SAMPLE ANALYZER

• US 20110229374A1
• Filed: 03/18/2011
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sysmex Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sysmex Corporation
• Inventors: TOKUNAGA, Kazutoshi
• Granted Patent: US 9,869,685 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 422/63
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00742 Type of codes
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00782 reprogrammmable code
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/0443 for reagents
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00732 Identification of carriers, materials or components in automatic analysers
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/04 Details of the conveyor system G01N35/021 - G01N35/028 take precedence

Abstract

A sample analyzer including: a first reagent container holding unit; a second reagent container holding unit being arranged on one side of the first reagent container holding portion; a reagent information reading unit; and a control unit. The reagent information reading unit includes an electric wave emitting portion, which is arranged on the other side of the first reagent container holding unit, for emitting a plurality of electric waves having mutually differing reaching ranges, and the control unit controls the reagent information reading unit to switch the electric wave emitted from the electric wave emitting portion in accordance with a read target being the first electronic tag or the second electronic tag.

Claims

1. A sample analyzer for analyzing a sample using a reagent in a reagent container comprising:

a first reagent container holding unit configured to hold a first reagent container attached with a first electronic tag recorded with reagent information regarding a reagent;

a second reagent container holding unit configured to hold a second reagent container attached with a second electronic tag recorded with reagent information regarding a reagent, and being arranged on one side of the first reagent container holding unit;

a reagent information reading unit comprising an electric wave emitting portion and configured to read the reagent information recorded in the first electronic tag and the reagent information recorded in the second electronic tag; and

a control unit for the reagent information reading unit,

wherein the electric wave emitting portion is arranged on a side other than the one side of the first reagent container holding unit and is configured to emit a plurality of electric waves having mutually differing reaching ranges, and

wherein the control unit controls the reagent information reading unit to switch the electric wave emitted from the electric wave emitting portion in accordance with a read target being the first electronic tag or the second electronic tag.

2. The sample analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the reagent information reading unit to cause the electric wave emitting portion to emit an electric wave of a first reaching range when the read target is the first electronic tag, and to emit an electric wave of a second reaching range greater than the first reaching range when the read target is the second electronic tag.

3. The sample analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the electric wave emitting portion includes a shared antenna for selectively emitting the plurality of electric waves having mutually differing reaching ranges, and

the control unit controls the reagent information reading unit to switch the electric wave emitted from the shared antenna in accordance with the read target being the first electronic tag or the second electronic tag.

4. The sample analyzer according to claim 3, further comprising a drive unit configured to move at least one of the first reagent container holding unit and the shared antenna,

wherein the control unit controls the drive unit to evacuate the first reagent container from a position facing the shared antenna when the read target is the second electronic tag.

5. The sample analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the electric wave emitting portion includes a first antenna configured to emit the electric wave of the first reaching range and a second antenna configured to emit the electric wave of the second reaching range;

and

the control unit controls the reagent information reading unit to switch an antenna to emit the electric wave to the first antenna or to the second antenna in accordance with the read target being the first electronic tag or the second electronic tag.

6. The sample analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines whether the reagent information is read from the electronic tag of the read target.

7. The sample analyzer according to claim 6, wherein each of the reagent information recorded in the first electronic tag and the reagent information recorded in the second electronic tag includes a type specifying information for specifying a type of reagent;

and

the control unit determines whether the reagent information is read from the electronic tag of the read target based on the type specifying information contained in the reagent information read by the reagent information reading unit.

8. The sample analyzer according to claim 7, wherein the first reagent container accommodates a reagent of a first type, and the second reagent container accommodates a reagent of a second type that differs from the first type.

9. The sample analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the first reagent container holding unit holds a plurality of first reagent containers and is formed to a substantially circular shape in plan view;

the second reagent container holding unit holds a plurality of second reagent containers, and is formed to a substantially circular shape on an inner peripheral side of the first reagent container holding unit when seen in plan view; and

the electric wave emitting portion is arranged on an outer peripheral side of the first reagent container holding unit.

10. The sample analyzer according to claim 9, wherein the first reagent container holding unit is configured to hold a predetermined number of first reagent containers at equal respective intervals;

and

the second reagent container holding unit is configured to hold the predetermined number of second reagent containers at equal respective intervals.

11. A sample analyzer for analyzing a sample using a reagent in a reagent container comprising:

a first reagent container holding unit configured to hold a first reagent container attached with a first electronic tag recorded with reagent information regarding a reagent;

a second reagent container holding unit configured to hold a second reagent container attached with a second electronic tag recorded with reagent information regarding a reagent, and being arranged on one side with respect to the first reagent container holding unit;

an antenna, arranged on a side other than the one side with respect to the first reagent container holding unit and is configured to receive respective electric waves from the first electronic tag of the first reagent container and from the second electronic tag of the second reagent container; and

a reagent information acquiring unit configured to acquire the reagent information recorded in the first electronic tag based on the electric wave received by the antenna from the first electronic tag, and to acquire the reagent information recorded in the second electronic tag based on the electric wave received by the antenna from the second electronic tag.

12. The sample analyzer according to claim 11, further comprising a drive unit configured to move at least one of the first reagent container holding unit and the antenna;

and

a drive control unit configured to control the drive unit to evacuate the first reagent container from a position facing the antenna when the antenna receives the electric wave from the second electronic tag of the second reagent container.

13. The sample analyzer according to claim 12, wherein the first reagent container holding unit holds a plurality of first reagent containers in a lined state;

and

the drive control unit is configured to control the drive unit to position a gap between adjacent first reagent containers of the first reagent container holding unit in a region where the second electronic tag and the antenna face each other when the antenna receives the electric wave from the second electronic tag of the second reagent container.

14. The sample analyzer according to claim 13, wherein the antenna is fixed at a predetermined position;

the drive unit is configured to move the first reagent container holding unit and the second reagent container holding unit; and

the drive control unit is configured to control the drive unit to position the gap and the second electronic tag at a front surface position of the antenna by moving the first reagent container holding unit and the second reagent container holding unit with respect to the antenna fixed at the predetermined position when the antenna receives the electric wave from the second electronic tag of the second reagent container.

15. The sample analyzer according to claim 12, wherein the drive control unit is configured to control the drive unit to position the first tag of the first reagent container at a position not facing the antenna when the antenna receives the electric wave from the second electronic tag of the second reagent container.

16. The sample analyzer according to claim 11, further comprising a limiting member configured to limit at least one of a reaching range of the electric wave emitted from the antenna and a reception range of the electric wave received by the antenna.

17. The sample analyzer according to claim 11, wherein the first reagent container holding unit is formed to a substantially circular shape in plan view;

the second reagent container holding unit is formed to a substantially circular shape on an inner peripheral side of the first reagent container holding unit when seen in plan view; and

the antenna is arranged on an outer peripheral side of the first reagent container holding unit.

18. The sample analyzer according to claim 11, further comprising a determination control unit configured to determine whether the antenna has received the electric wave from the electronic tag of a read target.

19. The sample analyzer according to claim 18, wherein the reagent information recorded in the electronic tag includes a type specifying information for specifying a type of reagent;

and

the first determination control unit is configured to determine whether the antenna has received the electric wave from the electronic tag of the read target based on the type specifying information included in the reagent information acquired by the reagent information acquiring unit.

20. The sample analyzer according claim 18, wherein the antenna is configured to write reagent information to the first electronic tag and to the second electronic tag by emitting a write electric wave to the first electronic tag of the first reagent container and the second electronic tag of the second reagent container;

and

the determination control unit is configured to determine whether an electronic tag of a write target of a reagent information and the antenna are in communication before the antenna emits the write electric wave to the electronic tag of the write target.