Abstract:
A display device including an operator information storer for relating operator information and information concerning the type of language which the operator uses. The display device include a two or more character storers, including at least a first display character storer in which characters are described in a first language, a second display character storer in which characters are described in a second language, an input device for accepting the input of said operator information, a display character selector for accessing information concerning the type of language corresponding to the operator information accepted by the input device from the operator information storer, and for selecting the display character storer to be used, and a display panel for displaying the characters.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
         [0001]    This application relates to Japanese Patent Application No.2001-21746 filed on Jan. 30, 2001 whose priority is claimed under 35 USC §119, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    This invention relates to a display device which allows display of a plurality of languages, more particularly to a sample analysis device which is equipped with the display device.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0005]    Generally, sample analysis devices such as a blood analysis device, a urinary analysis device or an industrial particle analysis device etc., are equipped with a display for displaying messages required for operation or for displaying analysis results, etc. The operator can perform various operations according to the messages displayed on this display, and obtain analysis results. Therefore, languages displayed on this display must be understood by the operator.  
           [0006]    In recent years, labor markets have become less nationalized, and the use of a common analysis device by operators whose nationalities are different from each has become more frequent. Taking a blood analysis device as an example, there is an increased likelihood that multinational medical teams are dispatched to disaster areas to engage in medical treatment. As a result of the same analysis devices being more frequently used by operators whose nationalities are different from each other, there has been a growing demand for an analysis device that allows display of a plurality of languages.  
           [0007]    While some conventional analysis devices are equipped with functions displayed in a plurality of languages, the languages displayed are generally set by the maker of the analysis device prior to the shipping of the devices and, for the most part, these pre-stored languages cannot be changed by the operators.  
           [0008]    Further, more recently, there exist some devices such as operation panels of machines, printers, etc., in which an instruction for a language changeover (for example, a language changeover button) is displayed, and the operator changes the languages by operating the panel according to the display (for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,992).  
           [0009]    When displaying the instruction for language changeover, the instruction may be displayed in any of a number of languages. However, because some operators cannot understand the displayed language, there may be some instances where the instruction is not understood to be for a language changeover.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0010]    The present invention has been achieved under consideration of the above-mentioned problems. The invention provides a display device which automatically displays a language that an operator demands without the operator&#39;s instruction for language changeover. The invention also provides a sample analysis device equipped with this display device.  
           [0011]    One aspect of this invention provides a display device equipped with an operator information storer for organizing and storing operator information and information concerning the type of language the operator uses, a first display character storer in which characters are described in a first language, a second display character storer in which characters are described in a second language, an input device for accepting input of the operator information, a display character selector for selecting which of the displayed character storers will be used to access information from the operator information storer, and which uses information concerning the type of language corresponding to said operator information which the input device accepted, and a display for displaying the characters.  
           [0012]    The operator information may be a login name or password, or both a login name and password.  
           [0013]    The login name or password may be a word expressing a type of language or country name.  
           [0014]    The operator information may be accessed from a barcode or an IC chip.  
           [0015]    The languages may be, for example, any of Japanese, English, French, German, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and/or other languages.  
           [0016]    The above display device may be further equipped with a printing screen producer adapted to convert the character to a format for printing.  
           [0017]    The above display device may be used in a sample analysis device.  
           [0018]    The above sample analysis device may display a combination of the characters of a language and measurement results obtained by analyzing the sample.  
           [0019]    The sample which the above sample analysis device analyzes may be blood or urine.  
           [0020]    Further, another aspect of the invention provides a sample analysis device equipped with an operator information, storer for storing operator information and information concerning the type of language the operator uses and/or resident country of the operator by relating each piece of information, a first display unit storer for describing the measurement result in the first unit, a second display unit storer for describing the measurement result in the second unit, an input device for accepting the input of the operator information, a display unit selector for selecting which display unit storer accesses information from the operator information storer, and the display unit selector using information concerning the type of language or resident country corresponding to the operator information which the input device accepted, an analyzer for analyzing a sample and obtaining the analysis information, a measurement result calculator for calculating the measurement result from the analysis information which the analyzer obtained, a display screen producer for producing a display screen in combination with said measurement result and information from said selected unit storer, and a display for displaying the display screen. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0021]    [0021]FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a sample analysis device equipped with a display device according to one aspect of the present invention.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing information stored in the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing information stored in the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIGS. 5 a ,  5   b  are flowcharts showing operation of the sample analysis system of FIG. 1.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 6 is a plan view of a password accepting screen displayed by the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 7 is a plan view of a measurement mode accepting screen (English) displayed by sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 8 is a plan view of a specimen information accepting screen (English) displayed by the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 9 is a plan view of a measurement result screen (English) displayed by the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 10 is a plan view of a measurement mode accepting screen (Japanese) displayed by the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 11 is a plan view of a specimen information accepting screen (Japanese) displayed by the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 12 is a plan view of a measurement result screen (Japanese) displayed by the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing information stored in the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing information stored in the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing information stored in the sample analysis device of FIG. 1.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing information stored in the sample analysis device of FIG. 1. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0037]    Hereinafter, this invention will be described in detail according to the embodiments shown in the drawings. However, this invention is not limited by the embodiments, rather it is limited only by the claims that follow this Description.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a sample analysis system  1  according to one embodiment of the invention. This system comprises a sample analysis device  2 , a vacuum or suction source  3 , and a laser power supply  4 . The sample analysis device  2  includes a sample analysis portion  2   a  consisting of a urinary analysis device (for example, a UF-1 00 analyzer made by SYSMEX CORPORATION, of Kobe Japan), and a display  2   b  having an LCD touch screen (the details of which will be described below). In the embodiment shown, the sample analysis portion  2   a  and display  2   b  are integrated. Alternately, the sample analysis portion  2   a  and display  2   b  may be separately constituted, and connected with a communications cable such as RC232C. In this case, a personal computer is preferably used for the display  2   b.    
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the sample analysis device  2  of this invention.  
         [0040]    The sample analysis device  2  has an operator information acceptor  9 , a display character selector  10 , a measurement mode selector  11 , a specimen information acceptor  12 , a measurement result calculator  13 , a display screen producer  14 , a printing screen producer  15 , a display screen (login name) database (hereinafter, “database” is abbreviated as “DB”)  19 , an operator information DB  20 , a display character (Japanese) DB  21 , a display character (English) DB  22 , a specimen information DB  23 , a measurement result DB  24 , a display character (French) DB  25 , a display character (German) DB  26 , a display character (Chinese) DB  27 , a display character (Russian) DB  28 , a display character selection DB  29 , and a common pattern DB  32 . These parts consist of a CPU, ROM, RAM and hard disc etc., which are interconnected with a BUS. The sample analysis device  2  further comprises a specimen analysis mechanism  30  and a display panel  40 . The specimen analysis mechanism  30  may include, for example, a pipette for suctioning specimens (not shown), a reagent supplying part (not shown) for supplying reagents such as a dilute solution and dyeing liquid to the specimen, and a flow cytometer (not shown) for obtaining analysis information, such as the amount of fluorescent and scattered light from the specimen, and providing the analysis information to the measurement result calculator  13 . The display panel  40  includes a touch panel LCD, such as those commonly used as an input device for accepting information from the operator. Next, the content of the respective DBs in the specimen analysis device  2  will be described.  
         [0041]    The display screen (login name) DB  19  stores a display screen for accepting a login name and password. FIG. 6 shows one example of a display screen for accepting a password.  
         [0042]    The operator information DB  20 , as shown in FIG. 3, organizes and stores information concerning login name, password and language to be used for each operator. Information concerning the languages to be used may be expressed with symbols, or may be expressed with the database name of the display character DB ( 21 ,  22 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ).  
         [0043]    The login name and password are pieces of information required for verifying that the operator is authorized to use the sample analysis device, and are arbitrarily set by the respective operator. For information concerning the language to be used, the native language of the operator should be set.  
         [0044]    When it is not required to set a login name and password for each operator, as shown in FIG. 4, the language name such as JAPANESE and ENGLISH may be used as a login name and password. JAPANESE, the language to be used, is set to correspond to the login name “JAPANESE”, and ENGLISH, the language to be used, is set to the login name “ENGLISH”. When the operator is Japanese, “JAPANESE” is inputted as a login name and password, and when the operator is American, “ENGLISH” is inputted. In addition, country name such as JAPAN, AMERICA, etc., may be used as a login name and password instead of a language name.  
         [0045]    The display character (Japanese) DB  22  stores characters, which are described in Japanese, for combining with common patterns such as a pattern of measurement mode accepting screen (FIG. 14), a pattern of specimen information accepting screen (FIG. 15) and a pattern of measurement result screen (FIG. 16).  
         [0046]    The display character (English) DB  23  stores characters, which are described in English, for combining with common patterns such as the pattern of measurement mode accepting screen (FIG. 14), the pattern of specimen information accepting screen (FIG. 15) and pattern of measurement result screen (FIG. 16).  
         [0047]    The display character (French) DB  25 , the display character (German) DB  26 , the display character (Chinese) DB  27  and the display character (Russian) DB  28  also store characters for the same role as those of the above, the characters being described in respective languages.  
         [0048]    The specimen information DB  23  stores information such as the specimen number and type of specimen which the specimen information acceptor  12  accepted from the operator.  
         [0049]    The measurement result DB  24  stores measurement results calculated in the measurement result calculator  13 .  
         [0050]    The display character selection DB  29 , as shown in FIG. 13, relates information concerning the language to be used to the used display character DB ( 21 ,  22 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ) and stores them. If the database names of the display character DB ( 21 ,  22 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ) are stored as information concerning the language to be used in the operator information DB  20 , the display character selection DB  29  can be omitted.  
         [0051]    The common pattern DB  32  stores the pattern commonly used for all languages such as the pattern of measurement mode accepting screen shown in FIG. 14, the pattern of specimen information accepting screen shown in FIG. 15 and the pattern of measurement result screen shown in FIG. 16. As patterns, the external frame as shown in FIG. 14 through FIG. 16, and various items such as background color and design can be stored. Furthermore, it is possible to include pre-set characters in the pattern.  
         [0052]    Next, as an example, the operation of the sample analysis system  1  from the time the operator turns on the power, until the time a measurement result is displayed, will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIGS.  5 A- 5 B and the display screens shown in FIG. 6 through FIG. 12.  
         [0053]    1. Power for the sample analysis system  1  is turned on by an operator (S 1 ).  
         [0054]    2. The operator information acceptor  9  accesses the login name accepting screen and password accepting screen (FIG. 6) from the display screen (login name) DB  19 , and displays them on the display panel  40 .  
         [0055]    3. The operator information acceptor  9  accepts the login name and password from the operator on the login name accepting screen and the password accepting screen (S 2 , S 3 ).  
         [0056]    Further, the login name and password may be also accepted by reading an operator identifying medium such as a barcode or an IC chip.  4 . The operator information acceptor  9  judges if the accepted login name and password are stored in the operator information DB  20  (FIG. 3 or FIG. 4). If they are not stored, the login name accepting screen is displayed again (S 4 ).  
         [0057]    5. If the accepted login name and password are stored in the operator information DB  20 , the display character selector  10  accesses the information concerning the language to be used stored that corresponds to the login name and password from the operator information DB  20 . Next, the display character DB ( 21 ,  22 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ) to be used is decided (S 5 ) by the display character selection DB  29  (the content of this DB is shown in FIG. 13).  
         [0058]    Now a case where information concerning the displayed language is described in English will be explained.  
         [0059]    1. The measurement mode selector  11  and display screen producer  14  accesses a pattern of the measurement mode accepting screen shown in FIG. 14 from the common pattern DB  32 , and accesses characters (English) from the display character (English) DB 22 , and produces a measurement mode accepting screen (FIG. 7) by combining the accessed pattern and characters, and then displays this on the display panel  40  (S 6 ). As used herein, “manual mode” means a mode for suctioning specimen one by one from the suctioning pipette, and “sampler mode” means a mode for automatically carrying out agitation of the specimen, suction and measurement. Two instruction buttons are displayed on the measurement mode accepting screen, and are constituted so as to shift to manual or the sampler mode if the operator selects these buttons.  
         [0060]    2. For example, when the manual mode is selected by the operator, the specimen information acceptor  12  and display screen producer  14  accesses a pattern of the specimen information accepting screen shown in FIG. 15 from the common pattern DB  32 , and accesses characters (English) from the display character (English) DB  22 , and produces a specimen information accepting screen (FIG. 8) by combining the readout pattern and characters, and then displays this on the display panel  40  (S 7 ).  
         [0061]    3. When the operator inputs the specimen information such as specimen number, gender of the subject, the urine collecting time, type of urine, color of urine and turbidity of urine through the specimen information accepting screen, the specimen information acceptor  12  stores those pieces of information into the specimen information DB  23  (S 8 ).  
         [0062]    4. The specimen analysis mechanism  30  sucks the specimen from the pipette, dilutes and dyes the specimen, obtains the analysis information such as the fluorescence amount and scattered light amount by the flow cytometer. The sample analysis mechanism  30  then digitally converts and provides the analysis information to the measurement result calculating part  13  (S 9 ).  
         [0063]    5. The measurement result calculating part  13  calculates the measurement result from the analysis information provided by the specimen analysis mechanism  30  and the specimen information stored in the specimen information DB  23 , and then stores it in the measurement result DB  24  (S 10 ).  
         [0064]    6. The display screen producer  14  accesses a pattern of the measurement result screen shown in FIG. 16 from the common pattern DB  32 , and accesses characters (English) from the display character (English) DB  22 , the measurement result from the measurement result DB  24 , and produces a measurement result screen (FIG. 9) by combining the readout pattern, characters and measurement result. The measurement result screen is then displayed on the display panel  40  (S 1   1 ).  
         [0065]    7. When printing of the measurement result screen is required, the print screen producer  15  produces a printing screen by combining the pattern of the measurement result screen stored in the common pattern DB  32 , the characters (English) stored in the display character (English) DB  22  and the measurement results stored in the measurement result DB  24  (S 12 ).  
         [0066]    Now, a case where the information concerning the accessed language in the S 5  is described in Japanese will be explained.  
         [0067]    1. The measurement mode selector  11  and display screen producer  14  accesses a pattern of the measurement mode accepting screen shown in FIG. 14 from the common pattern DB  32 , and accesses characters (Japanese) from the display character (Japanese) DB  21 , and produces a measurement mode accepting screen (FIG. 10) by combining the accessed pattern and characters. The measurement mode accepting screen is then displayed on the display panel  40  (S 20 ).  
         [0068]    2. For example, when the manual mode is selected by the operator, the specimen information acceptor  12  and display screen producer  14  accesses a pattern of the specimen information accepting screen shown in FIG. 15 from the common pattern DB 32 , and accesses characters (Japanese) from the display character (Japanese) DB 21 , and produces a specimen information accepting screen (FIG. 11) by combining the readout pattern and characters. The specimen information accepting screen is then displayed on the display panel  40 (S 21 ).  
         [0069]    3. When the operator inputs the specimen information such as specimen number, gender of the subject, the urine collecting time, type of urine, color of urine and turbidity of urine through the specimen information accepting screen, the specimen information acceptor  12  stores those pieces of information into the specimen information DB  23  (S 22 ).  
         [0070]    4. The specimen analysis mechanism  30  sucks the specimen from the pipette, dilutes and dyes the specimen, obtains the analysis information such as the fluorescence amount and scattered light amount by the flow cytometer, digitally converts and then provides the analysis information to the measurement result calculator  13  (S 23 ).  
         [0071]    5. The measurement result calculator  13  calculates the measurement result from the analysis information provided by the specimen analysis mechanism  30  and the specimen information stored in the specimen information DB  23 , and then stores it in the measurement result DB  24  (S 24 ).  
         [0072]    6. The display screen producer  14  accesses a pattern of the measurement result screen shown in FIG. 16 from the common pattern DB  32 , characters (Japanese) from the display character (Japanese) DB  21 , and the measurement result from the measurement result DB  24 , and produces a measurement result screen (FIG. 12) by combining the readout pattern, characters and measurement result. The measurement result screen is then displayed on the display panel  40  (S 25 ).  
         [0073]    7. When printing of the measurement result screen is required, the print screen producer  15  produces a printing screen by combining the pattern of the measurement result screen stored in the common pattern DB  32 , the characters (Japanese) stored in the display character (Japanese) DB  21  and the measurement results stored in the measurement result DB  24  (S 26 ).  
         [0074]    When the information concerning the language accessed in S 5  is French, German or the like, the operation can also be realized in the same way as those in English and Japanese by using the display character (French) DB  25  and the display character (German) DB  26  and so on.  
         [0075]    Furthermore, measurement result units are sometimes expressed differently from country to country. For example, the measurement result of hemoglobin is generally expressed in g/dL in Japan, on the other hand, it is frequently expressed in g/L in English-speaking countries. In order to accommodate this, the characters expressing the unit among characters stored in the display character DB ( 21 ,  22 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ) may be set for every display character DB ( 21 ,  22 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ). In this case, the measurement result calculating method in the measurement result calculator  13  is changed depending on the selected display character DB ( 21 ,  22 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ).  
         [0076]    The above sample analysis system allows the language the operator requests to automatically be displayed without operation of language switching by the operator.  
         [0077]    The above embodiments show devices for visually displaying information on the display panel  40  as a user interface and inputting commands by touching thereon, however, this invention is not limited to these embodiments. For example, the invention may also be used for a user interface in which commands are inputted by information display via voice and voice recognition. In a user interface based on voice type, the display character DB ( 21 ,  22 ,  25 ,  26 ,  27 ,  28 ) includes a voice recognition unit for each language, an audio storer for each language in which audio signals representative of a respective language are stored, an audio storer selector, and a voice generating unit. Furthermore, this invention can also be applied to a user interface equipped with both visual display and a voice generator.  
         [0078]    The embodiments described above are only examples of devices and systems to which this invention may be applied. However, this invention is not limited to these devices and systems, rather, it is applicable to other machinery or equipment having a function for operating in a plurality of languages. For example, this invention is applicable to an operation panel of a machine tool, printer, copier, personal computer and ATM or the like. It is therefore intended to include within the invention all such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.