Centralized monitor and control system for laboratory instruments
First Claim
1. A laboratory computer network comprising:
- a plurality of laboratory instrument workstations connected to respective laboratory instruments, each laboratory instrument workstation being adapted to provide video screen data comprising one or more pixel values of a predetermined screen section, said one or more pixel values indicative of the operational status of the respective laboratory instrument;
transmission media adapted to transmit said video screen data from each of said plurality of laboratory instrument workstations; and
a central server adapted to receive said video screen data from said transmission media, said central server adapted to monitor said one or more pixel values of said predetermined screen section of the video screen data respectively received from said plurality of laboratory instrument workstations and to provide an indication of a change of state of said one or more pixel values, wherein said change of state corresponds to a change in the operational status of the respective laboratory instrument.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A laboratory computer network is set forth. The laboratory computer network comprises a plurality of laboratory instrument workstations connected to respective laboratory instruments. Each laboratory instrument workstation is adapted to provide video screen data indicative of the operational status of the respective laboratory instrument. A transmission medium is provided to transmit video screen data from each of the plurality of laboratory instrument workstations. A central server is also provided. The central server is adapted to receive the video screen data from the transmission media. The central server monitors one or more screen sections of the video screen data received from each of the plurality of laboratory instrument workstations and provides an alert in response to a given visual state of the monitored screen sections of each laboratory instrument workstation.
39 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A laboratory computer network comprising:
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a plurality of laboratory instrument workstations connected to respective laboratory instruments, each laboratory instrument workstation being adapted to provide video screen data comprising one or more pixel values of a predetermined screen section, said one or more pixel values indicative of the operational status of the respective laboratory instrument; transmission media adapted to transmit said video screen data from each of said plurality of laboratory instrument workstations; and a central server adapted to receive said video screen data from said transmission media, said central server adapted to monitor said one or more pixel values of said predetermined screen section of the video screen data respectively received from said plurality of laboratory instrument workstations and to provide an indication of a change of state of said one or more pixel values, wherein said change of state corresponds to a change in the operational status of the respective laboratory instrument. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A laboratory computer network comprising:
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a plurality of laboratory instrument workstations connected to respective laboratory instruments, each laboratory instrument workstation being adapted to provide video screen data to a video monitor connected to said laboratory instrument workstation, wherein the visual state of a predetermined screen section of the video screen data is indicative of the operational status of the respective laboratory instrument; transmission media adapted to transmit said video screen data from each of said plurality of laboratory instrument workstations; and a central server adapted to receive said video screen data from said transmission media, said central server storing said predetermined screen section of said video screen data received from at least one of said plurality of laboratory instrument workstations into a software variable array readable by a computer program operating in said central server, said computer program further adapted to monitor said software variable array and to generate an alert based on a degree of correlation between said software variable array and a predetermined fixed value array, the predetermined fixed value array indicative of a change in the operational status of the respective laboratory instrument. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A central computer station for use in a laboratory network, the central computer station comprising:
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a network interface adapted to receive video screen data comprising pixel values, the video screen data indicative of the operational status of a plurality of laboratory instrument workstations connected to respective laboratory instruments, wherein a first visual state of a predetermined screen section of the video screen data indicates a first operational state of the respective laboratory instrument, and wherein a second visual state of said predetermined screen section indicates a second operational state of the respective laboratory instrument; operational status monitoring software adapted to monitor said pixel values of said predetermined screen section of the video screen data respectively received from each of said plurality of laboratory instrument workstations; and a video monitor controlled by said operational status monitoring software, wherein said operational status monitoring software is further adapted to provide an indication on said video monitor when said operational status monitoring software determines that said predetermined screen section received from one of said plurality of laboratory instrument workstations has changed to said second visual state based on said monitored pixel values. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification