Patent ID: 7776264

Claim:
An automatic analyzer comprising: a reaction cell for mixing a sample and at least one reagent therein; sample dispensing means for dispensing the sample into said reaction cell; reaction cell carrying means for holding a plurality of said reaction cell in plural number along a circumference of a disk and rotating said disk for carrying said reaction cells successively at constant timing; at least one reagent table for holding a plurality of reagent bottles; reagent dispensing means for performing reagent dispensing operations including drawing a first reagent from a first reagent bottle and injecting the first reagent into said reaction cell on said reaction cell carrying means, and drawing a second reagent from a second reagent bottle and injecting the second reagent into said reaction cell at a predetermined timing of second reagent injection; an optical detector for measuring the absorbance of a sample in said reaction cell arranged on said disk; a reagent bottle setting port on which a reagent bottle is placed for replenishment; a replenishment reagent storage on which reagent bottles are arranged for replenishment, a reagent holding mechanism for transporting a reagent bottle among said reagent table, said reagent bottle setting port and said replenishment reagent storage; and control means for controlling said sample dispensing means, said reagent dispensing means and said reagent holding mechanism, including stopping the sample dispensing operation of said sample dispensing means at a first stopping time for a preset time period, defined as a time required to perform a reagent replacement operation after said first stopping time and at a predetermined reagent replacement timing to replace said first reagent bottle on said reagent table with a reagent bottle on said replenishment reagent storage, restarting the sample dispensing operation of said sample dispensing means before the predetermined reagent replacement timing, stopping the reagent dispensing operation of said reagent dispensing means at a second stopping time following said predetermined timing of second reagent injection and after the first stopping time of said sample dispensing operation of said sample dispensing means, and restarting the reagent dispensing operation of said reagent dispensing means after the reagent dispensing operation of said reagent dispensing means has been stopped for said preset time period required for the reagent replacement operation, said optical detector measuring the absorbance of a sample in said reaction cell and outputting the measured absorbance to the controller, wherein said automatic analyzer transports one of the reagent bottles from said replenishment reagent storage to said reagent table to replace the first reagent bottle on said reagent table with the one reagent bottle on said replenishment reagent storage, during said preset time period which begins at said second stopping time.