Patent ID: 7672878

Claim:
A consumables supply management device that is connected via a communications line to a measurement device using consumables and that manages a supply of consumables for a user of the measurement device, wherein operation status data including information on a consumption status of consumables is generated in the measurement device, the consumables supply management device comprising: an inventory data memory portion for storing consumables inventory data including information on an inventory status of consumables for a user of the measurement device; a data reception portion for receiving the operation status data from the measurement device via the communications line; a data processing portion that determines a quantity of consumables consumed by the measurement device based on the operation status data received by the data reception portion, and updates the consumables inventory data in the inventory data memory portion; and a supply determining portion for determining whether it is necessary to supply consumables to the user of the measurement device based on the consumables inventory data updated by the data processing portion; wherein the measurement device is a clinical test analysis device that uses one unit of the consumables per one specimen obtained from a test subject to perform an analysis of the specimen; wherein the operation status data include a measurement time for each of a plurality of measurements conducted by the measurement device; and wherein when a difference in the measurement times of the plurality of measurements is within a predetermined time, the data processing portion determines that the plurality of measurements are measurements in which an identical specimen was used, and determines the quantity of the consumables consumed in the plurality of measurements as the one unit.