JP2006234459A - Network-adapting type analytical system of, and program therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save labor for maintenance work accompanying the extension of a new kind of analytical equipment and a change of a program for an analytical equipment, in an analytical system capable of controlling the analytical equipment from a plurality of user terminals through a data communications network. <P>SOLUTION: The program is divided into a common module M(C) for providing common functions to all the analytical equipment, and equipment-by-equipment modules for providing functions intrinsic to the analytical equipment, and only the common module M(C) is installed in a user terminal PC. When the analytical equipment are controlled from the user terminal PC, the common module M(C) acquires the necessary equipment-by-equipment module from a server 12 to be executed. When additional installation of the new kinds of analytical equipment and updating the version of any of the equipment-by-equipment modules, only the installation of the equipment-by-equipment module and the version updating are carried out through the server 12, and work in the user terminal is not required. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an analysis system that can perform operation, control, status confirmation, and the like of analytical instruments from a plurality of user terminals through a data communication network. Note that all of the operations performed on the analytical instrument in the user terminal are referred to as “control” in the present application. This “control” includes simple status confirmation. In addition, such a system is referred to as a “network-compatible analysis system” in the present application.

  There is known a network-compatible analysis system including an analysis device having a function of communicating with a server, a user terminal, or the like through a data communication network. For example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose a system in which the progress of analysis in a plurality of analyzers connected to a network can be confirmed at a glance with a terminal such as a personal computer connected to the same network. ing. Patent Document 3 discloses a system that enables a manufacturer of an analytical instrument to remotely perform maintenance of the analytical instrument on the user side through a network such as the Internet.

In a network-compatible analysis system, on a user terminal (such as a personal computer) connected to the same network, a software program (hereinafter simply referred to as “program”) for controlling the analysis instrument is started up, and the analysis instrument Remote control etc. are performed. When there are a plurality of types of analytical instruments, each analytical instrument can be controlled from a single terminal by installing a program for each analytical instrument in the user terminal. Moreover, when a plurality of user terminals are connected to the network, it is possible to control an arbitrary analytical instrument from an arbitrary user terminal by installing the program in each user terminal.
JP 2004-12217 A JP 2004-85356 JP JP 2004-333186 A

  In a system that controls a plurality of analytical instruments from a plurality of user terminals as described above, when a new type of analytical instrument is added to the network, a program for the analytical instrument must be installed in each user terminal. Further, when maintenance work such as program update or version upgrade is required, it is necessary to perform such work for each user terminal. Such maintenance work is very time-consuming, especially when the number of user terminals is large.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a new kind of analysis in an analysis system capable of controlling analytical instruments from a plurality of user terminals through a data communication network. The purpose is to save labor in maintenance work associated with the addition of equipment and changes in the program for analytical equipment.

A network-compatible analysis system according to the present invention, which has been made to solve the above problems,
In a network-compatible analysis system capable of controlling analytical instruments from a plurality of user terminals through a data communication network, the server includes a server connected to the data communication network,
The server includes a device-specific program module that provides a function specific to each analytical device and an analytical device database that stores information and data related thereto,
The user terminal includes a terminal-side program storage unit that stores a common program module that provides a common function to all analytical instruments,
When the common program module is executed on the user terminal, on the user terminal,
A device list acquisition unit for acquiring a list of analysis devices available in the system from the server;
A device selection support unit that presents a list of the analysis devices to the user and allows the user to select one of the analysis devices; and
A device-specific program execution unit that acquires and executes a device-specific program module corresponding to the analytical device selected by the user from the server;
Is configured.

In addition, the network-compatible analysis system program according to the present invention includes:
In a program executed on a user terminal of a network-compatible analysis system capable of controlling an analytical instrument from a plurality of user terminals through a data communication network,
Processing to obtain a list of analytical instruments available in the system from a given server,
A process of presenting a list of the analytical instruments to the user and selecting any analytical instrument; and
Processing for acquiring and executing a device-specific program module corresponding to the analytical device selected by the user from the server;
It is characterized by performing.

  In the present invention, a program for controlling the analytical instrument is composed of two types of modules (or components). That is, a common program module (hereinafter referred to as “common module”) that provides functions common to all analytical instruments, and a device-specific program module (hereinafter referred to as “equipment-specific modules”) that provides functions unique to each analytical instrument. Called). “Functions common to all analytical instruments” refers to functions provided in any analytical instrument connected to the network. Functions other than “functions common to all analytical instruments” are in principle “functions specific to analytical instruments”.

  Examples of “functions common to all analytical instruments” and “functions specific to analytical instruments” are listed below.

(Example 1) In general, an analytical instrument is provided with a function for performing basic instrument operations such as analysis start and analysis stop. Such basic instrument operation functions can be regarded as “functions common to all analytical instruments”.
(Example 2) A liquid chromatograph (LC) or a gas chromatograph (GC) usually has a column temperature setting function, but a mass spectrometer (MS) does not need that function. Therefore, the column temperature setting function is one of “inherent functions” in the liquid chromatograph and gas chromatograph.
(Example 3) When a database server that centrally manages measurement data of each analytical instrument connected to the network exists on the network, a communication function with the database server is required. This is also an example of “a function common to all analytical instruments”.
(Example 4) Consider a case where a plurality of liquid chromatographs having different model numbers are used. In this case, there may be a basic function that all liquid chromatographs should have, and a special function that only a model of a specific model has. In such a case, the basic function can be regarded as “a function common to all the analytical instruments”, and the special function can be regarded as “a function unique to the analytical instrument”.

  In the system according to the present invention, the common module is installed in a computer (that is, a user terminal) used when a user controls the analytical instrument, and the instrument-specific module is a computer that can communicate with all user terminals via a network ( That is, it is installed on the server. Only one server or a plurality of servers may be installed, but it is better not to increase the number of servers in order to obtain the effects of the present invention sufficiently.

The operation of the system according to the present invention is as follows.
(1) When the user starts a program on the user terminal, the common module is loaded into the memory by the operating system and executed.
(2) The common module accesses the server and acquires a list of available analytical instruments. The list is displayed on the screen of the user terminal.
(3) The user selects a target device on the screen.
(4) The common module acquires a device-specific module corresponding to the selected analytical device from the server, loads it into the memory, and executes it.
(5) A user interface for operating the selected analytical instrument is displayed on the screen of the user terminal.

  According to the present invention, only a common module that provides a function common to all analytical instruments is installed in the user terminal, and a module-specific module for each analytical instrument is prepared on a server accessible from all terminals through the network. Saved in the created database. Accordingly, common module installation, update, and version upgrade operations may be performed by the number of user terminals, and device-specific module installation, update, and version upgrade operations may be performed by the number of servers.

  For example, consider a system with 5 types of analytical equipment, 10 user terminals, and 1 server. Conventionally, since it is necessary to install five types of programs on each user terminal, a total of 50 installation operations have been required. On the other hand, in the system according to the present invention, the work of installing the common module in 10 user terminals is 10 times, the work of installing the five kinds of device-specific modules in the server is 5 times, and the installation work is 15 times in total. That's it. Furthermore, when a new type of analytical instrument is added to the system, it has been necessary to install a new program for each of the ten user terminals. In the system according to the present invention, a new type of analytical instrument is installed in the server. It is only necessary to install a device-specific module for operation. As described above, according to the present invention, particularly when the number of user terminals is large, work at the time of system construction and subsequent maintenance work are greatly improved.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a network-compatible analysis system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The network-compatible analysis system 1 (hereinafter referred to as the present system 1) of this embodiment is a single database server 12 (hereinafter simply referred to as “server 12”), which is a computer connected to a local area network (LAN) 10. And n user terminals PC1 to PCn.

  The server 12 includes a storage device 14 such as a hard disk, in which an analytical instrument database 16 is created. The database 16 stores information and data such as device name, device module version, module body, setting information file, and the like for each type of analysis device (GC, LC,..., Ax). The device-specific module main body is provided in the form of, for example, a dynamic link library, a shared library, or a plug-in. Various information necessary for the operation of the device-specific module main body is stored in the setting information file.

  Each user terminal PC1 to PCn also includes a storage device 18 such as a hard disk, in which a common module M [C] is stored. However, in FIG. 1, only the storage device 18 of the PC 1 is drawn.

  The operation of the system 1 is as follows.

(Step S1) When the user performs a predetermined operation on any of the user terminals PC, the operating system of the user terminal PC reads the common module M [C] from the storage device 18 and loads it into the memory (not shown). And run.
(Step S <b> 2) The executed common module M [C] transmits an acquisition request for a list of available analytical instruments to the server 12. Upon receiving this request, the server 12 transmits a list of analytical instruments registered in the database 16 to the common module M [C].
(Step S3) Upon receiving this list, the common module M [C] displays on the screen of the user terminal PC a predetermined format analyzer selection screen including the list.
(Step S4) Next, the user selects a target analytical instrument from the analytical instrument list displayed on the screen of the user terminal PC. Here, it is assumed that the liquid chromatograph (LC) is selected.
(Step S5) When the user selects any analysis device, the common module M [C] transmits to the server 12 an acquisition request for the device-specific module corresponding to the selected analysis device LC. Upon receiving this request, the server 12 reads the device-specific module M [LC] for LC from the database 16 and transmits it to the common module M [C].
(Step S6) Upon receiving the device-specific module M [LC], the common module M [C] loads the device-specific module M [LC] into the memory of the user terminal PC and executes it. As a result, a user interface for operating the selected analytical instrument (here, LC) is displayed on the screen of the user terminal PC.

  FIG. 2 shows an operation image of the program on the user terminal PC of the system 1. As shown in the figure, the program of the system 1 executes the device-specific module acquired from the server 12 on the common module M [C] that is called from the storage device 18 of the user terminal PC and executed. Thus, a function for operating and controlling the target analytical instrument is provided.

  An example of maintenance work for the system 1 is shown below.

(Example 1) When a new analytical instrument Az is to be added to the system 1, an entry corresponding to the analytical instrument Az is created in the database 16 and necessary information such as the device-specific module M [Az] main body and setting information file Data is registered (see FIG. 3). There is no need to perform any work on the user terminals PC1 to PCn. Therefore, the work is required only once.
(Example 2) When a new user terminal PC is added to the system 1, the common module M [C] is installed in the user terminal PC and then connected to the network 10 (the common module M is connected to the network 10 and then connected). [C] may be installed). No work needs to be performed on the server 12. Therefore, the work is required only once.
(Example 3) When updating or upgrading the common module M [C] of the system 1, necessary work is performed on each user terminal. Therefore, the work is performed as many times as the number of user terminals PC.
(Example 4) When updating or upgrading any one of the device-specific modules registered in the database 16 of the system 1, the corresponding information, data, files, etc. registered in the database 16 are updated with new ones. Therefore, the work is required only once.

  As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, it cannot be overemphasized that the said embodiment is only an example to the last. A modification is given below.

(Modification 1) In the system of the above embodiment, only one server 12 is installed. However, a plurality of servers can be installed to improve security and load distribution.
(Modification 2) In this case, a plurality of servers having the same function may be installed, a server for centrally managing information on available devices, and a server for distributing each device-specific module to the user terminal PC. May be. This form can be applied when, for example, a department that develops the entire system and a department that develops a device-specific module are independent. In this case, the network address for obtaining the module may be written in the “module” column of the database 16.
(Modification 3) In a small-scale network, instead of installing the server 12 separately from the user terminal PC, the database server can be operated on any user terminal PC.

  In addition to the above, various embodiments can be envisaged within the spirit and scope of the invention.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a network-compatible analysis system that is an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the operation | movement image of the program on a user terminal. The figure which shows the database after adding a new analytical instrument to the system of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... Network-compatible analysis system 10 ... Local area network (LAN)
12 ... Database server 16 ... Analytical instrument database PC1-PCn ... User terminal M [C] ... Common program modules M [LC], M [GC], M [Ax], M [Az] ... Device-specific program modules GC, LC , Ax ... Analytical equipment

Claims (3)

In a network-compatible analysis system capable of controlling analytical instruments from a plurality of user terminals through a data communication network, the server includes a server connected to the data communication network,
The server includes a device-specific program module that provides a function specific to each analytical device and an analytical device database that stores information and data related thereto,
The user terminal includes a terminal-side program storage unit that stores a common program module that provides a common function to all analytical instruments,
When the common program module is executed on the user terminal, on the user terminal,
A device list acquisition unit for acquiring a list of analysis devices available in the system from the server;
A device selection support unit that presents a list of the analysis devices to the user and allows the user to select one of the analysis devices; and
A device-specific program execution unit that acquires and executes a device-specific program module corresponding to the analytical device selected by the user from the server;
A network-compatible analysis system characterized by comprising In a network-compatible analysis system capable of controlling an analytical instrument from a plurality of user terminals through a data communication network, a server connected to the data communication network,
A server comprising a device-specific program module that provides a function specific to each analytical device and / or an analytical device database that stores information and data related thereto. In a program executed on a user terminal of a network-compatible analysis system capable of controlling an analytical instrument from a plurality of user terminals through a data communication network,
Processing to obtain a list of analytical instruments available in the system from a given server,
A process of presenting a list of the analytical instruments to the user and selecting any analytical instrument; and
Processing for acquiring and executing a device-specific program module corresponding to the analytical device selected by the user from the server;
A network-compatible analysis system program characterized by executing

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