Patent ID: 8161831

Claim:
An analyzer comprising: a first measurement unit; a second measurement unit; and a transportation device for transporting samples to at least one measurement unit selected from the first measurement unit and the second measurement unit, the transportation device comprising: a first rack holding section configured to receive one or more racks of sample containers; a second rack holding section configured to receive one or more racks of sample containers on which measurements for the sample containers are completed; a transportation path arranged between the first and second rack holding sections, the first and second measurement units arranged along the transportation path; a transporting member movable along the transportation path in a first direction from the first rack holding section to the second rack holding section and in the opposite direction of the first direction, the transporting member being configured to hold a rack of sample containers and to transport the sample container of the rack to one of the first and second measurement units; and a transportation controller configured to control the transportation device, the transportation controller performing a transporting operation for each of sample containers of a rack, the transporting operation comprising: receiving from each of the first and second measurement units state information of a state of the respective measurement units; selecting, as a destination of a sample container to be transported, the first measurement unit when received state information indicates that the first measurement unit is ready to perform a measurement on a sample transported via the transportation path; and controlling the transportation device to actuate the transporting member so as to transport the sample container to the first measurement unit.