JP2001242179A - Specimen transfer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in the conventional specimen transfer systems where a transfer line is controlled concentratedly by a central control part, and consequently a layout change requires designing a transfer line control program, which is expensive and takes a long time to finish. SOLUTION: A specimen-transferring apparatus is provided with an arithmetic part for controlling the transfer, an identifying means for electrically identifying the specimen-transfer apparatus, a program memory part for storing a transfer control program, and a connection information memory part for storing connection information a specimen-connecting apparatus.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sample transport system suitable for automatically performing a sample test in a clinical test field.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A sample transport system has a function of sorting samples to be tested such as blood and urine collected from a patient according to test contents, performing preprocessing such as centrifugation, analyzing, and storing. The equipment is connected by a transport line to automate the inspection, and the arrangement of each functional device differs depending on the delivery destination. This is because the size of the room, the position of columns, pipes, and the like are different depending on each facility, and the required functional devices are different depending on the scale and budget of the facility. As an example of a conventional sample transport system, there is JP-A-7-167866. In such a conventional sample transport system,
The control of the transport line was performed by the central control unit in a lump.

[0003]

The above-described conventional sample transport system has several problems. one,
Various different system configurations are required for each delivery destination, and it is necessary to design a transfer line control program for each case, which is one of the causes of high price and long delivery time.

[0004] In addition, it is necessary to remodel the transport line control program for a layout change after delivery, and it has been difficult to flexibly respond.

Another problem with hardware is that the longer the distance from the central control unit, the longer the communication cable for connecting the central control unit to the transport line and each functional unit, the longer the cable must be used, which complicates the wiring work. there were.

[0006]

A system according to claim 1 includes a plurality of processing function devices for processing a sample,
In a sample transport system including a sample transport device that transports a sample from one processing function device to another processing function device,
The sample transport device, an arithmetic processing unit that performs transport control,
An identification means for electrically identifying the sample transport device; a program storage unit for storing a transport control program; and a connection information storage unit for storing connection information of the sample connection device. It is.

The system according to claim 2, wherein the connection information is stored in an external general control means, is connected to the processing operation unit and the external general control means via a communication interface, and is connected to the external general control means by the external general control means. The connection information is transferred to a connection information storage unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the plurality of arithmetic processing units constituting the sample transport system are connected by a second communication interface, and exchange the sample transport signal via the second communication interface. Thereby, the transport of the sample is controlled.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a sample transport system according to the present invention.

The rack 1 holding a plurality of specimens is installed on a loading section 2a having a rack moving mechanism. When the loading of the rack into the rack transport path is started, a sample barcode which is a sample identification code affixed to a sample container on the rack by the barcode reader 3 which is an example of the identification code reading means 3, and the rack Read the rack barcode, which is the rack identification code affixed to itself,
A communication cable 4 informs the general control unit 4 of which sample is installed at which position in a rack having a plurality of container loading positions.
Registered through 3a. After a sample having a different destination, such as a blood test or a biochemical test, is transferred to another new rack 1b, 1c in the sorting device 2 by the sorting device 2 for sorting the sample by destination, and the rack 1b,
1c is carried to the transport line 5. Thereafter, the rack is turned into a rack rotating unit 6a having a rack direction changing function.
The sample identification code or the rack identification code is read by 6b and 6c, and the read information is transmitted to the overall control unit 4 via the communication cables 43b, 43c and 43d. The rotation direction is determined in response to an instruction of the destination of the rack, and the rack is transported to the functional device corresponding to the transport destination via the transport lines 31, 32, 33, and the like. In FIG. 1, the rack 1d is a blood analyzer 7
The rack 1e is a rack which is conveyed to the pretreatment device 8 having a centrifugal separation section 8a, an opening section 8b, a dispensing section 8c and the like. Each rack is ultimately the analyzer 7, 12
The storage units 9 and 10 inside the storage units a and 12b or the storage unit 11 of the sample transport system.

In the example of FIG. 1, a plurality of processing function devices for processing a sample include a blood analyzer 7, a centrifugal separation unit 8a,
The opening unit 8b, the dispensing unit 8c, the analyzers 12a and 12b, and the like. The processing function devices may be independently connected in line units as in the blood analyzer 7, or an aggregate of a plurality of processing function devices may be connected in line units as in the preprocessing device 8.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a rack. A bar code label 16 is attached to the rack 1 as a rack identification code from the side to the rear of the rack. A barcode label 17 as a sample identification code is attached to the sample container loaded in the rack. Although the rack of this example has a structure in which a maximum of five sample containers can be installed,
It does not depend on the number of racks, such as ten racks.

FIG. 3 shows details of a transport line which is an embodiment of the sample transport apparatus. Here, a transport line having an outward route and a return route will be described. The arrow in the figure indicates the transport direction of the rack. In addition, the sample transport apparatus includes, in addition to the above, a rack rotating unit and a buffer unit having a buffer function for temporarily storing the rack.

Here, for convenience, the rack entrance side of the transport line outward path is referred to as port M1, the exit side is referred to as port M2, the entrance side of the return path is referred to as port B1, and the exit side is referred to as port B2.

FIG. 4 shows one embodiment of a schematic diagram relating to a sample transport device control section of the sample transport system according to the present invention. The following description is based on the assumption that two adjacent transport lines shown in FIG. 3 are connected to each other. Here, for convenience, the transport line located on the upstream side of the outward path is referred to as a transport line 1, the other transport line on the downstream side is referred to as a transport line 2, and the transport control unit of the transport line 1 is referred to as the transport control unit 100 and the transport line 2.
Is referred to as a transfer control unit 200. As described above, each of the transport lines 1 and 2 includes the transport control unit. For example, a transfer control unit of the transfer equipment line 1 will be described as an example. The transfer control unit 100 includes a storage unit 100a that stores a transfer control program, and a storage unit 100b that stores connection information transmitted from the overall control unit 50. It comprises an identification means 100c for registering identification information in the sample transport apparatus and an arithmetic processing unit 100d. As the identification means 100c,
There are a method of setting by an electric element such as a dip switch and a jumper switch, and a method of storing in a storage circuit such as a ROM or a RAM. Here, the identification information is uniquely set in the sample transport apparatus configuring the sample transport system.

The general control section 50 holds connection information 50a that defines how each sample transport device is connected in the system.

The overall control unit 50 and the transport control units 100 and 20
0 is connected via the communication interface 500, and connection information is transmitted from the overall control unit 50 to the transport control units 100 and 200. Each transport control unit that has received the connection information stores the information in the respective storage units 100b and 200b. As the transmission timing, the connection information is transmitted, for example, when the power supply of the sample transport system is turned on and the communication line of the interface 500 is established.

The transfer control units communicate with each other through the communication interface 60.
0 to exchange rack transport signals.

Next, the flow of processing will be described starting from the point when the rack transport line 2 receives a rack from the transport line 1.

The rack on the transfer line 1 is a carry-out port M
2, the transport control unit 100 sets the connection information 100
b, the identification information of the sample transport apparatus on the rack receiving side to which the port M2 is connected is acquired, and the rack transfer request message is written with the acquired identification number of the receiving side, via the communication interface 600. To send. The transport line 2 receives and analyzes this message, and the identification information described in the message is transmitted to the identification unit 2.
Check with the identification number registered in 00c. If the identification information matches, the control unit 200 responds to the transport line 1 on the transmitting side. At this time, if the rack is ready to be received on the transport line 2, a rack loading permission signal is transmitted, and the rack is transferred from the transport line 1 to the transport line 2.

When the rack arrives at the exit of the transport line 2, the same processing as described above is repeated. In the above description, an example is described in which two transport lines are adjacent to each other, but the same applies to, for example, a transport line and a rack rotation unit.

[0023]

According to the present invention, the transfer line control program enables independent distributed control independent of the system configuration. As a result, the layout change can be dealt with only by changing the connection information without modifying the transport line control program, so that the delivery time can be reduced and the price can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a sample transport system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a rack.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transport line.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

50: general control unit, 50a: connection information, 100, 200
... Line control unit, 100a, 200a ... Line control program storage unit, 100b, 200b ... Connection information storage unit, 1
00c, 200c ... identification means, 500, 600 ... communication interfaces.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor, Katsushi Takahashi 882, Momo, Hitachi, Ibaraki Pref. (72) Inventor Kori Ouchi, Ibaraki Pref., Japan 882 GC06 GE01 GE02 3F022 LL31 MM08 MM43 PP04

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sample transport system comprising: a plurality of processing function devices for processing a sample; and a sample transport system including a sample transport device for transporting a sample from one processing function device to another processing function device. An arithmetic processing unit that performs transport control, an identification unit that electrically identifies the sample transport device, a program storage unit that stores a transport control program, and a connection information storage that stores connection information of the sample connection device. A sample transport system, comprising: 2. The sample transport system according to claim 1, wherein the connection information is stored in an external general control unit,
A sample transport system, wherein the processing operation unit and the external general control unit are connected via a communication interface, and the connection information is transmitted from the external general control unit to the connection information storage unit. 3. The sample transport system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of arithmetic processing units forming the sample transport system are connected by a second communication interface, and the sample processing signal of the sample transport signal is transmitted via the second communication interface. A sample transport system for controlling transport of a sample by performing exchange.