Abstract:
A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for designing a treating member contains a first code segment adapted to acquiring a piece of input information containing a treatment sequence; and a second code segment adapted to designing a flow path along which a sample moves, based on the piece of input information.

Description:
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE  
       [0001]     The present application claims priority from Japanese application JP 2004-055354 filed on Feb. 27, 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to a program for designing a treating member to be used when treatments such as chemical reactions are conducted as an automated process, and a system for providing a service to design a treating member using the program concerned.  
         [0003]     In general, a chemical treatment process is constituted with a sequence of individual treatments referred to as unit chemical operations such as centrifugal separation and mixing/reaction. Various processes have been developed, and these various chemical treatment processes require complicated operations; generally, individual treatment steps are carried out by hand sequentially in such a way that samples and reagents are placed in glass flasks and test tubes. However, for some operations, automated devices are available. Examples of such automated devices include a centrifugal separator in which components in a sample solution inside a test tube are separated by specific gravity by revolving the test tube, an evaporator device in which a flask is made to rotate and the liquid inside the flask is evaporated, and a general-purpose robot device which sucks up a trace of liquid inside a test tube and transfers the liquid to another test tube or a reaction vessel.  
         [0004]     WO 00/78455 describes a microstructure and a method for examination using amplification as a device automating by rotary drive a particular chemical treatment process and a particular chemical analysis, both having been predetermined. In this device, by use of a method for purifying and separating a nucleic acid mixture, described in JP 8-501321 A, a DNA mixture solution is made to pass through a glass filter as an inorganic substrate, and thereafter made to pass through a cleaning liquid and an eluent, thus merely the DNA being recovered. The glass filter is arranged on a rotatable structure, and reagents such as the cleaning liquid and the eluent are held respectively in individual reagent reservoirs in the structure. The respective regents are made to flow by the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the structure, and the valves arranged in the micro flow paths connecting between the respective reagent reservoirs and the glass filter are opened, the reagents being thereby made to pass through the glass filter.  
         [0005]     As can be seen clearly from the above description on conventional techniques, in a sequential chemical treatment process composed of a sequence of different unit chemical operations, the individual unit chemical operations are needed to be carried out by hand or by combining devices; the state of affairs is such that there have not yet been proposed a technique and a device which can completely automate a sequential process from beginning to end. In the aforementioned WO 00/78455, there is disclosed a technique in which for a particular treatment process of gene extraction, a sequence of operations are completely automated by making liquids flow by exerting centrifugal force through rotary driving; however, this technique cannot meet arbitrary chemical treatment processes.  
         [0006]     Furthermore, for the purpose of carrying out an arbitrary chemical treatment process, microstructures are needed to be designed in compliance with the plural unit chemical operations constituting the chemical treatment process. However, there has not yet been known a program or a system which provides microstructures in compliance with an arbitrary chemical treatment process.  
         [0007]     Consequently, the present invention takes as its object the provision of a program for designing a treating member which program can provide a treating member automating a sequential process in compliance with an arbitrary treatment process and a system for providing a service system to design the treating member.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     A program for designing a treating member involved in the present invention which program has achieved the aforementioned object includes a step for acquiring a piece of input information including a treatment sequence; and a step for designing a flow path, along which a sample moves, based on the above described piece of input information. According to the present program, there can be constructed a piece of drive control information about the designed treating member.  
         [0009]     On the other hand, the system for designing a treating member involved in the present invention includes a step for acquiring a piece of design information about a flow path along which a sample moves, designed based on a piece of input information including a treatment sequence; a step for creating a piece of control information for controlling a treating-member fabrication unit based on the above described piece of design information; and a step for outputting the above described piece of control information to the above described treating-member fabrication unit. In the present system, there can be constructed a piece of drive control information about the designed treating member, and there can be output the piece of drive control information to the terminal having output the piece of design information.  
         [0010]     Additionally, the system for designing a treating member involved in the present invention includes a step for acquiring a piece of input information including a treatment sequence; a step for designing a flow path along which a sample moves based on the above described piece of input information; a step for creating a piece of control information for controlling a treating-member fabrication unit based on a piece of design information about the designed flow path; and a step for outputting the above described piece of control information to the above described treating-member fabrication unit.  
         [0011]     It is preferable that in the program and system for designing the treating member, involved in the present invention, in addition to a piece of information about the treatment sequence, the piece of input information further include one or more pieces of information selected from the group consisting of a piece of operation information about the above described sample, a piece of treatment condition information about the above described sample, and a piece of information associated with samples. In the program and system for designing the treating member, involved in the present invention, the flow path can be designed by optimizing the piece of shape information, read out from the database in which the treatment sequence and the piece of shape information are stored to correlate with each other, based on a piece of information included in the piece of input information.  
         [0012]     According to the present invention, there can be provided a treating member which automates a sequential process in compliance with an arbitrary chemical treatment process. More specifically, according to the program for designing a treating member and the system for designing a treating member, involved in the present invention, there can be designed a treating member for carrying out an arbitrary process, based on a piece of information about the treatment sequence included in the piece of input information.  
         [0013]     Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing a system for designing a treating member involved in the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a device for carrying out a chemical treatment process;  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a device for carrying out a chemical treatment process using a disc-shaped treating member;  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart for a fabrication method of a treating member, applied to the program for designing a treating member involved in the present invention;  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart for illustrating the information flow in a system for designing a treating member;  
         [0019]      FIG. 6  is an illustrative diagram for an algorithm in the program for designing a treating member; and  
         [0020]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart showing steps for fabricating a treating member based on a piece of design information about the treating member. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]     Detailed description will be made below on the program for designing the treating member and the system for designing the treating member, both involved in the present invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
       First Best Embodiment  
       [0022]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the system for designing the treating member according to the present invention includes a user terminal  1  belonging to the system user side, a provision terminal  2  for designing a flow path in the treating member to be used in a chemical or other treatment process, and a treating-member fabrication unit  3  for fabricating the treating member. In the present system, the user terminal  1  and the provision terminal  2  are connected to each other through the intermediary of communication network such as Internet and intranet, and can exchange various types of data with each other. Incidentally, in the present system, the unit  3  for fabricating the treating member may be directly connected to the provision terminal  2 , or may be connected to the provision terminal  2  through the intermediary of communication networks in a communicatable manner.  
         [0023]     In the present system, a treating member to actualize the treatment sequence desired by a user of the system is designed on the provision terminal  2 , and the treating member is fabricated by the unit  3  for fabricating the treating member based on this design. More specifically, on the provision terminal  2 , according to a processing program to be described later in detail, there are executed a step for acquiring a piece of input information including the treatment sequence desired by the user of the system and a step for designing the flow path in the treating member based on the above described piece of input information.  
         [0024]     Firstly, a chemical treatment process will be described as a treatment process in which a treating member fabricated by taking advantage of the present system for designing a treating member. Incidentally, the treatment process using the treating member is not limited to a chemical treatment process, but may be a treatment process such as a process in which merely a physical treatment is carried out.  
         [0025]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , a device for carrying out a chemical treatment process includes a fixing jig  20  for placing and holding a treating member  10  on the top thereof, a rotary drive mechanism  21  to turn the fixing jig  20 , a control section  30  to control the turning of the fixing jig  20  by the rotary drive mechanism  21 . Into the control section  30 , for example, the rotational velocity, time of rotation, stop time and the like of the fixing jig  20  are input, and the control section  30  controls the rotary drive mechanism  21  according to this piece of input information. The rotary drive mechanism  21  includes a drive member  22  such as a stepping motor and a shaft  23  connected to the drive member  22 . The fixing jig  20  is fixed to the shaft  23  of the rotary drive mechanism  21 . On the fixing jig  20 , a pair of treating members  10  can be disposed symmetrically with the shaft  23  of the rotary drive mechanism  21  as a center therebetween.  
         [0026]     The treating member  10  is arranged with an inlet  11  for introducing a sample in the vicinity of one end thereof, and an outlet  14  for recovering the sample in the vicinity of the other end thereof. The treating member  10  has a flow path consisting of a groove  13  along which a sample flows and a reaction section  12  to apply a predetermined treatment to the sample, between the inlet  11  and the outlet  14 . The treating member  10  like this can be fabricated by molding a resin such as polypropylene.  
         [0027]     The treating member  10  is temporarily fixed onto the fixing jig  20  in such a way that the end in the vicinity of which the inlet  11  is arranged is located on the side of the shaft  23  of the rotary drive mechanism  21  and the other end in the vicinity of which the outlet  14  is arranged is located to be away from the shaft  23 .  
         [0028]     The device for carrying out a chemical treatment process configured as described above is operated as follows. Firstly, an operator drops a sample into the inlet  11  of the treating member  10 , and thereafter the treating member  10  is fixed onto the fixing jig  20 . Additionally, the operator inputs predetermined treatment conditions (for example, the rotation velocity, rotation time and stop time) into the control section  30  for the purpose of carrying out a desired chemical treatment process.  
         [0029]     Thereafter, according to the input procedures, the rotary drive mechanism  21  repeats rotation and halt. When the treating member  10  rotates together with the fixing jig  20  with the aid of the action of the rotary drive mechanism  21 , the sample migrates toward the outer circumference owing to centrifugal force. Additionally, when the rotation is halted, the migration of the sample is also halted. Consequently, by appropriately repeating the rotation and halt, the sample dropped into the treating member  10  can be appropriately made to migrate and halted toward the circumference. More specifically, according to the treatment conditions input by the operator, the sample is guided into the flow path consisting of the groove  13  and the reaction section  12 , and thus a desired chemical treatment process can be applied. In the reaction section  12 , a reaction of the sample is started. Plural reaction sections (not shown in the figure) may be arranged at positions downstream of the reaction section  12 , namely, at positions on the circumference side of the reaction section  12 , as the case may be. By further applying rotation and halt, the sample is successively delivered and different unit chemical operations can be sequentially carried out.  
         [0030]     Incidentally, in the above described explanation, description is made on the case where the procedures of the chemical treatment process are input each time; however, as is obvious, a recording medium on which procedures have been beforehand recorded may be provided and operations may be carried out sequentially by reading out therefrom a piece of information about the procedures.  
         [0031]     Additionally, the chemical treatment process can also be carried out by means of such a device as shown in  FIG. 3 . The device shown in  FIG. 3  is a device in which a chemical treatment process is carried out by using a treating member  10  made of a disc.  
         [0032]     In the treating member  10 , sample introduction inlets  11  are arranged in the vicinity of the rotational center of the disc. On the disc surface of the treating member  10 , flow paths each consisting of a micro reaction section  12  and the like are arranged. The treating member  10  also comprises a reagent charging section  16  which contains a reagent in advance. However, a flow path blocking section  15  made of a thermosensitive material is arranged between the reagent charging section  16  and a reaction section  12 . The flow path blocking section  15  prevents the sample charged in the reagent charging section  16  from flowing into the reaction section  12 . The flow path blocking section  15  has a function such that the section is fused when the section receives an amount of heat larger than a certain value, and thus the flow path is opened.  
         [0033]     Incidentally, the treating member  10  may be covered with a case although the case is not shown in the figure. In the case where the treating member  10  is covered with a case, the surface of the case concerned is provided a slit for use in introducing therethrough a sample into the treating member  10  and for use in operating or detecting therethrough the flow of the sample.  
         [0034]     The drive device  21  is arranged with an insertion slot  25  for inserting the treating member  10 . A fixing jig  20  is arranged at a position away from the insertion slot. The fixing jig  20  is connected to a rotary mechanism  26 . A sample handling device  22  for controlling the flow of the sample, a heating device  23  for heating the sample and a measurement device  24  for measuring the reaction condition of the sample are arranged on a drive arm  27 . The measurement device  24  is arranged with an irradiation light source and a photodetector for detecting the intensity and spectrum of the reflected light. The drive arm  27  is connected to an arm drive mechanism  28  for scanning from the center of the circle of the treating member  10  toward the circumference thereof. The drive mechanism  21  is connected to an input unit  30 . Alternatively, the drive mechanism  21  and the input unit  30  may be integrated into one unit. With the configuration described above, the operations are developed as follows.  
         [0035]     Firstly, a sample is dropped into the introduction inlets  11  of the treating member  10 . The treating member  10  is inserted into the insertion slot  25 . The treating member  10  is set onto the fixing jig  20  in a manner cooperating with the insertion slot  25 . The condition thus formed completes the preparation for startup.  
         [0036]     In the next place, the operator reads out a piece of operation control information from a memory device in the input unit, corresponding to the chemical treatment process for the treating member  10  piece with the aid of the input unit  30 . With a startup command, the treating member  10  starts to rotate. The sample is starts to flow toward the circumference owing to the centrifugal force accompanying the rotation. After a predetermined elapsed time, the disc decreases the rotation velocity, the treating member  10  is thereby made to rotate slowly, and the flow path blocking section  15  on the treating member  10  is adjusted in position to face the sample handling device  22 .  
         [0037]     A predetermined beam of light is irradiated from the sample handling device  22  onto the flow path blocking section  15 . The flow path blocking section  15  is heated by the beam of light and fused, and the reagent charging section  16  and the reaction section  12  are made to communicatively connected with each other. When the treating member  10  starts to rotate once again from this condition, the sample in the reagent charging section  16  flows into the reaction section  12  owing to centrifugal force. Thus, the sample and a reagent can be mixed together in the reaction section  12 .  
         [0038]     The rotation velocity is once again decreased, and the above described reaction section  12  is in turn adjusted in position to face the heating device  23 . The reaction section  12  is heated by the radiation heat due to a heater in the heating device  23 . The reaction is promoted by this heating. After heating for a predetermined time, the arm drive mechanism  27  operates to locate the measurement device  24  directly above the above described reaction section  12 . Thereafter, a predetermined beam of light is irradiated toward the reaction section  12  from the irradiation light source of the measurement device  24 . The photodetector in the measurement device  24  can find the extent of reaction, the concentrations and the like of the components contributed to the reaction in the sample by detecting a set of optical information including the absorption spectrum, fluorescence or the like in the reaction section  12 .  
         [0039]     In the above described example, the flow path blocking section  15  is fused by irradiating a beam of light from the sample handling device  22  to communicate the reagent charging section  16  with the reaction section  12 ; however, as is obvious, the blockade may be removed by a mechanical boring operation or the like. Additionally, also in the heating device  23 , heating may be made by direct contact with a heater. Alternatively, the whole treating member  10  may be heated.  
         [0040]     In the above described Example, description has been made on the mixing operation of one sample with one reagent; however, as is obvious, many reactions can be combined stepwise by arranging plural reagents and plural reaction vessels, and plural blocking sections corresponding thereto along a direction toward the circumference. In addition to reactions by mixing, component separation can be made possible by arranging a chromatographic function on the way of the flow path. Additionally, increase of the rotation number makes it possible to give the treating member a function to separate components in the vessel based on the difference in specific gravity.  
         [0041]     According to the above described example, for an arbitrary chemical treatment process, it comes to be possible to carry out the arbitrary chemical treatment process by using a treating member  10  consistent with the process. Additionally, in the treating member  10  placed in a case, samples and reagents are not scattered during its rotation, so that an extremely safe chemical treatment is possible.  
         [0042]     As described above, by using a treating member  10  capable of carrying out plural different unit chemical operations, an arbitrary chemical treatment process can be carried out. In the next place, description will be made on the program for designing a treating member for use in acquiring a piece of design information about the treating member  10  on the occasion of fabricating the treating member  10  to be used in the aforementioned chemical treatment process. In the following description, as an example of the treating member  10 , there is adopted a treating member for carrying out operation to separate micro particles such as bacteria present in urine, environmental water and the like.  
         [0043]     The present program for designing a treating member can design a treating member  10  on the provision terminal  2  according to the flowchart as shown in  FIG. 4 . In other words, the present program for designing a treating member is installed in the provision terminal, and designs on the provision terminal a treating member for carrying out the treatment sequence desired by a system user.  
         [0044]     In the flowchart shown in  FIG. 4 , firstly in step  1  (represented by “ST 1 ” in  FIG. 4 , and the following steps being represented similarly), a piece of input information including the treatment sequence is acquired from the user terminal  1 . Here, the treatment sequence means a piece of information representing as a time series the unit chemical operations included in the chemical treatment process desired by the system user. The piece of input information includes, in addition to the piece of information representing the treatment sequence, a piece of liquid sample related information such as the liquid-amount and liquid viscosity of the analyte sample used in chemical treatment process, a piece of treatment condition information, a piece of information about the apparatus owned by the system user, a piece of ID information specific to the system user and the like.  
         [0045]     In particular, the unit chemical operations include a centrifugal separation operation, a mixing operation, a fractionation operation and the like. When the piece of information representing the treatment sequence covers a mixing operation, it is preferable that a set of information about the liquid amount and the composition of the solution to be the object of mixing is concurrently acquired as a part of the piece of input information. Additionally, when the piece of information representing the treatment sequence covers a fractionation operation, it is preferable that a piece of information about the liquid amount and the component to be fractionated of the solution is concurrently acquired as a part of the piece of input information.  
         [0046]     Specifically, as an example, there is acquired a piece of input information covering the sequential unit chemical operations represented by the following operations (1) to (8).  
         [0047]     (1) The solid content in the sample solution is precipitated by means of centrifugal separation.  
         [0048]     (2) Merely the clear supernatant liquid is fractionated.  
         [0049]     (3) A solvent to dissolve oil and fat components is added to and mixed with the clear supernatant liquid.  
         [0050]     (4) The above described solvent is precipitated with the aid of centrifugal operation.  
         [0051]     (5) Merely the clear supernatant liquid is fractionated.  
         [0052]     (6) The clear supernatant liquid is subjected to stronger centrifugal operation, and micro particles such as bacteria are precipitated.  
         [0053]     (7) The clear supernatant liquid is removed.  
         [0054]     (8) The precipitate is recovered.  
         [0055]     In the next place, in the step  2 , the piece of input information acquired in step  1  is decomposed into pieces of information about the flow path on the rotary member, for example, with the aid of the system for designing a treating member as shown in  FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6 . More specifically, the step  2  selects a piece of path shape/dimension information for each of the plural unit chemical operations included in the piece of input information. For example, the present program can also select a piece of path shape/dimension information in compliance with the plural unit chemical operations included in the piece of input information, by use of a database in which a piece of information about the unit chemical operations and a piece of path shape/dimension information appropriate to the unit chemical operations concerned are stored to correlate with each other.  
         [0056]     Specifically, when a piece of input information covering the above described unit chemical operations (1) to (8) is acquired, a piece of design information about a treating member is acquired in the following way as shown in  FIG. 6 .  
         [0057]     Firstly, by making a flow path designing tool  50  retrieve the database, as a piece of flow path shape/dimension information corresponding to the unit chemical operation (1), a flow path element for use in centrifugal separation extending along the centrifugal force direction (a radial direction) is given to be a fundamental shape. In the next place, there are given specific dimensions including the length and width of the flow path in compliance with the piece of sample liquid amount information included in the piece of input information, the fundamental shape is corrected on the basis thereof, and the piece of flow path shape/dimension information corresponding to the unit chemical operation (1) is acquired. The piece of flow path shape/dimension information is temporarily accumulated in a recording device  51  as a piece of flow path information for carrying out the unit chemical operation (1).  
         [0058]     When a piece of input information acquired includes the sample composition, the physical property values of a material to be precipitated and the like, a piece of information about the acceleration to be exerted by the centrifugal separation, the time required and the like is obtained by calculation based on the piece of input information. In this case, as for the unit chemical operation (1), a piece of operation information about the device for carrying out the chemical treatment process can be obtained based on these pieces of information. The set of operation information obtained is accumulated in the recording device  51 .  
         [0059]     In the next place, by making the flow path designing tool  50  retrieve the database, as a piece of flow path shape/dimension information corresponding to the unit chemical operation (2), in the first instance, a capillary flow path element for fractionation, transversely extending from the side face of the flow path element for centrifugal separation designed in the above described (1) and bent to the upstream side, is given to be a fundamental shape. The liquid flow in the capillary flow path element for fractionation is described. As a first step, the centrifugal separation is completed, and the rotation of the rotary member is halted; then, the clear supernatant liquid in the flow path element for centrifugal separation fills the capillary flow path element for fractionation owing to the capillary force. When the rotation is started once again, because the outlet of the capillary flow path element for fractionation is situated in an outer position away from the rotation center than the inlet, the clear supernatant liquid in the flow path element for centrifugal separation starts to continuously flow owing to the siphon effect. Then, based on the piece of physical property information representing the surface tension of the sample solution and the like, included in the piece of input information, the width of the flow path and the like for the capillary flow are generated as a piece of design information, and on the generated piece of design information, the fundamental shape is corrected to acquire the piece of flow path shape/dimension information corresponding to the unit chemical operation (2). The piece of flow path shape/dimension information is temporarily accumulated in the recording device  51  as a piece of flow path information for carrying out the unit chemical operation (2).  
         [0060]     If the surface tension coefficient, the viscosity, etc. of the clear supernatant liquid to be fractionated are acquired as a piece of input information, based on these pieces of information, the minimum time for the clear supernatant liquid to fill the capillary flow path element for fractionation and the minimum time needed for complete flow out of the clear supernatant liquid from the interior of the flow path element for centrifugal separation by means of a syphon are obtained by calculation. In this case, as for the unit chemical operation (2), a piece of operation information about the device for carrying out the chemical treatment process can be obtained based on these pieces of information. The piece of operation information obtained is accumulated in the recording device  51 .  
         [0061]     In the next place, as a piece of flow path shape/dimension information corresponding to the unit chemical operation (3), as a first step, there is given a flow path element for mixing which forms one flow path from two confluent flow paths extending along the direction of the centrifugal force (the radial direction). In the next place, there are given specific dimensions and the like based on the piece of information about the liquid amount, the viscosity, the composition and the like of the solution to be an object of mixing, included in the piece of input information, the fundamental shape is corrected on the basis thereof, and the piece of flow path shape/dimension information corresponding to the unit chemical operation (3) is acquired. The piece of flow path shape/dimension information is temporarily accumulated in the recording device  51  as a piece of flow path information for carrying out the unit chemical operation (3).  
         [0062]     Incidentally, on the occasion of the unit chemical operation (3), there can be obtained a piece of information about the viscosities and affinities of two liquids to be mixed together based on the database. Additionally, when one liquid is an aqueous solution and the other liquid is an organic solvent, and accordingly there is needed an operation in which the two liquids are mutually, finely dispersed and emulsified, the fundamental shape of the above described flow path element for mixing can be corrected in such a way that a large number of micro protrusions or a large number of micro convexities and concavities are arranged inside the flow path element.  
         [0063]     Additionally, based on the pieces of physical property value information about the two liquids to be mixed together, there can be obtained by calculation a piece of operation information including the flow velocities with which the two liquids should be respectively introduced into the flow path element for mixing. In this case, for the unit chemical operation (3), a piece of operation information about the device for carrying out the chemical treatment process can be obtained based on these pieces of information. The obtained piece of operation information is accumulated in the recording device  51 .  
         [0064]     As described below, similarly to the aforementioned (1) to (3), there is also given a fundamental shape to each of the unit chemical operations (4) to (7), the fundamental shape is corrected according to a piece of information included in the piece of input information; thus, there can be obtained pieces of path shape/dimension information respectively corresponding to the unit chemical operations (4) to (7). Additionally, in a similar manner, for the unit chemical operations (4) to (7), there can be acquired pieces of operation information about the device with which the chemical treatment process is carried out. Incidentally, because the unit chemical operation (8) is an operation which recovers the precipitate formed by the unit chemical operation (6), no particular piece of flow path shape/dimension information is needed.  
         [0065]     In the above described manner, the pieces of flow path shape/dimension information for carrying out the respective unit chemical operations (1) to (7) and the pieces of operation information in the respective unit chemical operations can be sequentially accumulated in the recording device  51 .  
         [0066]     In the next place, in step  3 , the pieces of flow path shape/dimension information, accumulated in the recording device  51 , for carrying out the respective unit chemical operations are read out, and the flow path of the treating member  10  is designed by means of a device  52  for designing a treating member. More specifically, the device  52  for designing a treating member, as a first step, arranges the pieces of path shape/dimension information for carrying out the respective unit chemical operations according to the time series, sequentially from the inlet toward the outlet. Specifically, as shown in  FIG. 6 , the pieces of flow path shape/dimension information corresponding to the respective unit chemical operations (1) to (7) are read out, the arrangement designs for the respective flow paths on the treating member is carried out, and the respective flow paths are arranged in such a way that the flow paths are shifted away little by little from the rotation center along the radial direction. The piece of arrangement information is accumulated in a device  53  for recording a treating member structure.  
         [0067]     Additionally, in the present step, because the locations along the radial direction from the center of the respective flow path elements are determined, based on the locations along the radial direction and the pieces of operation information needed for the respective flow path elements, there are acquired pieces of drive information including the rotation numbers and the like in carrying out the respective treatments. More specifically, in the present step, there can be acquired a piece of drive control information about the device with which the chemical treatment process is carried out. The piece of drive control information is accumulated in a device  60  for recording the piece of drive information about the treating member. Incidentally, the piece of drive information accumulated in the device  60  for recording the piece of drive control information about a treating member is transmitted to the user terminal  1 .  
         [0068]     On the other hand, in step  4 , the piece of design information about the treating member in the device  53  for recording a treating member structure is transmitted to a tool  70  for high speed processing of a treating member. The tool  70  for high speed processing of a treating member fabricates the treating member, based on the received piece of design information about the treating member, in a manner as shown in  FIG. 7 . Incidentally, the fabrication process of a treating member shown in  FIG. 7  is an example, and the fabrication of a treating member based on the piece of design information about the treating member is not limited to the method shown in  FIG. 7 , but any other methods may be applied.  
         [0069]     According to the method shown in  FIG. 7 , as a first step, based on the piece of flow path shape information, the surface  78  of a blank workpiece coated with a negative photosensitive resin is exposed to light in conformity with the flow path shape with the aid of a laser  76 . Then, a corrosive liquid is applied onto the surface  78  of the blank workpiece to remove the exposed area. Consequently, a treating member  101  on which the desired flow path is formed can be fabricated, and is used in a condition such that a lid  102  is adhered thereto.  
         [0070]     Alternatively, a stamper  103  may be made in such a way that the surface  78  of a blank workpiece coated with a positive photosensitive resin is exposed to light in conformity with the flow path shape with the aid of the laser  76 , and a corrosive liquid is applied onto the surface to remove the resin while the flow path portion is left intact. In this case, a treating member  104  can be fabricated in such a way that a resin is poured onto the stamper  103 , and after curing, the resin is released.  
         [0071]     The treating member fabricated as described above is used in a device owned by the user side and shown in  FIG. 3 , and repeats rotation/halt according to the piece of drive control information. Incidentally, the piece of drive control information may be made to be arbitrarily alterable in pieceting on the user side. Hereby, chemical experiments based on altering various types of parameters can be easily carried out.  
         [0072]     As described above, according to a system and a program for designing a treating member involved in the present invention, there can be acquired a piece of design information about a treating member desired by the user, and concurrently a piece of drive control information about the treating member fabricated based on the concerned piece of design information. Accordingly, on the user side, by merely presenting at least a desired treatment sequence, there can be obtained a piece of drive control information about the device to be used for the treating member capable of carrying out the treatment sequence concerned and for the treatment process using the treating member concerned.  
       Second Best Embodiment  
       [0073]     In the aforementioned first best embodiment, based on the piece of input information entered by the system user, the design of the treating member is carried out on the provision terminal side; however, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the first best embodiment.  
         [0074]     In other words, as a second best embodiment applied with the present invention, the system for designing a treating member may be a system in which a piece of design information about the treating member  10  is acquired on the user terminal  1  belonging to the system user side, and the acquired piece of design information is output toward the provision terminal. In this case, a program for designing a treating member is installed in the user terminal  1 , and steps  1  up to  3  shown in  FIG. 4  are executed on the user terminal  1 . In this connection, the program for designing a treating member may be arranged to be downloaded into the user terminal  1  after the system user have received certification from the provision terminal  2 .  
         [0075]     Additionally, the user terminal  1  outputs the piece of design information about the treating member acquired at step  3  toward the provision terminal. Hereby, on the provision terminal  2  side, the acquired piece of design information about the treating member is transmitted to the tool  70  for high speed processing of the treating member (step  4 ). Also in the present system, the tool  70  for high speed processing of the treating member can fabricate the treating member in a manner as shown in  FIG. 7 , based on the received piece of design information about the treating member.  
         [0076]     In the present system, on the user terminal  1  on the system user side, the piece of design information about the treating member is acquired by use of the program for designing a treating member, and consequently, no piece of input information is needed to be transmitted from the user terminal  1  to the provision terminal  2 . The piece of input information includes pieces of information which the system user does not want to disclose such as a piece of information about the unit chemical operations of the chemical treatment process desired by the user side. According to the present system, merely the piece of design information about the treating member is output from the system user to the provision terminal  2  side, and hence a piece of information which the system user does not want to disclose can be concealed from the provider side.  
         [0077]     It should be further understood by those skilled in the art that although the foregoing description has been made on embodiments of the invention, the invention is not limited thereto and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.