The present invention relates to an information providing system for providing coping information regarding an analyzer to an operator and the analyzer.
In recent years, in order to manage a hardware of the analyzer, there is proposed a system of transmitting abnormal operation status information of the analyzer and its operation history to a terminal, etc, set at a place away from the analyzer, and performing a remote management of the analyzer (for example, see U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0128801).
In the aforementioned conventional system, when an abnormality occurs to the analyzer, it is possible that a manager who operates the terminal installed at a place away from the analyzer can recognize that abnormality occurs to the analyzer. However, in order to restore the analyzer to a normal state, the operator who actually operates the analyzer must repair and adjust the analyzer in most cases.
For example, when the operator repairs and adjusts the analyzer, who belongs to an end user such as hospital and clinical laboratory where this analyzer is purchased and used, usually, the operator himself/herself grasps a coping process, performs a coping work, and restores this analyzer to a normal operation state by referring to a manual, etc, contacting a help desk on the phone, and the like. In this case, the operator obtains mainly from the manual the coping information regarding an apparatus such as repair and adjustment of the analyzer. Further, the abnormality sometimes occurs even when a service engineer who belongs a manufacturing company of this analyzer or a manufacturer who is involved in production of this analyzer operate the analyzer. Even in these cases, the coping information is mainly obtained from a dedicated manual in the same way as the end user.
Meanwhile, when the abnormality occurs, some analyzers have a function of displaying simple information, which is a simple coping process responding to this abnormality, on a display screen, etc, of the analyzer. However, in many cases, such a simple coping process cannot respond to the abnormality. In addition, since information of the same content is provided to the operator who has a different attribute (such as an end user, a service engineer, and a manufacturer, etc), it cannot be said that sufficient and useful information can be provided to the operator. When the analyzer is in a state requiring a response to abnormality, etc, the operator of this analyzer can obtain the coping information efficiently and can appropriately cope with the abnormality of this analyzer quickly, without referencing the manual, etc, attached with this analyzer and searching and obtaining required information therefrom, if the coping information, being a detailed coping process for this state, can be displayed on the aforementioned display screen.
Meanwhile, when a detailed coping process is provided to the operator, the following problem is involved depending on the display screen of the analyzer. Namely, as the coping information on the analyzer is made further detailed, the problem involved therein is that necessity for always updating the information to the newest information is generated, and necessity for considering a difference of attributes of the operator who refers to this coping information is generated. For example, required coping information is different among the end user such as hospitals and clinical laboratories, the service engineer who belongs to the manufacturing company of this analyzer, and the manufacturer of the analyzer. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare the coping information of a different content in accordance with the operator who refers to this information, resulting in making its information amount enormous. It is difficult to store such an enormous information amount in the analyzer and always update the information to the newest information.
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.
A first aspect of the present invention is an information providing system comprising:
an analyzer for analyzing a sample, having a memory which stores first coping information indicating a coping process for the analyzer; and
a database apparatus communicatively connected to the analyzer through a network and storing second coping information indicating more detailed coping process than the first coping information, wherein
the analyzer comprises:
a display unit;
first obtaining means for obtaining the first coping information from the memory;
first displaying means for displaying the first coping information obtained by the first obtaining means on the display unit;
second obtaining means for obtaining the second coping information from the database apparatus; and
second displaying means for displaying the second coping information obtained by the second obtaining means on the display unit.
A second aspect of the present invention is an information providing system comprising:
an analyzer for analyzing a sample; and
a coping information database that stores coping
information respectively indicating coping processes for each of a plurality of groups previously divided based on predetermined attributes of operators of the analyzer, to cope with status of the analyzer, wherein
the analyzer comprises:
a display unit;
obtaining means for obtaining the coping information corresponding to status of the analyzer and a group to which an operator of the analyzer belongs from the coping information database; and
coping information displaying means for displaying the coping information obtained by the obtaining means on the display unit.
A third aspect of the present invention is an analyzer for analyzing a sample, comprising:
a display unit;
a memory that stores first coping information indicating a coping process for the analyzer;
first obtaining means for obtaining the first coping information from the memory;
first displaying means for displaying the first coping information obtained by the first obtaining means on the display unit;
second obtaining means for obtaining second coping information indicating a more detailed coping process than the first coping information from a database apparatus that stores the second coping information, communicatively connected to the analyzer through a network; and
second displaying means for displaying the second coping information obtained by the second obtaining means on the display unit.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is an analyzer for analyzing a sample comprising:
a display unit;
obtaining means for obtaining coping information corresponding to status of the analyzer and a group to which an operator of the analyzer belongs, from a coping information database that stores the coping information; and
coping information displaying means for displaying the coping information obtained by the obtaining means on the display unit.
a) is a view showing an example of a simple information database.
b) is a view showing an example of a group identifying information database.
c) is a view showing an example of a position information database.
a) is a view exemplifying a coping information database directed to a user group.
b) is a view exemplifying a coping information database directed to a service engineer group.
c) is a view exemplifying the coping information database directed to a manufacturer group.
Preferred embodiments of an information providing system and an analyzer of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings hereafter.
As described later, the analyzer 20 has an analyzer main body for performing a measurement of a sample such as blood, and a controller 22 for controlling this analyzer main body and collecting/analyzing measurement data.
The CPU 110a is capable of executing a computer program stored in the ROM 110b and a computer program loaded into the RAM 110c. Then, when this CPU 110a executes an application program, etc, for realizing an operating system or a system of the present invention, each function block, as will be described later, is realized, and the computer functions as the controller 22.
The ROM 110b is constituted of a mask ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, and an EEPROM, etc, and the computer program and data used for this computer program executed by the CPU 110a are recorded therein
The RAM 110c is constituted of a SRAM or a DRAM, etc. The RAM 110c is used for reading the computer program recorded in the ROM 110b and the hard disk 110d. In addition, when these computer programs are executed, the RAM 110c is utilized as a working area.
The hard disk 110d has installed therein various computer programs and the data used for executing these computer programs executed by the CPU 110a, such as the operating system and the application program. Each database as will be described later is also stored in this hard disk 110d.
The reading device 110Se is constituted of a flexible disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, or a DVD-ROM drive, etc, and can read the computer program or the data recorded in a portable-type recording medium 140. In addition, the portable-type recording medium 140 stores therein an application program 140a for making the computer function as a system, thus making it possible to make this computer read the application program 140a of the present invention from this portable-type recording medium 140 and install this application program 140a on the hard disk 110d.
Note that the aforementioned application program 140a is not only provided by the portable-type recording medium 140, but also can be provided through an electrical communication line from an external apparatus communicatively connected to the computer by the electrical communication line (regardless of wired or wireless). For example, when the aforementioned application program is stored in the hard disk of a server computer for providing the application program on the Internet, it is possible to access this server computer, download this computer program, and install it on the hard disk 110d.
The input/output interface 110f is constituted of a serial interface such as USB, IEEE1394, RS-232C, a parallel interface such as SCSI, IDE, IEEE1284, and an analogue interface such as a D/A converter and an A/D converter. The input part 25 composed of a keyboard and a mouse, etc, is connected to the input/output interface 110f, and by using this input part 25 by a user, the data can be inputted in the computer.
The image output interface 110h is connected to the display unit 26, being a display constituted of an LCD or a CRT, etc, and outputs to the display unit 26 an image signal in accordance with image data supplied from the CPU 110a. The display unit 26 displays an image (screen), in accordance with the image signal thus inputted.
Next, explanation is given to a function of the analyzer 20 having the controller 22 of a hardware structure as described above.
The communication part 27 is connected to the information server 30 through a network 4 (
The display unit 26 displays various kinds of information such as an analysis result, for the operator who operates this analyzer 20. In addition, the operator can display on the screen of the display unit 26, being the display, an operation part operable by the operator using the input part 25 such as a mouse, etc.
Note that, as described above, the “operator” who operates the analyzer 20 includes the aforementioned end user such as staff of the hospital and the clinical laboratory, the service engineer who visits to the end user side and performs repair/adjustment work, and the manufacturer who performs inspection and adjustment work in a production plant.
The control part 23 functionally includes an identification information reception part 23a for receiving identification information such as logon name of the operator who operates the analyzer 20; a group identification part 23b for identifying what group, as will be described later, the aforementioned operator belongs to; an apparatus abnormality specification part 23c for detecting and specifying apparatus abnormalities of the analyzer main body 21; a simple information display unit 23d for displaying the simple information indicating a simple coping process corresponding to the abnormalities of the analyzer main body 21; a coping information display unit 23e for obtaining the coping information indicating a detailed coping process corresponding to a specified apparatus abnormality from the information server 30, and displaying it to the operator, in accordance with the request of the operator; and a position information generation part 23f for generating the position information in the information server 30 in which the coping information required for obtaining the coping information from the information server 30 by the coping information display unit 23e.
When the operator starts the analyzer 20, the identification information reception part 23a displays, on the screen of the display unit 26, a dialog box as will be described later for inputting the logon name as the identification information of the operator, and receives the logon name previously allotted to the operator.
The group identification part 23b refers to a group identification information database 24b, as will be described later, stored in the memory 24, and identifies what group, as will be described later, the logon name received by the identification information reception part 23a belongs to.
The apparatus abnormality specification part 23c obtains various kinds of signal information from each kind of sensor, etc, of the analyzer main body 21, and specifies the apparatus abnormality from this signal information.
The coping information display unit 23e has a function as a web browser for displaying information on the screen of the display unit 26, and displays the coping information obtained from the information server 30 in a window of this web browser.
The memory 24 stores a simple information database 24a including the simple information corresponding to each of the various kinds of apparatus abnormalities generated in the analyzer main body 21; a group identification information database 24b referenced for identifying the group of the operator by the group identification part 23b; and a position information database 24c referenced for generating the position information by the position information generation part 23f, in addition to the aforementioned operating system and computer program such as an application program.
For example, as shown in
The group identification information database 24b includes the information used for identifying what group the operator who operates this analyzer 20 belongs to out of a plurality of groups previously divided based on a predetermined attribute. Here, in this embodiment, in accordance with the attribute of the operator, three groups are defined, such as “user group”, “service engineer group”, and “manufacturer group”. The “user group” is the group constituted by the end user who purchases and possesses this analyzer 20 and performs analysis measurement, the “service engineer group” is the group constituted by the service engineer who dedicatedly performs inspection, maintenance, and repair of the analyzer 20, and the “manufacturer group” is the group constituted by the manufacturer such as a person in charge of inspection and a person in charge of manufacture who operate the analyzer 20 in the inspection and assembly work in the manufacturing intermediate step of the analyzer 20.
b) shows an example of the group identification information database 24b. For example, as shown in
As shown in
Note that in this analyzer 20, the controller 22 can be constituted of a personal computer, etc, and this personal computer can be connected to the analyzer main body 21, or the analyzer main body 21 and the controller 22 may be integrally constituted.
Meanwhile, the information server 30 connected to the analyzer 20 through the network 4 has approximately the same hardware structure as that of the controller 22 as shown in
In accordance with the request from the analyzer 20, the control part 31 selects required information from the coping information databases 32a to 32c corresponding to each group stored in the memory 32, and transmits it to the analyzer 20 through the communication part 35 as the data described in a web data format such as an HTML format.
In addition to the operating system, etc, for operating the information server 30, the memory 32 stores a coping information database 32a directed to a user group; a coping information database 32b directed to a service engineer group; and a coping information database 32c directed to a manufacturer group, wherein the coping information corresponding to various apparatus abnormalities is made into a database. These databases 32a to 32c store group-categorized coping information edited into a content corresponding to the attribute of the aforementioned three groups, by making this coping information into a database for each group.
a) to (c) show an example of the aforementioned each coping information databases 32a to 32c stored in the memory 32,
In addition, the address as the position information used for showing its storage position is individually allotted to the coping information corresponding to these apparatus abnormalities, and when the analyzer 20 requests the coping information, required information is easily specified based on the address generated by the position information generation part 23f. As shown in the text data of
Also, in addition to the aforementioned database, the memory 32 may store a similar database in a different analyzer or the analyzer having a different specification even in a case of the same model. In this case, by adding in the aforementioned address, the information on the model of the analyzer and the information used for classifying its specification, etc, the coping information according to the individual case can be stored even in a different analyzer and the analyzer having different specification although having the same model, and the information can be provided.
Note that the information server 30 is not required to be constituted of one set of personal computer, but may be constituted of a plurality of sets of computer apparatuses.
With the above-described structure, the information server 30 receives the access from the analyzer 20 as a web server through the network 4, and provides the coping information stored in the coping information databases 32a to 32c, to the analyzer 20, being an access source, as the HTML data. Note that if the data that can be displayed by the web browser, the data is not limited to the HTML data, and other data such as JAVA (registered trademark) and JavaScript (registered trademark) or the data obtained by combining them may be generated and provided to the analyzer 20.
Next, regarding the operation of the information providing system 1 having the above-described structure, explanation will be given to a procedure for executing analysis by using the analyzer 20 by the operator.
In the figure, when the operator starts the analyzer 20 first, the identification information reception part 23a of the control part 23 of the analyzer 20 displays the dialog box to log on to the operation system and the information providing system on the display unit 34, and requests the operator to log on thereto (step S1).
In
When the inputted logon name is determined to belong to any one of the aforementioned three groups, the group identification part 23b identifies what group the logon name belongs to, out of the aforementioned three groups, and stores in the memory 24 a group name consequently identified and the inputted logon name (step S5). As described above, the analyzer 20 can grasp whether or not the present operator belongs to any one of the groups. In step S5, when the identified group name and the inputted logon name are stored, the operator can give an instruction to perform an analysis operation of the analyzer 20.
Next, the analysis operation of the information analysis system according to this embodiment will be explained.
When the apparatus abnormality specification part 23c specifies the apparatus abnormalities, the simple information display unit 23d reads the simple information regarding the apparatus abnormalities thus specified from the simple information database 24a (step S16), and displays a help dialog box showing the read simple information on the screen of the display unit 26 (step S17).
The help dialog box 54 has a detailed information request button 57 for requesting more detailed coping information corresponding to the specified apparatus abnormalities. The detailed information request button 57 displayed in the help dialog box 54 can be operated by the operator using the input part 25 such as a mouse, etc. The control part 23 selects the detailed information request button 57, namely, determines whether or not the request of the more detailed coping information is received (step S18).
When the apparatus abnormalities are coped with by only the simple information displayed in the help dialog box 54, the operator copes with the apparatus abnormalities based on the simple information displayed in the help dialog box 54, without operating the detailed information request button 57. When such a coping process is completed, the processing is returned to step S11, and the instruction of analysis operation can be given again. Here, when the instruction of analysis operation is given, the controller 23 starts the analysis operation again (step S12), and in step S13, detects presence/absence of the apparatus abnormalities, and when the aforementioned specified apparatus abnormalities are solved, continues the analysis operation (step S12). When the apparatus abnormalities are not solved, the controller 23 shuts down the analyzer main body (step S14), specifies the apparatus abnormalities (step S15), and displays the help dialog box 54 again (steps S16 and S17).
Meanwhile, in step S18, when the operator operates the detailed information request button 57 (when the operator requests more detailed coping information), the coping information display unit 23e requests the information server 30 to provide the detailed coping information (step S19). In the coping information databases 32a to 32c stored in the information server 30, as shown in
When a transmission request of the coping information from the analyzer 20 is received, the controller 31 of the information server 30 obtains the coping information allotted to the aforementioned address from each of the coping information databases 32a to 32c stored in the memory 32, transmits it to the analyzer 20 as the Web data, and the analyzer 20 receives this Web data (step S18). In this way, in this embodiment, the analyzer 20 identifies and grasps the group to which the operator belongs, and therefore, for example, even if a plurality of analyzers 20 access the information server 30, the information server 30 is not required to perform identification of the operator of each of the analyzers thus accessed, thereby reducing its load. In addition, in this embodiment, the analyzer 20 specifies the address in the information server 30 in which required information is stored, and accesses the information server 30. Therefore, the information serve 30 is not required to perform a complicated processing to the request particularly from the analyzer 20, thereby further reducing its load. Note that in this embodiment, the analyzer 20 identifies the group to which the operator belongs. However, it can be so constituted that the analyzer 20 transmits the information used for identifying the group such as a logon name, etc, to the information server 30, and the group, to which the operator belongs, can be identified on the side of the information server 30.
The coping information display unit 23e of the analyzer 20 that receives and obtains the coping information from the information server 30 starts the web browser and displays the window of the web browser on the screen of the display unit 26. Then, it displays the coping information obtained from the information server 30, in the window of the web browser (step S21).
In addition, as shown in
In this way, according to this embodiment, the coping information from the information server 30 is displayed to the operator by the web browser on the display unit 26 as a display screen. Therefore, the coping information can be easily browsed and displayed. In addition, the link with other information can be easily set. This contributes to easy usability in obtaining more information.
In
Meanwhile, when the instruction to start the analysis operation is not given, the controller 23 determines whether or not the instruction of shutdown by the operator is received (step S22). Then, when the instruction of shutdown is not received, the processing is returned to step S11, and receives the instruction to start the analysis operation again. When the instruction of shutdown is received, a shutdown operation is executed (step S23), and the processing is finished.
Note that in the above-described embodiment, for the simplification of the explanation, it is so explained that the coping information is the information for coping with the abnormalities of the analyzer. However, the present invention is not limited to the apparatus abnormalities as far as the state needs to be coped with, and the information for coping with the adjustment/inspection at the time of producing the analyzer is also included. In this case, when manufacture/adjustment, assembly/adjustment, or inspection of the apparatus is required, such a state is detected, and the coping information indicating a specific work procedure, etc, is provided to the analyzer from the information server.
According to the information providing system of this embodiment thus constituted, it is communicatively connected to the analyzer 20, and is provided with the information server 30 in which the coping information is stored. Therefore, the coping information of enormous information amount is not required to be stored in the analyzer 20. In addition, even when the coping information is provided to a plurality of operators or a plurality of analyzers 20, the coping information can be centrally managed, thereby improving convenience. In addition, by always setting the coping information of the information server 30 in a newest state, newest coping information can be provided to the operator. Further, since the coping information corresponding to the abnormality that generates in the analyzer 20 is displayed, the operator is not required to search and obtain the required information from the manual, etc, thus improving the convenience.
As described above, according to the information providing system 1 of the present invention, the convenience is improved for both of the side providing the coping information and the side referencing the coping information, and the newest coping information can be efficiently provided to the operator. In addition, the coping information provided to the analyzer 20 is centrally managed by the information server 30, and therefore an increase of a management cost can be suppressed.
Further, when the apparatus abnormalities are generated in the analyzer 20, the information providing system of the above-described embodiment displays to the operator the simple information indicating a simple coping process, before detailed coping information is displayed. Therefore, the operator is urged to cope with the apparatus abnormalities based on the simple information first. Then, if the repair/adjustment can be made by the response based on the simple information, the analyzer 20 can be restored more quickly.
In addition, in the analyzer 20 thus constituted also, the newest and useful coping information can be efficiently provided to the operator, as described above.
Note that the information providing system of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case of using the hemocyte analyzer is exemplified. However, the information providing system of the present invention can be similarly applied to other analyzer. In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the group, to which the operator belongs, is divided into three groups such as “a user”, “a service engineer”, and “a manufacturer”. However, the group can be further subdivided and can be divided into larger numbers of groups. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the data of a web format is provided to the analyzer from the information server, and the coping information is displayed by the web browser. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and it may be so constituted that a dedicated server program for providing the coping information is installed on the information server and also a dedicated browser program for displaying the coping information is installed on the analyzer, thus providing the information to the analyzer from the information server by a dedicated data format.
The foregoing detailed description and accompanying drawings have been provided by way of explanation and illustration, and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims. Many variations in the presently preferred embodiments illustrated herein will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, and remain within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-094571 | Mar 2006 | JP | national |
This is a divisional application that claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/731,030, filed Mar. 30, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,739,079, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanese Patent Application No. JP2006-094571 filed Mar. 30, 2006. The entire contents of both applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11731030 | Mar 2007 | US |
Child | 12771804 | US |