JP5215964B2 - Automatic analyzer and allocation method for inspection thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer for inspecting a specimen by adding a reagent to a specimen such as blood or urine or measuring electric resistance. Involved in automatic analyzers that perform pretreatment such as dissolution treatment. The purpose of the pretreatment is, for example, to dilute the sample and increase the amount of the sample so that many tests can be performed.

  As an automatic analyzer for pre-processing and analyzing a sample, there is a biochemical automatic analyzer described in Patent Document 1. This biochemical automatic analyzer has one pretreatment disk for diluting the specimen once as a pretreatment for performing many tests from a small amount of specimen, and the diluted specimen is sent to the reaction disk from another outlet. Sent to and inspected. In the present invention, an operation of putting a specimen into a pretreatment container (referred to as a “pretreatment cell”) of a pretreatment disk and an operation of taking it out to a reaction disk are described.

  However, in the automatic analyzer described in Patent Document 1, specimens are pre-processed with a single pre-treatment disk, so when dispensing a plurality of specimens for examination from one pre-treatment cell to a reaction disk, It is necessary to stop the pretreatment disk until dispensing and finishing. Therefore, since the pre-processing operation cannot proceed while the sample is being sent to the reaction disk, the throughput (the number of tests that can be tested per unit time) may be low. In order to solve this problem, the automatic analyzer described in Patent Document 2 prepares two preprocessing disks and uses them in order to shorten the entire processing time.

JP-A-8-194004 JP 2009-68840 A

  In the automatic analyzer described in Patent Document 2, it is shown that two preprocessing disks are prepared and used in order, but at this time, there is an upper limit on the amount of sample created in one preprocessing cell. As a result, it may be necessary to prepare a plurality of pretreatment cells in order to perform all inspections. Therefore, (1) it is necessary to determine which pre-processing cell among the plurality of pre-processing cells is efficient when a plurality of inspections are assigned. Further, (2) when there are a plurality of pre-processing types and the man-hours (referred to as “number of cycles”) of the pre-processing are different, it is necessary to determine which pre-processing type is efficient from the beginning. In the automatic analyzer described in Patent Document 2, this point is not considered at all.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining the allocation of these examinations and the order of preprocessing types, and to provide an automatic analyzer having a high throughput.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention circulates to a pretreatment cell of a plurality of pretreatment disks and dispenses a sample. While some of the samples are pretreated, the other parts are pretreated. In an automatic analyzer that has a mechanism for dispensing pre-processed samples to the test device, when the same pre-processing type of the same sample is collected and assigned to multiple pre-processing cells, each pre-processing cell is pre-processed. Than the number of inspections assigned to the last preprocessing cell when the number of inspections equal to or greater than the number of cycles required is assigned It is characterized by assigning many examinations.

  Also, if there are multiple preprocessing types, use the number of inspections assigned to the last preprocessing cell of each preprocessing type to calculate how much throughput is produced for the arrangement of preprocessing types. Of these, an order of high throughput is selected.

  Specifically, the automatic analyzer of the present invention is an automatic analyzer comprising a test unit that performs a pretreatment such as dilution processing on a sample and a control unit that controls the test unit. A loading device provided with the sample, a plurality of preprocessing disks each having a plurality of preprocessing cells, and a portion for circulating the sample from the loading device to the preprocessing cells of the plurality of preprocessing disks. An injection device and an inspection device that dispenses the specimen from the preprocessing cell of the preprocessing disk and executes an inspection, and the plurality of preprocessing cells of the preprocessing disk perform a plurality of types of preprocessing. Yes, for each preprocessing type, the number of cycles required for preprocessing the sample in one preprocessing cell and the amount of the preprocessed sample created at that time are determined, and the control unit controls the apparatus. Device controller and preprocessing The test apparatus performs a test by dispensing samples from the pretreatment cell by the number of tests allocated by the test allocation unit to the pretreatment cell. And the assigning unit for the inspection to the preprocessing cell collects the inspections of the same preprocessing type and assigns the plurality of inspections of the same preprocessing type to the plurality of preprocessing cells. Allocate more inspections than the number of cycles required for the preprocessing, and assign the last preprocessing cell to the last preprocessing cell when assigning the maximum number of inspections that can be assigned in order from the front It is characterized in that it is more than the number of tests performed.

  In the automatic analyzer according to the present invention, the inspection unit includes two pretreatment disks, and the dispensing device alternately dispenses the sample into the pretreatment cells of the two pretreatment disks. Good.

  In the automatic analyzer of the present invention, the inspection assigning unit to the preprocessing cell collects the inspections of the same preprocessing type, and assigns a plurality of inspections of the same preprocessing type to a plurality of preprocessing cells. Each preprocessing cell is assigned a number of inspections equal to or greater than the number of cycles required for the preprocessing, and the last preprocessing cell is assigned the maximum number that can be assigned to the last preprocessing cell. It's okay.

  In the automatic analyzer of the present invention, the specimen provided to the carry-in apparatus is attached with specimen identifier information, and a collection of tests required for the specimen is designated for the specimen identifier. The test request data, and the test name of the test, the test specification data in which the pre-processing type at the time of the test and the amount of the sample necessary for the test are associated with each other. The preprocessing specification data in which the number of cycles necessary for preprocessing in one preprocessing cell and the amount of the preprocessed sample created at that time are associated with each other, and the allocation unit of the test to the preprocessing includes the test The inspection may be assigned to the preprocessing cell based on the request data, the inspection specification data, and the preprocessing specification data.

  In the automatic analyzer according to the present invention, when the device control unit in the control unit rearranges the preprocessing types, the automatic analysis device uses the last preprocessing cell obtained by the inspection allocation unit for the preprocessing cell. Using the information on the number of assigned inspections, the method of rearranging the preprocessing types with high inspection efficiency is defined.

  In the automatic analyzer of the present invention, when rearranging the pretreatment types, in addition to information on the number of examinations assigned to the last pretreatment cell, the last pretreatment cell of the previous specimen It is also possible to determine the rearrangement of the preprocessing types using the information on the number of examinations assigned to.

  Further, in the automatic analyzer of the present invention, when rearranging the pretreatment types, in addition to information on the number of examinations assigned to the last pretreatment cell, the first pretreatment cell of the next sample The number of cycles for creating the process may be predicted to determine the rearrangement of the preprocessing types.

  Further, in the automatic analyzer of the present invention, when obtaining a solution from the sort of preprocessing types, not all sorts are performed, but a limited number of sorts are performed, and throughput of them is determined. It can be a good order.

  Also, in the automatic analyzer of the present invention, when there is an inspection that must be inspected first in the inspection, the inspection is the first, and the preprocessing is performed without using the information on the number of inspections at the end of the previous inspection. The types may be rearranged.

  Further, in the automatic analyzer of the present invention, when there is an inspection that must be inspected last in the inspection, the number of cycles for creating the first pretreatment cell of the subsequent sample is determined with that inspection as the last. Do not use.

  The method for assigning a test to a pretreatment cell in the automatic analyzer of the present invention includes: a loading device provided with a sample; a plurality of preprocessing disks each having a plurality of preprocessing cells; and the sample from the loading device. A dispensing device that circulates and dispenses the pretreatment cells of a plurality of pretreatment disks, and executes the examination by dispensing the sample from the pretreatment cells of the pretreatment disk according to the number of assigned examinations. An inspection device, which includes an inspection unit that inspects a specimen by performing preprocessing such as dilution processing, and a control unit that controls the inspection unit, and the plurality of preprocessing cells of the preprocessing disk include a plurality of types. In an automatic analyzer that pre-processes, and for each pre-processing type, the number of cycles required for pre-processing the sample in one pre-processing cell and the amount of the pre-processed sample created at that time are fixed Preprocessing When assigning multiple tests of the same pre-processing type to multiple pre-processing cells, each pre-processing cell is assigned to that pre-processing. Number of inspections allocated to the last preprocessing cell when the number of inspections equal to or greater than the required number of cycles is allocated and the allocation of the last preprocessing cell is assigned the maximum number of inspections that can be allocated in order from the front Rather than more.

  In addition, the method for assigning examinations to the preprocessing cells in the automatic analyzer of the present invention combines examinations of the same pretreatment type, and assigns a plurality of examinations of the same pretreatment type to a plurality of pretreatment cells. The number of inspections equal to or greater than the number of cycles required for the preprocessing may be allocated to the preprocessing cell, and the allocation of the last preprocessing cell may be the maximum number that can be allocated to the last preprocessing cell.

  According to the present invention, a high throughput analysis can be performed using a plurality of pretreatment disks in an automatic analyzer that can perform many tests with a small amount of sample by subjecting the sample to a pretreatment such as a dilution process. Can do.

Next, the function and effect of the present invention will be described in detail.
Tests that require a certain preprocessing type K are T1, T2, ..., Tn. In addition, in order to perform the preprocessing of the preprocessing type K, a cycle cycle time is required. At this time, pre-processed specimens C1, C2,..., Cm are created in m pretreatment cells as follows, and the number of examinations assigned to each pretreatment cell is counted (C1), count (C2 ), ..., count (Cm). If for all i = 1, 2,…, m
count (Ci) ≥ Cycle
Then, if two pretreatment disks are used alternately, the preprocessed specimen is sent to the reaction disk without a break from the preparation of the pretreatment cell C1 until the final test Tn is sent to the reaction disk, which is the inspection device. You can continue. In other words, because more than Cycle samples can be sent from the pretreatment cell Ci to the reaction disk, the other pretreatment disk can be used to make a pretreated sample in the pretreatment cell Ci + 1. This is because the preparation of the pretreatment cell Ci + 1 is completed when the specimen has been sent from the pretreatment cell Ci to the reaction disk.

  Furthermore, if more than Cycle examinations are assigned to each pretreatment cell and many examinations are assigned to the last pretreatment cell, while the process for creating the specimen of the next pretreatment type is being performed, Since the test specimen assigned to the processing cell can be sent to the reaction disk, when moving to the next preprocessing type, the work to be sent to the reaction disk does not need to be stopped, and the throughput can be improved.

This operation will be described using a specific example with reference to FIGS. Assume that there are 10 tests for the preprocessing type K (specimen 1 test 5002), the preprocessing takes 4 cycles, and a maximum of 6 tests can be assigned to one preprocessing cell. 5001 in FIG. 5 represents the progress of the inspection when the maximum inspection that can be assigned in order from the previous preprocessing cell is assigned to the two preprocessing cells, such as six and four in order. In the next test (specimen 2 test 5003), pre-processing is assumed to take 6 cycles. Here, A represents dispensing from the carry-in device to the pretreatment disk, B represents dispensing from the pretreatment disk to the inspection device, and C represents inspection by the inspection device. A blank indicates that the device is not operating. In FIG. 5, since 6 cycles are required for the preprocessing of the next test (specimen 2 test 5003), the test apparatus is not operating at the 15th and 16th cycles before, and it takes 20 cycles to complete the process. .

6001 in FIG. 6 shows the test when the pre-processing type K test (specimen 1 test 6002) is allocated to the last pre-processing cell, such as four and six in order, to the two pre-processing cells. It represents progress. In this case, since the six examinations assigned to the subsequent pretreatment cell are being performed by the examination apparatus, the six cycles of pretreatment for the next examination (specimen 2 examination 6003) are completed. It is possible to work without a break, and the inspection is completed up to the 18th cycle, and the throughput is increased.
In FIG. 6, four and six inspections are assigned to two preprocessing cells in order, but if five and five inspections are assigned to two preprocessing cells in sequence, the 19th cycle in total. Thus, the inspection is completed, and the throughput is improved as compared with that in FIG. In other words, when assigning multiple inspections of the same preprocessing type to multiple preprocessing cells, assign the last preprocessing cell, and assign the maximum number of inspections that can be assigned in order from the front. By increasing the number of inspections to be assigned to the processing cell, the throughput can be improved as compared with the case of assigning the maximum number of inspections that can be assigned in order from the front.

  Further, according to the present invention, regarding the rearrangement of the preprocessing types, the throughput is evaluated by using the number of examinations assigned to the last preprocessing cell of each preprocessing type, and the one having a good value is selected. When a sufficient number of inspections are required for each preprocessing type, the number of inspections greater than the number of cycles required for preprocessing is assigned to the preprocessing cells before the last preprocessing cell. Since the number of cycles required for the same pre-processing is constant, the result of calculating the throughput using the number of inspections assigned to the last pre-processing cell is There is a high possibility that the throughput will be the same as the one selected from the best arrangement. That is, a good throughput can be obtained only by trying a small allocation method and rearrangement method.

The figure which shows the structure of one Example of this invention. Diagram showing data structure of inspection request data Diagram showing the data structure of inspection specification data Diagram showing data structure of preprocessing specification data Time chart with room for inspection allocation Time chart diagram with optimal inspection assignment Diagram showing the processing flow of the device controller The figure showing the processing flow of the allocation part of the inspection to the preprocessing cell The figure showing the processing flow of preprocessing cell allocation of the same preprocessing type The figure showing the processing flow of rearrangement of pre-processing type Diagram showing the progress of the process of assigning many tests to the last preprocessing cell Setting table for evaluation example of order of preprocessing type Time chart for how to arrange preprocessing types with room for improvement Time chart for efficient arrangement of preprocessing types The figure which shows the example of a computer system structure which implements this invention The figure which shows the structure of the other Example of this invention.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the automatic analyzer of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that components having the same function are denoted by the same reference symbols throughout the drawings for describing the embodiments of the invention, and the repetitive description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The present invention comprises two parts, a test unit 1001 for pre-processing a sample and performing a test, and a control unit 1013 for controlling it. The inspection unit 1001 receives a specimen 1003 one after another, a pre-treatment disk 1 (1006) and a pre-treatment disk 2 (1007) each having a plurality of pre-treatment cells 1008, and a specimen 1003 at a predetermined location of the carry-in apparatus 1002. A dispensing device 1005 that dispenses the sample to one of the pretreatment disks, and a testing device 1009 that takes out and dispenses the pretreated specimen from either of the preprocessing disks and conducts the examination. In addition, the specimen 1003 is attached with information of a specimen identifier 1004 so that each specimen can be distinguished.

  Next, the basic movement of the inspection unit 1001 will be described. First, the samples 1003 to which the sample identifier 1004 is attached arrive at the carry-in device 1002 one after another. The arrived specimen 1003 is sequentially advanced through the carry-in apparatus 1002 and comes to a specific place to be dispensed. Dispensing device 1005 has a sample that still needs to be examined at a specific location of carry-in device 1002, and pretreatment cell 1008 at the dispensing position (P1 or P3) of the pretreatment disk to be dispensed next is empty. If so, the specimen is dispensed there to cause pretreatment such as dilution, and the pretreatment cell 1008 is moved to a position (P2 or P4) for delivery to the inspection apparatus. The dispensing apparatus 1005 dispenses one pretreatment disk, then changes to the other pretreatment disk, and dispenses alternately. The inspection apparatus 1009 also alternately changes the target pretreatment disk from which the specimen is taken out. The inspection device 1009 has a preprocessed sample in the pretreatment cell at the dispensing position (P2 or P4) of the target pretreatment disk, and if necessary, the sample is dispensed as many times as necessary. Note and send to the internal inspection process one after another.

  Next, the control unit 1013 will be described. The control unit 1013 includes an apparatus control unit 1014 and an inspection allocation unit 1015 for preprocessing cells. In addition, examination request data 1010, which is data indicating what kind of examination should be performed on the specimen, what kind of pre-treatment should be performed for each examination, and how much specimen The test specification data 1011 indicating whether or not the sample is necessary, and the pre-processing specification data 1012 indicating how many cycles are required for the pre-processing and the number of pre-processed specimens can be obtained.

  The device control unit 1014 controls the inspection unit 1001 so that the above-described operation of the inspection unit 1001 is performed. That is, the test assigning unit 1015 to the pretreatment cell is called for the specimen 1003 at a certain position of the loading apparatus 1002, how many pretreatment cells are created, and which test is assigned to which pretreatment cell. In accordance with the determination, the specimens are alternately dispensed to the pretreatment disk and controlled so that they are alternately sent to the inspection apparatus.

  A rough processing flow of the process of assigning the inspection to the preprocessing cell will be described. First, in process 1016, examinations of the same preprocessing type are summarized, and in process 1017, many examinations are assigned to the last preprocessing cell among the plurality of preprocessing cells performing the same preprocessing type. By increasing the number of inspections assigned to the last preprocessing cell in this way, even if a large number of cycles is required for preprocessing of the next preprocessing type, the inspection assigned to the last preprocessing cell By dispensing and feeding the corresponding specimen to the inspection apparatus 1009, the inspection apparatus 1009 can be moved without a break, contributing to an improvement in throughput. A more detailed processing flow of this processing will be described again with reference to FIG.

  The data structure of the inspection request data 1010 is shown using FIG. The examination request data 1010 represents how many examinations should be performed for each specimen, and is composed of two fields. That is, a sample identifier field 2001 and a field 2002 indicating how many tests are requested for the sample. Field 2002 lists the names of tests that must be performed on the specimen.

  FIG. 3 shows the inspection specification data 1011. This data represents which pre-processing each test requires and how much of that pre-processed specimen is used and consists of three fields. That is, the examination name 3001, the preprocessing type 3002 in which the type of preprocessing necessary for the examination is described, and the necessary sample quantity 3003 in which the sample amount after the pretreatment necessary for the examination is described.

  FIG. 4 shows preprocessing specification data 1012. This data represents the time taken for each pre-processing and how many pre-processed samples are produced as a result. This data consists of three fields. That is, the type 4001 of the preprocessing, the necessary number of cycles 4002 representing the time required for the preprocessing, and the sample amount 4003 created after the preprocessing. The number of specimens that can be dispensed is determined from the amount of specimen 4003 that is created. In FIG. 4, the number of cycles of 1-fold dilution is 4, which is to dispense the original sample twice in order to secure the sample amount.

  The processing flow of the apparatus control unit will be described in detail with reference to FIG. This performs control for carrying out the inspection while alternately using two preprocessing disks. In addition, the specimen is requested to the examination assigning unit to the preprocessing cell, and the preprocessing cell and the examination assignment to the cell are created and executed. First, in condition determination processing 7001, it is checked whether the dispensing position of the loading device is empty. When this condition is satisfied, in condition determination processing 7002, it is checked whether there is a sample in the loading device, and this condition is satisfied. When doing so, in process 7003, one specimen is sent to the dispensing position. Next, in condition determination processing 7004, it is checked whether there is a sample at the dispensing position and an allocation plan has not yet been created for the sample. If this condition is satisfied, processing 7005 returns to the preprocessing cell. Request the inspection allocation department to create an allocation plan. Finally, the condition determination process 7006 checks whether there is a sample at the dispensing position, and if this condition is met, the process 7007 acquires the next pre-processing type and the set of tests assigned to it from the allocation plan. By controlling the dispensing device and the preprocessing disk, a preprocessed sample of that preprocessing type is created in a cell of another preprocessed disk that has been preprocessed immediately before, and these tests are assigned to perform the test.

  With reference to FIG. 8, the processing flow of the allocation unit for the inspection to the preprocessing cell will be described in detail. First, in process 8001, a sample is specified in this process, and an allocation plan is created for what kind of pre-processing cells are created for the sample and what tests are assigned to those pre-processing cells. Next, in process 8002, the examination request data is retrieved from the specimen identifier of the designated specimen to find out which examination should be performed. Next, in process 8003, the inspection specification data is searched, and these inspections are divided into the same preprocessing types. Next, in process 8004, a set of examinations divided for each pre-processing type is allocated to one or a plurality of pre-processing cells using a method of “pre-processing cell allocation of the same pre-processing type” described below. . Finally, in process 8005, using the number of examinations assigned to the last preprocessing cell in the allocation for each preprocessing type, the number of cycles required is minimized by using the preprocessing type rearrangement described below. Create a permutation that becomes and make it an allocation plan.

  The processing flow for preprocessing cell allocation of the same preprocessing type will be described in detail with reference to FIG. First, in process 9001, a set of examinations to be assigned is T1, T2,..., Tn. Next, in process 9002, the number of cycles necessary to perform the preprocessing of the preprocessing type is set to CYCLE. Next, in process 9003, T1, T2,..., Tn are assigned in order from the front as much as they are assigned to the amount created in the preprocessing cell of the preprocessing type. Finally, in process 9004, process 9005 is repeated for a predetermined number of times. In condition judgment processing 9005, it is checked whether more inspections than CYCLE are assigned to the second preprocessing cell from the last. When this condition is satisfied, processing 9006 has capacity in the last preprocessing cell. If there is something that can be moved, move one. If the condition is not satisfied in the judgment process 9005, the process can be followed in the same way in the process 9007, and the assignment to the second previous preprocessing cell from the last can be maintained at CYCLE or more to move to the last preprocessing cell. Find out if there is an inspection and move it if there is.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a change in the inspection allocation to the preprocessing cell at this time. In FIG. 11, there are 22 examinations in total, and 10 specimens can be dispensed from one pretreatment cell to the examination apparatus, so a maximum of 10 examinations can be assigned to one pretreatment cell. It is assumed that this pretreatment takes 4 cycles. At this time, when allocating the data so as to be the maximum number that can be allocated in order from the front, such as 11001, as a result, 10, 10, and 2 in order from the previous preprocessing cell. Inspection is assigned. Next, as indicated by 11002, since the number of inspections assigned to the last preprocessing cell is small, the inspection is moved from the previous one to the last. At this time, if there is no inspection of the number of cycles required for preprocessing (in this case, 4) in the previous preprocessing cell, the process proceeds in the same manner. This process is called migration. In FIG. 11, 11005 describes the result of performing migration seven times.

  The processing flow for rearranging the preprocessing types will be described in detail with reference to FIG. First, in process 10001, the number of pre-processing types is m. Next, in process 10002, a series of processes from process 10003 onward are repeated for all rearrangements of the m preprocessing types. First, in process 10003, the number of inspections assigned to the last preprocess cell of each preprocess type is set to L1, L2,..., Lm. Next, in process 10004, the number of cycles required for each pre-process is C1, C2,..., Cm. Next, in process 10005, the last number of examinations of the previous specimen is set to L0. Next, in process 10006, the number of cycles required for the first pretreatment of the immediately following sample is set to Cm + 1. Finally, in process 10007, when L0, L1, L2, ..., Lm and C1, C2, ..., Cm, Cm + 1 are pre-processed using two pre-process disks alternately and sent to the reaction disk Record the number of empty dispenses on the disc. Finally, in the process 10008, the rearrangement that has no empty space for dispensing to the reaction disk among these rearrangements is adopted.

The operation of FIG. 10 will be described as a specific example with reference to FIGS. 12, 13, and 14. Here, as described in the table of FIG. 12, there are three types of preprocessing, and the number of preprocessing cycles and the number of inspections assigned to the last preprocessing cell are as follows.
Pretreatment type = 1-fold dilution Number of pretreatment cycles = 4
Number of examinations assigned to the last pretreatment cell = 6
Pretreatment type = 2-fold dilution Number of pretreatment cycles = 2
Number of inspections assigned to the last preprocessing cell = 2
Pretreatment type = 5-fold dilution Number of pretreatment cycles = 2
Number of inspections assigned to the last pretreatment cell = 4
Fig. 13 shows the progress of the test when this is pre-treated in the order of 2-fold dilution, 1-fold dilution, and 5-fold dilution. Fig. 14 shows the case of pre-treatment in the order of 1-fold dilution, 2-fold dilution, and 5-fold dilution. Describe the progress of the inspection. However, it is assumed that three tests are carried over from the previous sample, and the first pretreatment cycle of the subsequent sample is predicted to be four cycles. At this time, in FIG. 13, the inspection apparatus does not operate in the sixth and seventh cycles, and in FIG. 14, only the fourth cycle does not operate, so that FIG. 14 has a better throughput for one cycle. Since the efficiency varies depending on the arrangement, the flow in FIG. 10 evaluates how many cycles it takes to complete the inspection for all the arrangements, and if the best one is adopted, the throughput can be increased. it can.

  Since the sample is blood or the like, it may not be preferable to leave the automatic analyzer for a long time. In this sense, the present invention may contribute to the improvement of the analysis result.

  Finally, FIG. 15 shows an example of a computer system that implements this apparatus. The program of the control unit 10013 in FIG. 1, the inspection request data 1010, the inspection specification data 1011, and the preprocessing specification data 1012, which are the components of this system, are stored in the auxiliary storage device 15004 in FIG. The device of the present invention is checked by using the input device 15006 such as a sample arrival sensor and a barcode reader and the output device 15005 such as a display and a speaker to check the input status and the test result. Can be realized. As another mounting method, each unit in FIG. 1 can be directly realized by hardware.

In this embodiment, when a solution is obtained from the rearrangement of the preprocessing types, a limited number of rearrangements are performed, and the order in which the throughput is good is determined. In this embodiment, in the processing flow for rearranging the preprocessing types in FIG. 10 of the first embodiment, the part required for rearranging all the preprocessing types is changed. If there are n preprocessing types, the sorting is n! It becomes street. 5 if the pre-processing type is about 5! = 120 ways, and the control unit can be mounted without much load. For example, when the number of pre-processing types is 10, 10! = 3628800 ways, and the control unit does not operate in real time. Therefore, it is possible to operate in real time by checking the rearrangement without limiting all the rearrangements and limiting the upper limit. For this purpose, the upper limit of the processing 10002 in FIG.
As another implementation method, there is a method in which the upper limit is limited in the loop of the process 10002 in FIG. 10 and a random rearrangement method is generated using random numbers, and the rearrangement with the highest throughput is adopted among them. is there.
As another implementation method, when some of the previous arrangements are determined, the best evaluation can be obtained using the branch and bound method by estimating the best evaluation when the arrangement is continued. .

  An implementation method in the case where there are not only two preprocessing disks but three or more will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is obtained by adding a preprocessing disk 16001 to the configuration of FIG. As this control method, the one that alternately used two preprocessing disks in 7007 in FIG. 7 is circulated as preprocessing disk 1, preprocessing disk 2, preprocessing disk 3, preprocessing disk 1,. And use it. Even if there are four or more pre-processing disks, a plurality of pre-processing disks can be used at the same time by using such a circulation.

  This embodiment is for a case in which there is a test that must be performed first among the tests attached to the specimen. In order to perform this, in FIG. 10 of the first embodiment, only the rearrangement in which the inspection is first performed is examined, and the information L0 of the last inspection number of the previous inspection is ignored and set to 0, for example. Of these, the one with the optimum throughput may be selected.

  This embodiment is an embodiment in the case where there is a test that must be performed last in the test attached to the specimen. In order to carry out this, in FIG. 10 of Example 1, only the rearrangement in which the test is finally performed is examined, and the number of cycles Cm + 1 necessary for the first pretreatment of the next specimen is ignored. For example, it is possible to set 0 to select the one having the optimum throughput.

1001… Inspection department
1002… Loading device
1003… Sample
1004… Sample identifier
1005… Dispensing device
1006… Pretreatment disk 1
1007… Pretreatment disk 2
1008… Pretreatment cell
1009… Inspection equipment
1010… Inspection request data
1011… Inspection specification data
1012… Pre-processing specification data
1013… Control unit
1014… Device controller
1015… Assignment part of inspection to pretreatment cell
1016… Processing to gather inspections of the same preprocessing type
1017… Process for assigning inspections to preprocessing cells
15002… CPU
15003… Storage device
15004… Auxiliary storage device
15005… Input device
15006… Output device
16001 ... Pre-processing disk 3

Claims (12)

In an automatic analyzer comprising a test unit for performing a pretreatment such as a dilution process on a sample and a control unit for controlling the test unit,
The inspection unit circulates the carry-in device to which the specimen is provided, a plurality of pretreatment disks each having a plurality of pretreatment cells, and the specimen from the carry-in apparatus to the pretreatment cells of the plurality of pretreatment disks. A dispensing device for dispensing and a testing device for performing testing by dispensing the sample from the pretreatment cell of the pretreatment disk,
The plurality of preprocessing cells of the preprocessing disk perform a plurality of types of preprocessing, and for each preprocessing type, the number of cycles necessary for preprocessing the sample in one preprocessing cell, and at that time The amount of pretreatment specimen to be created is fixed,
The control unit includes a device control unit that controls the device, and an inspection allocation unit to the preprocessing cell,
The test apparatus performs a test by dispensing a sample from the pretreatment cell by the number of tests allocated by the test allocation unit to the preprocessing cell,
The inspection assigning unit to the preprocessing cell collects the inspections of the same preprocessing type, and assigns a plurality of inspections of the same preprocessing type to the plurality of preprocessing cells. Inspections that are assigned to the last preprocessing cell when the number of inspections equal to or greater than the number of cycles required for processing is assigned and the maximum number of inspections that can be assigned in order from the front is assigned to the last preprocessing cell. Automatic analyzer characterized by having more than the number of The automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein
The inspection unit includes two pretreatment disks, and the dispensing device dispenses the sample alternately into the pretreatment cells of the two pretreatment disks. The automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein
The inspection assigning unit to the preprocessing cell collects the inspections of the same preprocessing type, and assigns a plurality of inspections of the same preprocessing type to the plurality of preprocessing cells. An automatic analyzer characterized by allocating inspections equal to or more than the number of cycles required for processing, and assigning the last preprocessing cell to the maximum number that can be assigned to the last preprocessing cell. The automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein
The specimen provided to the carry-in apparatus is attached with specimen identifier information,
For the sample identifier, having test request data in which a collection of tests required for the sample is designated,
For the test name of the test, it has test specification data corresponding to the pretreatment type when testing and the sample amount necessary for the test,
With respect to the preprocessing type, the number of cycles required when preprocessing a sample in one preprocessing cell, and preprocessing specification data in which the amount of the preprocessed sample created at that time is associated,
The automatic analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the inspection allocating unit to the preprocessing allocates the inspection to the preprocessing cell based on the inspection request data, the inspection specification data, and the preprocessing specification data. In the automatic analyzer according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The apparatus control unit in the control unit, when rearranging the preprocessing type, information of the number of inspections assigned to the last preprocessing cell obtained by the inspection allocation unit to the preprocessing cell An automatic analyzer characterized in that the method of rearranging the pre-processing types with good inspection efficiency is determined using the. The automatic analyzer according to claim 5, wherein
When sorting pretreatment types, in addition to information on the number of tests assigned to the last pretreatment cell, information on the number of tests assigned to the last pretreatment cell of the previous sample is also used. An automatic analyzer characterized by determining the rearrangement of preprocessing types. The automatic analyzer according to claim 5, wherein
When reordering the pretreatment type, in addition to information on the number of tests assigned to the last pretreatment cell, the number of cycles to create the first pretreatment cell for the next sample is predicted and An automatic analyzer characterized by determining the sort of processing type.   6. The automatic analyzer according to claim 5, wherein when a solution is obtained from the pre-processing type rearrangement, not all the rearrangements are performed, but a limited number of rearrangements are performed, and the throughput is reduced. Automatic analyzer characterized by determining good order. The automatic analyzer according to claim 6,
When there is an inspection that must be inspected first in the inspection, the automatic inspection is characterized by reordering the preprocessing types without using the information on the number of inspections at the end of the previous inspection. Analysis equipment. The automatic analyzer according to claim 7,
Automatic analysis, characterized by the fact that when there is a test that must be tested last, it does not use the cycle number prediction to create the first pretreatment cell for the subsequent sample. apparatus. A loading device provided with a sample, a plurality of pretreatment disks each having a plurality of pretreatment cells, and a dispensing for circulating the sample from the loading device to the pretreatment cells of the plurality of pretreatment disks. An apparatus and an inspection apparatus that dispenses the specimen from the pretreatment cell of the pretreatment disk according to the number of assigned examinations and executes the examination, and inspects the specimen by performing a pretreatment such as a dilution process. An inspection department;
A control unit for controlling the inspection unit,
The plurality of preprocessing cells of the preprocessing disk perform a plurality of types of preprocessing, and for each preprocessing type, the number of cycles necessary for preprocessing the sample in one preprocessing cell, and at that time A method for assigning examinations to pretreatment cells in an automatic analyzer with a predetermined amount of pretreatment sample to be created,
When the inspections of the same preprocessing type are grouped and multiple inspections of the same preprocessing type are assigned to multiple preprocessing cells, each preprocessing cell is assigned more inspections than the number of cycles required for the preprocessing. In addition, the automatic allocation is characterized in that the allocation of the last preprocessing cell is larger than the number of inspections allocated to the last preprocessing cell when the maximum number of inspections that can be allocated in order from the front is allocated. A method for assigning inspections to pretreatment cells in an analyzer. A method for assigning examinations to pretreatment cells in an automatic analyzer according to claim 11,
When the inspections of the same preprocessing type are grouped and multiple inspections of the same preprocessing type are assigned to multiple preprocessing cells, each preprocessing cell is assigned more inspections than the number of cycles required for the preprocessing. And assigning the last preprocessing cell to the maximum number that can be assigned to the last preprocessing cell, and assigning the inspection to the preprocessing cell in the automatic analyzer.

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