FR3055559A1 - DEVICE FOR DETECTING, STORING AND ORDERING SAMPLE BLADES. - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device for detecting, storing and scheduling sampled blades (1), said blades (1) being made of transparent material with identification information (3), comprising storage means in the form of a plate (4) provided with housing (5) for positioning said blades (1), means for referencing the position of each blade (1) within the plate. It is characterized in that each housing (5) is dimensioned a blade (1) and in that said referencing means comprise, detection means (6) the presence of a blade (1) within each housing (5) with at least one sensor of said transparent material, and means for automatically reading said identification information (3) from each detected blade (1) and automatically computerized recording of the position within the tray (4) ).

Description

© Publication no .: 3,055,559 (to be used only for reproduction orders)

©) National registration number: 16 58314 ® FRENCH REPUBLIC

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

COURBEVOIE © IntCI ⁸

B 01 L 9/00 (2017.01), G 06 K 7/10

A1 PATENT APPLICATION

©) Date of filing: 07.09.16. © Applicant (s): DREAMPATH DIAGNOSTICS Company (30) Priority: by simplified shares - FR. @ Inventor (s): JORDAN NAVAS PABLO, WILHELM VALERIE and CREMEL ARNAUD. (43) Date of public availability of the request: 09.03.18 Bulletin 18/10. ©) List of documents cited in the report preliminary research: Refer to end of present booklet (© References to other national documents ® Holder (s): DREAMPATH DIAGNOSTICS Company related: by simplified actions. ©) Extension request (s): © Agent (s): CABINET BLEGER-RHEIN-POUPON.

FR 3 055 559 - A1

DEVICE FOR DETECTION, STORAGE AND SCHEDULING OF SAMPLED BLADES.

©) The present invention relates to a detected _t tion device, storage and scheduling sampled g born blades (1), said blades (1) being of transparent material; \ i with identification information (3), comprising storage means therein in the form of a tray (4) provided with housings (5) for positioning said blades (1), means for referencing the position of each blade (1) 2- ~ within the tray. It is characterized by the fact that each housing (5) is dimensioned with a blade (1) and by the fact that said referencing means comprise, means for detecting (6) the presence of a blade (1) within each housing (5) with at least one sensor of said transparent material, and means for automatic reading of said identification information (3) of each blade (1) detected and automatic computerized recording of the position at within the tray (4).

-W

The present invention enters the medical field of the analysis of tissue and cell samples.

The invention relates more particularly to the orderly conservation and storage of such samples.

Within the framework of the medical management of a patient or within the framework of research, human or animal or vegetable, tissue or cell samples can be taken and sampled for histological and / or molecular analysis. For observation and conservation purposes, these samples are placed, generally in the center, on a support in the form of a rectangular blade of transparent material, of plastic material but more often of transparent glass. Such blades have standardized dimensions, generally from 75 to 76 mm (millimeters) in length, for 25 to 26 mm in width, for a thickness of approximately 1 mm. These dimensions are particularly suitable for use in microscopic analysis.

A treatment can be applied to the sample thus placed on such a slide, such as for example a coloring, before being covered by a coverslip, generally of square, rectangular or round shape. A protective adhesive material can also be added at the top to bond the slide and the coverslip, ensuring the preservation preserved over time of the sample and allowing reading under the microscope. Finally, data relating to the sample and to its patient are applied on the upper face on a lateral part of the slide, for classification and subsequent identification. The assembly thus forms a sampled blade.

The invention is limited only to the conservation and storage of such sampled slides.

To this end, the invention relates to a device for detecting, storing and scheduling sampled slides.

For the purposes of the present invention, unless otherwise stipulated, the terms "blades" and "sampled blades" are equivalent.

Currently, once prepared, the sampled slides are stored and handled manually, by operators who have not necessarily received specific training, without any control. Therefore, this precarious manual management leads to errors and a considerable loss of time, up to the detrimental loss of certain blades.

More precisely, with a view to their storage, the sampled slides are superimposed in numerical alpha order. Said blades are then placed within a storage, such as a box or a drawer. Once stored, it is then difficult to find a particular blade, since its identification information is hidden by the other blades, with the possible exception of the blade on top.

In a related way, the manipulations of the superimposed slides often generate a scraping likely to damage the sample.

As it stands, there is a real problem linked to the ordered storage of the sampled blades in order to ensure classification and management making it possible to find quickly and simply, in a secure manner, the location of one or more of said blades.

An existing solution is described in document WO 2010/004331, consisting of a device provided with drawers in which are identified vertically sampled blades. More specifically, each drawer is equipped with slots in the form of slots spaced regularly along its length, inside which said blades are slid from above. In addition, each drawer is slidably mounted through an opening in a support frame equipped above with means for identifying said blades. These identification means consist of a radio reader of the RFID type (for “Radio Frequency IDentification”, namely identification by radio frequencies) making it possible to read remotely the information contained within chips in the form of adhesive labels affixed to each blade .

Thus, when a blade is positioned vertically within a housing of a drawer, with its label facing up, at the time of closing of said drawer, it passes in front of said reader, the information contained is read and the blade identified.

A major problem, linked to the use of RFID technology (for “Radio Frequency Identification”, ie identification by radio frequency), results in the field of emission of the reader, which even localized, sends radio waves likely to enter into communication with the chips of several blades positioned adjacent to within their drawer. In addition, the speed of translation of the drawer, operated manually, influences the quality of reading performed by the reader. In addition, if a location is empty, the reader is unable to detect the absence of a blade and only the next one will be identified, without being able to determine its exact location within the drawer. Finally, in the absence of knowledge of the exact position of a desired blade, the vertical arrangement of the blades does not allow an operator to find visually in a simple and rapid manner said sought blade thus stored.

The present invention aims to overcome the drawbacks of the state of the art by providing an orderly preservation and storage solution of sampled slides. In particular, the invention aims to store said blades so that they can be identified with certainty, by recording their position within a referencing system so that they can be found quickly and simply when they are searched.

To do this, the invention envisages a specific arrangement of the blades, not vertically, but horizontally or along a plane slightly inclined relative to the horizontal, within housings conformed for this purpose and allowing, on the one hand, a localization precise and, on the other hand, easy and infallible visual recognition by a user of each accommodation.

In this context, the invention envisages the detection of the presence of a blade within each housing and, if a presence is detected, to identify without error the blade in question and its exact position. Consequently, the invention provides specific means of detection, adapted to the transparent material constituting said blades, in particular glass.

Thus, the subject of the invention is a device for storing and scheduling sampled slides, said slides being in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped in transparent material, in particular glass, receiving identification information on one side in the form of encoded data. , in particular of the barcode or matrix code type, said device comprising, on the one hand, storage means in the form of at least one removable tray extending horizontally or substantially horizontally provided with housing for positioning said blades according to at least two columns and two rows and, on the other hand, means for referencing the position of each blade within said storage means.

Such a device is characterized in that each housing is dimensioned in length and in width so as to receive at least partially in insertion horizontally or substantially horizontally only one of said blades, said information being turned upwards.

In addition, it is characterized in that said referencing means comprise, on the one hand, means for detecting the presence of a blade within each housing, said detection means comprising at least one sensor of said transparent material , and, on the other hand, means for automatic reading of said identification information of each detected blade and computerized recording and automatic updating of the two-dimensional position within each tray.

In the alternative, depending on the embodiments, the envisaged sensor makes it possible to transmit and receive pulses of different natures, acoustic in the form of ultrasonic pulses or light pulses in the form of pulses according to an ultraviolet spectrum.

To this end, in a subsidiary and nonlimiting manner, according to a first embodiment, said detection means may comprise a sensor for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic acoustic pulses.

Further, said detection means can comprise means for calculating the time differential between the emission and the reception of said ultrasonic acoustic pulses.

According to a second embodiment, said detection means can comprise a sensor for transmitting and receiving ultraviolet light pulses.

Further, said detection means may include means for calculating the angular differential between the transmission and the reception of said ultraviolet pulses.

In addition, said detection means can be mounted in displacement within a base receiving each locked tray, so as to travel superiorly according to at least one overflight race each housing of said columns and rows of each locked tray. In addition, said sensor can then be positioned and adjusted with respect to said locking plate so as to focus at least the emission of said pulses to a single housing at the same time during said overflight movement in movement by said detection means.

In addition, said detection means may have a relative inclination relative to the surface of said blades inserted into their housing.

Through this focused detection, intended for the horizontal or inclined positioning of the blades and dedicated to the specific translucent material constituting each blade, it is then possible to reference with certainty the position of each blade within a tray, in view of 'orderly storage.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the detailed description which follows of nonlimiting embodiments of the invention, with reference to the appended figures in which:

- Figure 1 schematically shows a three-quarter perspective view of an example of a removable tray of the device according to the invention, showing the distribution of the housing intended to receive within them horizontally the sampled blades;

- Figure 2 schematically shows a partial view in vertical section of an embodiment of a plate of the device according to the invention, showing a horizontal positioning of the blades;

- Figure 3 schematically shows a partial view in vertical section of another embodiment of a plate of the device according to the invention, showing a substantially horizontal positioning of the blades, namely inclined relative to the horizontal plane forming the bottom of such a tray;

- Figure 4 schematically shows a partial view in vertical section of a first embodiment of the detection means of the device according to the invention, showing the emission and reception of acoustic pulses; and

- Figure 5 shows schematically a partial view in vertical section of a second embodiment of the detection means of said device, showing the emission and reception of ultraviolet light pulses.

The present invention relates to a device for storing and scheduling sampled slides 1.

As shown in Figure 1 and mentioned above, said blades 1 are in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped. As a reminder, such blades have standardized dimensions, from 75 to 76 mm in length, for 25 to 26 mm in width, for a thickness of approximately 1 mm.

They are made of transparent material, in particular glass. They receive on one side 2, in particular the upper side receiving the biological sample, identification information 3, in particular by affixing an adhesive label thereto. This information 3 can be in the form of encoded data, in particular of the barcode or matrix code type. Such information 3 makes it possible to uniquely identify each slide, in particular by assigning it a unique number, linking it in a related computerized system, such as a database, to other data, in particular relating to the patient from whom the sample was taken. said sample.

On the one hand, the device according to the invention comprises storage means in the form of at least one plate 4. Each plate 4 extends horizontally or substantially horizontally. It has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape, open on the upper face and closed at least partially by a bottom 41 on the lower face. Each plate 4 is provided with housings 5 for positioning said blades 1 in at least two columns and two rows. According to the non-limiting embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the plate 4 comprises two columns separated by a central space, extending longitudinally between the two columns, each column comprising six housings 5, transversely forming as many rows. According to the preferred embodiment, not shown, each column can comprise eleven housings 5, said plate 4 then being able to receive twenty-two blades 1.

Advantageously, each housing 5 is dimensioned in length and in width so as to receive at least partially in insertion horizontally or substantially horizontally only one of said blades 1, said information being turned upwards.

More specifically, the plate 4 internally comprises lugs and recesses 50, respectively projecting and recessed with respect to the general plane containing said plate 4, thus delimiting said housings 5.

According to the embodiment visible in Figure 2, the housings 5 provide the arrangement of the blades 1 horizontally, namely parallel to the general plane containing said plate 4 or parallel to the bottom 41. To do this, said pins and recesses 50 of each housing 5 make it possible to receive in flat fitting each blade 1.

According to the embodiment visible in FIG. 3, the housings 5 provide the arrangement of the blades 1 substantially horizontally, namely at an inclination relative to the horizontal plane formed by the plane containing said plate 4 or relative to the plane of the bottom 41. Said inclination can be provided at an angle to the horizontal of at most 45 degrees, preferably less than 30 degrees.

Depending on the degree of inclination, it is possible to have more housings 5 on the same length of tray 4, relative to a horizontal positioning, thus allowing to have more blades 1 stored per tray 4.

It will be noted that the fitting of a blade 1 within each housing 5 can be carried out with or without play. Removable locking means for each blade 1 within its housing 5 can be provided, in particular by clipping or sinking in force, for example by means of projecting recesses with respect to the internal walls of each housing 5. Thus, once inserted into a housing 5, each blade 1 is held there, even if the plate 4 is inverted or inverted.

In addition, as visible in FIG. 1, one of the lateral edges of each housing 5, situated towards the inside of the plate 4, at the level of the central space, can be provided open, allowing the blade 1 which therein to be gripped. is inserted for extraction.

In a related manner, several trays 4 can be stacked and for this purpose have suitable means ensuring their stacking on each other. In addition, said housings 5 ensure the insertion of the blades 1 within them, so that they do not protrude above the upper edges of the peripheral edges 40 of said plate 4.

In addition, each plate 4 is provided removable, namely that it can be introduced and removed from the rest of the device.

As such, the device may include a base (not shown) shaped complementary so as to receive in insertion a plate 4 at a time. This insertion can be carried out horizontally or substantially horizontally, namely reciprocally parallel to the general horizontal plane of said base (i.e. its bottom) or else in an inclined manner relative to this horizontal plane. In the latter case, the space provided for the reception of the plate 4 has an increasing or decreasing slope from the front towards the rear of the base, the front being located at an opening intended to introduce and extract said plate 4.

The insertion of the plate 4 is effected by locking through suitable means. Once inserted and locked, the contents of a tray 4 can then be scanned in order to detect and identify the blades 1 which are stored there.

To do this, on the other hand, the device according to the invention comprises means for referencing the position of each blade 1 within said storage means, namely within each tray 4. In other words, said referencing means make it possible to catalog the blades 1 present within each tray 4 by detecting their respective location in order to list it within said computer system.

In particular, each tray 4 is identified within said system in order to allow the referencing of the blades 1. In addition, related means make it possible to store several trays 4, stacked or not, or with a view to their transport and handling, while by monitoring the location where they are located, providing traceability of the blades 1 they contain.

Advantageously, another essential characteristic resides in the fact that said referencing means comprise, first of all, means 6 for detecting the presence of a blade 1 within each housing 5. In sum, it is firstly to know if a housing 5 has a blade or not.

Consequently, said detection means 6 comprise at least one sensor of said transparent material. This sensor is specifically dedicated to detection as a function of the transparency of the material constituting the plates 1, in particular the specific photometric characteristics of such a translucent material such as the reflectance or reflection factor, limiting certain light spectra almost entirely passing through this type of material.

In order to avoid the intrinsic constraints of the transparent material constituting the blades 1, according to a first embodiment, said detection means 6 comprise a sensor for transmitting and receiving acoustic pulses. In particular, the invention provides for emitting an ultrasonic acoustic wavelength. These ultrasounds include a frequency between 20,000 and 10,000,000 Hertz. The use of ultrasound makes it possible to focus the emission and to ensure the detection of the presence of a blade 1 at a precise location, without detecting another blade possibly inserted within an adjacent housing 5.

Further on, according to this first embodiment, said detection means 6 comprise means for calculating the time differential between the emission and the reception of said ultrasonic acoustic pulses. Thus, by knowing this period of time between the emission of ultrasound and the reception of the echo, namely their rebound, as the case may be, on a blade 1 present within its housing 5 or else on the walls of a empty housing 5 without blade 1, the presence of a blade 1 or not is determined.

A schematic example of this first operating mode is presented in FIG. 4.

According to a second embodiment, said detection means 6 comprise a sensor for transmitting and receiving ultraviolet light pulses. The wavelength π

of said ultraviolet is between 400 and 10 nanometers. This light spectrum is specifically chosen in relation to the high reflection capacity on contact with a transparent material, such as plastic or glass.

Further on, said detection means 6 comprise means for calculating the angular differential between the emission and the reception of said ultraviolet pulses. In other words, after emission, the ultraviolet beam is reflected according to the angle of incidence, then according to the angle, the invention makes it possible to determine whether it is the surface of the blade 1 which reflected said beam or else the walls of a housing 5 free of blade 1.

A schematic example of this second operating mode is presented in FIG. 5.

It will be noted that, according to either of the first or second embodiments, using ultrasound or ultraviolet, is taken into account the positioning of the blades 1 within their housing 5, namely horizontally or substantially horizontally ( ie according to their degree of inclination).

In a related manner, the detection means 6 can also be oriented angularly with respect to the inclined surface or not of the blades 1, in order to optimize the detection.

In addition, said referencing means comprise means for automatically reading said identification information of each blade 1 detected and computerized recording and automatic updating of the two-dimensional position within each tray 4. Thus, when a blade 1 is detected, the invention identifies it by reading the information affixed to each blade 1. The position within the plate 4 of a detected blade 1 is also recorded with said information read. As mentioned above, this recording is carried out within the computerized system.

As mentioned above, several modes of reading information 3 can be envisaged, in particular by means of a light scanner.

According to a subsidiary embodiment, common to ultrasonic and ultraviolet transmission and reception, said detection means 6 are mounted in displacement within a base receiving each plate 4 in locking mode, so as to travel superiorly along at least one stroke in overflight each housing 5 of said columns and rows of each plate 4 in lockout. To do this, said detection means 6 are mounted mobile and the device comprises suitable motorization means, in particular in the form of a mobile carriage. In addition, the reading means can be coupled to the detection means 6 at said carriage.

It will be noted that the device can provide an overflight stroke ensuring the detection of each housing 5. This stroke can be optimized in order to operate most quickly and / or according to the shortest distance traveled. An example of a course can be to follow the axis of a first column longitudinally or transversely the axis of a first row, then move respectively laterally or longitudinally in one step, then fly over the adjacent column or row and perform a overflight of said column or row, so on until traversing the entirety of said tray 4. Several successive races can be carried out, according to different routes, in order to operate at least twice a detection of each housing 5, in particular in the event of a problem occurring in the detection of the presence of a blade 1 and / or a problem in reading its identification information 3.

In addition, said sensor can be positioned and adjusted with respect to said plate 4 in locking mode so as to focus at least the emission of said pulses towards a single housing 5 at a time during said overflight movement in displacement by said detection means 6 (and in particular said coupled reading means). This positioning depends on the type of emission, ultrasonic or ultraviolet, and on the focusing of the beams and on the characteristics specific to each type of detection. Said positioning also depends on the inclination or not of the blades 1. A certain distance between the emission sensor and the surface of the blades 1 is therefore determined, in order to calibrate and optimize the detection of the blades 1.

Thus, in particular, it is possible to determine the position of the detection means 6, namely of the emission sensor, relative to the blades 1 to be detected, according to a relative inclination with respect to each other. In sum, as mentioned above, the blades 1 can be flat or inclined within their housing 5 while the detection means 6 can be oriented orthogonally to the surface 2 of said blades 1 or else at a determined angle.

In the alternative, it is also possible to directly tilt the plate 4 within the base of the device according to the invention, according to a receiving space having a slope relative to the horizontal plane of said base.

Consequently, the detection means 6 have a relative inclination relative to the surface of said blades 1 when inserted into their housing 5.

The present invention makes it possible, through its storage and scheduling device, to detect and identify blades 1, for their intelligent conservation, with a view to their referencing in a precise manner. The invention uses means specifically adapted to the transparent material constituting said sampled blades 1, as well as to the horizontal or substantially horizontal positioning of the blades 1 within their plate 4.

Claims (7)

1. Device for detecting, storing and scheduling sampled blades (1), said blades (1) being in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped in transparent material, in particular glass, receiving identification information on one side (2) (3) in the form of encoded data, in particular of barcode or matrix code type, said device comprising, on the one hand, storage means in the form of at least one removable tray (4) extending horizontally or substantially horizontally provided with housings (5) for positioning said blades (1) in at least two columns and two rows and, on the other hand, means for referencing the position of each blade (1) within said storage means, characterized in that each housing (5) is dimensioned in length and in width so as to receive at least partially in insertion horizontally or substantially horizontally only one of said blades (1), lesdi your information (3) being turned upwards, and by the fact that said referencing means comprise, on the one hand, detection means (6) of the presence of a blade (1) within each housing ( 5), said detection means (6) comprising at least one sensor of said transparent material, and, on the other hand, means for automatic reading of said identification information (3) of each blade (1) detected and recording computerized and automatic update of the two-dimensional position within each tray (4). 2. A detection, storage and scheduling device according to claim 1, characterized in that said detection means (6) comprise a sensor for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic acoustic pulses. 3. A detection, storage and scheduling device according to claim 2, characterized in that said detection means (6) comprise means for calculating the time differential between the emission and the reception of said ultrasonic acoustic pulses. 4. A detection, storage and scheduling device according to claim 1, characterized in that said detection means (6) comprise a sensor for receiving light pulses of emission and ultraviolet rays. 5. A detection, storage and scheduling device according to claim 4, characterized in that said detection means (6) comprise means for calculating the angular differential between the emission and the reception of said ultraviolet pulses. 6. Detection, storage and scheduling device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized by the fact that said detection means (6) are mounted in displacement within a base receiving each plate (4) in locking mode, so as to travel superiorly along at least one stroke in flight over each housing (5) said columns and rows of each plate (4) in locking mode, and in that said sensor is positioned and adjusted with respect to said plate (4) in locking mode so as to focus at least the emission of said pulses towards a single housing (5 ) at the same time during said overflight movement while traveling by said detection means (6). 7. Detection, storage and scheduling device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said detection means (6) have a relative inclination relative to the surface of said blades (1) inserted into their housing (5). 4. 1 il .-. J τγ I