# US 2021/0241207 A1 · Method for notifying of expiry date of medicine and computer program recording medium therefor

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- Number: US 2021/0241207 A1
- Document ID: US20210241207A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/761,328
- Filed: 2018-11-05
- Published: 2021-08-05
- Earliest claimed: 2017-11-06
- Assignees: E Blue Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: E Blue Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Nahyeon LEE
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210241207A1

## CPC

- G06Q 10/087: Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
- G06Q 10/08776: {by management of storage life of perishable or hazardous products}
- G06Q 20/20: Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
- G06Q 20/203: {Inventory monitoring}
- G16H 20/10: relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
- G16H 40/67: for remote operation
- G16H 70/40: relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage
- G06Q 10/08744: {by distributed inventory management}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA

## Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of providing notification of an expiration date of a medicinal product and a recording medium on which a computer program for performing the method is recorded. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing notification of an expiration date of a medicinal product, which is performed in a pharmacy system that includes a POS terminal and an audio output unit, the method including 1) determining whether or not a medicinal product subject to notification, of which an expiration date satisfies a preset notification condition, is present, and 2) outputting information about the medicinal product subject to notification in the form of audio guidance through the audio output unit.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of providing notification of an expiration date of a medicinal product, which is performed in a pharmacy system that includes a POS terminal and an audio output unit, the method comprising:
1) determining whether or not, among medicinal products registered as inventory, there is a medicinal product subject to notification, of which an expiration date satisfies a preset notification condition; and
2) outputting information about the medicinal product subject to notification in the form of audio guidance through the audio output unit.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the step 1) is automatically performed according to a preset guidance time condition.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the pharmacy system further includes an audio input unit, and
the step 1) is performed on the basis of audio that is input by a user through the audio input unit.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein in the step 1), among the medicinal products registered as inventory, a medicinal product of which an expiration date falls within a preset notification period range is determined as the medicinal product subject to notification that satisfies the notification condition.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein in the step 1), at the time of a medicinal product sale to a specific patient, when, among the medicinal products registered as inventory, a medicinal product of which an expiration date is determined as exceeding a medication period for the specific patient occurs, the medicinal product is determined as the medicinal product subject to notification that satisfies the notification condition.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the pharmacy system further includes a screen output unit, the method further comprising:
21) screen-displaying the information about the medicinal product subject to notification through the screen output unit.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the POS terminal comprises a first human-body detection sensor configured to detect a pharmacist-side area and a second human-body detection sensor configured to detect a customer-side area, and
wherein the pharmacy system performs the step 2) when the first human-body detection sensor detects a human body and the second human-body detection sensor does not detect the human body.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the pharmacy system operates in conjunction with an agent system via a network, the method further comprising:
3) receiving input about a medicinal product subject to processing prior to an expiration date, among the medicinal products subject to notification about which the information is output in the form of audio guidance;
4) transmitting the information about the input medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date to the agent system;
5) receiving information about another pharmacy system that makes a request for assignment of the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date, from the agent system; and
6) transmitting an approval of the assignment of the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date to the agent system, when the approval of the assignment of the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date is input for processing, the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date being requested for assignment.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method according to claim 8, wherein in the step 4), at least one of a price condition for assigning the medicinal product and an expiration date condition for assigning the medicinal product is included in the information about the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date.

### Claim 10

A method of providing notification of an expiration date of a medicinal product, which is performed in a pharmacy system that includes a POS terminal and an audio output unit and operates in conjunction with an agent system via a network, the method comprising:
1) transmitting information about a medicinal product registered as inventory in the pharmacy system to the agent system,
the agent system managing information on an inventory in each pharmacy system on the basis of the received information; and
2) when it is determined that, among medicinal products registered as inventory, there is a medicine product subject to notification, of which the expiration date satisfies a preset notification condition,
outputting information about the medicinal product subject to notification in the form of audio guidance through the audio output unit,
the determination being made in the agent system and the information about the medicinal product subject to notification being transmitted from the agent system to the pharmacy system.

### Claim 11

A method of providing notification of an expiration date of a medicinal product, which is performed in an agent system that operates via a network in conjunction with a pharmacy system that includes a POS terminal and an audio output unit, the method comprising:
1) receiving information about a medicinal product registered as inventory from the pharmacy system and managing information on the inventory in each pharmacy system on the basis of the received information;
2) receiving information about a medicinal product subject to processing prior to an expiration date from the pharmacy system,
the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date being a medicinal product input as a medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date among medicinal products subject to notification, of which an expiration date satisfies a preset notification condition, and being medicinal products registered as inventory in each pharmacy system,
and the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date being input on the basis of information about the medicinal product subject to notification, which is output in the form of audio guidance through the audio output unit in the pharmacy system; and
3) providing the information about the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date to another pharmacy system.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method according to claim 11, further comprising:
4) receiving information on a request for assignment of the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date from the another pharmacy system; and
5) providing the information on the request for the assignment from the another pharmacy system to the pharmacy system that transmits the information about the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method according to claim 11, wherein in the step 3), the information about the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date is provided only to another pharmacy system that in advance registers its intention to receive the medicinal product.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method according to claim 13, wherein in the step 3), the information about the medicinal product subject to processing prior to the expiration date is provided only to another pharmacy system that, among other pharmacy systems that in advance register their intentions to receive the medicinal product, is located in the same area as the pharmacy system.

### Claim 15

A computer-readable recording medium on which a computer program for performing a method of providing notification of an expiration date of a medicinal product in a state of being combined with a pharmacy system that includes a POS terminal and an audio output unit is recorded, the method comprising:
determining whether or not, among medicinal products registered as inventory, there is a medicinal product subject to notification, of which an expiration date satisfies a preset notification condition; and
outputting information about the medicinal product subject to notification in the form of audio guidance through the audio output unit.