SAMPLE ANALYZER, BLOOD ANALYZER AND DISPLAYING METHOD

• US 20090006003A1
• Filed: 05/27/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sysmex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sysmex Corporation
• Inventors: Hirayama, Hideki, Nakamura, Yoichi
• Granted Patent: US 9,322,834 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/21
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/01 specially adapted for biological cells, e.g. blood cells investigating sedimentation of particle suspensions in blood G01N15/05
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/1012 Calibrating particle analysers; References therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2015/012 Red blood cells
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2015/016 White blood cells
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2015/018 Platelets
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2015/1486 Counting the particles
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/0091 GUI [graphical user interfaces]
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00584 Control arrangements for automatic analysers

Abstract

The present invention is to present a sample analyzer which is capable of displaying a particle distribution map of a measured sample and a reference particle distribution map so as to be visually compared without reducing a display area for displaying information other than the particle distribution map. The blood analyzer 1 comprises: a display 302; a measurement unit 2 for measuring a blood sample; and a controller 301 being configured to 1) generate a particle distribution map representing a distribution of the particles contained in the blood sample, based on measurement data obtained by the measurement unit 2; and 2) control the display 302 so as to display the particle distribution map of the blood sample at a predetermined display position and to display a reference particle distribution map at the predetermined display position so as to be visually compared with the particle distribution map of the blood sample.

Claims

1. A sample analyzer for analyzing a sample containing particles, comprising:

a display;

a measurement section for measuring a sample containing particles; and

a controller in communication with the display and the measurement section, the controller being configured to

     1) generate a particle distribution map representing a distribution of the particles contained in the sample, based on measurement data obtained by the measurement section; and

     2) control the display so as to display the particle distribution map of the sample at a predetermined display position and to display a reference particle distribution map at the predetermined display position so as to be visually compared with the particle distribution map of the sample.

2. The sample analyzer of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a memory for storing the reference particle distribution map, reads out the reference particle distribution map from the memory according to a display instruction of the reference particle distribution map, and controls the display so as to display the read-out reference particle distribution map at the predetermined display position.

3. The sample analyzer of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the display so as to alternately display the particle distribution map of the sample and the reference particle distribution map at the predetermined display position.

4. The sample analyzer of claim 3, wherein the controller automatically switches a display of the particle distribution map of the sample and a display of the reference particle distribution map.

5. The sample analyzer of claim 3, wherein the controller switches a display of the particle distribution map of the sample and a display of the reference particle distribution map according to a switching instruction of the particle distribution map.

6. The sample analyzer of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the display so that one of the particle distribution map of the sample and the reference particle distribution map displayed at the predetermined display position gradually changes to the other particle distribution map.

7. The sample analyzer of claim 6, wherein the controller controls the display so that one of the particle distribution map of the sample and the reference particle distribution map gradually appears at the predetermined display position as the other particle distribution map displayed at the predetermined display position gradually disappears from the predetermined display position.

8. The sample analyzer of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the display so as to display the reference particle distribution map on the particle distribution map of the sample at the predetermined display position distinguishably from the particle distribution map of the sample.

9. The sample analyze of claim 1, wherein the controller changes a displaying method of the reference particle distribution map according to a change instruction of the displaying method of the reference particle distribution map.

10. The sample analyzer of claim 2, wherein the controller stores the particle distribution map of the sample in the memory as a reference particle distribution map according to a registration instruction of a reference particle distribution map.

11. The sample analyzer of claim 2, wherein

the memory stores a plurality of reference particle distribution maps;

and

the controller accepts a selection of a reference particle distribution map to be displayed at the predetermined display position from the plurality of reference particle distribution maps stored in the memory, and controls the display so as to display the selected reference particle distribution map.

12. The sample analyzer of claim 1, wherein the reference particle distribution map is a particle distribution map generated by measuring a sample different from the sample.

13. The sample analyzer of claim 12, wherein the reference particle distribution map is selected from a group consisting of a particle distribution map of a sample collected from a healthy living body, a particle distribution map of a sample collected from a living body with a predetermined illness, a particle distribution map of another sample collected from a living body from which the sample measured in the measurement section is collected, and a particle distribution map of a sample collected from a living body of an animal species different from that of the living body from which the sample measured in the measurement section is collected.

14. The sample analyzer of claim 1, wherein each of the particle distribution map of the sample and the reference particle distribution map is a scattergram generated using at least two types of characteristic information representing characteristics of particles in a sample.

15. A sample analyzer for analyzing a sample containing particles, comprising:

a display;

a measurement section for measuring a sample containing particles;

generating means for generating a particle distribution map representing a distribution of the particles contained in the sample, based on measurement data obtained by the measurement section; and

display controlling means for controlling the display so as to display the particle distribution map of the sample at a predetermined display position and to display a reference particle distribution map at the predetermined display position so as to be visually compared with the particle distribution map of the sample.

16. A method for displaying a particle distribution map representing a distribution of particles contained in a sample, comprising steps of:

(a) generating a particle distribution map representing a distribution of particles contained in a sample by measuring the sample containing the particles and displaying the particle distribution map at a predetermined display position; and

(b) displaying a reference particle distribution map at the predetermined display position so as to be visually compared with the particle distribution map of the sample.

17. A blood analyzer for analyzing blood samples of a plurality of species of animals, comprising:

a display;

a measurement section for measuring a blood sample; and

a controller in communication with the display and the measurement section, the controller being configured to

     1) accept a selection of an animal species to be measured;

     2) generate a blood cell distribution map representing a distribution of blood cells contained in the blood sample, based on measurement data obtained by the measurement section; and

     3) control the display so as to display the blood cell distribution map of the blood sample and a reference blood cell distribution map corresponding to the selected animal species so as to be visually compared.

18. The blood analyzer of claim 17, wherein

the controller comprises a memory for storing a plurality of reference blood cell distribution maps for every animal species, reads out the reference blood cell distribution map corresponding to the selected animal species from the memory according to a display instruction of the reference blood cell distribution map, and controls the display so as to display the read-out reference blood cell distribution map.

19. The blood analyzer of claim 17, wherein the controller controls the display so as to display the blood cell distribution map of the blood sample on a predetermined distribution map display region, and display the reference blood cell distribution map on a reference distribution map display region adjacent to the predetermined distribution map display region.

20. The blood analyzer of claim 17, wherein the plurality of species of animals are plurality of species of animals excluding human being.

21. A blood analyzer for analyzing blood samples of a plurality of species of animals, comprising:

a display;

a measurement section for measuring a blood sample; and

accepting means for accepting a selection of an animal species to be measured;

generating means for generating a blood cell distribution map representing a distribution of blood cells contained in the blood sample, based on measurement data obtained by the measurement section; and

display controlling means for controlling the display so as to display the blood cell distribution map of the blood sample and a reference blood cell distribution map corresponding to the selected animal species so as to be visually compared.

22. A method for displaying a blood cell distribution map in a blood analyzer for analyzing blood samples of a plurality of species of animals, comprising steps of:

a) selecting an animal species to be measured;

b) generating a blood cell distribution map representing a distribution of blood cells contained in a blood sample by measuring the blood sample; and

c) displaying the generated blood cell distribution map and a reference blood cell distribution map corresponding to the animal species selected in step a) so as to be visually compared.