Incubator, schedule management method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9238790-B2
Application number	US-31890309-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2009
Priority date	Feb 28, 2007
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

An input section of an incubator accepts, from a user, a first input selecting a specified incubation container which registers an observing schedule, and a second input specifying an imaging condition of the specified incubation container in an observing sequence. A calculating section calculates, according to the above-mentioned imaging condition, an observing duration of the specified incubation container from a first data relating to a carrying period of an incubation container and a second data with regard to an imaging duration. A schedule management section extracts, based on a schedule data, a registrable time zone in which an observing sequence of the specified incubation container can be executed without overlapping with previously registered observing schedules, and outputs to display the registrable time zone for presentation to the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An incubator comprising:
a temperature-controlled room that has a storage section configured to house a plurality of incubation containers, and configured to maintain an interior of the temperature-controlled room to a predefined environment condition;
an imaging section configured to capture images of a condition of samples within an incubation container in the temperature-controlled room;
a carrying mechanism configured to move the incubation container between the storage section and the imaging section;
a controlling section configured to control the imaging section and the carrying mechanism to automatically execute an observation sequence of the incubation container;
a first memory that stores first data indicating a carrying period of the incubation container by the carrying mechanism, and second data indicating an imaging duration of the imaging section;
a second memory that stores schedule data including a plurality of observation schedules, each of the observation schedules including a start time and an observation duration of the observation sequence in association with one of the incubation containers;
an input section configured to accept, from a user, a first input selection of an incubation container, and a second input selection of an imaging condition;
a controller executing a program stored in memory, the program performing the steps of:
calculating an observation duration of the selected incubation container based on the first data and the second data according to the selected imaging condition;
extracting, based on the stored schedule data and the calculated observation duration, a registrable time zone, the registrable time zone being a time zone in which the observation sequence of the specified incubation container can be executed without overlapping with the previously stored plurality of observation schedules; and
outputting to a display the registrable time zone.

2. The incubator according to claim 1 , wherein the program further performs the step of registering, based on a user's input, one of the observation schedules of the specified incubation container into the stored schedule data, and disables registration of the one of the observation schedules other than during the registrable time zone.

3. The incubator according to claim 2 , wherein the program further performs the step of:
recalculating the observation duration of the specified incubation container if there is an input changing the imaging condition after registration of one of the observation schedules, and
outputting a notification to warn the user if overlap of the observation schedules occurs due to increase of the observation duration.

4. The incubator according to claim 1 , wherein
the carrying mechanism carries the incubation container out from the temperature-controlled room, according to the user's input, and
the program further includes the step of while the observation sequence of the incubation container to be carried out is being executed, outputting a notification to warn the user before carrying out is executed.

5. The incubator according to claim 1 , wherein the program further includes the step of outputting to a display a registration status of one of the observation schedules with regard to any of the incubation containers, based on the stored schedule data.

6. The incubator according to claim 1 , wherein the program further includes the step of receiving the first input selection and the second input selection from an external computer, and transmitting to a display of the external computer the registrable time zone.

7. The incubator according to claim 1 , wherein
the input section further accepts a third input defining a condition of a time-lapse observation of the specified incubation container, and
the program further includes the steps of:
setting the plurality of observation schedules of the specified incubation containers respectively having different observation times, according to the condition of the time-lapse observation, and
extracting the registrable time zone in which each of the observation schedules of the time-lapse observation can be executed without overlapping with the observation schedules being previously registered.

8. The incubator according to claim 7 , wherein the program further includes the step of outputting to the display, as the registrable time zone in the time-lapse observation, a first-time time zone of the time-lapse observation.

9. The incubator according to claim 7 , wherein the program further includes the step of outputting to the display at least one of a warning and a presentation of the condition of the time-lapse observation for which the registrable time zone can be extracted, when the registrable time zone cannot be extracted.

10. The incubator according to claim 7 , wherein the program further includes the step of shifting one of the observation schedules of the time-lapse observation, when the registrable time zone cannot be extracted.

11. A schedule management method for an incubator, wherein
the incubator comprises:
a temperature-controlled room that has a storage section configured to house a plurality of incubation containers, and configured to maintain an interior of the temperature-controlled room to a predefined environment condition;
an imaging section configured to capture images of a condition of samples within one of the incubation containers in the temperature-controlled room;
a carrying mechanism configured to move one of the incubation containers between the storage section and the imaging section;
a controlling section configured to control the imaging section and the carrying mechanism to automatically execute an observation sequence of one of the incubation containers;
a first memory that stores first data indicating a carrying period of the incubation container by the carrying mechanism, and second data indicating an imaging duration of the imaging section;
a second memory that stores schedule data including plurality of observation schedules, each of the observation schedules including a start time and an observation duration of the observation sequence in association with one of the incubation container; and
an input section configured to accept input from a user, and

the method comprises:
accepting a first input selection of an incubation container, and a second input selection of an imaging condition;
calculating an observation duration of the selected incubation container based on the first data and the second data according to the selected imaging condition;
extracting based on the stored schedule data and the calculated observation duration, a registrable time zone, the registrable time zone being a time zone in which the observation sequence of the selected incubation container can be executed without overlapping with the previously stored plurality of observation schedules; and
outputting to a display the registrable time zone.

12. The schedule management method according to claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving the first input and the second input from a computer coupled to the incubator, and
transmitting to a display of the coupled computer the registrable time zone.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program for an incubator, wherein
the incubator comprises:
a temperature-controlled room that has a storage section configured to house a plurality of incubation containers, and configured to maintain an interior of the temperature-controlled room to a predefined environment condition;
an imaging section configured to capture images of a condition of samples within one of the i

Assignees

• Wada Yoichi
• Nikon Corp

Inventors

• Wada Yoichi

Classifications

• C12M23/50 Primary

  Means for positioning or orientating the apparatus (C12M41/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C12M41/48

  Automatic or computerized control (automatic analysis G01N35/00) · CPC title

• C12M41/14 Primary

  Incubators; Climatic chambers (per se B01L1/00) · CPC title

• C12M41/36

  of biomass, e.g. colony counters or by turbidity measurements (electrooptical investigation of individual particles G01N15/14, flow cytometers G01N15/1404) · CPC title

• G01N2035/0097

  monitoring reactions as a function of time · CPC title