, numerical values, etc., is connected to the CPU 250 via a dedicated display circuit 31 that controls the display component 5. The memory 32 that holds dosages, injection data, and so forth, and a timer 33 that measures the elapsed time are built into the controller 25, and are connected to the CPU 250. Also, a battery 26 that serves as the power supply of the device is also built in, and is connected to the controller 25.
Identifier 300 for Identifying Type of Pharmaceutical Cartridge 9
A feature of this embodiment is that the type of pharmaceutical cartridge 9 held in the cartridge holder 7 is identified. The pharmaceutical injection device in this embodiment comprises an identifier 300 to identify the type of pharmaceutical cartridge 9.
More specifically, the identifier 300 in this embodiment has the light emitting component 34 and the light receiving component 35. As shown in
The light emitting component 34 has three-color LEDs (a red LED 341, which is a red light emitting element, a green LED 342, which is a green light emitting element, and a blue LED 343, which is a blue light emitting element (see
The light receiving component 35 also senses the amount of light reflected from the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 for each of the colors; a photosensor is used, for example.
As shown in
In this embodiment, in a state in which the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 has been inserted through the insertion opening 8 into the cartridge holder 7, a portion of the color label 36 on the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 is exposed above the insertion opening 8. In this state, as shown in
The light from the light emitting component 34 is then shined on the color label 36 in this exposed state, and the reflected light is received by the light receiving component 35.
That is, the light emitting component 34 and the light receiving component 35 are in a state of being fixed in their disposition within the main body case 1, and do not move when the cartridge holder 7 is opened or closed.
As shown in
In this example, the color label 36 is attached to the pharmaceutical cartridge 9, but if the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 itself is colored, then light from the light emitting component 34 may be shined directly on this pharmaceutical cartridge 9, and the reflected light may be sensed by the light receiving component 35.
In other words, in this embodiment, the controller 25 is connected to the light emitting component 34, which shines light of different colors on the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 disposed in the cartridge holder 7, and to the light receiving component 35, which receives light shined from the light emitting component 34 onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 and reflected by the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 (see
The controller 25 also successively shines light of different colors from the light emitting component 34 onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9, and identifies the type of pharmaceutical cartridge 9 on the basis of the amount of light received by the light receiving component 35 for each color.
Therefore, even if dust or dirt should adhere to the light receiving component 35, when light of different colors is successively shined from the light emitting component 34 onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9, the amount of light received by the light receiving component 35 for each color will just decrease as the overall sensed level. In such a state in which just the sensed level decreases uniformly for all of the colors, the controller 25 will still be able to properly identify the type of pharmaceutical cartridge 9 from the amount of light of each color.
As shown in
With the pharmaceutical injection device in this embodiment, whether or not there is a pharmaceutical cartridge 9, how much pharmaceutical is left in this pharmaceutical cartridge 9, and so forth can be confirmed through the confirmation window 37 provided to the main body case 1.
Also, the controller 25 confirms the remaining amount of pharmaceutical on its own. The operation of the pharmaceutical injection device in this embodiment, including this confirmation of the remaining amount, will now be described through reference to a flowchart.
Operation of Pharmaceutical Injection Device
Operation of Confirming Remaining Amount of Pharmaceutical
More specifically, when the power switch 2 is turned on (S101 in
If it is concluded from this remaining amount confirmation that sufficient pharmaceutical remains, the controller 25 drives the motor 13 to push the piston 10 in the direction of the injection needle 16. This causes the pharmaceutical to be injected into the body, after which the power is switched off (S103, S104, and S105 in
In S103 in
If the user who sees the display shown in
The controller 25 then drives the motor 13 to push the piston 10 in the direction of the injection needle 16, and this causes the pharmaceutical to be injected into the body (S108 in
After this, the controller 25 again causes the display component 5 to give a display of “Replace pharmaceutical?” (S109 in
If once again the user presses the setting switch 6c under the “No” display 39 on the display component 5, the power is switched off (S110 and S105 in
In contrast, if the user presses the setting switch 6b under the “Yes” display 40 on the display component 5 in
This replacement operation is also executed when the user presses the setting switch 6b under the “Yes” display 40 in S106 in
Pharmaceutical Cartridge Replacement Operation
This operation to replace the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 is commenced from an operation in which the controller 25 reverses the drive of the motor 13 to retract the piston 10 (S113 in
As discussed above, in this embodiment the opening up of the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 is performed automatically when the piston 10 retracts to its origin position.
More specifically, as discussed above, the origin sensor 23, which senses the origin position of the piston 10, is provided on the rear end side of the piston 10 (the upper end side in
Meanwhile, during pharmaceutical injection (the state in
That is, the latched component 19 provided inside the main body case 1 and the ejector pawl 20 that is adjacent to the protrusion 22a on the lower end side of the lever 22 engage, and this maintains the cartridge holder 7 in a closed state.
Specifically, the ejector pawl 20 attached to the protrusion 22a on the lower end side of the lever 22 is such that after the piston 10 has completed the injection of all of the pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical cartridge and returned to its origin position as shown in
Whether or not the cartridge holder 7 (also called a door) has been opened can be detected by the opening/closing detector switch 24 provided near the ejector pawl 20 (S201 in
The controller 25 then stops the reverse operation of the motor 13 (the upward movement of the piston 10) (S202 in
The controller 25 then causes the display component 5 to give the display shown in
When this data of CL=1 is recorded to the memory 32, the controller 25 causes the display component 5 to give a display of “Clean interior of cartridge and cartridge case, and close door” as shown in
When this data of CL=1 is not recorded to the memory 32, the controller 25 causes the display component 5 to give a display of “Replace cartridge and close door” as shown in
After this, the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 is replaced as in
The encoder 28 detects that the piston 10 has reached the gasket 41 (S301 in
Operation to Identify Type of Pharmaceutical Cartridge
This identification of the type of the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 is executed by the operation in
It is then determined whether or not this amount of light is greater than Pj (external light determination threshold) (S504).
That is, since the main body case 1 is provided with the confirmation window 37 used for confirming the pharmaceutical cartridge 9, there may be situations when external light reaches the light receiving component 35 through this window. If the external light is too strong, this results in a situation in which the light receiving component 35 cannot function the identification properly, so in the case of strong external light, that is, if the amount of light received by the light receiving component 35 is too strong, the controller 25 causes the display component 5 to give a display of “Identify pharmaceutical. Keep case out of direct sunlight” as shown in
If the user presses the setting switch 6b under the “Yes” display 40, the flow returns to S502 in
If the device is being used in a suitable place (where strong external light cannot get it), the controller 25 causes the red LED 341 of the light emitting component 34 to emit light after S504 in
The reflected light from the color label 36 is sensed by the light receiving component 35 here, and the amount of red light is measured (S508 in
The amount of light at this point is the value obtained by subtracting the external light P0.
That is, in S503 in
Therefore, in S508 in
Then, the controller 25 turns off the red LED 341 and lights the green LED 342, and the amount of light at this point is sensed by the light receiving component 35 (S509 and S510 in
The amount of light at this point is the value obtained by subtracting the external light P0.
That is, in S503 in
Therefore, in S510 in
Then, the controller 25 turns off the green LED 342 and lights the blue LED 343, and the amount of light at that point is sensed by the light receiving component 35 (S511 and S512 in
The amount of light at this point is the value obtained by subtracting the external light P0.
That is, in S503 in
Therefore, in S512 in
After this, the blue LED 343 is turned off (S513 in
If the number has not reached five times, 1 is added to the number of times, this is recorded in the memory 32 (S515 in
If the absolute value obtained by subtracting the amount of light P1 from the amount of light P0 caused by external light is less than an amount of external light change determination threshold Pk, the flow proceeds to the color determination shown in
In S517 in
Also, in S517 in
That is, since the amounts of light PR, PG, and PB for the above-mentioned five times are recorded in the memory 32, the controller 25 removes the minimum and maximum values for each color, and calculates the average value for each color from the remaining three measurement values (S601 in
If the largest average value for each color is less than a dirt determination level Pe, soiling is suspected, so the controller 25 causes the display component 5 to give a display of “Interior of cartridge or cartridge case is soiled and needs to be cleaned” as shown in
In contrast, in S602 in
First, it is determined whether the average value PR′ is less than a minimum brightness Pm (S606 in
If no red component is present, it is determined whether the average value PG′ is less than the minimum brightness Pm (S607 in
If the average value PR′ is greater than the minimum brightness Pm in S606 in
In this embodiment, the following process is executed by the controller 25 to specify the pharmaceutical X. For example, if the output of the light receiving component 35 is digitized by a 256-gradient A/D converter, the output of the light receiving component 35 is digitized in values of 0 to 255. PRG, which is the ratio of red and green (green/red), PRB, which is the ratio of red and blue (blue/red), PGB, which is the ratio of green and blue (blue/green), and PB′, which is the brightness of the color blue, are used in identifying the pharmaceutical X.
Using “pharmaceutical 6” in
In contrast, in S606 in
That is, the pharmaceutical X is specified from the average value PB′/the average value PG′.
In S607 in
If the pharmaceutical can thus be specified from color sensing of the color label 36, the flow proceeds again to S303 in
In S303 in
In S307 in
In S307 in
When the proper pharmaceutical is used, the user presses the setting switch 6c under the “No” display 39 on the display component 5 (S309 in
In contrast, when the user presses the setting switch 6b under the “Yes” display 40 on the display component 5, the flow moves to S306 in
Injection Operation
The injection operation in S311 in
The injection operation in S104 and S108 in
After this, even if 3 hours have not elapsed in S402 in
If the user then presses the setting switch 6c under the “No” display 39 shown in
In contrast, if the user presses the setting switch 6b under the “Yes” display 40 shown in
If the value of the encoder 28 is not zero, the controller 25 causes the display component 5 to give a display of “Inject portion lacking the last time?” as shown in
If the user then presses the setting switch 6c under the “No” display 39 shown in
In contrast, if the user presses the setting switch 6b under the “Yes” display 40 shown in
The motor 13 is then driven in this state to move the piston 10 forward, and the forward movement at this time is counted by the encoder 28 (S415 and S416 in
The controller 25 uses this amount of forward movement to confirm whether or not the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 has been emptied of pharmaceutical, and to determine whether or not the count has reached the injection amount (EP) set as the current injection amount. Once this value is reached, the controller 25 clears the count on the encoder 28 and stops the motor 13 (S417, S418, S419, and S420 in
The display component 5 then gives a display of “Injection complete” as shown in
That is, in
Other Routines
Other routines in the above series of operations will now be described in order.
In S201 in
That is, as discussed above, the origin sensor 23 that senses the origin position of the piston 10 is provided to the rear end side of the piston 10 (the upper end side in
If the piston 10 has retracted to the tail end, the controller 25 causes the display component 5 to give a display of “Door won't open. Retry?” as shown in
Next, if the user presses the setting switch 6c under the “No” display 39, the power is shut off (S213 and S214 in
When the piston 10 then reaches the retry position for opening the cartridge holder 7, the motor 13 is stopped, after which the motor 13 is reversed to retract the piston 10 (S217, S218, and S219 in
Consequently, if the cartridge holder 7 is opened, the routine proceeds from S201 toward S202 in
Next, in S301 in
That is, at this point no new pharmaceutical cartridge 9 has been installed in the cartridge holder 7, so the controller 25 causes the display component 5 to give a display of “New cartridge not inserted. Insert cartridge” as shown in
Main Features
(1)
The pharmaceutical injection device in this embodiment comprises the main body case 1, the piston 10, the light emitting component 34, the light receiving component 35, and the controller 25. The main body case 1 has the cartridge holder 7 (an example of a holder) in which the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 is housed. The piston 10 pushes the pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 housed in the cartridge holder 7 (inside the main body case 1) out of the pharmaceutical cartridge 9. The light emitting component 34 shines light of different colors on the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 disposed in the cartridge holder 7. The light receiving component 35 receives the light that is shined from the light emitting component 34 onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 and reflected by the pharmaceutical cartridge 9. The controller 25 successively shines light of different colors from the light emitting component 34 onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9, and identifies the type of the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 on the basis of the amount of light received by the light receiving component 35 for each color.
As discussed above, the pharmaceutical injection device in this embodiment comprises the light emitting component 34 that shines light of different colors onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 disposed in the cartridge holder 7 (an example of a holder), and the light receiving component 35 that receives this light shined from the light emitting component 34 onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 and reflected by the pharmaceutical cartridge 9.
The controller 25 successively shines light of different colors from the light emitting component 34 onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9, and identifies the type of the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 on the basis of the amount of light received by the light receiving component 35 for each color.
Therefore, even if dirt or dust should adhere to the light receiving component 35, when light of different colors is successively shined from the light emitting component 34 onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9, the amount of light received by the light receiving component for each color will just decrease as the overall sensed level, and in this state, the controller 25 will still be able to properly identify the type of the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 from the amount of light of each color.
More precisely, in the above embodiment, when the dirt determination level Pe is used and an amount of light that is at or above this dirt determination level Pe is obtained, the type of the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 can be properly identified even if the light receiving component 35 is soiled.
Also, when the red LED 341, the green LED 342, and the blue LED 343 are housed as the light emitting component 34 in the same package, and a diffuser plate is disposed in the package, if the dirt adhering to the light emitting component 34 is small, it will not affect color sensing very much, but if the dirt is large, it can be detected by the light receiving component 35. Therefore, even if the light emitting component 34 is soiled, the type of the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 can be properly identified when an amount of light at or above the dirt determination level Pe is obtained.
(2)
With the pharmaceutical injection device in this embodiment, the controller 25 issues a warning output if the amount of light of the sensed color exhibiting the greatest amount of light out of the light quantities for the various colors received by the light receiving component 35 is lower than a specific value.
This makes it possible to detect soiling of the light emitting component 34 or the light receiving component 35, and furthermore a warning to the user can be issued, so it is less likely that the type of pharmaceutical cartridge will be mistakenly identified.
(3)
Also, the pharmaceutical injection device in this embodiment comprises the main body case 1, the piston 10, the red LED 341, the green LED 342, the blue LED 343 (an example of a plurality of light emitting elements), and a photosensor as the light receiving component 35. The main body case 1 has the cartridge holder 7 for holding the pharmaceutical cartridge 9. The piston 10 pushes out the pharmaceutical in the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 housed in the cartridge holder 7 inside the main body case 1. The red LED 341, the green LED 342, and the blue LED 343 shine light of different colors onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 disposed in the cartridge holder 7. The light receiving component 35 receives light shined from the red LED 341, the green LED 342, and the blue LED 343 onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 and reflected by the pharmaceutical cartridge 9.
Consequently, light of a plurality of colors can be shined onto the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 disposed in the cartridge holder 7, so the type of pharmaceutical cartridge 9 can be properly identified.
(A)
With the above embodiment, LEDs of three colors were used, namely, the red LED 341, the green LED 342, and the blue LED 343, but if there are few types of pharmaceutical cartridge 9, LEDs of just two different colors may be used.
(B)
Also, rather than using LEDs of three colors, three filters or the like that transmit different wavelengths may be disposed ahead of white light, and light of different colors may be shined on the color label 36 of the pharmaceutical cartridge 9 by successively lighting.
(C)
With the TABLE(0) 42, TABLE(1) 43, and TABLE(2) 44 in the above embodiment, reference data for identifying the pharmaceutical gave only single-point values, such as pharmaceutical (1) (PRG=0, PRB=0.5), but a spread with respect to the value of the reference data may be used in pharmaceutical identification. For instance, it may be determined that pharmaceutical (1) is present when PRG is 0 to 0.2 and PBG is 0.4 to 0.6.
Certain implementations may have the effect of allowing the type of pharmaceutical cartridge to be properly identified, and is useful, for example, as a pharmaceutical injection device for injecting insulin, growth hormone, or other such pharmaceuticals.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-273255 | Dec 2013 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2014/081096 | 11/25/2014 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2015/098399 | 7/2/2015 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4776702 | Yamaba | Oct 1988 | A |
| 6585698 | Packman et al. | Jul 2003 | B1 |
| 8827964 | Boyd | Sep 2014 | B2 |
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