Apparatuses, systems and methods for plunger-stopper depth measurement in pre-filled syringes
AssigneeAmgen Inc.
InventorsJordan Ray Fine, Thomas Clark Pearson, Graham F. Milne
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Automatic prefilled syringe inspection systems, apparatus and methods are provided. The automatic syringe inspection systems, apparatus and methods may determine a plunger depth within a syringe that has been pre-filled with a medication. The plunger depth may be based on digital image data that is representative of a silhouette of at least a portion of a tubular vessel and at least a portion of a plunger within the tubular vessel.
Claims20
A system for inspecting tubular vessels post stoppering, wherein at least a portion of the tubular vessel is at least partially transparent, the system comprising:
- a digital image data acquisition device having an image sensor and a backlight, wherein the digital image data acquisition device is configured to cause the backlight to emit light having a predetermined intensity, wherein the digital image data acquisition device is configured to acquire image data from the image sensor while at least a portion of the tubular vessel and at least a portion of the plunger are positioned between the image sensor and the backlight while the backlight emits light, wherein the image data is representative of a silhouette of at least the portion of the tubular vessel and at least the portion of the plunger within the tubular vessel;
- and
- a digital image processing engine configured to determine a depth of the plunger within the tubular vessel based on the image data.
A method of inspecting a tubular vessel, the method comprising:
- providing a plurality of tubular vessels in a tray;
- providing an intermediate holder;
- aligning the intermediate holder with the tray;
- transferring the plurality of tubular vessels from the tray to the intermediate holder;
- placing the plurality of tubular vessels and the intermediate holder between an image sensor and a backlight;
- and
- acquiring image data from the image sensor while at least a portion of the tubular vessel and at least a portion of the plunger are positioned between the image sensor and the backlight while the backlight emits light, wherein the image data is representative of a silhouette of at least the portion of the tubular vessel and at least a portion of a plunger within the tubular vessel.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a tubular vessel inspection post stoppering, wherein at least a portion of the tubular vessel is at least partially transparent, the computer-readable medium comprising:
- a backlight control module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to cause a backlight to emit light having a predetermined intensity;
- and
- a digital image data acquisition module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to acquire image data from an image sensor while at least a portion of the tubular vessel and at least a portion of a plunger within the tubular vessel are positioned between the image sensor and the backlight while the backlight emits light, wherein the image data is representative of a silhouette of at least the portion of the tubular vessel and the at least the portion of the plunger.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.