SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY LOCATING AND MANIPULATING POSITIONS ON AN OBJECT

• US 20070171070A1
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Triantafyllos Tafas, Youngmin Kim
• Original Assignee: Triantafyllos Tafas, Youngmin Kim
• Inventors: Kim, Youngmin, Tafas, Triantafyllos
• Application Number:
  US11/693,544
• Publication Number:
  US 20070171070A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/022 Transponder chips
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0822 Slides
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/545 for laboratory containers
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/282 with mapping; Identification of areas; Spatial correlated pattern
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00782 reprogrammmable code
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00851 process control parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00732 Identification of carriers, materials or components in automatic analysers
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/34 Microscope slides, e.g. mounting specimens on microscope slides
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/365 Control or image processing arrangements for digital or video microscopes G02B21/361, G02B21/362 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/40 for data related to laboratory analysis, e.g. patient specimen analysis

Abstract

A system for automatically locating positions on an object and uniquely identifying the object employing an electronic tag positioned in or on the object. The system utilizes a plurality of sensors to locate the electronic tag and identify the object, and triangulation techniques to locate positions on the object where the object may be manipulated according to instructions coded with respect to the positions. Advantageously, the present invention may be used for automatically locating specimens on a microscope slide without regards to their positions on the slide, and for uniquely labeling a microscope slide.

Claims

1. A system for automatically locating and identifying positions on an object comprising:

an object having a tag;

a plurality of remote devices capable of locating and activating said tag;

an object manipulator;

a processor operatively configured for communicating with said plurality of remote devices, and said manipulator of said object;

said processor further operatively configured to record the position of said tag, and command said manipulator to perform manipulations at selected positions on said object relative to the position of said tag.

2. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 1, wherein said tag comprises a radio frequency identifier device (RFID), having an electronic code.

3. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 2, wherein said tag device comprises a passive RFID.

4. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 2, wherein said electronic code comprises a block of data formed in a transponder device on an integrated circuit chip.

5. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 4, wherein said block of data includes processing instructions for manipulating said object.

6. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 1, wherein said remote devices comprise electronic sensors that emit electromagnetic radiation.

7. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 1, wherein said remote devices are capable of reading and writing onto said tag.

8. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of remote devices comprises two or more of such devices.

9. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 1, wherein said processor communicates with said remote devices electromagnetically.

10. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 1, wherein said processor uses triangulation techniques to compute the positions on said object.

11. The automatic position locator/identifier system according to claim 1, wherein the triangulation technique uses two directional antennas.