Patent ID: 11860176
Assignee: ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS OPERATIONS, INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A method of operating an analytical laboratory comprising a laboratory middleware communicatively connected to a plurality of laboratory instruments configured to process biological samples, the method comprising the steps of:
setting a load limit by the laboratory middleware for each laboratory instrument at a value equal to a maximum instrument capacity of the laboratory instrument;
dispatching biological samples by the laboratory middleware to laboratory instrument(s) at a dispatch rate not greater than the instrument load limit, wherein the biological samples are dispatched to laboratory instrument(s) configured to carry out at least one test order corresponding to the biological sample;
receiving and identifying biological samples by the laboratory instruments;
sending test order queries by each laboratory instrument to the laboratory middleware upon identifying a biological sample, the test order query comprising data identifying the biological sample;
in response to the test order queries, transmitting test orders by the laboratory middleware to the laboratory instruments corresponding to the biological samples identified in the test order queries;
monitoring a query rate of the plurality of laboratory instruments by the laboratory middleware in order to determine an effective flow rate corresponding to each laboratory instrument;
and
in response to determining that the effective flow rate of the first laboratory instrument is lower than the corresponding dispatch rate, masking the first laboratory instrument with respect to one or more of the plurality of laboratory instruments other than the first laboratory instrument.