Automatic analysis device, automatic analysis system, and automatic analysis method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018231537-A1
Application number	US-201615749197-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 28, 2016
Priority date	Aug 26, 2015
Publication date	Aug 16, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

The automatic analysis device is provided with (1) a measurement mechanism having a light measuring unit having a reaction container in which the sample is dispensed, a light source which emits light to the reaction container, and a detection unit that detects scattered light from the sample in the reaction container, (2) an amplifier circuit unit having an adder-subtractor that adds or subtracts a correction signal to or from a first measurement signal from the detection unit, and an amplifier circuit which amplifies the output signal by the adder-subtractor at a fixed amplification rate to output a second measurement signal, and (3) an arithmetic operation unit which calculates the correction signal on the basis of a difference between the signal level of the second measurement signal and a target value, and which executes an analysis action based on the second measurement signal after correction by means of the correction signal.

First claim

1 . An automatic analysis device comprising:
a measurement mechanism that has a light measuring unit in which a reaction container into which a specimen is dispensed is erected, a light source which irradiates the reaction container with light, and a detection unit which detects scattered light from the specimen in the reaction container; an amplification circuit unit that has an adder/subtracter which adds or subtracts a correction signal to/from a first measurement signal from the detection unit and an amplification circuit which amplifies an output signal from the adder/subtracter with a fixed amplification rate and outputs the amplified output signal as a second measurement signal; an arithmetic operation unit that calculates the correction signal based on a difference between a signal level of the second measurement signal and a target value thereof and executes an analysis operation based on the second measurement signal after the correction by the correction signal; and a control unit that controls operations of the measurement mechanism, the amplification circuit unit, and the arithmetic operation unit.

2 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the arithmetic operation unit calculates a degree of an interference substance contained in the specimen based on a convergence value of the difference which is successively calculated.

3 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the arithmetic operation unit stops an analysis operation when the degree of the interference substance is larger than a first threshold value.

4 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the arithmetic operation unit outputs an alarm indicating that the degree of the interference substance contained in the specimen is high when the degree of the interference substance is larger than a first threshold value.

5 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the detection unit detects the scattered light emitted from the specimen after a reagent is mixed.

6 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 5 ,
wherein the arithmetic operation unit stops an analysis operation when the second measurement signal after correction by the correction signal exceeds a first threshold value set based on the target value.

7 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 5 ,
wherein the arithmetic operation unit outputs an alarm when the second measurement signal exceeds a first threshold value set based on the target value.

8 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a multiplexer that multiplexes by time division and outputs a plurality of the first measurement signals outputted from a plurality of the detection units corresponding to a plurality of the light measuring units, wherein the amplification circuit unit and the arithmetic operation unit commonly provided in the plurality of the detection units corresponding to the plurality of light measuring units process the plurality of first measurement signals sequentially input from the multiplexer in a time division manner.

9 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 1 ,
wherein at least one of a plurality of the detection units corresponding to a plurality of the light measuring units is a second detection unit that measures transmitted light transmitted through the reaction container.

10 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 9 ,
wherein measurement of the transmitted light by the second detection unit is executed when the degree of the interference substance contained in the specimen calculated from the convergence value of the difference is larger than a first threshold value.

11 . The automatic analysis device according to claim 9 ,
wherein the second detection unit is a detection unit provided in a biochemical analysis device.

12 . An automatic analysis system comprising:
an automatic analysis device; and a control device that controls an operation of the automatic analysis device, wherein the automatic analysis device includes
a measurement mechanism that has a light measuring unit in which a reaction container into which a specimen is dispensed is erected, a light source which irradiates the reaction container with light, and a detection unit which detects scattered light from the specimen in the reaction container,
an amplification circuit unit that has an adder/subtracter which adds or subtracts a correction signal to/from a first measurement signal from the detection unit and an amplification circuit which amplifies an output signal from the adder/subtracter with a fixed amplification rate and outputs the amplified output signal as a second measurement signal, and
an arithmetic operation unit that calculates the correction signal based on a difference between a signal level of the second measurement signal and a target value thereof and executes an analysis operation based on the second measurement signal after the correction by the correction signal.

13 . An automatic analysis method using an automatic analysis device, the device including a measurement mechanism that has a light measuring unit in which a reaction container into which a specimen is dispensed is erected, a light source which irradiates the reaction container with light, and a detection unit which detects scattered light from the specimen in the reaction container, an amplification circuit unit that has an adder/subtracter which adds or subtracts a correction signal to/from a first measurement signal from the detection unit and an amplification circuit which amplifies an output signal from the adder/subtracter with a fixed amplification rate and outputs the amplified output signal as a second measurement signal, and an arithmetic operation unit,
the method comprising: a process of calculating a difference between a signal level of the second measurement signal and a target value thereof by the arithmetic operation unit; a process of calculating the correction signal based on the calculated difference by the arithmetic operation unit; and a process of executing an analysis operation based on the second measurement signal after correction by the correction signal by the arithmetic operation unit.

Assignees

• Hitachi High Tech Corp

Inventors

• Inabe Toshiyuki
• Makino Akihisa
• Adachi Sakuichiro
• Yabutani Chie

Classifications

• G01N21/82

  producing a precipitate or turbidity · CPC title

• G01N2201/1242

  Validating, e.g. range invalidation, suspending operation · CPC title

• G01N33/542 Primary

  with steric inhibition or signal modification, e.g. fluorescent quenching · CPC title

• G01N21/51

  inside a container, e.g. in an ampoule (G01N21/53 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N2201/122

  Kinetic analysis; determining reaction rate · CPC title