This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-226317 filed on Sep. 30, 2009, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an analysis apparatus for analyzing a clinical sample such as urine or blood, an information processing unit, and an information displaying method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-58532, as an automatic analysis apparatus for analyzing blood, urine or the like, an automatic analysis apparatus is described which operates a plurality of analysis units by a single apparatus operating section. This automatic analysis apparatus is configured such that the apparatus operating section issues an analysis request to each of the analysis units.
The automatic analysis apparatus described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-58532 has a problem in that it is difficult to know at a glance which one of the plurality of analysis units is associated with the information displayed on the apparatus operating section.
The scope of the present invention is defined solely by the appended claims, and is not affected to any degree by the statements within this summary.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, an analysis apparatus comprising: a first measuring unit for measuring a clinical sample; a second measuring unit for measuring a clinical sample; and an information processing unit which is connected to the first and second measuring units so as to perform information communication with the first and second measuring units, wherein at least a part of the first measuring unit has a first color, at least a part of the second measuring unit has a second color which is different from the first color, and the information processing unit comprises: an information display section for displaying a first screen including information relating to the first measuring unit and a second screen including information relating to the second measuring unit; and a display controller for displaying at least a part of the first screen with the first color when displaying the first screen on the information display section, and for displaying at least a part of the second screen with the second color when displaying the second screen on the information display section.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, an analysis apparatus comprising: a first measuring unit for measuring a clinical sample; a second measuring unit for measuring a clinical sample; and an information processing unit which is connected to the first and second measuring units so as to perform information communication with the first and second measuring units, wherein the first measuring unit is provided with a first marker by which the first measuring unit can be visually recognized, the second measuring unit is provided with a second marker which is different from the first marker and by which the second measuring unit can be visually recognized, and the information processing unit comprises: an information display section for displaying information relating to the first measuring unit and information relating to the second measuring unit; and a display controller for displaying the first marker on the information display section in association with the information relating to the first measuring unit when displaying the information relating to the first measuring unit on the information display section, and for displaying the second marker on the information display section in association with the information relating to the second measuring unit when displaying the information relating to the second measuring unit on the information display section.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, an information processing unit which is connected to a first measuring unit for measuring a clinical sample and a second measuring unit for measuring a clinical sample so as to perform information communication with the first and second measuring units, comprising: an information display section for displaying information relating to the first measuring unit and information relating to the second measuring unit; and a display controller for displaying a first marker, by which the first measuring unit can be visually recognized, in association with the information relating to the first measuring unit on the information display section when displaying the information relating to the first measuring unit on the information display section, and for displaying a second marker, which is different from the first marker and by which the second measuring unit can be visually recognized, in association with the information relating to the second measuring unit on the information display section when displaying the information relating to the second measuring unit on the information display section, wherein the first measuring unit is provided with the first marker, and the second measuring unit is provided with the second marker.
According to a forth aspect of the present invention, an information displaying method used on a computer connected to a first measuring unit for measuring a clinical sample and a second measuring unit for measuring a clinical sample so as to perform information communication with the first and second measuring units, the first measuring unit is provided with a first marker, by which the first measuring unit can be visually recognized, and the second measuring unit is provided with a second marker, which is different from the first marker and by which the second measuring unit can be visually recognized, the method comprising: displaying on a display of the computer the first marker in association with the information relating to the first measuring unit when displaying the information relating to the first measuring unit; and displaying on the display the second marker in association with the information relating to the second measuring unit when displaying the information relating to the second measuring unit.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
In upper right portions of the front faces of the measuring units 21, 22 and 23, light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a are provided for identifying each of the measuring units by color. The respective light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a have a three-color LED. The three-color LED is embedded with a red-color LED chip (R), a green-color LED chip (G) and a blue-color LED chip (B) in one package. As the three-color LED, for example, the trade name “full color LED (type name: NSTM515)”, manufactured by Nichia CORPORATION, can be used.
The control section 8 includes a CPU 82 and a memory 83 having a ROM and a RAM and controls operations of the various constituent elements of the measuring unit 21. In addition, the memory 83 of the measuring unit 21 stores device information including a device ID 11001 of the measuring unit 21. The memory 83 of the measuring unit 22 stores device information of the measuring unit 22 including a device ID 11002 and the memory 83 of the measuring unit 23 stores device information of the measuring unit 23 including a device ID 11003. Further, the memory 83 stores error IDs which are information for specifying errors.
The LED driving circuit 10 is a circuit for causing the light-emitting section 21a to emit light in a predetermined color by controlling voltages which are supplied to the LED chips of three colors of the light-emitting section 21a. The light-emitting section 21a can display colors which indicate color information stored in the memory 83 by the LED driving circuit 10.
The communication section 9 is, for example, a RS-232C interface, a USB interface or an Ethernet (registered name) interface, and can transmit and receive data to and from the information processing unit 3.
The sensor 11 indicates a plurality of sensors which are provided in the various constituent elements of the measuring unit 21 in order to monitor operation circumstances of the measuring unit 21. For example, in the specimen supply section 4, a sensor for detecting whether or not a pipette is positioned at an initial position and a sensor for detecting whether or not a pipette is positioned at a measurement specimen aspiration position are provided. On the basis of the output of these sensors, the CPU 82 monitors whether or not a pipette has moved to the measurement specimen aspiration position from the initial position within a predetermined length of time.
The specimen supply section 4 includes a pipette for aspirating a sample from a sample container, a mixing container for mixing a sample with a reagent, a pump for supplying a sample and a reagent to the mixing container and the like. The specimen supply section 4 aspirates blood, prepares specimens from the aspirated blood which are to be provided for the measurement of red blood cells, the measurement of platelets and the measurement of hemoglobin, and supplies the prepared specimens to the RBC detection section 6 and the HGB detection section 7. In addition, the specimen supply section 4 mixes the aspirated blood and a reagent (hemolyzing agent, stain solution), prepares specimens which are to be provided for the measurement of white blood cells, and supplies the prepared specimens to the WBC detection section 5.
The WBC detection section 5 is an optical detection section capable of performing WBC measurement (measurement of the number of white blood cells) and DIFF measurement (white blood cell classification). The WBC detection section 5 can perform WBC measurement and DIFF measurement by a flow cytometry method using a semiconductor laser. The configuration of the WBC detection section 5 will be described later in detail. WBC measurement is a measurement operation for counting the number of white blood cells and calculating the concentration of white blood cells in a specimen. DIFF measurement is a measurement operation for classifying white blood cells into lymphocytes, basophils, eosinophils, neutrophils, monocytes and the like and calculating the concentration of each in specimens.
The RBC detection section 6 is a RBC/PLT detection section for performing RBC measurement (measurement of the number of red blood cells) and PLT measurement (measurement of the number of platelets). This RBC detection section 6 can perform RBC and PLT measurement by a sheath flow DC detection method.
The HGB detection section 7 is a HGB detection section for performing HGB measurement (measurement of hemoglobin content in blood). This HGB detection section 7 can perform HGB measurement by a SLS-hemoglobin method.
The measurement specimen supplied from the specimen supply section 4 (see
By the irradiation of the light, the fluorescence emitted from the measurement specimen flowing through the sheath flow cell 503 enters the PMT 511 via the condenser lens 507, the dichroic mirror 508, the filter 509 and the pinhole plate 510. The photo diode 506 converts the incident forward-scattered light into electric information according to the strength thereof and outputs the information as the strength of the forward-scattered light. The PMT 512 converts the incident side-scattered light into electric information according to the strength thereof and outputs the information as the strength of the side-scattered light. The PMT 511 converts the incident fluorescence into electric information according to the strength thereof and outputs the information as the strength of the fluorescence. The strength of the forward-scattered light output from the photo diode 506, the strength of the fluorescence output from the PMT 511 and the strength of the side-scattered light output from the PMT 512 are amplified by the amplifiers 61, 62 and 63, respectively, and input to the control section 8.
Basically, each of the measuring units 22 and 23 has the same configuration as that of the measuring unit 21, and thus the description of the configuration of the measuring units 22 and 23, which is the same as the configuration of the measuring unit 21, will be omitted.
The storage device 33 has an embedded fixed storage device (hard disk). The storage device 33 includes the program storage section 331 and a device information storage section 332. In the program storage section 331, various computer programs for execution in the CPU 31, such as operating systems and application programs, and data for use in execution of the computer programs are installed. For example, application programs for registering measurement items and application programs for obtaining or displaying information on errors of the measuring units 21, 22 and 23 are installed in the program storage section 331. In addition, in the device information storage section 332, the device information of the measuring units 21, 22 and 23 is stored.
In addition, in the storage device 33, information on aspects (error names, places at which errors occur, error recovery methods and the like) of various errors which can occur in the devices is stored in advance.
The communication interface 37 is connected to the internal bus 38 and is connected to the measuring units 21, 22 and 23 via the communication cable 3a to transmit and receive data. That is, the communication interface 37 transmits instruction information and the like indicting the start of the measurement to the measuring units 21, 22 and 23 and receives measurement data and the like.
The input device 34 is a data input medium such as a keyboard and a mouse. The display device 35 is a display device such as a CRT monitor or a LCD and displays the analysis result on the screen. The output device 36 is a printing device such as a laser printer or an inkjet printer.
The information processing unit 3 executes a computer program of the program storage section 331 by the CPU 31 to process the measurement data received from the measuring units 21, 22 and 23 and calculate the number of white blood cells (WBC), the number of red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB) content, hematocrit (HCT), average red blood cell volume (MCV), average red blood cell hemoglobin content (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), the number of platelets (PLT) and the like.
Hereinafter, operations of the clinical sample analysis apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described. In the drawings, for the sake of convenience, the blue color is expressed by the downward diagonal stroke from top left to bottom right, the green color is expressed by the upward diagonal stroke from bottom left to top right, and the orange color is expressed by the vertical line.
First, when a power supply of the information processing unit 3 is turned on by the operation of a user, the CPU 31 displays an initial screen 35a shown in
Next, when the icon 821, 822 or 823 is clicked by the operation of the user, the CPU 31 receives a display instruction of the menu screen corresponding to the clicked icon (S2-2). The CPU 31 retrieves device information of the measuring unit corresponding to the clicked icon from the device information storage section 332, and displays the menu screen 211a, 211b or 211c colorized with a color corresponding to the color information included in the corresponding device information (S2-3).
When a power supply of the measuring unit 21 is turned on by the operation of the user, the CPU 82 of the measuring unit 21 transmits the device ID: 11001 which is stored in the memory 83 of the measuring unit 21, reagent information which is installed in the measuring unit 21 and the like as device information to the information processing unit 3 via the communication section 9 (S1-1).
When the memory 83 stores color information indicating the color of the light emitted by the light-emitting section 21a, the CPU 82 also transmits the color information as device information to the information processing unit 3.
The CPU 31 of the information processing unit 3 determines whether or not the device information has been received via the communication interface 37 (S2-4). When the device information has been received, it is determined whether or not color information is included in the received device information (S2-5).
When the color information is included in the device information, the CPU 31 transmits a device information reception completion notice to the measuring unit 21 (S2-7). When the color information is not included in the device information, the CPU 31 performs a retrieval operation within the device information storage section 332 on the basis of the received device information to obtain the color information which is blue corresponding to the measuring unit 21 (S2-6), and transmits a device information reception completion notice with the obtained color information to the measuring unit 21 via the communication interface 37 (S2-7).
The CPU 82 of the measuring unit 21 determines whether or not the device information reception completion notice has been received via the communication section 9 (S1-2). When the device information reception completion notice is received, the CPU 82 causes the light-emitting section 21a to emit light (S1-3). When color information is not included in the device information reception completion notice received in Step 1-2, the CPU 82 causes the light-emitting section 21a to emit light in a color indicated by the color information stored in the memory 83. In addition, when color information which is blue is included in the received device information reception completion notice, the CPU 82 stores the received color information as device information in the memory 83 and causes the light-emitting section 21a to emit light in blue by controlling the LED driving circuit 10.
The CPU 31 of the information processing unit 3 determines whether or not the measurement section setting screen 61a shown in
The display instruction of the measurement section setting screen 61a is issued by selecting the setting icon 933 in the menu screen 211a of
In the measurement section setting screen 61a shown in
The color change process of Step S2-11 will be described by using
The setting of color information is performed in the following procedure. First, when the color information switching button 612a is clicked, a pull-down menu is displayed. Next, one color information is selected among the color information displayed in the pull-down menu, and the OK button 613 is clicked, whereby the setting of color information is completed. When changing color information of the measuring unit 22, the color information switching button 612b is used, and when changing color information of the measuring unit 23, the color information switching button 612c is used.
Next, the CPU 31 changes the colors which are displayed in the screens for the measuring units (S4-3). Here, “the screens for the measuring units” is a generic term including a state screen 71a shown in
Next, the CPU 31 transmits an LED lighting color change instruction including the changed color information to the measuring unit 21 via the communication interface 37 (S4-4).
In
The CPU 82 determines whether or not the sensor 11 has detected an error (S1-6). When no error has been detected, the CPU advances the process to Step 1-8, and when an error has been detected, the CPU reads a corresponding error ID from the memory 83 to generate error information including the device ID and the error ID, and transmits the error information to the information processing unit 3 via the communication section 9 (S1-7).
The CPU 31 of the information processing unit 3 determines whether or not the error information has been received (S2-12). When the error information has not been received, the CPU advances the process to Step 2-14, and when the error information has been received, the CPU displays the measurement section help window 510a shown in
In an initial state immediately after the popping-up of the measurement section help window 510a, the error name in the uppermost portion in the error list 512a is selected. An action message corresponding to the selected error name is displayed in the action display area 513a. When the user selects another error name, an action message corresponding to the error name is displayed in the action display area 513a.
When a button 514a of the measurement section help window 510a is selected, the CPU 31 completes the process of displaying the measurement section help window, advances the process to Step 2-14, and determines whether or not the measurement item registration screen 212a shown in
In
The CPU 31 determines whether or not the input of measurement items has been received in the measurement item registration screen 212a (S2-17). When the input of measurement items has not been received, the CPU advances the process to Step 2-20, and when the input of measurement items has been received, the CPU determines whether or not a measurement start instruction has been received (S2-18).
When the measurement start instruction has not been received, the CPU 31 advances the process to Step 2-20, and when the measurement start instruction has been received, the CPU 31 transmits the measurement start instruction to the measuring unit 21 (S2-19). The measurement start instruction is issued by selecting the measurement start button 922 provided in the tool bar 92a of the measurement item registration screen 212a.
The CPU 82 of the measuring unit 21 determines whether or not the measuring unit 21 has received the measurement start instruction (S1-8). When the measurement start instruction has not been received, the CPU advances the process to Step 1-11, and when the measurement start instruction has been received, the CPU 82 controls the specimen supply section 4, the WBC detection section 5, the RBC detection section 6 and the HGB detection section so as to measure the sample (S1-9).
In this embodiment, in Step 1-9, the following process is performed. First, the CPU 82 causes the specimen supply section 4 to prepare a measurement specimen for red blood cell and platelet measurement (hereinafter, referred to as “RBC/PLT measurement specimen”), a measurement specimen for white blood cell measurement (hereinafter, referred to as “WBC measurement specimen”) and a measurement specimen for hemoglobin measurement (hereinafter, referred to as “HGB measurement specimen”). Next, the CPU 82 controls the WBC detection section 5, the RBC detection section 6 and the HGB detection section so as to measure the RBC/PLT measurement specimen, the WBC measurement specimen and the HGB measurement specimen, respectively.
Next, the CPU 82 transmits measurement data to the information processing unit 3 via the communication section 9 (S1-10). Here, the measurement data is measurement data which is obtained by measuring, for example, the WBC measurement specimen in the WBC detection section 5.
In
In
The analysis result screen display instruction is issued by selecting the analysis result button 923 displayed in the tool bar 92a of the menu screen 211a or the measurement item registration screen 212a with the user using a mouse. The analysis result screen 213a is displayed in the function display area 93a of
The CPU 31 determines whether or not the state screen 71a shown in
The state screen display instruction is issued by selecting the state screen button 925 displayed in the tool bar 92a of the menu screen 211a, the measurement item registration screen 212a or the analysis result screen 213a with the user using a mouse.
In
In this embodiment, the shutdown instruction is executed by selecting the shutdown icon 932 of the menu screen 211a. The display of the menu screen 211a is executed by selecting the menu buttons 924 of the tool bars 92a provided in the measurement item registration screen 212a and the analysis result screen 213a.
In
When the shutdown process is completed, the CPU 82 transmits a shutdown completion notice to the information processing unit 3 via the communication section 9 (S1-13), and completes the process.
The CPU 31 of the information processing unit 3 determines whether or not the shutdown completion notice has been received (S2-30), and when the shutdown completion notice has been received, the CPU completes the process.
The processes of the CPU 31 of the information processing unit 3 and the CPU 82 of the measuring unit 21 have been described as above on the basis of the flowcharts of
In this embodiment, as described above, the light-emitting section 21a emits light in blue, and the title bars 91a and 511a are displayed with the blue color. The light-emitting section 22a emits light in green, and the title bars 91b and 511b are displayed with the green color. The light-emitting section 23a emits light in orange, and the title bars 91c and 511c are displayed with the orange color. Accordingly, the user can easily recognize the correspondence between the measuring unit and the information displayed in the screen which is displayed for each measuring unit by color. In this manner, when a portion displaying an indicator is made as a part of the screen, the area which displays information relating to the measuring unit other than the information which is the indicator can be widely maintained on the same screen.
Further, in this embodiment, the icon 721 of the state screen 71a of
In this embodiment, the information processing unit 3 has a configuration to change colors which are displayed in the light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a of the measuring units 21, 22 and 23 in the measurement section setting screen 61a. Accordingly, the user can save time and effort for setting color information which is displayed for each individual measuring unit.
In this embodiment, the information processing unit 3 has a configuration to change colors of the title bars 91a, 91b and 91c and the title bars 511a, 511b and 511c in the measurement section setting screen 61a. Accordingly, the user can decide a color corresponding to the measuring unit and the screen which is displayed for each measuring unit, and thus can easily recognize the correspondence between the measuring unit and the information displayed on the screen which is displayed for each measuring unit. Similarly, the information processing unit 3 has a configuration to change colors which are displayed in the icons 721, 722 and 723. Accordingly, the user can decide a color corresponding to the measuring unit and the icon, and thus can easily recognize the correspondence between the measuring unit and the icon.
As in this embodiment, when an LED capable of displaying a plurality of colors is used in the light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a, one LED is necessary. Accordingly, when an LED capable of displaying a plurality of colors is used in the light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a, a space for providing the light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a can be reduced compared to the case in which a plurality of LEDs capable of displaying only one color are used or a display is used in the light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a.
The embodiment of the present invention can be variously and appropriately changed within the scope of the technical thought shown in the claims.
In the above-described embodiment, an example is shown in which a blood cell counting device is applied to the measuring units 21, 22 and 23. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be applied to another clinical sample analysis apparatus, such as a urine analysis apparatus, a blood coagulation measurement apparatus, an immunity analysis apparatus, a biochemical analysis apparatus or a genetic amplification measurement apparatus.
In the above-described embodiment, the light-emitting section is used as an indicator display section of each measuring unit. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and a configuration can also be made in which the measuring units 21, 22 and 23 have a display and a picture or a device name can be used as an indicator. When the measuring units 21, 22 and 23 have a display, not only a color or only a picture may be used as an indicator, but a combination of some information, such as a combination of color and text information or a combination of picture and text information, also may be used as an indicator. In addition, as an indicator display section of each measuring unit, housings of the measuring sections may be constituted by housings which each have different colors, and a device name or a picture indicating a device may be displayed in advance in each housing. Seals having different colors may be adhered to the housings. In these cases, when a service man installs the devices, the color, device name, picture and the like of each measuring unit may be registered as device information which is stored in the device information storage section 332 of the information processing unit 3.
In the above-described embodiment, the menu screen, the measurement registration screen, the analysis result screen and the measurement section help window are shown as screens for displaying information relating to the measuring unit. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and other screens for displaying information relating to the measuring unit, such as a patient registration screen for registering patient information, a doctor registration screen for registering names of doctors, a ward registration screen for registering names of wards and an accuracy management screen for displaying information for determining whether or not accuracy management is normally carried out, may be used.
In the above-described embodiment, the screens shown in
In the above-described embodiment, the information processing unit 3 has a configuration to change colors which are emitted by the light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a of the measuring units 21, 22 and 23. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a configuration can also be made in which the measuring units 21, 22 and 23 can change colors which are emitted by the light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a and the information is transmitted to the information processing unit 3 to update the device information stored in the device information storage section 332.
In the above-described embodiment, colors as indicators are displayed in the title bars 91a, 91b and 91c and the title bars 511a, 511b and 511c. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a configuration can also be made in which colors as indicators are displayed in the tool bars 92a, 92b and 92c. Also, a configuration can also be made in which colors as indicators are displayed in the characters of the device names which are displayed in the title bars 91a, 91b and 91c or the like.
In the above-described embodiment, the light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a are configured to have one LED capable of displaying a plurality of colors. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a configuration can also be made in which the light-emitting sections 21a, 22a and 23a have a plurality of LEDs capable of displaying only one color, such as a red-color LED, a green-color LED or a blue-color LED, and only an LED capable of displaying a color assigned for the measuring unit 21, 22 or 23 emits light. In addition, a configuration can also be made in which the light-emitting section has a white-color light source and a filter of plural colors and the color of the light-emitting section is changed by switching the filter.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2009-226317 | Sep 2009 | JP | national |