Analyzer, method for determining a dispensed liquid amount, and non-transitory computer readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9228946-B2
Application number	US-201313738635-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 10, 2013
Priority date	Jan 16, 2012
Publication date	Jan 5, 2016
Grant date	Jan 5, 2016

Abstract

An analyzer comprises a dispenser which dispenses a liquid into a container, a detector which comprises a phototransmitter which emits light to the container and a photoreceiver which receives light from the phototransmitter, a moving unit which changes a relative position between the container and the detector, and a controller which determines whether an amount of the liquid in the container is within a predetermined range, based on outputs from the detector at a plurality of the relative positions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An analyzer for analyzing a substance in a container comprising:
a dispenser configured to dispense a liquid into the container;
a detector that includes phototransmitter and a photoreceiver, wherein the phototransmitter is configured to emit light into the container and the photoreceiver is configured to receive light emitted from the phototransmitter, wherein liquid is determined to be detected based on an amount of light received at the photoreceiver;
a moving unit configured to move one of the container and the detector relative to the other during a detection time to facilitate detecting a presence of liquid within the container at a plurality of positions within the container; and
a controller configured to determine whether an amount of the liquid in the container is within a predetermined range based on the detected presence of liquid within the container the plurality of positions, wherein
the controller determines that the amount of the liquid in the container is within the predetermined range in response to determining that a time period of the detection time during which liquid is detected by the detector is within a predetermined detection time period range.

2. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller determines whether the amount of the liquid in the container is within the predetermined range, based on outputs from the detector during a period in which the moving unit is causing the container and the detector to move relative to each other.

3. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein
the container is a reaction container into which a sample dispensed from a sample container containing the sample and a reagent dispensed from a reagent container containing the reagent are mixed together to prepare a measurement specimen, and
the analyzer further comprises a measurement unit which measures the measurement specimen in the reaction container.

4. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid corresponds to a sample or a reagent.

5. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller determines that the amount of the liquid in the container is more than the predetermined range when a time period of the detection time during which liquid is detected by the detector is longer than or equal to an upper limit time period of the predetermined detection time period range.

6. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller determines that the amount of the liquid in the container is less than the predetermined range when a time period of the detection time during which liquid is detected by the detector is shorter than or equal to a lower limit time period of the predetermined detection time period range.

7. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to determine an abnormality in the detector when the time period of the detection time during which liquid is detected by the detector is 0.

8. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to control the dispenser to not dispense the liquid into a next container when the controller has determined that the amount of the liquid in the first container is outside of the predetermined range.

9. The analyzer according to claim 8 , wherein
the container is a reaction container into which a sample and a reagent are dispensed to prepare a measurement specimen,
the analyzer further comprises a measurement unit which measures the measurement specimen in the reaction container, and
the controller is configured to control, when determining that an amount of the measurement specimen in the reaction container is not within the predetermined range, the measurement unit so as to perform a measurement process on a measurement specimen in a reaction container whose amount has been determined there before as being within the predetermined range.

10. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to trigger a notification to indicate an abnormality when the controller has determined that the amount of the liquid in the container is not within the predetermined range.

11. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein
a position of the detector is fixed within the analyzer, and
the moving unit is configured to move the container in a vertical direction relative to the detector.

12. The analyzer according to claim 11 , wherein
the moving unit includes a grip portion configured to grip the container, and
the dispenser is controlled to dispense the liquid into the container while the moving unit grips the container and moves the container vertically relative to the detector.

13. The analyzer according to claim 2 , wherein
the controller is configured to determine whether the amount of the liquid in the container is within the predetermined range, based on outputs from the detector during a period in which the moving unit is causing the container and the detector to move relative to each other at a substantially constant speed.

14. The analyzer according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an agitator which agitates the liquid in the container, wherein
the agitator is configured to agitate the liquid in the container after the moving unit has caused the container and the detector to move relative to each other and the detector has performed detection.

15. The analyzer according to claim 3 , wherein
the reagent includes a first reagent and a second reagent,
the reagent container includes a first reagent container containing the first reagent and a second reagent container containing the second reagent,
the dispenser dispenses the first reagent from the first reagent container into the reaction container, and dispenses the second reagent from the second reagent container into the reaction container, and
the controller is configured to cause the moving unit to cause the reaction container in which the first reagent and the second reagent have been dispensed and the detector to move relative to each other, to allow the detector to perform detection.

16. The analyzer according to claim 1 , wherein
the phototransmitter emits light to a lateral face of the container.

Assignees

• Sysmex Corp

Inventors

• Tokunaga Kazutoshi
• Fukuju Toshikatsu
• Nishida Tomoyuki
• Nishikawa Hiroyuki
• Tachibana Keiji

Classifications

• G01N21/59 Primary

  Transmissivity (G01N21/25 takes precedence) · CPC title