Automated analyzer

• US 11,486,887 B2
• Filed: 11/13/2017
• Issued: 11/01/2022
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi High-Tech Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi High-Tech Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Akutsu, Masashi, Makino, Akihisa, Mishima, Hiroyuki, Yasui, Akihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Warden, Jill A
• Assistant Examiner(s): McGuirk, John
• Application Number:
  US16/468,761
• Publication Number:
  US 20190317119A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,814 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00752 bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/0094 optimisation; experiment design
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/0412 Block or rack elements with a single row of samples
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/0496 Other details
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00732 Identification of carriers, materials or components in automatic analysers
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/0092 Scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/0095 introducing urgent samples with priority, e.g. Short Turn Around Time Samples [STATS]
• 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 35/026 having blocks or racks of reaction cells or cuvettes
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/04 Details of the conveyor system G01N35/021 - G01N35/028 take precedence

Abstract

The present invention is provided with a sample rack insertion unit 12 that is capable of holding one or more sample racks 5 having mounted therein one or more sample containers 6 accommodating a sample to be analyzed, one or more analysis devices 2, 3 for analyzing the sample accommodated in the sample containers 6, a sample rack conveyance unit 14 for conveying the sample racks 5 from the sample rack insertion unit 12 to the analysis devices 2, 3, and a control device 4 for acquiring, for each analysis device 2, 3, load information that is information expressing an operating condition of the analysis device 2, 3, and, if there is an analysis device 2, 3 for which the load information is larger than a predetermined conveyance permission value, carrying out control so as to stop the conveyance of the sample racks 5 from the sample rack insertion unit 12 to the analysis device(s) 2, 3. As a result of this configuration, it is possible to mitigate in-device sample conveyance congestion occurring as a result of the insertion of many samples and keep the sample environment and analysis processing power at high levels.

Claims

1. An automatic analysis device comprising:

a specimen rack input unit configured to hold one or more specimen racks on which one or more specimen containers each containing a specimen as an analysis target are mounted;

two or more analysis units configured to analyze the specimen contained in each of the one or more specimen containers;

a specimen rack transportation unit configured to transport the one or more specimen racks between the specimen rack input unit and the two or more analysis units;

a specimen rack buffer unit configured to hold the one or more specimen racks transported from the specimen rack input unit until being transported to the two or more analysis units, the specimen rack buffer unit being disposed at a longitudinal end of the specimen rack transportation unit and between two of the two or more analysis units; and

a control unit configured to control the automatic analysis device such that load information as information representing an operation status of the two or more analysis units is acquired individually for each of the two or more analysis units, and control the transportation of each of the one or more specimen racks from the specimen rack input unit to the two or more analysis units to stop such that each of the one or more specimen racks is not carried out to the specimen rack buffer unit in a case where the load information of at least one of the two or more analysis units is greater than a predetermined set value,

wherein the load information of each of the two or more analysis units is obtained by the product of the number of analysis items, which correspond to non-processed dispensing processes among dispensing processes corresponding to predetermined analysis items with respect to the one or more specimen containers mounted on the one or more specimen racks transported to the two or more analysis units, and a load factor, which represents a time required for a dispensing process by a specimen dispensing mechanism of the two or more analysis units.

2. The automatic analysis device according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit includes

a number-of-requested-items calculation unit configured to acquire the number of analysis items which is predetermined for the one or more specimen containers mounted on the one or more specimen racks transported to the two or more analysis units,

a load information calculation unit configured to calculate the number of analysis items corresponding to non-processed dispensing processes among the number of analysis items obtained by the number-of-requested-items calculation unit, and the load information, and

a load information comparison unit configured to compare the load information obtained by the load information calculation unit with the predetermined set value.

3. The automatic analysis device according to claim 1, further comprising:

an urgent specimen rack input unit configured to input a specimen rack on which a specimen container containing an urgent specimen is mounted,

wherein the control unit is configured to control the automatic analysis device such that the specimen rack input to the urgent specimen rack input unit is transported from the urgent specimen rack input unit to one of the two or more analysis units regardless of the magnitude between the predetermined set value and the load information.