JP5332226B2 - Retention method of moving part operation information and equipment using the same - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for holding operation information of movable parts mounted on a device such as a confocal microscope.

  The drug discovery screening device excites a sample arranged in an array of wells (holes) on a well plate by irradiating it with light of a specific wavelength, and magnifies and expands the fluorescence image emitted from the excited sample with a microscope system. The image is captured with a camera. In that case, the well plate is moved on the XY stage in order to acquire fluorescent images from all wells. Next, image processing is performed on the image acquired by the camera, and a sample that is a drug candidate is found based on the result. In order to improve the image quality, a confocal scanner unit (hereinafter referred to as a confocal unit) is installed between the microscope and the camera.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional confocal unit.

A spindle motor 1 is a motor for rotating a micro lens (not shown) and a pinhole (not shown), and a shutter 2 is an electric mechanical shutter for turning on / off laser light, a dichroic mirror motor (hereinafter referred to as a dichroic mirror motor). (Referred to as a mirror motor) 3 is a motor for switching the movement of a plurality of dichroic mirrors, and the filter wheel 4 stores a plurality of filters for separating the wavelength of light, and the filters are switched by the motor. The CPU 5 controls movable parts such as the spindle motor 1, the shutter 2, the dichroic mirror motor 3, and the filter wheel 4. A power source 6 supplies power to the above components of the confocal unit, and a power switch 7 turns the power source 6 on and off.

  The operation of the apparatus of FIG. 6 will now be described.

  When the power switch 7 of the confocal unit is turned on, power is supplied from the power source 6 to each component, and the CPU 5 performs the following control. First, the spindle motor 1 is turned on, and the rotation rotates the microlens and the pinhole. Subsequently, the shutter 2 of the excitation laser light source is closed so that the sample is not irradiated with laser light. Next, the dichroic mirror motor 3 is turned on, and the dichroic mirror moves to a position where a confocal image is formed. Next, the filter wheel 4 is turned on, and the filter is selected by its rotation. As a result, light of a specific wavelength is separated and selectively emitted from laser light of a plurality of wavelengths, and an image can be observed with light of an appropriate frequency. Next, the shutter 2 of the excitation laser light source is opened, and the camera acquires a confocal image, and performs observation, image capture, and the like. The shutter 2 is closed again, and so on. When the sample observation and image processing are completed, the power switch 7 is turned off and the confocal unit is stopped.

  The following patent documents are known as prior art of such a confocal microscope apparatus.

JP 2007-199458 A

However, the conventional confocal unit has the following problems.

(1) Although the confocal unit that does not hold the part operation information has a plurality of movable parts mounted as shown in 1 to 4 in FIG. Although specifications such as the number of operations are defined for the movable parts, conventional confocal units do not hold information such as the operation time and the number of operations of each movable part. For this reason, there is a problem that it is not possible to know the replacement time of the parts, and there is a problem that it is not known whether the life of the movable parts is related to the malfunction.

(2) A large-scale electric circuit is required to retain the information. To retain the component operation information of (1) above, for example, it may be stored in a nonvolatile medium.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration when nonvolatile media is used to hold the component operation information in the confocal unit of FIG.

The non-volatile memory 8 is composed of an EEPROM or the like, and holds component operation information related to each movable part such as the spindle motor 1, the shutter 2, the dichroic mirror motor 3, and the filter wheel 4 written via the CPU 5. The power supply control circuit 9 is connected between the power switch 7 and the power supply 6 to ensure a time until the writing to the nonvolatile memory 8 is completed when the power is turned off.

The EEPROM used as the nonvolatile memory in FIG. 7 requires several hundreds msec to several seconds for the write sequence, and thus requires a large-scale power supply control circuit that holds the voltage during that time. The same applies when a hard disk is used as the nonvolatile medium.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration in the case where a volatile memory is used to hold the component operation information in the confocal unit of FIG.

The volatile memory 18 includes an SRAM or the like, and stores component operation information related to each movable part such as the spindle motor 1, the shutter 2, the dichroic mirror motor 3, and the filter wheel 4 written via the CPU 5. The battery circuit 10 drives the volatile memory 18 in order to hold these data when the power is turned off.

That is, when a volatile memory capable of high-speed writing such as SRAM is used, it is necessary to attach a battery circuit or the like separately, and the circuit scale increases.

As described above, the conventional confocal unit has the problem as described in the above (1), and if the method as described in the above (2) is used to solve the problem, the circuit scale becomes large. Problems arise. What is attached to the microscope, such as a confocal unit, has a limited mounting area in relation to the microscope, and it is difficult to mount a large-scale circuit as described above.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and it is possible to hold the part operation information such as the operation time and the operation frequency of each part in a small circuit, thereby grasping the replacement time of the part. It is possible to realize a method for holding moving part operation information that can be clarified and related to the life of an operating part in the event of a malfunction.

In order to achieve such a problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is:
Each time the movable part mounted on the device is turned on, the movable part is operated from a nonvolatile memory in which data of at least a predetermined size can be written during a power supply voltage drop after the power switch of the device is turned off. Reading the quantity;
Adding an operation amount generated in the movable part based on the ON operation to the operation amount;
Checking the state of the power switch of the device every time the data of the predetermined size is extracted from the added operation amount;
And writing the data of the predetermined size into the nonvolatile memory when the power switch is on.

The invention according to claim 2
In the holding method of movable part operation information according to claim 1,
Checking whether the added operation amount exceeds an operation limit value of the movable part;
Generating an alarm output from the device to the effect that it is time to replace the movable part when the operating limit value is exceeded.

The invention described in claim 3
In the holding method of movable part operation information according to claim 1 or 2,
Writing the added operation amount to a plurality of areas of the nonvolatile memory;
Determining an operation amount by a majority algorithm from a plurality of operation amounts read from the plurality of areas;
It is characterized by including.

The invention according to claim 4
In the holding method of movable part operation information in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The operation amount is defined as an operation time.

The invention according to claim 5
In the holding method of movable part operation information in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The operation amount is defined as the number of operations, and 1 is added to the operation amount every time the movable part is turned on.

The invention described in claim 6
In the movable part operation information holding method according to claim 5,
The apparatus is a confocal microscope, the movable part is a shutter, the ON operation is an opening / closing operation, and the operation count is opening / closing count data.

The invention described in claim 7
In the holding method of movable part operation information in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 6,
An FRAM is used as the nonvolatile memory, and the data of the predetermined size is 1-byte data.

The invention described in claim 8
In equipment with moving parts,
In equipment that is driven by a power supply that is equipped with moving parts and is turned on and off by a power switch,
A non-volatile memory driven by the power source and capable of writing data of at least a predetermined size during a power supply voltage drop after the power switch is turned off;
For each ON operation of the movable part, the operation amount of the movable part is read from the nonvolatile memory, the operation amount generated in the movable part based on the ON operation is added, and the added operation amount of the predetermined size Control means for checking the state of the power switch for each data and writing to the nonvolatile memory when turned on,
It is provided with.

The invention according to claim 9
The device according to claim 8,
An FRAM is used as the nonvolatile memory, and the data of the predetermined size is 1-byte data.

The invention according to claim 10 is:
The device according to claim 8 or 9,
The instrument is a confocal microscope or a confocal unit.

According to the movable part operation information holding method of the present invention, each time a movable part mounted on a device is turned on, data of at least a predetermined size is stored during a power supply voltage drop after the power switch of the device is turned off. From the nonvolatile memory that is writable, the step of reading the operation amount of the movable part, the step of adding the operation amount generated in the movable part based on the ON operation to the operation amount, and the added operation amount Each component including a step of checking a state of a power switch of the device every time the data of the predetermined size is taken out, and a step of writing the data of the predetermined size into the nonvolatile memory when the power switch is on. The component operation information such as the operation time and the number of operations can be held in a small circuit.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a confocal unit for illustrating an example of a method for retaining moving part operation information according to an embodiment of the present invention. The same elements as those in FIG.

The nonvolatile memory 28 includes a nonvolatile memory capable of high-speed writing such as FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory), and is written via the CPU 5 such as a spindle motor 1, a shutter 2, a dichroic mirror motor 3, a filter wheel 4, and the like. The component operation information regarding each movable part is held.

The power supply 6 supplies power to each component of the confocal unit, such as the spindle motor 1, the shutter 2, the dichroic mirror motor 3, the filter wheel 4, the CPU 5, and the high-speed writable nonvolatile memory 28. The power switch 7 turns on / off the power source 6, but the on / off state can be recognized by the CPU 5.

Here, writing of 1 byte to the nonvolatile memory 28 made of FRAM is performed at a high speed of 100 to 200 μs or less including the operation of the CPU 5, and the voltage drops even if the power supply 6 is turned off by the power switch 7 during the writing. It is possible to complete writing inside. That is, as the nonvolatile memory 28 capable of high-speed writing, it is necessary to use a memory capable of writing at least one byte data while the power supply voltage is being lowered after the power switch 7 is turned off.

The operation of storing the moving part operation information in the confocal unit of FIG. 1 will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a storage sequence of the operation information of the shutter 2.

  When the shutter 2 performs the opening operation with the power switch 7 turned on (step S1), the shutter opening / closing frequency data is read from the nonvolatile memory 28 to the CPU 5 (step S2). The CPU 5 increments (increments) the number of times the shutter 2 is opened and closed (step S3), and writes it in the nonvolatile memory 28 (step S4). Next, the number of times the shutter 2 is opened and closed is checked by the CPU 5 (step S5), and if it exceeds the operation limit value, an alarm output is generated to notify the user that it is time to replace (step S6). If not exceeded, the process ends (step S7).

Note that when the shutter 2 performs the closing operation, the number of times of opening and closing is increased by 1, and the same processing is performed.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a write sequence to the nonvolatile memory 28 in step S4 of FIG.

One byte is extracted from the opening / closing data of the shutter 2 incremented by the CPU 5 (step S41). The state of the power switch 7 is checked (step S42). If the power switch 7 is on, 1 byte of data is written to the nonvolatile memory 28 (step S43). Next, it is checked whether or not all the bytes have been written (step S44). If written, the process ends. If not written, the process starts again from the top (step S41).

  In the above description, both the opening operation and the closing operation of the shutter 2 constitute an on operation, and the opening / closing frequency of the shutter 2 constitutes an operation amount of the movable part.

Further, the CPU 5 reads the operation amount of the movable part from the nonvolatile memory every time the movable part is turned on, adds the operation amount generated in the movable part based on the on operation, and data of a predetermined size of the added operation amount. Each time, the state of the power switch is checked, and control means for writing to the nonvolatile memory when the power switch is on is configured.

  If the power switch 7 is turned on in step S42 of the above sequence, writing to the nonvolatile memory 28 is performed even if the power switch 7 is turned off immediately thereafter. This is because writing to the nonvolatile memory 28 is possible in a short time, and thus writing is completed during the voltage drop of the power supply 6.

  According to the movable part operation information holding method configured as described above, the use of a nonvolatile memory capable of high-speed writing such as FRAM allows the writing time of 1 byte data to be within 100 to 200 μs including the operation of the CPU. Therefore, even if the power is turned off during writing, writing can be completed during the voltage drop.

Further, by storing data one byte at a time in a non-volatile memory capable of high-speed writing, the writing time can be further shortened and errors due to writing failures can be reduced.

Even if the power switch is turned off and the FRAM cannot be written in some cases, the approximate number of times only needs to be known in applications such as checking the integrated value of the number of times the shutter is opened and closed. It doesn't matter.

Unlike the case of using conventional non-volatile memory or volatile memory, there is no need to add a circuit such as power control at the end of the operation or installation of a battery for holding the memory. By using the storage sequence, it is possible to hold component operation information in a small-scale circuit. Therefore, even when the mounting area is limited, such as a confocal unit that can be attached to a microscope, it is possible to grasp the replacement time of the moving parts mounted on the equipment, and to determine the service life of the operating parts in the event of a malfunction. The relationship between can be clarified.

In the above embodiment, the added operation amount is written for each byte of data using FRAM as an arbitrary nonvolatile memory capable of high-speed writing. However, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, it is possible to write for each data of a predetermined size that can be written while the power supply voltage drops after the power switch of the device is turned off, using any high-speed writable nonvolatile memory.

Further, for example, MRAM (Magnetic Resistance Memory) or PRAM (Phase Change Memory) may be used instead of FRAM as a non-volatile memory capable of high-speed writing.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the confocal unit, and can be applied to various devices and apparatuses that need to hold moving part operation information and part operation information in a small-scale circuit.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a sequence of writing the added operation amount into a plurality of areas of the high-speed writable nonvolatile memory as a modification of the embodiment of FIG.

  When writing the number of times of opening / closing the shutter in the non-volatile memory 28 in step S4 of FIG. 2, in response to the information write request (step S4s) generated following step S3 of FIG. Are repeated three times, and data are sequentially written in the A area (step S4a), B area (step S4b), and C area (step S4c) of the nonvolatile memory 28.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a read sequence by the majority algorithm of data written in a plurality of areas in the flowchart of FIG.

  When a request for reading information occurs in step S2 of FIG. 2 (step S101), first, shutter opening / closing frequency data (hereinafter referred to as data) is read from the area A of the nonvolatile memory 28 (step S102). Next, data is read from the B area of the nonvolatile memory 28 (step S103), and whether data A and data B are equal is chucked (step S104). If data A and B are equal, data A is returned as read data (step S105). When the data A and the data B are different, the data is read from the C area of the nonvolatile memory 28 (step S106), and whether the data A and the data C are equal is chucked (step S107). If data A and data C are equal, data A is returned as read data (step S104). If the data A and the data C are different, it is checked whether the data B and the data C are equal (step S108). If data B and data C are equal, data B is returned as read data (step S109). When the data B and the data C are different, “error” or any one of A, B, and C, the maximum value or the minimum value is returned as read data.

  As shown in the above modification, if data is written to multiple locations of the memory at the time of writing by taking advantage of the characteristics of the non-volatile memory that can be written at high speed, even if data writing failure occurs due to power failure etc., writing failure Therefore, it is possible to avoid errors by determining read data using the majority algorithm shown in FIG.

In the above-described embodiments and modifications, the number of opening / closing of the shutter 2 is used as the operation amount of the movable part, and it is checked whether or not the shutter 2 is in the replacement period based on the number of opening / closing. In the case of the dichroic mirror motor 3, the filter wheel 4, etc., the operating amount of the movable part can be checked based on the operating time. In this case, the operation time of each movable part is read out from the high-speed writable nonvolatile memory 28, and the operation time counted or measured by a known method is added for each ON operation, and compared with the operation limit value of the operation time. .

  In the above modification, the case where data is written in three areas has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any number of areas can be written.

It is a configuration block diagram of a confocal unit for showing one example of a method for retaining moving part operation information according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a storage sequence of operation information of the shutter 2; 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a write sequence to a nonvolatile memory 28. It is a flowchart which shows the modification of the Example of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the read-out sequence by a majority algorithm. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the conventional confocal unit. FIG. 7 is a configuration block diagram illustrating a configuration when nonvolatile media is used to hold component operation information in the confocal unit of FIG. 6. FIG. 7 is a configuration block diagram showing a configuration when a volatile memory is used to hold component operation information in the confocal unit of FIG. 6.

Explanation of symbols

1-4 Movable parts 5 Control means 6 Power supply 7 Power switch 28 Non-volatile memory

Claims (10)

Each time the movable part mounted on the device is turned on, the movable part is operated from a nonvolatile memory in which data of at least a predetermined size can be written during a power supply voltage drop after the power switch of the device is turned off. Reading the quantity;
Adding an operation amount generated in the movable part based on the ON operation to the operation amount;
Checking the state of the power switch of the device every time the data of the predetermined size is extracted from the added operation amount;
And a step of writing data of the predetermined size in the non-volatile memory when the power switch is turned on. Checking whether the added operation amount exceeds an operation limit value of the movable part;
The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating an alarm output from the device indicating that it is time to replace the movable part when the operation limit value is exceeded. Writing the added operation amount to a plurality of areas of the nonvolatile memory;
Determining an operation amount by a majority algorithm from a plurality of operation amounts read from the plurality of areas;
The method for retaining moving part operation information according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by comprising: 4. The moving part operation information holding method according to claim 1, wherein the operation amount is an operation time.   4. The movable part operation information holding method according to claim 1, wherein the operation amount is set as the number of operations, and 1 is added to the operation amount every time the movable part is turned on. 6. The method of holding movable part operation information according to claim 5, wherein the device is a confocal microscope, the movable part is a shutter, the ON operation is an open / close operation, and the operation count is the open / close frequency data. . 7. The moving part operation information holding method according to claim 1, wherein an FRAM is used as the nonvolatile memory, and the data of the predetermined size is 1-byte data. In equipment that is driven by a power supply that is equipped with moving parts and is turned on and off by a power switch,
A non-volatile memory driven by the power source and capable of writing data of at least a predetermined size during a power supply voltage drop after the power switch is turned off;
For each ON operation of the movable part, the operation amount of the movable part is read from the nonvolatile memory, the operation amount generated in the movable part based on the ON operation is added, and the added operation amount of the predetermined size Control means for checking the state of the power switch for each data and writing to the nonvolatile memory when turned on,
A device characterized by comprising 9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein an FRAM is used as the nonvolatile memory, and the predetermined size data is 1-byte data.   The instrument according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the instrument is a confocal microscope or a confocal unit.