Patent Description:
In an automatic analyzer for analyzing a sample, a sample which is put in a specimen vessel is mounted on the automatic analyzer. The automatic analyzer detects the mounted specimen vessel, dispenses the sample, and analyzes the component thereof, the concentration, and the like.

In the Patent Literature <NUM> as the prior art related to the vessel detection, barcode labels are respectively attached to an inner peripheral surface and an outer peripheral surface of a supporting unit of a vessel rack. Here, when the vessel is supported by the supporting unit, it is not possible to read the barcode label attached to the inner peripheral surface of the supporting unit. The Patent Literature <NUM> discloses a specimen analysis device in which after a barcode reader reads the barcode label on the outer peripheral surface, when the barcode label attached to the reagent vessel is read without reading the barcode label on the inner peripheral surface, the control unit determines that the vessel containing a reagent in accordance with the information read from the barcode label of the reagent vessel is supported by the supporting unit of the vessel rack.

In the above-mentioned automatic analyzer, when a barcode label is not attached to a vessel, the automatic analyzer cannot detect the vessel and cannot perform an analysis of a sample.

In order to solve the above problem, the invention aims to provide an automatic analyzer capable of detecting a specimen vessel even when a barcode label is not attached to the specimen vessel.

<CIT> discloses an automatic analyzer with the features in the preamble of present claim <NUM>. Further conventional analyzers are described in <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT>, and <CIT>.

The invention provides an automatic analyzer as defined in the appended claims.

According to the invention, it is possible to detect a specimen vessel with a barcode not attached there, without mounting a dedicated sensor.

Hereinafter, an illustrative example not covered by the claimed scope and an embodiment of the invention will be described sequentially according to the drawings.

The illustrative example is an automatic analyzer provided with a function of detecting the presence or absence of a specimen vessel. Specifically, the automatic analyzer includes a mounting unit for mounting a specimen vessel that stores a specimen to be analyzed, a first identifier arranged at a back position of the mounting unit, a reading unit arranged at a front position of the mounting unit and reading the first identifier, and a control unit for determining whether the specimen vessel is mounted on the mounting unit based on whether a contrast value of the light reflected from the first identifier is equal to or greater than a threshold, by using a signal read by the reading unit.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the automatic analyzer <NUM> has a reagent specimen disk <NUM> for mounting a reagent bottle <NUM> storing a reagent and a specimen vessel <NUM> storing a specimen and a barcode reader <NUM> as a reading unit for reading an identifier attached to the specimen vessel <NUM>. This identifier is used to identify the specimen of the specimen vessel. The reagent specimen disk <NUM> has a transport unit <NUM> for delivering the specimen vessel <NUM> using the specimen vessel mounting rack and a reagent holding unit <NUM> where a plurality of the reagent bottles <NUM> are arranged, and the transport unit <NUM> can carry the specimen vessel <NUM> independently of the reagent holding unit <NUM>. The specimen and the reagent dispensed from the reagent specimen disk <NUM> using dispensing arms <NUM> and <NUM> are discharged to a reaction disk <NUM>, where reaction is performed for a required time period.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of the function of detecting the presence or absence of a specimen vessel according to this example. Specifically, it shows the configuration of the automatic analyzer including a reagent specimen disk having a mounting unit for mounting a specimen vessel that stores a specimen to be analyzed on an outer peripheral portion thereof, a two-dimensional code arranged on the reagent specimen disk at a back position of the mounting unit, a barcode arranged on a side surface of the specimen vessel, a reading unit arranged at a front position of the mounting unit and capable of reading the two-dimensional code and the barcode, and a control unit for determining whether the specimen vessel is mounted on the mounting unit based on whether a contrast value of the light reflected from the two-dimensional code is equal to or greater than a threshold set in advance, by using an output signal of the reading unit.

This automatic analyzer includes a reagent specimen disk <NUM> corresponding to the reagent specimen disk <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>, a sensor <NUM> forming the barcode reader <NUM> and a sensor reading range <NUM>, a control unit <NUM> for controlling the whole of the automatic analyzer, and a communication unit <NUM> for performing communication between the sensor <NUM> and the control unit <NUM>.

Further, as illustrated in <FIG>, the reagent specimen disk <NUM> may have a top cover and a bottom and therebetween it may have the two-dimensional code <NUM> as the first identifier suspended from the top cover and a specimen vessel mounting rack <NUM> as the mounting unit for mounting the specimen vessel <NUM>. The position where the two-dimensional code <NUM> is suspended is near the boundary between the transport unit <NUM> and the reagent holding unit <NUM> in <FIG>. The sensor <NUM> as the barcode reader can read the two-dimensional code <NUM> as the first identifier suspended from the top cover and the barcode label <NUM> as the second identifier attached to a side surface of the specimen vessel <NUM>. Here, as the two-dimensional code <NUM>, for example, the data matrix code ECC <NUM> is used. The control unit <NUM> performs the processing such as the reading information processing by running the processing program of a central processing unit (CPU) and a control of the whole system.

As illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>, the sensor <NUM> has a sensor reading range <NUM> for reading the barcode label <NUM> attached to the specimen vessel and the two-dimensional code <NUM> of the reagent specimen disk <NUM>. The sensor <NUM> transmits the reading information of the barcode label <NUM>, the reading information of the two-dimensional code <NUM>, and further a contrast value at a time of reading the two-dimensional code <NUM> to the control unit <NUM>, through the communication unit <NUM>. This contrast value may be output from the sensor <NUM> or may be calculated from the reading information received by the control unit <NUM>.

<FIG> is a diagram showing an example of a processing flow of the automatic analyzer having the function of detecting the presence or absence of a specimen vessel according to the illustrative example. The subject of the processing flow is the control unit <NUM>. Prior to the confirming operation of the presence or absence of the specimen vessel, the control unit <NUM> of the automatic analyzer <NUM> reads the two-dimensional code <NUM> of the reagent specimen disk <NUM> by the sensor <NUM> with no specimen vessel mounted there and controls to acquire the contrast value of an image of the two-dimensional code <NUM>, by using an output signal of the sensor <NUM> (Step <NUM>, hereinafter referred to as S31).

Continuously, the control unit <NUM> calculates a threshold of the contrast value of the image of the two-dimensional code <NUM> (S32). Here, the threshold of the contrast value is calculated by using the sensor output signal of a black portion and a white portion of the two-dimensional code. For example, the contrast value of the black portion when there is no specimen vessel is <NUM> and when the contrast value when there is a specimen vessel is <NUM>, the threshold may be defined as <NUM>. Thereafter, the transport unit <NUM> of the reagent specimen disk <NUM> is moved and as illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>, the specimen vessel mounting position on the specimen vessel mounting rack <NUM> is moved to in front of the two-dimensional code <NUM> (S33).

Then, the sensor <NUM> as the barcode reader reads the two-dimensional code <NUM> to acquire the contrast value (S34). When the two-dimensional code <NUM> cannot be read (No in S35), the control unit determines that there is a specimen vessel (S38). When the two-dimensional code can be read (YES in S35) and the contrast value is lower than the threshold calculated in advance (NO in S36), it determines that there is a specimen vessel (S38). When the two-dimensional code can be read (YES in S35) and the contrast value is equal to or greater than the threshold (S36), it determines that there is no specimen vessel (S37). After the above determination of the presence or absence of a specimen vessel, when the control unit does not confirm the presence or absence of a specimen vessel on all the mounting positions of the specimen vessel <NUM> (NO in S39), it rotates the reagent specimen disk <NUM> (S33) and confirms the presence or absence of a specimen vessel at the next mounting position. When confirming the above on all the mounting positions, the control unit finishes the operation of detecting the presence or absence of a specimen vessel (YES in S39).

According to the function of detecting the presence or absence of a specimen vessel of the example as mentioned above, it is possible to detect the presence or absence of the specimen vessel <NUM> by using the output signal of the sensor <NUM> as the barcode reader arranged to read the barcode <NUM> attached to the specimen vessel and thereby to reduce the cost because of saving another exclusive sensor and the like for detecting the presence or absence of a specimen vessel. It is no need to adjust the sensor and the like, hence to improve the maintenance performance.

The embodiment is an automatic analyzer provided with a function of detecting the presence or absence of a specimen vessel and a function of detecting a vessel type. Specifically, in the automatic analyzer, a plurality of two-dimensional codes is arranged, and of the plural two-dimensional codes, based on the number of the two-dimensional codes read by the reading unit, the control unit determines each specimen vessel type.

The automatic analyzer of the embodiment is also provided with a reagent specimen disk <NUM> for mounting a reagent bottle <NUM> storing a reagent and a specimen vessel <NUM> storing a specimen and a barcode reader <NUM> for reading a barcode attached to the specimen vessel, similarly to the illustrative example. Further, as illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>, it includes a specimen vessel mounting rack <NUM>, a sensor <NUM> as a barcode reader for reading a two-dimensional code <NUM> as a first identifier attached to a reagent specimen disk <NUM> at a predetermined position and a barcode <NUM> as a second identifier attached to the specimen vessel <NUM>, a control unit <NUM> for controlling the automatic analyzer, and a communication unit <NUM> for performing communication between the sensor <NUM> and the control unit <NUM>.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of a function of detecting the presence or absence of a specimen vessel and a function of detecting a vessel type of the automatic analyzer according to the embodiment. A plurality of specimen vessels 40a to 40e of various types is mounted on a specimen vessel mounting rack <NUM> for mounting the specimen vessels.

Then, a plurality of two-dimensional codes 41a to 41e is arranged at a predetermined position of the reagent specimen disk <NUM>. The predetermined position means, for example, the downwardly suspending portion of the top cover of the reagent specimen disk <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG> or an outer peripheral surface of the reagent holding unit <NUM>. The vessel types of the specimen vessels 40a to 40e can be determined by the combination of the codes readable (YES in S35 of <FIG>) and having the contrast value equal to or greater than a threshold (YES in S36), of the plural two-dimensional codes 41a to 41e. The specimen vessels 40a to 40e illustrated in <FIG> have various heights. For example, the vessels are <NUM> tube, <NUM> tube, <NUM> tube and the like. Here, the specimen vessel 40e shows a sample tube.

Claim 1:
An automatic analyzer (<NUM>) comprising:
a mounting unit for mounting a specimen vessel (<NUM>, <NUM>, 40a-40e) that stores a specimen to be analyzed,
a first identifier (<NUM>, 41a-41e) arranged at a back position of the mounting unit,
a reading unit (<NUM>, <NUM>) arranged at a front position of the mounting unit and capable of reading the first identifier (<NUM>, 41a-41e), and
a control unit (<NUM>) for determining whether the specimen vessel (<NUM>, <NUM>, 40a-40e) is mounted on the mounting unit based on whether a contrast value of the light reflected from the first identifier (<NUM>, 41a-41e) is equal to or greater than a threshold, by using a signal read by the reading unit (<NUM>, <NUM>), wherein the first identifier (<NUM>, 41a-41e) is a two-dimensional code, and the contrast value is calculated from the signals of the black part and the white part of the two-dimensional code (<NUM>, 41a-41e),
characterized in that
the mounting unit is suitable for mounting specimen vessel types of various heights, and a plurality of the two-dimensional codes (<NUM>, 41a-41e) are arranged at the back position of the mounting unit, and
the control unit (<NUM>) is configured to determine the type of the specimen vessel (40a-40e) based on the number of the two-dimensional codes (<NUM>, 41a-41e) read by the reading unit (<NUM>, <NUM>).