Automated System and Method of Processing Biological Specimens

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016245833-A1
Application number	US-201615148604-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 6, 2016
Priority date	Dec 28, 2010
Publication date	Aug 25, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An apparatus including at least one of a stainer module and a coverslipper module; an imaging module; a storage module; an automated transport module for transporting at least one slide between at least one of the stainer module and the coverslipper module, the imaging module and the storage module; and a controller. A method including processing at least one slide; determining whether an imaging module is available for imaging of a biological specimen on the at least one slide; transporting the at least one slide to the imaging module using an automated transport module; and transporting the at least one slide to a storage module using the automated transport module when it is determined that the imaging module is not available. A system including a processing module for processing at least one slide including a biological specimen thereon. A machine readable medium.

First claim

We claim:

1 . An apparatus comprising:
an imaging module; a storage module; an automated transport module for transporting at least one slide between at least one of the imaging module and the storage module, the at least one slide comprising an identifier that is operable to store information regarding a desired imaging protocol for the at least one slide; and a controller for directing transport of the at least one slide by the transport module, wherein the controller is operable to schedule an imaging of the at least one slide based on information read from the identifier.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storage module comprises an indexing system for identifying a location of the at least one slide within the storage module.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storage module comprises a plurality of slide storage stations.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the imaging module comprises a plurality of imaging modules.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the imaging module is a charge coupled device (CCD).

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises machine readable instructions that, when executed by the controller, cause the controller to place a slide in the imaging module when the imaging module is available for receiving a slide.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises machine readable instructions that, when executed by the controller, cause the controller to retrieve a slide from the storage module and transport the slide to the imaging module.

8 . A method comprising:
reading an identifier on an at least one slide; automatically determining whether an imaging module of a plurality of imaging modules is available for imaging of a biological specimen on the at least one slide; transporting the at least one slide to the imaging module using an automated transport module when it is determined that the imaging module is available; and transporting the at least one slide to a storage module using the automated transport module when it is determined that the imaging module is not available.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the imaging module comprises one of a plurality of imaging modules.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein prior to transporting the at least one slide to the imaging module or the storage module, the method comprises processing the at least one slide wherein processing comprises at least one of staining the biological specimen on the at least one slide.

11 . The method of claim 8 further comprising:
indexing a location of the at least one slide within the storage module.

12 . A machine readable medium including program instructions that when executed by a controller linked to at least one processing module, an imaging module, and a storage module, cause the controller to perform a method comprising:
reading an identifier on an at least one slide; automatically determining whether an imaging module of a plurality of imaging modules is available for imaging of a biological specimen on the at least one slide; transporting the at least one slide to the imaging module when it is determined that the imaging module is available; and transporting the at least one slide to a storage module when it is determined that the imaging module is not available.

13 . The machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein prior to transporting the at least one slide to the imaging module or the storage module, the method comprises processing the at least one slide wherein processing comprises at least one of staining the biological specimen on the at least one slide.

14 . The machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein in the instance when it is determined that the imaging module is not available and the method includes transporting the at least one slide to the storage module, the method further comprises:
retrieving the at least one slide from the storage module; and transporting the at least one slide to the imaging module when it is determined that the imaging module is available.

15 . The machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein retrieving the at least one slide from the storage module comprises determining a location of the at least one slide within the storage module.

16 . The machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
transporting the at least one slide to the storage module; delivering the at least one slide to the storage module; assigning a location in the storage module to the at least one slide; and saving the location in a memory associated with the controller.

Assignees

• Sakura Finetek Usa Inc

Inventors

• Lefebvre Gilles

Classifications

• G01N1/312

  for samples mounted on planar substrates · CPC title

• G01N35/04 Primary

  Details of the conveyor system {(G01N35/021 - G01N35/028 take precedence)} · CPC title

• G01N35/00871

  Communications between instruments or with remote terminals · CPC title

• G01N1/30

  Staining; Impregnating {; Fixation; Dehydration; Multistep processes for preparing samples of tissue, cell or nucleic acid material and the like for analysis} · CPC title

• G01N1/06

  providing a thin slice, e.g. microtome · CPC title