Patent ID: 8440140

Claim:
A sample analyzer comprising: a fluid supplying unit for preparing a measurement sample from a blood sample or a body fluid sample that differs from the blood sample and supplying the measurement sample; a flow cell that the supplied measurement sample passes through; a light source that irradiates a measurement sample passing through the flow cell with a light; a light receiver that receives a light generated by irradiating the measurement sample passing through the flow cell with the light and outputs a characteristic information in correspondence to the received light, wherein the characteristic information represents a characteristic of components within the measurement sample; a microcomputer configured to receive a designation of one measurement mode from among a plurality of measurement modes including at least a blood measurement mode for measuring the blood sample and a body fluid measurement mode for measuring the body fluid sample configured to control the fluid supplying unit so as to supply the blood sample during a first time period when a designation of the blood measurement mode has been received and configured to control the fluid supplying unit so as to supply the body fluid sample during a second time period that is longer than the first time period when a designation of the body fluid measurement mode has been received.