JP4437444B2 - Drug container 2D code reading system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a drug discovery container two-dimensional code reading system used for identifying and storing a large number of samples in the field of drug discovery research, and more specifically, a container for enclosing a drug discovery sample, The present invention relates to a drug discovery container two-dimensional code reading system comprising a storage rack for vertically storing a plurality of the containers in a matrix, a two-dimensional code affixed to the container, and a code reader for reading the two-dimensional code. .

  Conventionally, in the field of drug discovery research or the like, a solution in which a sample is dissolved is sealed in a cylindrical container called a microtube, and a plurality of microtubes, for example, 8 rows and 12 columns, are stored in a storage rack partitioned in a grid. In the storage rack divided into 96 pieces, the storage racks were stored vertically and stored and transported. A storage rack having a total number of 384 partitions in 16 rows and 24 columns is also known to accommodate smaller microtubes, i.e., ultramicrotubes, in the same size storage rack. (For example, refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-4070 (page 11, line 1-20, FIG. 6) Japanese Patent No. 3421252 (2nd page, 5th paragraph, FIG. 1)

  However, the conventional ultra-microtube as described above has a shape in which the bottom size of the standard-size microtube is reduced to almost ¼, so a two-dimensional code for container identification to be affixed to the container is used. In addition to downsizing, it was necessary to increase the resolution of a code reader for reading a two-dimensional code. In addition, since the lower part of the container held by the storage rack has a cylindrical shape, the container rotates in the storage rack, making it difficult to determine the two-dimensional code for identifying the container attached to the container. The resolution is significantly higher than the cell size constituting the code, for example, a resolution of 5 × 5 25 pixels per cell (determined by white or black in a square minimum unit block constituting a two-dimensional pattern) A code reader is required, and a long time is required for imaging and image processing.

  Therefore, a technical problem to be solved by the present invention, that is, an object of the present invention, is to enable discrimination of a two-dimensional code at a low resolution with respect to a cell size constituting the two-dimensional code, and to capture an image / image. It is an object of the present invention to provide a drug container two-dimensional code reading system capable of greatly shortening the processing time.

  The invention according to claim 1 includes a container for enclosing a drug discovery sample, a storage rack for vertically storing a plurality of the containers in a matrix, a two-dimensional code attached or printed on the bottom surface of the container, A drug discovery container two-dimensional code reading system having a code reader for reading a two-dimensional code, wherein a cross-sectional shape of a lower portion of the container has an octagonal cylinder shape with chamfered corners of a rectangular cylinder, and the two-dimensional code Is attached or printed in a direction in which every other octagonal corner is connected to the bottom of the container, the storage rack has an insertion hole that fits into the lower shape of the container, and the code reader stores The vertical and horizontal orientations of the two-dimensional code are aligned along the scanning line of the code reader as means for capturing images collectively from the bottom side of the rack in accordance with the orientation of the two-dimensional code of the container accommodated in the storage rack. Keep By having a tilt template for placing the rack on the reading surface of the code reader, it is intended to solve the foregoing problems.

  The code reader used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is a code reader capable of reading a two-dimensional code. For example, a reading head moving type using a CCD line sensor as a reading head is used. It is also possible to use a general-purpose desktop flatbed scanner with a fixed document reading method as it is.

  The invention according to claim 1 includes a container for enclosing a drug discovery sample, a storage rack for vertically storing a plurality of the containers in a matrix, a two-dimensional code affixed or printed on the bottom of the container, A drug discovery container two-dimensional code reading system having a code reader for reading a three-dimensional code, wherein a cross-sectional shape of a lower portion of the container has an octagonal cylindrical shape with chamfered corners of a square cylindrical shape, and the two-dimensional code is a container Attached or printed in the direction of connecting every other corner of the octagonal cylinder shape to the bottom of the storage rack, the storage rack has an insertion hole that fits into the lower shape of the container, and the code reader is from the bottom side of the storage rack The storage rack is coded so that the vertical and horizontal orientations of the two-dimensional code are aligned along the scanning line of the code reader as a means for capturing images collectively in accordance with the direction of the two-dimensional code of the container accommodated in the storage rack. Lee Code reader with a low resolution, for example, a resolution of 1 cell (a square that forms a two-dimensional pattern). For example, it is possible to use a low-resolution code reader of about 2 × 2 pixels, and the time for reading a two-dimensional code can be shortened. .

  Furthermore, even if the vertical and horizontal orientations of the storage rack do not match the vertical and horizontal orientations of the containers stored in the storage rack, the storage rack can be stored without requiring post-processing such as image rotation processing. It becomes possible to easily align the vertical and horizontal directions of the two-dimensional code affixed or printed on the container accommodated in the rack along the direction of the scanning line of the code reader.

(Reference example)
A reference example of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the entire drug discovery container two-dimensional code reading system as a reference example of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a storage rack 10 which is a component of the present system and two containers 20 accommodated in the storage rack, and FIG. 3 is a bottom view thereof. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of part A in FIG. 2 to 4, the insertion holes 12 of the storage rack 10 are shown for three rows, and the other parts are not shown. 5 is a perspective view of the container 20, FIG. 6A is a top view of the container 20 shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6B is a side view of the container 20, and FIG. c) is a bottom view of the container 20.

  As shown in the perspective view of FIG. 5, the container 20 has an upper portion 20a having a square tube cross-sectional shape and a lower portion 20b having a cross-sectional shape that restricts rotation, that is, a cross-sectional shape that is not a cylindrical cross-sectional shape. It has a bottomed shape. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6C, the shape of the lower part 20b is such that a part of the cylindrical shape has an angle of approximately 90 degrees. Then, a two-dimensional code 30 called a square data matrix is affixed to the bottom surface 20d in the same direction as the square cylinder cross-sectional shape of the upper portion 20a. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the storage rack 10 is formed with insertion holes 12 in a lattice shape so as to fit into the shape of the lower portion 20 b of the container 20.

  By accommodating such a container 20 vertically in the insertion hole 12 of the storage rack 10, the direction of the container 20 is regulated in one direction. That is, when the container 20 is accommodated in the storage rack 10, the surfaces constituting the upper portions 20 a of the adjacent containers 20 are accommodated in a state of facing each other, and the container 20 is prevented from rotating after being accommodated in the storage rack 10. Is done. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, since the vertical and horizontal directions of the two-dimensional code affixed or printed on the container 20 coincide with the vertical and horizontal directions of the storage rack, the storage rack as shown in FIG. 10 is placed on the reading surface of the code reader 200 so that the vertical and horizontal directions coincide with each other, the scanning line direction of the code reader 200 and the vertical and horizontal directions of the two-dimensional code 30 affixed or printed on the bottom surface of the container 20 Can be matched. Therefore, the complicated post-processing required to read the image of the two-dimensional code captured in the state where the directions of the two-dimensional code are scattered so far as code data is not required, and the post-processing is performed. The required high resolution is not required. For example, even a small two-dimensional code affixed to a super microtube accommodated in 384 pieces in one storage rack can be read without increasing the resolution. In addition, the two-dimensional code reading time can be shortened.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 7C, the container 120 used in this embodiment has an octagonal cylinder shape with chamfered corners of a square cylinder shape as shown in FIG. A two-dimensional code 130 called a square data matrix is attached to or printed on the bottom surface 120d at an angle so as to connect every other octagonal cylindrical corner. Therefore, the area of the two-dimensional code 130 can be made larger than when the two-dimensional code 130 is pasted or printed so as to connect the centers of the sides of the octagonal cylindrical shape.

  Further, as schematically shown in FIG. 8A, when the vertical and horizontal directions of the storage rack 110 are arranged along the scanning line direction 220 of the code reader (the direction in which the scanner is arranged), the scanning of the code reader is performed. The vertical and horizontal directions of the line direction 220 and the two-dimensional code 130 are shifted. However, since the direction of the two-dimensional code 130 of the container 120 stored in the storage rack 110 is determined in advance, when the code reader reads the code, the vertical and horizontal directions of the two-dimensional code 130 are as shown in FIG. By providing the code reader with the tilt template 300 that places the storage rack 110 on the reading surface of the code reader so as to be aligned along the scanning line direction 220 of the code reader, even if it is not a high-resolution code reader, reading errors Can be read accurately.

  In this embodiment, a data matrix is used as the two-dimensional code. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same effect can be obtained even in the case of a QR code.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a drug discovery container two-dimensional code reading system according to the present invention. It is a schematic perspective view of the storage rack used for the drug discovery container two-dimensional code reading system of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the storage rack shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a storage rack A part shown in FIG. 3. It is an expansion perspective view of the container used for this invention. FIG. 6 is a top view, a side view, and a bottom view of the container shown in FIG. 5. It is the top view, side view, and bottom view of another container used for this invention. It is a schematic diagram explaining the inclination template used for this invention.

10, 110 ... Storage rack 12 ... Insertion holes 20, 120 ... Containers 20a, 120b ... Container upper parts 20b, 120b ... Container lower parts 20c, 120c ... Container heads 20d 120d ... Bottom 30, 130 ... Two-dimensional code 300 ... Tilt template

Claims (1)

A container for enclosing a drug discovery sample, a storage rack for vertically storing a plurality of the containers in a matrix, a two-dimensional code affixed or printed on the bottom surface of the container, and a code reader for reading the two-dimensional code A drug discovery container two-dimensional code reading system comprising:
The cross-sectional shape of the lower part of the container has an octagonal cylinder shape with chamfered corners of a square cylinder shape,
The two-dimensional code is affixed or printed in a direction in which every other corner of the octagonal cylinder is connected to the bottom of the container,
The storage rack has an insertion hole that fits into the lower shape of the container,
As a means for the code reader to capture images in a batch according to the direction of the two-dimensional code of the container accommodated in the storage rack from the bottom side of the storage rack, the code reader reads the two-dimensional code along the scanning line of the code reader. A drug discovery container two-dimensional code reading system comprising an inclination template for placing a storage rack on a reading surface of a code reader so that the vertical and horizontal directions are aligned.

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