CN103018470A - Sample analyzer - Google Patents

Sample analyzer Download PDF

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Publication number
CN103018470A
CN103018470A CN2012103573190A CN201210357319A CN103018470A CN 103018470 A CN103018470 A CN 103018470A CN 2012103573190 A CN2012103573190 A CN 2012103573190A CN 201210357319 A CN201210357319 A CN 201210357319A CN 103018470 A CN103018470 A CN 103018470A
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China
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sample
container
rack
cleaning liquid
measurement
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CN2012103573190A
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CN103018470B (en
Inventor
福间大吾
桑野桂辅
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Sysmex Corp
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Sysmex Corp
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Priority claimed from JP2011211147A external-priority patent/JP5830330B2/en
Priority claimed from JP2011211828A external-priority patent/JP5779062B2/en
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Publication of CN103018470A publication Critical patent/CN103018470A/en
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Abstract

A sample analyzer comprises: a measurement section configured to aspirate a sample in a sample tube and measure the aspirated sample; a transportation section configured to transport a plurality of tubes for supplying the tubes to the measurement section; an identification data obtainer configured to obtain identification data of the tube transported by the transportation section; and a system controller; wherein the system controller is configured to: acquire a result of determination regarding whether a sample needs a re-measurement, the determination being made based on a result of a measurement of the sample; when recognizing a presence of a washing fluid tube transported by the transportation section based on the identification data obtained by the identification data obtainer, control the transportation section to supply the washing fluid tube to the measuring section, and control the measurement section to aspirate the washing fluid from the washing fluid tube and then to use the aspirated washing fluid to wash at least one part of the measurement section; and when a presence of the washing fluid tube transported by the transportation section is recognized before the determination result is obtained for the already aspirated sample, prohibit the supply of the washing fluid in the washing fluid tube to the measurement section. The invention also provides a control method of the sample analyzer.

Description

Sample analyzer
The technical field is as follows:
the present invention relates to a sample analyzer for analyzing a sample such as blood.
Background art:
there is known a sample processing device which aspirates and processes a sample from a sample container containing a sample such as blood or urine by means of an aspiration tube.
After a long-term use of the sample processing apparatus, the pipette, the channel, the valve, the reaction vessel, the analyzing unit, and other fluid systems are contaminated, and a decrease in accuracy and a malfunction are caused. Therefore, the fluid system is cleaned periodically, for example, each time a certain number of samples to be processed is reached.
Japanese patent laid-open application No. 2003-open patent application discloses a sample analyzer which aspirates a wash liquid contained in a liquid container through an aspirating part and cleans an internal flow path. In this structure, after the tube rack for housing the cleaning solution container is placed in the sample analyzer, the placed tube rack is transported. When the apparatus recognizes the cleaning liquid container mounted on the tube stand, the cleaning liquid is automatically aspirated from the cleaning liquid container, and the flow path is cleaned.
The operation of cleaning the flow path with the cleaning liquid is: the liquid chamber for preparing the sample, the detecting member, and the flow path connecting the above portions are filled with a cleaning liquid and left for a certain time to wash off the dirt deposited in the liquid chamber and the flow path, and therefore, a long time is required for one cleaning. For this reason, once washing is started, the sample measurement cannot be performed for a long period of time. Therefore, when the washing is performed using the washing liquid, it is preferable to perform the washing after the completion of the measurement of the sample.
However, some samples require a re-measurement after the first measurement is completed. Whether re-measurement is required is determined not immediately after the end of measurement, and a certain time interval is provided from the completion of measurement to the determination of whether re-measurement is required.
Therefore, when it is determined that the supplied sample needs to be measured again, the operation of sucking the cleaning liquid from the subsequent cleaning liquid container may be started, and in this case, it is necessary to wait for a long time for the completion of the cleaning operation and then to start the measurement again.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sample analyzer capable of smoothly performing a re-measurement process of a sample when a cleaning liquid container is present in the sample container.
Disclosure of Invention
Therefore, the present invention is constituted by:
(1) a sample analysis device, comprising: a measuring unit for aspirating a sample contained in the sample container and measuring the aspirated sample; a transport unit for transporting a plurality of containers and supplying the containers to the measuring unit in sequence; an identification information acquiring unit that acquires identification information of the container transported by the transport unit; and a system controller; wherein the system controller is capable of obtaining the following results: and a determination unit configured to determine whether or not a sample needs to be measured again based on a result of the measurement of the sample by the measurement unit, wherein if it is determined that the cleaning liquid container transported by the transport unit is present based on the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit, the system controller controls the transport unit to supply the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit, controls the measurement unit to aspirate the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid container, and cleans a flow path of the measurement unit with the aspirated cleaning liquid, and if it is determined that the cleaning liquid container transported by the transport unit is present before the determination result of the aspirated sample is obtained, the system controller prohibits supply of the cleaning liquid contained in the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit.
With the sample analyzer having the above structure, the following can be avoided: the cleaning liquid container is supplied to the measuring unit before the completion of the operation of acquiring the sample container which has been measured before and requiring the measurement again. Thus, the following can be avoided: when it is judged that the re-measurement is necessary, the washing is started and the re-measurement cannot be started until the washing is completed.
(2) The sample analyzer according to the above (1), wherein: the system controller cancels the prohibition of the supply if a determination is obtained that the aspirated sample does not need to be measured again.
(3) The sample analyzer according to the above (1), wherein: when a result of determination that the aspirated sample needs to be remeasured is obtained, the system controller supplies the sample container of the sample to the measuring unit to remeasure the sample, and cancels the prohibition of the supply after the aspiration of the sample is completed.
(4) The sample analyzer according to the above (1), wherein: the prohibiting supply of the cleaning solution includes prohibiting supply of a cleaning solution container to the measurement unit.
(5) The sample analyzer according to the above (1), wherein: the transport member includes a transport path extending from a first position to a second position through which the container is transported to place the container in a container supply position between the first position and the second position.
(6) The sample analyzer according to the above (5), wherein: when sample containers are continuously supplied to the measurement unit, the system controller controls the transport unit to transport a first sample container to the container supply position, and after aspirating a sample from the first sample container, the system controller moves the first sample container from the container supply position to another position and transports a second sample container to the container supply position without waiting for completion of an acquisition operation of a determination result of remeasurement of the sample in the first sample container.
(7) The sample analyzer according to the above (1), wherein: the transport unit transports a rack capable of accommodating a plurality of containers, and supplies the containers accommodated in the rack to the measurement unit in sequence.
(8) The sample analyzer according to the above (1), wherein: the system controller controls the automatic shutdown of the assay component after the cleaning is performed.
(9) A sample analysis device, comprising: a measuring unit configured to aspirate a sample contained in a sample container and measure the aspirated sample; a transport unit for transporting a plurality of containers and supplying the containers to the measuring unit in sequence; and a system controller; wherein the system controller obtains the following determination results: the measurement unit may aspirate a cleaning liquid from a cleaning liquid container and clean a flow path of the measurement unit with the aspirated cleaning liquid when the transport unit supplies the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit, and the sample analyzer may suspend supply of the cleaning liquid contained in the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit at least before the system controller completes acquisition of a determination result of a sample in a preceding sample container if a cleaning liquid container is located after the sample container in a sequence of supplying the container to the measurement unit.
(10) The sample analyzer according to the above (9), wherein: in the order of supplying containers to the measurement unit, if a cleaning liquid container is present after a sample container, the system controller controls the transport unit to suspend the supply of the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit until the acquisition of the determination result of the preceding sample container is completed.
(11) The sample analyzer according to the above (10), wherein: when a result that the preceding sample container does not need to be measured again is obtained, the system controller controls the transport unit to supply the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit, and controls the measurement unit to aspirate the cleaning liquid from the supplied cleaning liquid container and perform a cleaning process.
(12) The sample analyzer according to the above (9), wherein: the transport member includes a transport path extending from a first position to a second position through which the container is transported to place the container in a container supply position between the first position and the second position.
(13) The sample analyzer according to the above (12), wherein: when sample containers are continuously supplied to the measurement unit, the system controller controls the transport unit to transport a first sample container to the container supply position, and after aspirating a sample from the first sample container, the system controller moves the first sample container from the container supply position to another position and transports a second sample container to the container supply position without waiting for completion of an acquisition operation of a determination result of remeasurement of the sample in the first sample container.
(14) The sample analyzer according to the above (13), wherein: when a determination result that the sample of the first sample container needs to be measured again is obtained, the system controller controls the transport member to transport the first sample container to the container supply position again.
(15) The sample analyzer according to the above (9), wherein: when a result that the sample needs to be measured again is obtained, the system controller controls the transport unit to supply the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit after the measurement unit completes the suction and transfer required for the re-measurement of the sample container, and further controls the measurement unit to suck the cleaning liquid from the supplied cleaning liquid container and perform a cleaning process.
(16) The sample analyzer according to the above (9), wherein: the sample analyzer further includes an identification information acquiring unit for acquiring identification information for identifying a type of the container, and the system controller sequentially identifies the type of the container transported by the transport unit using the identification information acquired by the identification information acquiring unit, and determines whether or not a cleaning liquid container is subsequently provided after the sample container based on a result of the identification.
(17) The sample analyzer according to the above (9), wherein: when a sample container is set in a preceding tube rack and a cleaning solution container is set in a subsequent tube rack, the system controller controls the transport member to stop the subsequent tube rack at a certain position before the completion of the acquisition operation of acquiring whether or not all the sample containers set on the preceding tube rack need to be measured again.
(18) The sample analyzer according to the above (10), wherein: the conveying member includes a conveying member that conveys the rack from upstream to downstream, and the certain position is an uppermost stream position or a lowermost stream position of the conveying member.
(19) The sample analyzer according to the above (9), wherein: the time required for the washing process is longer than the time required for aspirating one sample, measuring, and obtaining the result of determination as to whether or not the sample needs to be measured again.
(20) A method of controlling a sample analysis apparatus, comprising: (a) transporting the container to a first location; (b) acquiring identification information from a container at a first location, and determining whether the container is a sample container or a cleaning solution container; (c) transporting the container to a second location for supplying the container to the measuring part when the container is the sample container in the judgment of the step (b); (d) when the container is a cleaning liquid container in the judgment of the step (b), judging whether or not the judgment whether or not re-measurement is necessary has been completed for the sample which has been aspirated by the measurement section; (e) transporting a cleaning liquid container to the second position, and cleaning by the measuring means using the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid container, when the determination has been completed in the determination of step (d); (f) prohibiting the implementation of step (e) when the determination is not completed in the determination of step (e).
Drawings
Fig. 1 is an oblique view of the appearance of a sample analyzer according to an embodiment;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a sample container and tube rack of an embodiment;
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing arrangement rules of a cleaning liquid container and a cleaning liquid container according to the embodiment;
FIG. 4 is a plan view of the transport unit and the measurement unit of the embodiment as viewed from above;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the measurement unit according to the embodiment when the sample container and the cleaning solution container are taken in;
FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a carrying unit and a measuring unit according to the embodiment;
FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a measurement unit according to the embodiment;
FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing unit according to the embodiment;
fig. 9 is a flowchart of conveyance control of the pipe rack of the embodiment;
FIG. 10 is a flow chart of rack transport control during cleaning and shutdown according to an embodiment;
fig. 11 is a flowchart of rack conveyance control, review processing, and flag setting processing at the time of normal sample processing of the embodiment;
FIG. 12 is a flow chart of a pipe rack operation of an embodiment;
FIG. 13 is a flow chart of pipe rack operations of an embodiment;
fig. 14 is a flowchart of rack transport control at the time of washing and shutdown in modification 1;
fig. 15 is an external view of a sample analysis in modification 2;
fig. 16 is a flowchart of the arrangement rule of the cleaning liquid container and the rack transport control in modification 2;
fig. 17 is a flowchart of rack transport control according to modification 3;
fig. 18 is a flowchart of rack transport control at the time of washing and shutdown in modification 4;
fig. 19 is a flowchart of the pipe rack operation of modification 4.
Detailed Description
In the present embodiment, the present invention is used in a sample analyzer for examining and analyzing blood.
Next, the sample analyzer of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
Fig. 1 is an external perspective view of a sample analyzer 1. The sample analyzer 1 of the present embodiment is configured by: a carrying unit 2, measuring units 31 and 32 including a blood cell counting device, and an information processing unit 4 (system controller).
The transport unit 2 is disposed in front of the measurement units 31 and 32, and includes a right base 21, a left base 22, and a rack transport member 23 connecting the right base 21 and the left base 22. The right and left stages 21 and 22 can house several tube racks L capable of accommodating 10 sample containers T and cleaning solution containers C.
The conveyance unit 2 houses a rack L placed on the right stage 21 by a user. The transport unit 2 is also used to transport the rack L stored in the right stage 21 to a predetermined position of the rack transport member 23 so that the sample container T and the cleaning liquid container C are supplied to the measurement units 31 and 32. The conveying unit 2 also conveys the racks L on the rack conveying member 23 and collects them on the left table 22. Thus, the pipe rack L is transported from the right stage 21 to the left stage 22. In the following, the direction of approach to the right stage 21 in the transport path is referred to as "upstream in the transport direction", and the direction of approach to the left stage 22 is referred to as "downstream in the transport direction".
In the present embodiment, the containers stored in the rack L are sequentially loaded into the measurement units 31 and 32 from the downstream in the conveying direction at the loading position P31a or P32a (see fig. 4) on the rack conveying member 23 and are processed.
Fig. 2 (a) and (b) are structural diagrams of the sample container T and the tube rack L. Fig. 2 (a) is an external perspective view of the sample container T, and fig. 2 (b) is an external perspective view of the tube rack L in which 10 sample containers T are placed. In addition, fig. 2 (b) also shows the orientation of the racks L when they are placed on the conveying unit 2 (front-back, left-right, and upstream-downstream in the conveying direction in fig. 1).
Referring to fig. 2 (a), the sample container T is a tube-shaped container made of light-transmitting glass or synthetic resin and has an opening at the upper end. The inside of the container is filled with a whole blood sample taken from a patient, and the upper end opening is sealed with a cap CP made of rubber. The side of the sample container T is attached to a bar code label BL 1. The barcode label BL1 has a barcode printed thereon including a sample ID.
Referring to fig. 2 (b), the tube rack L has 10 placement members capable of vertically (in an upright state) placing 10 sample containers T in parallel at the placement positions 1 to 10 as shown in the figure. For convenience of explanation, the respective arrangement positions are respectively numbered in ascending order from the downstream to the upstream in the conveying direction.
The rear side of the tube rack L is shown as being affixed with a bar code label BL 2. The bar code label BL2 has a bar code printed thereon including the rack ID.
Fig. 3 (a) and (b) are schematic diagrams showing the arrangement of the cleaning liquid container C and the cleaning liquid container C on the pipe frame L. Fig. 3 (a) is an external perspective view of the cleaning liquid container C, and fig. 3 (b) is a layout view of the cleaning liquid container C when the pipe frame L is viewed from above. In addition, fig. 3 (b) shows the numbers of the positions of the racks L in the upstream and downstream directions in the conveying direction and in fig. 2 (b).
Referring to fig. 3 (a), the cleaning solution container C is a tube-shaped container made of colored glass or synthetic resin and having an opening at the upper end. The color of the cleaning solution container C is different from that of the sample container T, and is easily visually distinguished. The cleaning liquid container C contains a cleaning liquid made of a sodium hypochlorite aqueous solution for cleaning the flow paths in the measurement cells 31 and 32, and has an upper end opening sealed with a film FM for preventing a decrease in the chlorine concentration in the cleaning liquid.
The side of the cleaning liquid container C is attached with a barcode label BL 3. The barcode label BL3 has a barcode printed thereon including the washing liquid ID. The washing liquid ID can be distinguished from the sample ID. The cleaning solution container C has the same shape and size as the sample container T, and is vertically (in an upright state) arranged in the tube rack L as the sample container T.
Referring to fig. 3 (b), the cleaning liquid containers C are arranged on the pipe frame L according to a predetermined arrangement rule. The cleaning liquid containers C are collectively disposed on the downstream side in the conveying direction so as to perform the cleaning operation quickly. Further, the measurement unit to be cleaned is determined according to the placement position where the cleaning liquid container C is placed.
When both the measurement unit 31 and the measurement unit 32 are to be cleaned, as shown in the upper half of fig. 3 (b), the cleaning liquid container C is set at the set position 1 and the set position 2. In general, the sample container T and the cleaning solution container C are not provided at the other set positions 3 to 10. At this time, the cleaning liquid container C at the set position 1 is assigned to the measurement unit 31, and the cleaning liquid container C at the set position 2 is assigned to the measurement unit 32.
Further, when only the measurement unit 32 is cleaned, as shown in the middle part of fig. 3 (b), the cleaning liquid container C is provided only at the set position 2, and when only the measurement unit 31 is cleaned, as shown in the lower part of fig. 3 (b), the cleaning liquid container C is provided only at the set position 1. In these cases, the cleaning solution container C is assigned to one of the measurement units 31, 32.
In this manner, in general, when cleaning the measurement units 31 and 32, only the cleaning liquid container C is provided at either or both of the set position 1 and the set position 2 of the pipe rack L.
Returning to fig. 1, when a sample is measured, the measurement unit 31 processes the sample container T on the rack transport member 23 in front of the unit. Specifically, the measurement unit 31 takes out the sample container T from the rack L by the hand member 31a (see fig. 4) at the pick-up position P31a (see fig. 4) of the rack transport member 23, transports the sample container T to the inside of the measurement unit 31, and aspirates the sample contained in the sample container T in the inside of the measurement unit 31. After the aspiration is completed, the measurement unit 31 returns the sample container T to the setting part of the original rack L. The measurement unit 32 performs aspiration and measurement of the sample in the same manner as the measurement unit 31.
When cleaning is performed, the measurement unit 31 treats the cleaning liquid container C on the rack transport member 23 in front of the unit. As in the case of the measurement of the sample container T, the measurement unit 31 takes out the cleaning liquid container c in the rack L by the hand member 31a (see fig. 4) at the pick-up position P31a (see fig. 4) of the rack transport member 23 and transports the container to the inside of the measurement unit 31. The measurement unit 31 removes dirt by allowing the cleaning liquid contained in the cleaning liquid container C to flow through a flow path for measuring a sample or a detector in the measurement unit 31 or by allowing the cleaning liquid to stay for a certain period of time.
The cleaning treatment may be performed once a day, for example, to clean the flow path, the detector, and the like by leaving a cleaning solution for a long time in order to prevent the stain remaining in the sample measurement performed before. After the completion of the suction of the cleaning liquid, the measurement unit 31 returns the cleaning liquid container C to the original mounting member of the rack L. The measurement unit 32 also performs suction of the cleaning liquid and cleaning with the cleaning liquid in the same manner as the measurement unit 31. The washed measurement units 31 and 32 will automatically be powered off.
The information processing unit 4 has an input section 41 and a display section 42. The information processing unit 4 is communicably connected to the conveying unit 2, the measuring units 31 and 32, and the host computer 5 (see fig. 8) via a communication network.
The information processing unit 4 controls the operations of the conveyance unit 2 and the measurement units 31 and 32. The information processing unit 4 reads the sample ID by the barcode cell B2 (see fig. 4) in the transport unit 2 and the barcode cells B31 and B32 (see fig. 4) in the measurement units 31 and 32, and then inquires the host computer 5 (see fig. 8) about the measurement command. The information processing unit 4 also analyzes based on the measurement results of the measurement units 31 and 32, and transmits the analysis result to the host computer 5 (see fig. 8). The information processing unit 4 acquires the following results: the host computer 5 (see fig. 8) determines the result of determination as to whether or not the sample needs to be measured again.
In the following, the retest performed after the measurement of the sample is simply referred to as "retest". In the description of the present embodiment, the review is performed only once. In the present specification, the retest includes the following: after aspirating the specimen and performing the measurement, the specimen is aspirated again and all measurements performed. Therefore, "review" includes not only the same measurement items as the first measurement but also measurement items different from the first measurement.
The information processing unit 4 displays certain information such as warning information on the display unit 42.
Fig. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the transport unit 2 and the measurement units 31 and 32 when viewed from above.
First, a reading operation of barcode information will be described with reference to fig. 4.
The rack L placed on the right rack 21 is pushed to the front side by the rack carry-in member 21a, and is thereby carried to the carry-in position P1 at the right end (the most upstream position in the carrying direction) of the rack carrying section 23. The rack L placed at the feed position P1 of the rack conveying member 23 is conveyed leftward by a conveyor belt (not shown) of the rack conveying member 23. The two conveyors of the rack transport unit 23 are arranged in parallel in the front-rear direction, and when two racks L are placed on the rack transport unit 23, the racks L are transported in the left-right direction by the conveyors.
A barcode unit B2 is provided in the vicinity of the middle of the rack transport unit 23, and the barcode unit B2 includes a barcode reader B2 a. When there is a mounting part of the tube rack L at the reading position P2 in front of the barcode reader B2a, a mounting determination means (not shown) of the barcode unit B2 determines whether or not a container (sample container T or cleaning liquid container C) is mounted in the mounting part. The arrangement judging member is constituted by a member capable of gripping the container from the front-rear direction (Y-axis direction). If the container can be gripped, it is judged that the container is set in the setting part located at the code reading position P2.
When the sample container T is rotated while the sample container T is set in this setting member, the barcode reader B2a reads the sample ID from the barcode label BL1 of the sample container T, and when the cleaning liquid container C is set in this setting member, the cleaning liquid ID is read from the barcode label BL3 of the cleaning liquid container C by the barcode reader B2a while the cleaning liquid container C is rotated. When the rack L barcode label BL2 is placed in front of the barcode reader B2a, the rack ID is read from the rack L barcode label BL2 by the barcode reader B2 a.
In this way, the barcode information of the pipe frame L, the container presence/absence information of all the placement parts at the placement positions 1 to 10 of the pipe frame L, and the barcode information thereof are acquired.
Next, the operation of supplying the sample container T and the cleaning liquid container C on the tube rack L to the measurement units 31 and 32 will be described.
As described above, after the barcode information is read, the sample containers T on the setting member of the rack L are supplied to the measurement unit 31 and then to the measurement unit 32 in order from the container disposed at the setting position downstream (left direction) in the conveying direction in principle. For example, when the rack L is provided with the sample containers T1, T2, and T3 at the set positions 1, 2, and 3, respectively, the sample container T1 is first placed at the receiving position P31a of the measurement unit 31. At the pick-up position P31a, the hand member 31a is disposed in the measurement unit 31, and the hand member 31a is movable in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction). The sample container T1 placed at the loading position P31a is gripped by the hand 31a, taken out upward (in the positive Z-axis direction) from the tube rack L, and loaded into the measurement unit 31.
After the sample container T1 is taken out from the measurement cell 31, the sample container T2 is set at the introduction position P32a of the measurement cell 32 while the measurement of the sample is being performed. The sample container T2 placed at the loading position P32a is gripped by the hand 32a, taken out upward (in the positive Z-axis direction) from the tube rack L, and loaded into the measurement cell 32.
Then, in the measurement unit 31, after the measurement of the sample by the sample container T1 is completed, the set position 1 in which the sample container T1 is disposed is again placed at the access position P31a of the measurement unit 31. Then, the hand member 31a of the measurement unit 31 grips the sample container T1 and places it from above (positive Z-axis direction) at the set position 1 of the rack L.
With this, the measurement cell 31 becomes empty, and then the sample container T3 is placed at the insertion position P31a of the measurement cell 31 and taken out by the measurement cell 31.
In this way, the odd-numbered set positions are placed at the retrieval position P31a of the measurement unit 31, and the even-numbered set positions are placed at the retrieval position P32a of the measurement unit 32, and therefore, the sample containers T set in the rack L are sequentially supplied to the measurement units 31, 32 by the rack transport member 23.
After measurement and analysis, the sample may need to be retested, and the already measured sample container T may be supplied to the measurement unit in queue. At this time, the sample container T containing the sample to be retested is supplied to any one of the measurement units in preference to the sample container T not measured.
On the other hand, the supply of the cleaning liquid container C to the measurement units 31 and 32 is performed according to the arrangement rule shown in fig. 3 (b), and first, the cleaning liquid container C at the set position 1 is placed at the entry position P31a of the measurement unit 31 and taken out by the measurement unit 31. Then, the cleaning liquid container C at the set position 2 is placed at the entry position P32a of the measurement unit 32 and taken out by the measurement unit 32. When only the set position 2 is set with the cleaning liquid container C, the cleaning liquid container C is placed at the retrieval position P32a of the measurement unit 32 and is retrieved by the measurement unit 32 even if the measurement unit 31 has no container supply.
In this way, the cleaning liquid containers C set on the rack L are supplied to the measurement units 31 and 32 by the rack transport member 23 according to the arrangement rule shown in fig. 3 (b).
When the sample container T is set at the loading positions P31a and P32a, the sample container T is automatically loaded into the measurement units 31 and 32, and the sample measurement is performed. When the cleaning liquid container C is set at the entry positions P31a and P32a, the cleaning liquid container C is automatically taken into the measurement units 31 and 32, and the corresponding flow paths are cleaned. This operation is performed under the control of a CPU401 (see fig. 8) described later.
Fig. 5 (a) is a drawing showing an operation of taking in the sample container T by the measurement units 31 and 32.
Referring to fig. 4 and 5 (a), after the sample container T is placed at the loading positions P31a and P32a of the measurement units 31 and 32, the sample container T is gripped by the hand members 31a and 32a, and the sample container T is taken out upward (positive Z-axis direction) (S31). Then, the hand members 31a and 32a move the sample container T in a pendulum-like manner to stir the sample (S32). At this time, the container installation members 31b and 32b move to the above of the access positions P31a and P32a (S33). After the completion of the stirring, the hand members 31a and 32a move downward (in the negative Z-axis direction), and the sample containers T held by the hand members 31a and 32a are placed on the container placement members 31b and 32b (S34).
The container placement units 31B and 32B are transported to the barcode reading positions P31B and P32B (S35), and the sample container T is confirmed by the barcode cells B31 and B32 having the barcode readers B31a and B32a (S36).
Next, the container setting members 31b, 32b are placed at the aspiration positions P31c, P32c directly below the puncture needles 31d, 32d (S37). Then, the puncture needles 31d and 32d are moved downward to aspirate the sample from the sample container T located at the aspiration positions P31c and P32c (S38).
After the sample aspiration by the puncture needles 31d and 32d is completed, the container placement members 31b and 32b move forward and are placed again at the access positions P31a and P32a (S39). At the retrieval positions P31a, P32a, the sample container T is taken out upward from the container set members 31b, 32b by the hand members 31a, 32a (S40). In this state, the container setting members 31b, 32b are moved backward. Then, the hand member 31a moves downward (in the negative Z-axis direction), and the sample container T returns to the original placement member of the rack L on the rack transport member 23 (S41).
Fig. 5 (b) is a drawing showing an operation of taking in the cleaning liquid container C by the measurement units 31 and 32.
In FIG. 5 (b), S51 and S52 to S60 are obtained by replacing the target containers of S31 and S33 to S41 in FIG. 5 (a) with the cleaning liquid containers C from the sample containers T. Therefore, the explanation of each step is omitted here. In the fetching operation of fig. 5 (b), the step corresponding to S32 of fig. 5 (a) is omitted. This is because the target container is the cleaning liquid container C, and therefore, the stirring work is not necessary.
Further, when the rack L is provided with the sample containers T, after all the sample measurement is completed and all the sample containers T are returned to the setting part of the rack L, it is still possible to supply the sample containers T to the measurement units 31, 32 again because the samples need to be rechecked. In general, the time required to acquire information indicating whether review is necessary is longer than the time required to measure a sample in the measurement units 31 and 32 (for example, the time required to measure a sample is about 36 seconds, and the time required to acquire information indicating whether review is necessary is about 75 seconds) depending on the transmission of the measurement result to the information processing unit 4 and the host computer 5, the analysis processing of the measurement result, and the like. Therefore, the rack L is on standby on the rack transport unit 23 until information is obtained as to whether or not the samples of all the sample containers T need to be reviewed.
A conveying space P5 having a length longer than the length of the rack L in the left-right direction is disposed in the left direction of the pick-up position P31a of the rack conveying member 23. The rack L is located in this transport space P5 until the completion of the operation of taking all samples from the sample containers T for the purpose of retesting. So that the treatment of the subsequent tube racks can be carried out.
When the process related to the reinspection of all the sample containers T is completed, the tube rack L is placed at a position rearward of the left stage 22 and is carried forward of the left stage 22 by the tube rack carrying-in member 22 a.
When the cleaning liquid containers C are set on the rack L, after all the cleaning liquid containers C are aspirated, the rack L is placed at a position rearward of the left table 22 and is conveyed forward of the left table 22 by the rack carrying-in member 22 a.
In this way, the measurement process or the cleaning process is performed for all the racks L on the right stage 21.
Fig. 6 is a circuit connection diagram of the transport unit 2 and the measurement units 31 and 32.
The carrying unit 2 has a driving part 201, a sensing part 202, a barcode unit B2, and a communication part 203.
The driving means 201 includes a member for conveying the racks L in the conveying unit 2, and the sensing means 202 includes a sensor for detecting the racks L at a predetermined position on the conveying path in the conveying unit 2. The barcode unit B2 includes the placement determination member (not shown) and the barcode reader B2a as described above.
Communication section 203 is communicably connected to information processing unit 4. Each part in the transport unit 2 is controlled by the information processing unit 4 through the communication section 203. Signals output from the respective portions in the carrying unit 2 are transmitted to the information processing unit 4 through the communication section 203.
The measurement units 31, 32 have pipetting means 311 and 321, specimen preparation means 312 and 322, detection means 313 and 323, drive means 314 and 324, sensing means 315 and 325, barcode units B31 and B32, and communication means 316 and 326, respectively. Since the measurement units 31 and 32 have the same structure, only the measurement unit 31 will be described below for convenience.
Fig. 7 is a schematic view of a flow path of the measurement unit 31. The measurement unit 31 is a blood cell counting device and can count blood cells contained in a whole blood sample.
The pipetting unit 311 includes the following: a puncture needle 31d which is inserted into the container and aspirates the sample contained in the sample container T and the cleaning solution contained in the cleaning solution container C which are transported into the measurement unit 31; and a syringe pump SP for supplying negative pressure to the puncture needle 31 d. The specimen preparation member 312 has the following portions: a reaction chamber MC1 for preparing a sample for measuring erythrocytes and platelets, and a reaction chamber MC2 for preparing a sample for measuring leukocytes. The detection part 313 includes the following parts: a resistance type detector DC1 for measuring red blood cells and platelets, and an optical type detector DC2 for optically measuring white blood cells. The measurement unit 31 further includes a waste liquid chamber WC for storing waste liquid.
When a sample contained in the sample container T is measured, the aspirating unit 311 supplies negative pressure to the puncture needle 31d by the syringe pump SP, aspirates the sample through the puncture needle 31d, and injects the sample into the reaction chambers MC1 and MC2, respectively. The sample preparation unit 312 mixes and stirs the sample and the reagent in the reaction chamber MC1 to prepare a sample for measuring red blood cells and platelets. Further, the sample preparation unit 312 mixes and stirs the sample and the reagent in the reaction chamber MC2 to prepare a sample for measuring leukocytes. The sample prepared in the reaction chamber MC1 was sent to the resistance detector DC1 through the flow path, and the sample prepared in the reaction chamber MC2 was sent to the optical detector DC2 through the flow path. The detection unit 313 detects optical information (lateral fluorescence signal, forward scattered light information, and lateral scattered light signal) from cells such as leukocytes and nucleated erythrocytes in the sample by the optical detector DC2, and uses the optical information as sample data. The detection unit 313 also detects electrical information from red blood cells and platelets in the sample by the resistance detector DC1, and uses the electrical information as sample data. The sample having passed through the detection member 313 is conveyed to the waste liquid chamber WC through the flow path.
When cleaning is performed with the cleaning liquid contained in the cleaning liquid container C, the cleaning liquid is transported through the same path as the sample. That is, the cleaning liquid is aspirated from the cleaning liquid container C by the aspirating unit 311, and then the cleaning liquid is injected into each reaction chamber of the sample preparation unit 312, so that the flow path from each reaction chamber to the waste liquid chamber WC is filled with the cleaning liquid. In this state, the reaction chamber is left for a long time (about 30 minutes) to remove the sample and the reagent adhered to the inner wall of the reaction chamber.
Returning to fig. 6, the driving unit 314 includes a member that carries the sample container T and the cleaning solution container C within the measurement unit 31. The sensor unit 315 includes a sensor that detects the sample container T and the cleaning solution container C at a predetermined position on the transport path in the measurement unit 31. The barcode cell B31 includes a placement determination member (not shown) and a barcode reader B31a as described above.
Communication section 316 is communicably connected to information processing unit 4. Each component in the measurement unit 31 is controlled by the information processing unit 4 via the communication unit 316. Further, signals output from the respective portions in the measurement unit 31 are transmitted to the information processing unit 4 through the communication section 316.
Fig. 8 is a configuration diagram of the information processing unit 4.
The information processing unit 4 is constituted by a computer, and is constituted by a host computer 40, an input unit 41, and a display unit 42. The host computer 40 includes a CPU401, a ROM402, a RAM403, a hard disk 404, a reading device 405, an input/output interface 406, an image output interface 407, and a communication interface 408.
The CPU401 executes a computer program stored in the ROM402 and a computer program downloaded into the RAM 403. The RAM403 is used to read computer programs stored in the ROM402 and the hard disk 404. The RAM403 can also be used as a work space when the CPU401 executes these computer programs.
The hard disk 404 is loaded with various computer programs such as an operating system and an application program to be executed by the CPU401 and data used when executing the computer programs. That is, the following programs are installed in the hard disk 404: a computer program for analyzing the sample data sent from the measurement units 31 and 32, generating measurement results such as the number of red blood cells and the number of white blood cells, and displaying the generated measurement results on the display unit 42.
The reading device 405 is configured by a CD drive, a DVD drive, or the like, and can read a computer program and data stored in a storage medium. The input/output interface 406 is connected to an input unit 41 including a mouse and a keyboard, and a user inputs instructions and data to the information processing unit 4 using the input unit 41. The image output interface 407 is connected to a display unit 42 formed of a display screen or the like, and outputs a video signal corresponding to image data to the display unit 42.
The display section 42 displays an image according to the input video signal. The display section 42 displays various program interfaces. Data can be transmitted to and from the transport unit 2 and the measurement units 31 and 32 via the communication interface 408.
Fig. 9 is a flowchart of the control operation of the CPU401 of the information processing unit 4 to control the pipe rack L.
First, it is determined whether the tube rack L is to be cleaned and shut down or to be subjected to sample processing, based on the type of the container disposed at the placement position 1-2 of the tube rack L.
Specifically, after the rack L is placed on the right rack 21, the CPU401 sends a command to the rack feeding member 21a, and the rack feeding member 21a conveys the rack L to the feeding position P1 of the rack conveying unit 23 (S1). Then, the CPU401 sends a command to the rack transport unit 23, and the rack transport unit 23 transports the racks L so that the rack L set positions 1 to 2 are sequentially located at the barcode reading position P2 (S2). At this time, the barcode unit B2 determines whether or not a container is present at the set position 1, and reads the barcode information of the container located at the set position 1. Thus, the CPU401 determines whether or not the cleaning liquid container C is present at the set position 1 or 2 (S3).
When there is a cleaning liquid container C at the set position 1 or 2 (S3: yes), the CPU401 performs cleaning and shutdown processing, and performs corresponding processing according to the acquired determination result of whether or not the preceding pipe rack L needs to be rechecked (S11). The cleaning and shutdown processing (S11) will be described later with reference to fig. 10. The processing of the pipe rack L is completed.
On the other hand, when neither of the set positions 1 and 2 has the cleaning liquid container C (S3: NO), the CPU401 carries out the normal sample processing (S21). Details about the conventional sample processing (S21) will be described later with reference to fig. 11.
When the normal sample processing S21 for the rack L completes a certain process and the next rack L can be sent, the CPU401 determines whether or not the right rack 21 has a subsequent rack L (S22). Specifically, the timing at which the subsequent rack L can be fed is as follows: since the result of whether or not the retest is necessary has been obtained for a certain number of sample containers T on the rack L, it is not necessary to position the preceding rack L at the position corresponding to the feed position P1 of the rack transport unit 23. For example, when the sixth sample container and the previous sample container (sample container T) have obtained the result of whether or not the retest is necessary with respect to the preceding rack L, the preceding rack L can be set to the carry-in position P1 without being returned to the position corresponding to the carry-in position P1.
In this case, when there is a subsequent rack L (S22: yes), the process returns to S1, the subsequent rack L is conveyed to the carry-in position P1, and the above-described process is repeated to perform the sample processing or the cleaning processing.
When there is no subsequent rack L (S22: no), the processing of all racks L ends here.
Next, assuming that the preceding rack L1 is subjected to the normal sample processing S21 and the succeeding rack L2 after the preceding rack L1 is subjected to the cleaning and shutdown processing, the flow of each processing will be described under the condition.
Fig. 10 is a control operation flowchart when the CPU401 controls the subsequent rack L2 at the time of the washing and shutdown processing of S11 in fig. 9.
According to the processing shown in fig. 9, when the cleaning liquid container C is disposed at the set position 1 or the set position 2 of the succeeding rack L2, the CPU401 performs a cleaning reservation of the measurement unit according to the disposition of the cleaning liquid container C (S101). For example, when the cleaning liquid container C is provided at both the set position 1 and the set position 2, the cleaning work of the measurement units 31 and 32 is reserved, and when only the cleaning liquid container C is provided at the set position 1, only the cleaning work of the measurement unit 31 is reserved.
Next, the CPU401 determines whether or not there is a preceding rack L1 preceding the succeeding rack L2 on the rack transport member 23 (S102). If there is no leading rack L1 on the rack conveying member 23 (S102: no), the CPU401 advances the process to S105, and if there is a leading rack L1 on the rack conveying member 23 (S102: yes), the CPU401 determines whether or not an acquisition job completion flag for retesting of the leading rack L1 is set (S103). For all the samples of the lead pipe rack L1, when the acquisition job of whether to review this information has been completed from the host computer 5, the completion flag of the acquisition job of whether to review is set, and when the acquisition job of whether to review this information has not been completed, the completion flag of the acquisition job of whether to review is not set.
When the completion flag of the retrieval job of whether to review is not set to the leading pipe rack L1 (S103: no), the CPU401 stands by the subsequent processing until the completion flag of the retrieval job of whether to review is set to the leading pipe rack L1. When the completion flag of the acquisition job of whether to review is set to the leading pipe rack L1 (S103: yes), the CPU401 further determines whether all the samples of the leading pipe rack L1 do not need to be reviewed (S104).
When all the samples of the preceding rack L1 do not require retesting (S104: yes), the CPU401 sends a command to the rack transport unit 23, and the rack transport unit 23 transports the cleaning liquid container C to the pick-up positions P31a, P32a of the measurement units 31 and 32 for which cleaning work is reserved (S105). In the measurement units 31 and 32 for which the cleaning operation is reserved, the cleaning process is performed with the corresponding cleaning liquid container C (S106). The cleaning operation includes an operation of allowing the cleaning liquid to stay in the flow paths in the measurement units 31 and 32, and the operation is performed for a long time (about 30 minutes). As described later, since the time required from the start of aspirating a specimen to the completion of the measurement and the determination of the necessity of a retest is 75 seconds, the time required for cleaning is longer than the time required for aspirating to the specimen and the determination of the necessity of a retest.
On the other hand, if not all the samples of the preceding rack L1 need to be retested (S104: no), the CPU401 determines whether or not the measurement unit 32 on the upstream side in the conveyance direction reserves the cleaning operation (S109). When the measurement unit 32 does not reserve the cleaning job (S109: no), the CPU401 advances the process to S113. When the measurement unit 32 reserves the cleaning job (S109: YES), the CPU401 judges whether or not the upstream measurement unit 32 is idle (S110). When the measurement unit 32 is performing the recheck without idling (S110: no), the CPU401 stands by the subsequent process until the measurement unit 32 shifts to an idle state. When the measurement unit 32 is idle (yes in S110), the CPU401 sends a command to the rack transport unit 23, and the rack transport unit 23 transports the cleaning liquid container C to the pick-up position P32a of the measurement unit 32 (S111). The measurement unit 32 performs a cleaning process using the cleaning liquid container C (S112). At this time, the sample whose retest has not started is retested by the downstream measurement unit 31.
Then, the CPU401 determines whether or not the measurement unit 31 downstream in the conveyance direction reserves the cleaning job (S113). When the measurement unit 31 does not reserve the cleaning job (S113: no), the CPU401 advances the process to S107, and when the measurement unit 31 reserves the cleaning job (S113: yes), the CPU401 determines whether all the samples of the preceding tube rack L1 have completed the aspiration job required for the review (S114).
When the pipette work required for the review of all the samples has not been completed by the preceding rack L1 (S114: no), the CPU401 stands by for the subsequent processing until all the samples of the preceding rack L1 have completed the pipette work required for the review. When all the samples of the preceding rack L1 have completed the pipetting operation necessary for the review (S114: yes), the CPU401 sends a command to the rack conveying member 23 so that the rack conveying member 23 conveys the cleaning liquid container C to the pick-up position P31a of the measurement unit 31 because the sample of the preceding rack L1 is no longer supplied to the measurement unit 31 (S115). And the measurement unit 31 performs a cleaning process using the cleaning solution container C (S116).
After the completion of the cleaning process of the measurement units 31 and 32, the CPU401 sends a command to the rack transport unit 23, and the rack transport unit 23 transports the next rack L2 to the recovery position P4 (S107). The subsequent rack L2 conveyed to the recovery position P4 is pushed to the left table 22 by the rack pushing-out member 23 a. Then, when the washing processes of both the measurement units 31, 32 are completed, the CPU401 turns off the measurement units 31, 32 and the information processing unit 4 (S108). When only one of the measurement units 31 and 32 is washed, the measurement units 31 and 32 and the information processing unit 4 are not shut down, and the measurement units 31 and 32 are shut down after the washing is completed.
In this way, after the CPU401 completes the operation of acquiring whether or not the retest is necessary for all the samples of the lead rack L1, if there are samples whose retest is not completed, at least one measurement unit 31 is left for retest and the other measurement unit 32 is cleaned. Then, after the CPU401 finishes aspiration necessary for the review of all samples in the precedent rack L1, the washing process of the remaining measurement units is performed. By this, the CPU401 completes the processing for the subsequent rack L2.
Fig. 11 (a) is a flowchart of the control job of the preceding tube rack L1 by the CPU401 in the normal sample processing shown in S21 of fig. 9.
According to the processing shown in fig. 9, when there is no cleaning liquid container C at both the set position 1 and the set position 2 of the leading rack L1, the CPU401 sends a command to cause the rack transport unit 23 to transport the leading rack L1 so that the following set positions 3 to 10 are sequentially located at the barcode reading position P2 (S201). At this time, the barcode unit B2 judges that no container is placed at each placement position, and reads the barcode information of the container at each placement position (S202).
Then, the CPU401 transmits a command to the rack transport unit 23, and the rack transport unit 23 sequentially transports the sample containers T to the retrieval position P31a of the measurement unit 31 or the retrieval position P32a of the measurement unit 32 (S203). As described above, the sample containers T are assigned to the measurement units 31 and 32 in order from the downstream side in the transport direction. When both the measurement units 31 and 32 are performing measurement, the CPU401 waits until the measurement by any one of the measurement units is completed. When there is no container in the setting member, or the setting member is provided with the cleaning liquid container C, the setting member is skipped. Then, the CPU401 sends a command to the measurement units 31 and 32 to aspirate the transported sample container T and perform the measurement process, and the CPU401 receives measurement data from the measurement units 31 and 32 and generates a measurement result using the received measurement data (S204). The CPU401 transmits the generated measurement result to the host computer 5 (S205).
Here, the host computer 5 determines whether or not a review is necessary based on the received measurement result, and transmits the determination result of whether or not a review is necessary to the information processing unit 4. Whether a retest is necessary is judged based on whether the received measurement result is within a numerical range indicating a normal measurement result. Specifically, when the measurement result of a certain sample is within the above numerical range, the host computer 5 determines that the sample is normal, and determines that the sample does not require review, and transmits a determination result indicating that the review is not required. On the other hand, when the measurement result of a certain sample is not within the above numerical range, the host computer 5 suspects that the sample is abnormal or that an abnormality has occurred in the measurement operation, and determines that the sample needs to be retested. When it is determined that the review is necessary, the host computer 5 automatically generates a measurement command including the measurement items to be measured in the review, and transmits the measurement command together with the determination result indicating that the review is necessary.
Fig. 11 (b) is a flowchart of the operation of the review process in the conventional sample processing. Further, the normal sample processing is started immediately after the start of the processing.
Referring to fig. 11 (b), first, the CPU401 determines whether or not a determination result of whether or not a review is necessary has been received from the host computer 5 for a certain sample (S211). When a determination result of whether or not a review is required cannot be obtained (S211: no), the CPU401 stands by for the subsequent processing until the determination result is obtained. When the determination result of whether or not the retest is necessary has been obtained (S211: yes), the CPU401 determines whether or not the sample needs to be retested based on the obtained determination result (S212).
When the sample does not need to be rechecked (S212: NO), the CPU401 advances the process to S215. When the sample needs to be retested (yes in S212), the CPU401 transmits a command to the rack transport unit 23 in the same manner as in the measurement process, and the rack transport unit 23 having received the command transports the sample container T of the sample to the retrieval position P31a of the measurement unit 31 or the retrieval position P32a of the measurement unit 32 (S213). The CPU401 transmits a command instructing to perform a retest of the sample to the measurement units 31 and 32 in accordance with the measurement instruction received together with the determination result. The measurement units 31 and 32 that have received the command perform the review process in accordance with the command (S214). In addition, the reinspection process is preferentially performed in the insertion of the regular sample process.
Then, the CPU401 determines whether or not a determination result of whether or not retesting is necessary has been obtained for all samples of the lead rack L1 (S215). If the determination result of whether or not to perform the retest has not been obtained for all the samples of the lead pipe rack L1 (S215: no), the CPU401 repeats the processing of S211 to S215 until the determination results of all the samples are obtained. If the judgment result of whether or not the review is to be performed has been obtained for all the samples of the lead pipe rack L1 (S215: yes), the CPU401 ends the review processing for the lead pipe rack L1.
Returning to fig. 11 (a), after transmitting the measurement result to the host computer 5, as described above, while the simultaneous review processing is being performed, the CPU401 determines whether or not all the samples of the lead rack L1 have been measured (S206). When the measurement of all the samples of the leading pipe rack L1 has not been completed (S206: no), the CPU401 repeats the processing of S203 to S206. As described above, if the retest process occurs at the time of measuring the sample, the retest process is preferentially performed.
When all the samples of the preceding rack L1 have completed the measurement (S206: yes), the CPU401 temporarily waits until all the samples of the preceding rack L1 have completed the pipetting required for the review. Then, when all the samples of the preceding rack L1 have completed the aspiration required for the review (S207: yes), the CPU401 sends a command to the rack conveying section 23, and the rack conveying section 23 conveys the preceding rack L1 to the retrieval position P4 (S208). The leading rack L1 conveyed to the retrieval position P4 is pushed to the left table 22 by the rack pushing member 23 a. Thus, the cleaning liquid container C of the succeeding tube rack L2 is supplied to the measurement unit 31 on the downstream side as described above. Up to this point, the CPU401 ends the normal sample processing for the leading rack L1.
Fig. 11 (c) is a flowchart of the setting processing of the completion flag of the acquisition job whether review is necessary. The process is started after the normal sample process is started.
Referring to fig. 11 (c), first, the CPU401 waits for a determination result of whether or not a review is necessary to be acquired from the host computer 5 (S221). When the determination result of whether or not retest is necessary is acquired from the host computer 5 (yes in S221), the CPU401 determines whether or not the determination result has been acquired for all the samples of the lead rack L1 (S222). If all the samples of the lead pipe rack L1 have acquired the determination result of whether retest is necessary (S222: yes), the CPU401 sets a completion flag of the acquisition job of whether retest is necessary (S223). Thus, the setting process of the completion flag of the acquisition job that requires the review is completed. If the completion flag of the acquisition job indicating whether review is necessary is set, S103 in fig. 10 is determined as yes, and the process proceeds to S104 and subsequent steps.
Fig. 12 shows diagrams of the following examples: as to the determination result of whether or not the retest is required received from the host computer 5, when all the samples of the preceding rack L1 are "unnecessary", the working conditions of the preceding rack L1 and the succeeding rack L2 on the rack transport unit 23. In addition, sample containers T are placed at the placement positions 1 to 10 of the preceding tube rack L1, and only cleaning liquid containers C are placed at the placement positions 1 to 2 of the succeeding tube rack L2.
Fig. 12 (a) is a state diagram when the subsequent rack L2 is located at the feed position P1. This state corresponds to the following case: the CPU401 performs the measurement processing of S203 to S206 in fig. 11 (a), the review processing in fig. 11 (b), and the flag setting processing in fig. 11 (c) simultaneously on the leading rack L1, and performs the processing shown in S1 in fig. 9 on the following rack L2.
The sample containers T set at the set positions 1 to 6 of the preceding tube rack L1 have all obtained the determination result of whether or not the retest is necessary, and are determined as not requiring the retest. The sample containers T set at the set positions 7 and 8 of the precedent tube rack L1 are supplied to the measurement units 31 and 32. At this time, the sample containers T set at the set positions 1 to 6 of the preceding tube rack L1 are not supplied to the measurement units 31 and 32, and the preceding tube rack L1 is not returned to the position corresponding to the carry-in position P1. Thereby, the subsequent pipe rack L2 is placed to the carry-in position P1.
Fig. 12 (b) is a diagram showing a case where the container types of the seating positions 1, 2 of the subsequent rack L2 are identified. This situation corresponds to the following case: the CPU401 performs the measurement processing of S203 to S206 in fig. 11 (a), the review processing in fig. 11 (b), and the flag setting processing in fig. 11 (c) simultaneously on the leading rack L1, and performs the processing shown in S3 in fig. 9 on the following rack L2.
The sample containers T set at the set positions 1 to 7 of the preceding tube rack L1 have all obtained the determination result of whether or not the retest is necessary, and are determined as not requiring the retest. The sample containers T set at the set positions 9 and 10 of the precedent tube rack L1 are supplied to the measurement units 31 and 32. The set positions 1, 2 of the subsequent tube rack L2 are located at the barcode reading position P2, and the containers set at the set positions 1, 2 are identified as the cleaning liquid containers C.
The drawing of fig. 12 (c) shows a state where the sample containers T on all the placement parts of the leading rack L1 have completed the measurement process. This situation corresponds to the following case: the CPU401 simultaneously performs the review pipetting completion wait process at S207 of fig. 11 (a), the review process of fig. 11 (b), and the mark setting process of fig. 11 (c) on the preceding rack L1, and performs the acquisition completion wait process for waiting whether or not the review is necessary as shown at S103 of fig. 10 on the subsequent rack L2.
The sample container T at the set position 10 of the preceding tube rack L1 is completely measured, and the sample container T is returned from the measurement unit 32. At this time, the result of determination as to whether or not the sample containers T at the installation positions 1 to 8 of the preceding tube rack L1 need to be retested is already obtained, and it is determined that retesting is not necessary. Further, the containers disposed at the set positions 1, 2 of the subsequent rack L2 have been identified as the cleaning liquid containers C, but the preceding rack L1 has not acquired the determination result of whether or not the retest is necessary for all the samples, and therefore, the subsequent rack L2 is temporarily retracted to the carry-in position P1 to stand by.
Fig. 12 (d) shows a state before a determination result of whether or not a review is necessary is obtained after the measurement process is completed for the sample containers T on all the placement members of the leading rack L1. This situation corresponds to the following case: the CPU401 simultaneously performs the process of waiting for the review pipetting at S207 in fig. 11 (a), the review process in fig. 11 (b), and the mark setting process in fig. 11 (c) for the preceding rack L1, and performs the process of waiting for the acquisition operation of whether or not the review is necessary as shown at S103 in fig. 10 for the subsequent rack L2.
The leading rack L1 completes the measurement processing of the sample containers T of all the rack members at the rack positions 1 to 10, and the leading rack L1 waits in the conveyance space P5 of the rack conveyance member 23 so as not to interfere with the processing of the following rack L2. At this time, the preceding tube rack L1 has already performed the acquisition operation of whether or not the retest is necessary for the sample containers T at the set positions 1 to 9 other than the set position 10, and is determined as not requiring the retest. At this time, although the measurement units 31 and 32 are idle, the preceding rack L1 has not completed the acquisition operation of whether or not the retest is necessary for all the samples, and therefore the succeeding rack L2 stands by at the feed position P1.
Fig. 12 (e) is a state diagram showing a state in which the sample containers T on all the placement units of the leading tube rack L1 have been subjected to the retrieval operation for the purpose of whether or not the retest is necessary. This state corresponds to the following case: the review process of fig. 11 (b) and the flag setting process of fig. 11 (c) have been completed, and the CPU401 performs the process of S208 of fig. 11 (a) on the preceding rack L1 and starts the cleaning process of S105 and S106 of fig. 10 on the subsequent rack L2.
The sample containers T of all the placement members at the placement positions 1 to 10 of the leading tube rack L1 have already completed the acquisition operation of whether or not the retest is necessary, and are judged as not requiring the retest. The precedent tube rack L1 is located at the retrieval position P4 and then retrieved to the left table 22. Since the acquisition work of whether or not the retest is necessary has been completed for all the samples of the preceding rack L1, and all the samples of the preceding rack L1 are judged not to be retest, the subsequent rack L2 supplies the cleaning liquid container C to the measuring units 31, 32.
Fig. 13 shows the following example: when receiving a judgment from the host computer 5 that the samples set at the set positions 9, 10 of the leading rack L1 need to be retested, the operating states of the leading rack L1 and the following rack L2 on the rack transport unit 23 are determined.
Fig. 13 (a) and (b) show the state before the information of whether or not the retest is necessary is obtained after the measurement process is completed for the sample containers T on all the placement members of the preceding tube rack L1. This state corresponds to the following case: the CPU401 simultaneously performs the review pipetting job completion wait process of S207 in fig. 11 (a), the review process of fig. 11 (b), and the mark setting process of fig. 11 (c) for the preceding rack L1, and performs the retrieval job completion wait process of whether or not the review is necessary for the subsequent rack L2 as shown in S103 in fig. 10.
Referring to fig. 13 (a), the leading rack L1 has completed the measurement processing of the sample containers T on all the rack members at the rack positions 1 to 10, and the leading rack L1 waits in the conveyance space P5 of the rack conveyance member 23 so as not to interfere with the processing of the following rack L2. At this time, with respect to the leading rack L1, the sample containers T at the set positions 1 to 9 have already been subjected to the acquisition operation of whether or not the retest is necessary, the sample containers T at the set positions 1 to 8 are judged not to be retested, and the sample containers T at the set position 9 are judged to be retested. At this time, the containers at the set positions 1 and 2 of the subsequent rack L2 are recognized as the cleaning liquid containers C, but since the preceding rack L1 has not completed the acquisition work of whether or not the retest is necessary for all the samples, the subsequent rack L2 is retracted to the carry-in position P1 and stands by.
When it is determined that the retest is necessary for the sample container T at the set position 9 of the leading pipe rack L1 as described above, the sample container T at the set position 9 of the leading pipe rack L1 is supplied to the downstream measurement unit 31 as shown in fig. 13 (b). At this time, although the measurement unit 32 is idle, the preceding rack L1 has not completed the acquisition work of whether or not the retest is necessary for all samples, and therefore, the subsequent rack L2 is not supplying the cleaning liquid container C to the measurement unit 32, and stands by at the carry-in position P1.
Fig. 13 (c) shows a state in which the operation of acquiring whether or not the sample containers T on all the placement parts of the leading rack L1 need to be retested has been completed, and a part of the samples need to be retested. This state corresponds to the following case: the CPU401 performs the review pipetting wait completion process shown in S207 of fig. 11 (a), the review process of fig. 11 (b), and the mark setting process of fig. 11 (c) simultaneously for the preceding rack L1, and performs the cleaning process of the upstream side measurement unit 32 shown in S109 to S112 of fig. 10 for the subsequent rack L2.
Referring to fig. 13 (c), the sample containers T of all the placement units at the placement positions 1 to 10 of the precedent tube rack L1 have completed the acquisition operation of whether the review is necessary, and the sample containers T at the placement position 9 have completed the aspiration necessary for the review. The sample container T at the set position 10 is judged to be in need of review and supplied to the measurement unit 31. Although the acquisition of whether or not the retest is necessary is completed for all the samples of the preceding rack L1, the preceding rack L1 has samples that need to be retested, and therefore the succeeding rack L2 supplies only the cleaning liquid container C at the set position 2 to the upstream measurement unit 32.
Fig. 13 (d) shows a state in which the suction necessary for the review is completed for the sample containers T on all the placement units of the preceding tube rack L1. This state corresponds to the following case: the CPU401 performs the process of S208 in fig. 11 (a) on the preceding tube rack L1, and starts the cleaning process of the measurement unit 31 on the downstream side of S115 and S116 in fig. 10 on the succeeding tube rack L2.
With respect to the preceding tube rack L1, aspiration required for the review at the set positions 9 and 10 is completed, and the review of the sample containers T on all the set members at the set positions 1 to 10 is no longer required. At the same time, the lead frame L1 is placed at the retrieval position P4 and then retrieved to the left table 22. Since all the samples on the preceding tube rack L1 do not require a retest, the subsequent tube rack L2 supplies the cleaning liquid container C to the measurement unit 31 on the downstream side.
As described above, when the barcode unit B2 recognizes that the cleaning liquid container C is included in the placement section of the succeeding rack L2, when there is the preceding rack L1, the process of supplying the cleaning liquid container C to the measurement units 31, 32 by the succeeding rack L2 is suspended at least until the acquisition work of whether or not the retest of all the samples on the preceding rack L1 is required is completed.
Further, when there is a preceding rack L1, after the acquisition operation of whether or not the review of all the samples on the preceding rack L1 is required is completed, if the sample is required to be reviewed, the process of supplying the cleaning liquid container C to at least one measurement unit 31 on the downstream side is suspended until the aspiration required for the review of all the samples on the preceding rack L1 is completed.
When all the samples in the preceding rack L1 need to be retested and the results of the determination indicate that retesting is not required, the cleaning liquid containers C in the succeeding rack L2 are supplied to the measurement units 31 and 32.
When a determination result indicating whether or not a certain sample on the preceding rack L1 requires retesting indicates that retesting is required, the sample is retested. After the aspiration required for the sample return is completed and the aspiration required for the return of all the samples on the preceding rack L1 is completed, the cleaning liquid container C of the succeeding rack L2 is supplied to the measurement units 31 and 32.
Before the completion of the retrieval operation of whether or not the sample containers T on the preceding rack L1 need to be rechecked, the succeeding rack L2 stands by at the carry-in position P1, and the preceding rack L1 waits at the carrying space P5.
As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the succeeding rack L2 provided with the cleaning liquid container C is disposed after the preceding rack L1 provided with the sample containers T, the cleaning process of the succeeding rack L2 is suspended until all the samples of the preceding rack L1 have completed the acquiring work of whether the retest is necessary or not. Therefore, all the sample containers T of the preceding tube rack L1 can be smoothly retested.
With this embodiment, the succeeding rack L2 is in standby at the carry-in position P1 until the completion of the acquisition operation of the preceding rack L1 for which the retest is necessary, and therefore the retest of the preceding rack L1 can be smoothly performed without interfering with the conveyance control of the preceding rack L1.
With this embodiment, after the supply of the cleaning liquid containers C of the succeeding rack L2 is suspended, the cleaning liquid containers C of the succeeding rack L2 are automatically supplied to the measurement units 31, 32 after the completion of the acquisition operation of whether or not the retest of all the sample containers T of the preceding rack L1 is necessary, so that the workload of the user can be reduced.
In the present embodiment, since the measurement units 31 and 32 are automatically turned off after cleaning and the information processing unit 4 is also automatically turned off, the user does not have to wait for a long time for the cleaning process to be completed and manually turn off the power supply of the apparatus. The workload of the user is thus reduced.
In the present embodiment, in the configuration in which there are two or more measurement units, at least one measurement unit for performing the review is left during the period from the completion of the acquisition operation of the preceding rack L1, which requires the review, to the completion of the aspiration required for the review, and the cleaning of the other measurement units is started. Therefore, the review of the preceding rack L1 can be smoothly performed, and the cleaning process of the succeeding rack L2 can be smoothly performed.
While the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.
For example, in the above embodiment, the blood cell counting device is used as the measurement unit, but the measurement unit may be a urine analyzer.
In the example of the above embodiment, the sample analyzer 1 first takes the sample container T into the measuring unit 31, 32 by the hand members 31a, 32a thereof and then aspirates the sample by the puncture needles 31d, 32d, but the present invention can be applied to the following sample analyzers: a sample analyzer in which a puncture needle is provided at the loading positions P31a and P32a without loading the sample container T into the unit, and a sample is aspirated from the sample container T on the rack transport unit 23.
In the above embodiment, the rack transport unit 23 is controlled so that the cleaning liquid container C is located at the carry-in position P1, instead of the pick-up positions P31a and P32a of the measurement units 31 and 32, and the supply of the cleaning liquid to the measurement units 31 and 32 is suspended, but the following may be used: the rack transport unit 23 transports the cleaning liquid container C to the pick-up positions P31a, P32a, but the hand members 31a, 32a of the measurement units 31, 32 do not pick up the cleaning liquid container C of the placement member of the rack L into the unit, and thus supply of the cleaning liquid is suspended. The following can also be used: the cleaning liquid container C is taken into the unit by the hand members 31a and 32a, but the container transfer members 31C and 32C do not transfer the cleaning liquid container C to the suction positions P31C and P32C, or the puncture needles 31d and 32d do not suck the cleaning liquid, and thus the supply of the cleaning liquid is suspended.
In the above embodiment, the barcode unit B2 sequentially identifies the types of containers set on the rack L and determines the order of supply of the containers based on the identified types, but a barcode may not be used. For example, the following may also be used: the information processing unit 4 can accept a reservation for measurement of a sample and a reservation for cleaning with a cleaning solution, and the measurement units 31 and 32 can perform the reservation job accepted by the information processing unit 4 in the order specified by the user. At this time, the supply order of the containers may be judged according to the designated order of the reserved jobs.
In the above embodiment, the bar code on the container is read on the rack transport unit 23 for connecting the right and left stages 21 and 22, but is not limited thereto. For example, a conveying device for feeding the rack L to the right base 21 may be connected upstream of the conveying unit 2, and the barcode may be read in the conveying path of the conveying device.
In the above embodiment, the bar code is read while the pipe rack L is being transported, but a hand-held bar code reader may be employed in the present invention. In this form, the user may read the bar codes of a plurality of containers by a bar code reader in advance, place the read containers on the rack L in order, and then convey the containers by the conveying unit 2.
In the configuration of the above embodiment, two measurement units 31 and 32 are provided, and when the sample of the rack L1 needs to be retested, the cleaning liquid container C is supplied only to the upstream measurement unit 32 until the aspiration required for the retesting of all samples is completed, but the following may be employed: before pipetting required for the retest of all samples on the preceding tube rack L1 is completed, supply of the cleaning liquid containers C to all the measurement units 31, 32 is suspended. At this time, the flowchart of fig. 10 is modified as shown in modification 1 of fig. 14. That is, in S104, when there is a sample requiring review on the preceding rack L1 (S104: no), the CPU401 suspends the supply of the cleaning liquid to the measurement unit until the aspiration required for review is completed for all samples requiring review (S121). When all the aspirations necessary for the review are completed (S121: YES), the CPU401 performs the cleaning process of the cleaning target measurement unit (S105 to S108).
In the example of the above embodiment, the sample analyzer 1 has two measurement units 31 and 32, but three or more measurement units may be provided, and a smear preparation apparatus may be disposed in addition to the measurement units. As shown in modification 2 of fig. 15, the present invention may be a sample analyzer 500 having only one measurement unit 503. In this case, in the conveying unit 502, the rack conveying member 521 is shorter than that in the above embodiment, but the information processing unit 504 and other configurations are the same as those in the above embodiment.
Fig. 16 (a) shows the arrangement rule of the cleaning liquid containers C on the pipe frame L in the modification 2. The cleaning liquid container C is disposed at the most downstream set position 1 in the conveying direction.
Fig. 16 (b) is a flowchart of the control operation of the pipe rack L in modification 2. The same processing as in the above embodiment shown in fig. 9 is denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
In modification 2, it is determined whether the rack L is subjected to the cleaning and shutdown processing or the sample processing, depending on the type of the container disposed at the set position 1.
After the rack L is conveyed to the carry-in position P1 (S1), the CPU401 sends a command to the rack conveying unit 23, and the rack conveying unit 23 conveys the rack L so that the set position 1 of the rack L is located at the barcode reading position P2 (S71). Then, the barcode cell B2 reads the barcode information of the container set at the set position 1, and determines whether or not the cleaning liquid container C is present at the set position 1 (S72). When there is a cleaning liquid container C at the set position 1 (S72: yes), the CPU401 performs cleaning and shutdown processing, and performs corresponding processing according to whether or not the retrieval job of the review is required for the preceding tube rack L (S11). When the set position 1 has no cleaning liquid container C (S72: NO), the CPU401 carries out the normal sample processing (S21). At this time, the washing and shutdown processing is performed according to the flowchart shown in fig. 14. That is, the cleaning operation of the cleaning liquid container C on the succeeding rack L is suspended until the aspiration required for the review is completed for all the sample containers T set on the preceding rack L. In addition, the subsequent determination steps S201 and S202 of the set position in the normal sample processing S21 are modified to include the set position 2, and the set positions 2 to 10 are determined as the determination targets.
As described above, in modification 1, even if there is only one measurement unit, the same effects as those of the above embodiment can be exhibited.
In the above embodiment, the tube rack L has the setting members of 10 containers, but the number of the setting members may be other numbers. Further, the arrangement rule of the cleaning liquid container C is: the pipe rack L is disposed at the most downstream side in the conveying direction, but may be disposed at the most upstream side or at another position. It is even possible that the arrangement rule of the cleaning liquid containers C on the pipe frame L is not decided.
In the above embodiment, when the preceding tube rack L1 has sample containers T placed thereon and the succeeding tube rack L2 has cleaning liquid containers C placed thereon, the supply of cleaning liquid containers C on the succeeding tube rack L2 to the measurement units 31, 32 is suspended, but when cleaning liquid containers C on the same tube rack L as the sample containers T follow the sample containers T on the tube rack L, the supply of cleaning liquid containers C to the measurement units 31, 32 may also be suspended.
As shown in the modification 3 of FIG. 16 (C), when the cleaning liquid container C is arranged at the set position 10 in a regular manner, it is determined whether or not there is a sample container T at the set positions 1 to 9, and when there is a sample container T, the supply of the cleaning liquid container C to the measurement units 31 and 32 is suspended until the suction necessary for the return inspection of the sample containers T at the set positions 1 to 9 is completed.
Fig. 17 is a flowchart of the control operation of the pipe rack L in modification 3.
Referring to fig. 17, as in the above-described embodiment, the CPU401 reads the barcode of the container on the mounting member of the rack L, and performs measurement processing and review processing on the sample container T on the rack L (S301 to S306). Then, after the CPU401 finishes measuring all the sample containers T on the tube rack L (S306: YES), it is judged whether or not the cleaning solution container C is present at the set position 10 (S307).
When the set position 10 does not have the cleaning liquid container C (S307: no), the CPU401 sends a command to the rack transport section 23, and the rack transport section 23 transports the rack L to the recovery position P4 (S313). Then, the CPU401 determines whether or not there is a subsequent rack L (S314), and performs the processing of the subsequent rack L. On the other hand, when there is the cleaning liquid container C at the set position 10 (S307: YES), the CPU401 judges whether or not all the samples on the rack L have completed the pipetting required for the review (S308). When the pipette required for the review has not been completed (S308: NO), the CPU401 stands by the subsequent process until the pipette required for the review is completed. When all the samples on the rack L have completed the pipetting required for the review (S308: yes), the CPU401 sends a command to the rack transport section 23 to supply the cleaning liquid container C of the set position 10 to the measurement unit, and then performs the cleaning process, shutting down (S309 to S312). These processes are the same as S105 to S108 in fig. 10, and therefore, detailed description thereof is omitted.
In modification 3, when the subsequent cleaning liquid container C follows the sample container T of the same rack L, the supply of the subsequent cleaning liquid container C to the measurement unit is suspended, and therefore, the automatic start of cleaning can be avoided. Therefore, all the preceding sample containers T can be smoothly retested.
In the above embodiment, if it is recognized that the cleaning liquid container C is present in the succeeding rack L2 and if the operation of acquiring whether or not the retest is necessary has not been completed for all the samples in the preceding rack L1, the supply of the cleaning liquid container C in the succeeding rack L2 to the measurement units 31 and 32 is suspended until the operation of acquiring whether or not the retest is necessary is completed or until the aspiration operation necessary for the retest is completed, but the process of supplying the cleaning liquid container C to the measurement units 31 and 32 may be skipped as shown in modification 4 of fig. 18.
Referring to fig. 18, in modification 4, after determining that the subsequent rack L2 contains the cleaning liquid container C, if the completion flag of the acquisition operation indicating whether or not the retest is necessary has not been set for all the samples of the preceding rack L1 (S103: no), the CPU401 transmits a command to the rack conveying unit 23, and the rack conveying unit 23 conveys the subsequent rack L2 to the recovery position P4 (S131). The subsequent rack L2 conveyed to the recovery position P4 is pushed to the left table 22 by the rack pushing-out member 23 a. In this way, the process of supplying the cleaning liquid container C to the measurement units 31 and 32 is skipped, and the process for the subsequent pipe rack L2 is completed.
Fig. 19 is an illustration of the operation of the leading rack L1 and the following rack L2 on the rack transport unit 23 in modification 4.
Fig. 19 (a) shows the same case as fig. 12 (b), and fig. 19 (b) shows the same case as fig. 12 (c), and therefore, the description thereof is omitted.
Fig. 19 (c) shows the following case: while waiting for the preceding rack L1 to perform the retrieval operation for whether or not the retest is necessary, the succeeding rack L2 is retrieved to the left station 22. This situation corresponds to the following case: the CPU401 performs the pipetting completion waiting process required for the review process at S207 in fig. 11 (a), the review process in fig. 11 (b), and the mark setting process in fig. 11 (c) simultaneously for the preceding rack L1, and performs the transportation process to the recovery position P4 at S131 in fig. 18 for the succeeding rack L2. The measurement processing of the sample containers T on all the placement members at the placement positions 1 to 10 of the preceding tube rack L1 is completed, and the measurement processing waits in the conveyance space P5 of the tube rack conveyance member 23. At this time, the sample containers T at the installation positions 1 to 9 of the preceding tube rack L1 have already been subjected to the operation of acquiring whether or not the retest is necessary, and are judged as not requiring the retest. The sample container T at the installation position 10 of the preceding tube rack L1 has not yet obtained a result of determination as to whether retest is necessary. When it is recognized that the subsequent rack L2 contains the cleaning liquid container C, the operation of supplying the cleaning liquid container C to the measurement units 31 and 32 is skipped because the operation of acquiring the previous rack L1 for the retest is not completed, and the subsequent rack L2 is collected to the left table 22.
Fig. 19 (d) shows a state where the sample containers T on all the placement parts of the leading rack L1 have been subjected to the retrieval operation for the purpose of retesting. This situation corresponds to the following case: the review process of fig. 11 (b) and the flag setting process of fig. 11 (c) are completed, the CPU401 performs the process indicated by S208 of fig. 11 (a) on the preceding tube rack L1, and the process of the subsequent tube rack L2 has been completed. Regarding the leading tube rack L1, the sample containers T on all the placement members at the placement positions 1 to 10 have completed the acquisition operation of whether the retest is necessary or not, and it is determined that the retest is unnecessary. Therefore, the precedent pipe rack L1 is collected to the left table 22.
In this manner, when the barcode unit B2 recognizes that the cleaning liquid container C is included in the placement member of the succeeding tube rack L2, if the acquisition work of whether or not the review is required for all the samples of the preceding tube rack L1 has not been completed, the supply process of the cleaning liquid container C of the succeeding tube rack L2 to the measurement units 31, 32 is skipped.
In modification 4, as in the above-described embodiment, when the succeeding rack L2 provided with the cleaning liquid container C is disposed after the preceding rack L1 provided with the sample containers T, the supply process of the succeeding rack L2 to the cleaning liquid container C is skipped, and therefore automatic start of cleaning can be avoided. This makes it possible to smoothly perform the retest of all the sample containers T in the precedent tube rack L1.
In the above embodiment, the subsequent rack L2 is retracted to the carry-in position P1 and waits until the completion of the acquiring operation of whether or not the sample container T of the preceding rack L1 needs to be retested, but the subsequent rack L2 may wait at another position on the rack transport unit 23. The succeeding rack L2 may be retracted as needed in accordance with the conveyance of the preceding rack L1 without waiting at a fixed position.
In the above embodiment, the sample container T and the cleaning liquid container C are provided on the tube rack L and supplied to the measurement units 31 and 32, but they may be supplied to the measurement units 31 and 32 without being provided on the tube rack L by directly placing the sample container T and the cleaning liquid container C one by one on the tube rack conveying member 23 and conveying them.
In the above embodiment, the presence or absence of the container, the sample container T, and the cleaning liquid container C are discriminated by the barcode cell B2, but may be discriminated by another discrimination method. For example, an IC chip indicating a sample ID and a cleaning liquid ID may be placed on a container and identified by an IC chip reader, or the sample and the cleaning liquid may be stored in containers of different shapes and identified by an optical sensor capable of identifying the shape. It is also possible to use a dot-like two-dimensional code such as a QR code (registered trademark) instead of a linear barcode.
In the above embodiment, after the cleaning is performed, the measurement units 31 and 32 and the information processing unit 4 are automatically shut down, but may be restarted instead of shutting down, or the user may set whether to shut down or restart the information processing unit 4 through the application system.
In the above embodiment, the host computer 5 determines whether or not the review is necessary, and the information processing unit 4 acquires the determination result of whether or not the review is necessary, but the information processing unit 4 may determine whether or not the review is necessary.
In the above embodiment, the measurement units 31 and 32 perform the sample measurement and the review process, respectively, but may be as follows: the upstream measuring unit 32 performs only the sample measurement process, and the downstream measuring unit 31 performs only the review process.
In the above embodiment, the sample ID and the cleaning liquid ID of the placement positions 1, 2 of the pipe rack L are identified to determine whether the pipe rack L performs the sample processing or the cleaning and shutdown processing, but it may be determined whether the sample processing or the cleaning and shutdown processing is performed by the pipe rack ID.
The embodiments of the present invention may be modified in various ways within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims.

Claims (20)

1. A sample analysis device, characterized by:
the sample analysis device includes:
a measuring unit for aspirating a sample contained in the sample container and measuring the aspirated sample;
a transport unit for transporting a plurality of containers and supplying the containers to the measuring unit in sequence;
an identification information acquiring unit that acquires identification information of the container transported by the transport unit; and
a system controller;
wherein,
the system controller is capable of obtaining the following results: a determination result of determining whether or not the sample needs to be measured again based on the measurement result of the sample by the measurement means,
if it is recognized that the cleaning liquid container carried by the carrying means is present based on the identification information acquired by the identification information acquiring means, the system controller controls the carrying means to supply the cleaning liquid container to the measuring means, and controls the measuring means to aspirate the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid container, clean the channel of the measuring means with the aspirated cleaning liquid,
the system controller prohibits the supply of the cleaning liquid contained in the cleaning liquid container to the measurement section if it has been recognized that the cleaning liquid container conveyed by the conveyance section is present before the determination result of the sample that has been pipetted is obtained.
2. The sample analysis device of claim 1, wherein:
the system controller cancels the prohibition of the supply if a determination is obtained that the aspirated sample does not need to be measured again.
3. The sample analysis device of claim 1, wherein:
when a result of determination that the aspirated sample needs to be remeasured is obtained, the system controller supplies the sample container of the sample to the measuring unit to remeasure the sample, and cancels the prohibition of the supply after the aspiration of the sample is completed.
4. The sample analysis device of claim 1, wherein:
the prohibiting supply of the cleaning solution includes prohibiting supply of a cleaning solution container to the measurement unit.
5. The sample analysis device of claim 1, wherein:
the transport member includes a transport path extending from a first position to a second position through which the container is transported to place the container in a container supply position between the first position and the second position.
6. The sample analysis device of claim 5, wherein:
when sample containers are continuously supplied to the measurement unit, the system controller controls the transport unit to transport a first sample container to the container supply position, and after aspirating a sample from the first sample container, the system controller moves the first sample container from the container supply position to another position and transports a second sample container to the container supply position without waiting for completion of an acquisition operation of a determination result of remeasurement of the sample in the first sample container.
7. The sample analysis device of claim 1, wherein:
the transport unit transports a rack capable of accommodating a plurality of containers, and supplies the containers accommodated in the rack to the measurement unit in sequence.
8. The sample analysis device of claim 1, wherein:
the system controller controls the automatic shutdown of the assay component after the cleaning is performed.
9. A sample analysis device, characterized by:
the sample analysis device includes:
a measuring unit configured to aspirate a sample contained in a sample container and measure the aspirated sample;
a transport unit for transporting a plurality of containers and supplying the containers to the measuring unit in sequence; and
a system controller;
wherein,
the system controller acquires the following determination results: a determination result of determining whether or not the sample needs to be measured again based on a result of the measurement of the sample by the measurement means,
the measuring means is capable of aspirating the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid container and cleaning the flow path of the measuring means with the aspirated cleaning liquid when the transport means supplies the cleaning liquid container to the measuring means,
in the order of supplying containers to the measurement unit, if a cleaning solution container is present after a sample container, the sample analyzer suspends the supply of the cleaning solution contained in the cleaning solution container to the measurement unit at least until the system controller completes the acquisition of the determination result of the sample in the preceding sample container.
10. The sample analysis device of claim 9, wherein:
in the order of supplying containers to the measurement unit, if a cleaning liquid container is present after a sample container, the system controller controls the transport unit to suspend the supply of the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit until the acquisition of the determination result of the preceding sample container is completed.
11. The sample analysis device of claim 10, wherein:
when a result that the preceding sample container does not need to be measured again is obtained, the system controller controls the transport unit to supply the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit, and controls the measurement unit to aspirate the cleaning liquid from the supplied cleaning liquid container and perform a cleaning process.
12. The sample analysis device of claim 9, wherein:
the transport member includes a transport path extending from a first position to a second position through which the container is transported to place the container in a container supply position between the first position and the second position.
13. The sample analysis device of claim 12, wherein:
when sample containers are continuously supplied to the measurement unit, the system controller controls the transport unit to transport a first sample container to the container supply position, and after aspirating a sample from the first sample container, the system controller moves the first sample container from the container supply position to another position and transports a second sample container to the container supply position without waiting for completion of an acquisition operation of a determination result of remeasurement of the sample in the first sample container.
14. The sample analysis device of claim 13, wherein:
when a determination result that the sample of the first sample container needs to be measured again is obtained, the system controller controls the transport member to transport the first sample container to the container supply position again.
15. The sample analysis device of claim 9, wherein:
when a result that the sample needs to be measured again is obtained, the system controller controls the transport unit to supply the cleaning liquid container to the measurement unit after the measurement unit completes the suction and transfer required for the re-measurement of the sample container, and further controls the measurement unit to suck the cleaning liquid from the supplied cleaning liquid container and perform a cleaning process.
16. The sample analysis device of claim 9, wherein:
the sample analyzer further has an identification information acquisition means for acquiring identification information for identifying the kind of the container,
the system controller sequentially identifies the type of the containers transported by the transport member using the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition member, and determines whether a cleaning liquid container is subsequently present after the sample container based on the identification result.
17. The sample analysis device of claim 9, wherein:
when a sample container is set in a preceding tube rack and a cleaning solution container is set in a subsequent tube rack, the system controller controls the transport member to stop the subsequent tube rack at a certain position before the completion of the acquisition operation of acquiring whether or not all the sample containers set on the preceding tube rack need to be measured again.
18. The sample analysis device of claim 17, wherein:
the conveyance member includes a conveyance member that conveys the racks from upstream to downstream,
the certain position is an uppermost stream position or a lowermost stream position of the transport member.
19. The sample analysis device of claim 9, wherein:
the time required for the washing process is longer than the time required for aspirating one sample, measuring, and obtaining the result of determination as to whether or not the sample needs to be measured again.
20. A method of controlling a sample analysis apparatus, comprising:
(a) transporting the container to a first location;
(b) acquiring identification information from a container at a first location, and determining whether the container is a sample container or a cleaning solution container;
(c) transporting the container to a second location for supplying the container to the measuring part when the container is the sample container in the judgment of the step (b);
(d) when the container is a cleaning liquid container in the judgment of the step (b), judging whether or not the judgment whether or not re-measurement is necessary has been completed for the sample which has been aspirated by the measurement section;
(e) transporting a cleaning liquid container to the second position, and cleaning by the measuring means using the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid container, when the determination has been completed in the determination of step (d);
(f) prohibiting the implementation of step (e) when the determination is not completed in the determination of step (e).
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