ENCODING SCHEME EMBEDDED INTO AN AUTOMATION TRACK SURFACE

• US 20150010437A1
• Filed: 02/01/2013
• Published: 01/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Mellars, Colin, Yagci, Baris, Pollack, Benjamin
• Granted Patent: US 9,726,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 422/67
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00772 mechanical or optical code other than bar code
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00801 Holders for sample carriers, e.g. trays, caroussel, racks
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00851 process control parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/0406 Individual bottles or tubes
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00722 Communications; Identification
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00732 Identification of carriers, materials or components in automatic analysers
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/02 using a plurality of sample containers moved by a conveyor system past one or more treatment or analysis stations G01N35/0098 and G01N35/0099 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/04 Details of the conveyor system G01N35/021 - G01N35/028 take precedence

Abstract

An automation system for an in vitro diagnostics environment includes a plurality of intelligent carriers that include onboard processing and navigation capabilities. A central scheduler can communicate wirelessly with the carriers to direct the carriers to carry a fluid sample to testing stations along a track within the automation system. The carriers can utilize landmarks and distance encoding to reach destinations accurately and quickly, including, for example within less than the time for a single operation cycle of an automated clinical analyzer. The distance encoding can include optical marks repeated at regular intervals (pitch), where the intervals are conveyed to the carriers wirelessly or via optical encoding. The pitch of the encoding can differ for different sections of track depending on the position precision desired.

Claims

1. An automation system for use with an automated clinical analyzer comprising:

a track comprising at least a first and a second track segment, the first and second track segments comprising a first and second set of optically encoded marks, respectively;

a plurality of independently movable carriers configured to observe the first and second sets of optically encoded marks,

wherein the first set of optically encoded marks comprises a first pitch, and the second set of optically encoded marks comprises a second, finer pitch.

2. The automation system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the first pitch is communicated wirelessly to at least one of the plurality of independently movable carriers.

3. The automation system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the first pitch is encoded in characters in the first set of optically encoded marks.

4. The automation system of claim 1, wherein synchronization information is encoded in characters in the first set of optically encoded marks.

5. The automation system of claim 1, wherein an identification of the first track segment is encoded in the first set of optically encoded marks.

6. The automation system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of independent carriers are configured to count marks in the first set of optically encoded marks to determine a relative location in the first track segment.

7. The automation system of claim 1, wherein the first track segment comprises one or more optical landmarks.

8. An automation system for use with an automated clinical analyzer comprising:

a track comprising at least one track segment comprising at least a first set of optically encoded marks, at least a subset of which are regularly spaced with a first pitch;

at least one movable carrier for transporting a fluid sample and configured to navigate the track using at least the first set of optically encoded marks, including counting the number of optically encoded marks to determine the current location of the movable carrier within the track segment.

9. The automation system of claim 8, wherein the amount of the first pitch is communicated wirelessly to the at least one movable carrier.

10. The automation system of claim 8, wherein the amount of the first pitch is encoded in characters in the first set of optically encoded marks.

11. The automation system of claim 8, wherein synchronization information is encoded in characters in the first set of optically encoded marks.

12. The automation system of claim 8, wherein an identification of a first track segment is encoded in the first set of optically encoded marks.

13. The automation system of claim 8, wherein the first track segment comprises one or more optical landmarks.

14. The automation system of claim 8, wherein the first set of optically encoded marks comprise a plurality of rows of marks.

15. The automation system of claim 8, wherein the rows of marks are offset from one another such that observing the first set of optically encoded marks indicates a direction in which the movable carrier is traveling.

16. A carrier configurable for use in an automation system in an IVD system, comprising:

a body configured to interface with an automation track and further configured to facilitate carrying a payload;

one or more optical sensors configured to sense optically encoded marks on the automation track; and

a processor configured to decode the optically encoded marks and determine at least one of position and velocity of the carrier within the automation system.

17. The carrier of claim 16, wherein the processor utilizes information about a plurality of pitches in the optically encoded marks to perform the determination.

18. The carrier of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to wirelessly receive the information about a plurality of pitches.

19. The carrier of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to decode the information about a plurality of pitches from characters in the optically encoded marks.

20. The carrier of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to determine an identification of a current track section by decoding information from the optically encoded marks.

21. The carrier of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the position of the carrier within the automation system by counting at least a subset of the optically encoded marks.

22. The carrier of claim 16, wherein the optically encoded marks decoded by the processor comprise a plurality of rows of marks.