Analyzing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9978044-B2
Application number	US-201213980909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 10, 2012
Priority date	Mar 4, 2011
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

An analyzing device requires regular maintenance for maintaining a predetermined analyzing performance thereof. However, the more complex the analyzing device becomes, the more number of maintenance items are provided. For example, if a plurality of types of maintenances to be performed by removing same component, efficiency may be improved by performing the same as a whole. However, when conforming with a manual, if recommended timings to perform the maintenance are shifted delicately, there is a probability of occurrence of a case where the same components are removed several times for maintenance during a short time. At the time when an instruction to perform maintenance is issued, maintenance items to be performed are extracted, the extracted maintenance items are sorted into a recommended performance order in conformity to a preset rule such that the similar maintenance or the maintenance of the same portion or the like are performed continuously.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An analyzing device for clinical examinations, comprising:
a reaction system including a plurality of reaction cells;
a storage device storing a plurality of maintenance items for the analyzing device, a plurality of predetermined time intervals for performing maintenance of each of the maintenance items, and a plurality of procedural elements that constitute each of the maintenance items, where two or more of the maintenance items include a same procedural element among the plural procedural elements;
an extracting unit configured to, upon reception of an instruction to perform maintenance, extract the procedural elements of a set of two or more of the maintenance items to be performed on the basis of the time intervals stored in the storage device;
a sorting unit configured to sort the extracted procedural elements of each of the maintenance items in the set into an order on the basis of predetermined rules;
a display unit configured to display the sorted procedural elements of each of the maintenance items in the set in the sorted order; and
a control unit programmed to control the reaction disk, the storage unit, the extracting unit and the sorting unit,
wherein the control unit is further programmed to control the sorting unit to sort the extracted procedural elements based on the rules, which include:
when the same procedural elements are included in the extracted procedural elements of at least two of the maintenance items in the set, the same procedural elements are combined into one procedural element in the sorted procedural elements, and
wherein the maintenance items in the set include reaction system washing and reaction cell replacement, and at least one of the procedural elements of the reaction system washing and at least one of the procedural elements of the reaction cell replacement are combined into one procedural element in the sorted procedural elements, and
wherein the control unit is further programmed to control the reaction system to automatically perform one or more of the sorted procedural elements of the reaction system washing and the reaction cell replacement according to the sorted order.

2. The analyzing device for clinical examinations according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control unit is further programmed to:
control the sorting unit to sort the extracted procedural elements such that, among the maintenance items in the set to be performed in a power OFF state of the analyzing device and the maintenance items in the set to be performed in a power ON state of the analyzing device, the maintenance items to be performed in the power OFF state are sorted to be performed first, as one of the rules,
when the maintenance items include water supply tank cleaning, cleaning of the bifurcated tube filter, the reaction system washing, and the reaction cell replacement, control the sorting unit to sort the procedural elements of the water supply tank cleaning and the cleaning of the bifurcated tube which are maintenance items to be performed in the power OFF state and the procedural elements of the reaction system washing and the reaction cell replacement which are maintenance items to be performed in the power ON state so as to be performed consecutively in the order, and
control the reaction system to automatically perform one of the sorted procedural elements of the water supply tank cleaning and the cleaning of the bifurcated tube filter according to the sorted order.

3. The analyzing device for clinical examinations according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control unit is further programmed to:
when the maintenance items in the set include at least two maintenance items for a same unit, control the sorting unit to sort the procedural elements of the at least two maintenance items for the same unit so as to be performed consecutively in the order, as one of the rules, and
when the maintenance items in the set include washing tank cleaning, the reaction system washing, and the reaction cell replacement, control the sorting unit to sort the procedural elements of the washing tank cleaning, the reaction system washing, and the reaction cell replacement, which are the maintenance items of a reaction disk in the reaction system, so as to be performed consecutively in the order.

4. The analyzing device for clinical examinations according to claim 1 ,
wherein the storage device further stores a plurality of required times for performing each of the maintenance items, and
wherein the control unit is further programmed to calculate a time required until the maintenance to be performed is completed, and display, on the display unit, the calculated time.

5. The analyzing device for clinical examinations according to claim 1 ,
wherein storage device further stores at least one of a date and a time of previous performance of each of the maintenance items or a presence or absence of an alarm at the time of previous performance of each of the maintenance items.

6. The analyzing device for clinical examinations according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further programmed to display a description of the maintenance items in the set to be performed in the order on the display unit.

7. A management system for an analyzing device for clinical examinations comprising:
an analyzing device including a plurality of components for clinical examinations;
a storage device storing a plurality of maintenance items for the analyzing device, a plurality of predetermined time intervals for performing maintenance of each of the maintenance items, and a plurality of procedural elements that constitute each of the maintenance items, where two or more of the maintenance items include a same procedural element among the plural procedural elements;
an extracting unit configured to, upon reception of an instruction to perform maintenance, extract the procedural elements of a set of two or more of the maintenance items to be performed on the basis of the time intervals stored in the storage device;
a sorting unit configured to sort the extracted procedural elements of each of the maintenance items in the set in an order on the basis of predetermined rules;
a display unit configured to display the sorted procedural elements of each of the maintenance items in the set in the order sorted by the sorting unit; and
a control unit programmed to control the reaction disk, the storage unit, the extracting unit and the sorting unit,
wherein the control unit is further programmed to control the sorting unit to sort the extracted procedural elements based on the rules, which include:
when the same procedural elements are included in the extracted procedural elements of at least two of the maintenance items in the set, the same procedural elements are combined into one procedural element in the sorted procedural elements,
wherein the maintenance items in the set include reaction system washing and reaction cell replacement, and at least one of the procedural elements of the reaction system washing and at least one of the procedural elements of the reaction cell replacement are combined into one procedural element in the sorted procedural elements, and
wherein the control unit is further programmed to control the components to automatically perform one or more of the sorted procedural elements of the reaction system washing and the reaction cell replacement according to the sorted order.

8. The management system for an analyzing device for clinical examinations according to claim 7 ,
wherein the control unit is further programmed to:
control the sorting unit to sort the extracted procedural elements such that, among the maintenance items in the set to be performed in a power OFF state of the analyzing device and the mainte

Assignees

• Taki Miki
• Ishii Naomi
• Hitachi High Tech Corp

Inventors

• Taki Miki
• Ishii Naomi

Classifications

• G01N35/00623

  of instruments · CPC title

• G01N35/0092

  Scheduling · CPC title

• G06Q10/0639

  Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations · CPC title

• G06Q10/20 Primary

  Administration of product repair or maintenance · CPC title