Toa Medical Electronics Co., Ltd.

Sysmex Corporation

Tokihiro Kosaka

Yasunori Maekawa

Shinichi Ogino

Takaaki Nagai

Yuichi Hamada

Koichi Okubo

Ryuichiro Ebi

Yuichiro Ohmae

Koki Tajima

Hiroyuki Nakamoto

Ryuichi Tohma

Fumio Kubota

Kaoru Takarada

Yasuo Yonekura

A specimen processing system comprising: a specimen measuring section for measuring specimens accommodated in specimen containers; a transport section for transporting specimen containers to the specimen measuring section; a specimen container collect section for collecting specimen containers; an obtainer for obtaining shape information on specimen containers or state information on specimens accommodated in specimen containers; a supply judger configured for determining whether specimen containers are to be supplied to the specimen measuring section on the basis of the result obtained by the obtainer; and a delivery section for delivering specimen containers, which are determined to be supplied to the specimen measuring section by the supply judger, toward the transport section, and delivering specimen containers, which are determined not to be supplied to the specimen measuring section by the supply judger, toward the specimen container collect section, is disclosed. A specimen container classifying apparatus is also disclosed.

Specimen processing system and specimen container classifying apparatus

The present invention is to present a specimen processing apparatus, comprising: an imaging device for imaging a cap of a covered specimen container containing a specimen; an aspirating device including a specimen aspirating tube, moving the specimen aspirating tube so as to pass the specimen aspirating tube through the cap of the covered specimen container and aspirating the specimen contained in the covered specimen container via the specimen aspirating tube; an aspiration controller for controlling a movement of the specimen aspirating tube into the covered specimen container based on an image obtained by the imaging device; and a specimen processing device for processing the specimen aspirated by the aspirating device.

Specimen processing apparatus

A sample preparation apparatus comprising: a filter which separates predetermined cells from a liquid sample containing a plurality types of cells; a rotor which includes a magnetic body and detaches the predetermined cells attached to the filter by rotation; a driving unit which rotates the rotor using a magnetic force; and a rotation information acquiring unit which acquires a rotation information of the rotor when the driving unit rotates the rotor. A method and a computer program product are also disclosed.

Sample preparation apparatus

The present invention is to present a blood sample analyzing apparatus, comprising: an aspirator for aspirating a blood sample to be used for measurement; a coagulation determiner for determining whether the blood sample is coagulated or not; and an aspirating controller for controlling an operation of the aspirator based on a determination result by the coagulation determiner.

Blood sample analyzing apparatus, blood sample coagulation determining apparatus, blood sample coagulation determining method and computer program product

The present invention is to present a sample analyzer, comprising: an imaging device for imaging a sample container which has translucency and contains a sample; a measuring device for aspirating the sample contained in the sample container and measuring the aspirated sample; a transporting device for transporting the sample container to a supply position for supplying the sample contained in the sample container to the measuring device; a sample volume obtainer for obtaining sample volume information relating to volume of the sample in the sample container, based on an image obtained by imaging the sample container by the imaging device; and a transport controller for controlling the transporting device to perform a transport operation in accordance with the sample volume information obtained by the sample volume obtainer.

Sample analyzer

A specimen imaging apparatus is provided that is capable of improved high-speed operation compared to conventional apparatuses. The specimen imaging apparatus is provided with a microscope for enlarging the image of a specimen, and taking the enlarged image of the specimen obtained by the microscope. The apparatus is provided with a vibration detector for detecting a relative vibration between the objective lens of the microscope and the specimen mounted in the microscope, a focuser for focusing before the vibration detected by the vibration detector has attenuated to less than a predetermined value, and a controller for determining whether or not a vibration detected by the vibration detector is less than a predetermined value. The specimen imaging apparatus is configured so as to take the enlarged image of a specimen when the controller has determined that the vibration is less than a predetermined value.

Specimen imaging apparatus and specimen analyzer

A flowcytometer includes a sheath flow cell for forming a sample stream containing particles; a detector for detecting the particle at a first area to generate a signal representative of the particle; an imaging device for capturing an image of the particle at a second area of the sample stream; a display; a calculator for calculating a plurality of characteristic parameters of each particle; a distribution preparation device for preparing a distribution of the characteristic parameters to display the distribution on the display; a designation device for previously designating a region in the distribution; a region memory for storing the designated region; a decision device for deciding whether the characteristic parameters of the particle detected at the first area by the detection means are located in the designated region stored in the region memory; an image controller for allowing the imaging device to imaging the particle when the characteristic parameters are located in the designated region; an image memory for storing the image of the particle; and a controller for selectively reading the image of the particle to allow the display device to display the read image.

Flow cytometer

An apparatus for analyzing particle images includes a sheath flow cell for transforming a particle suspension flow into a flat flow surrounded by a sheath liquid, a light source for irradiating particles in the transformed particle suspension flow, a video camera for capturing particle images of irradiated particles, an image analyzer for analyzing the captured particle images, and a display device. The image analyzer including a calculator for measuring a projected area and perimeter of each captured particle image to calculate a particle diameter and circularity of each particle, a graph making device for making a histogram based on the particle diameter and for making a scattergram based on two parameters corresponding to the particle diameter and the circularity to allow the display device to display the histogram and the scattergram, a memory for storing each of the captured particle images, and a particle image recalling device for allowing the display device to collectively display the particle images stored by the memory.

Apparatus and method for analyzing particle images including measuring

A sample liquid containing particles are caused to flow through a transparent flow cell. An image capturing device is used to capture different images for a single particle existing in an image capturing area of the flow cell. The image capturing device further preferably captures different images of the single particle from different directions. Further, the image capturing device can capture different images at different focal positions. The different images can include fluorescence images and chemiluminescence images.

Imaging flow cytometer nearly simultaneously capturing a plurality of

A particle analyzer includes a flow cell for enclosing a sample liquid containing particles in a sheathed flow to form a flat flow of the sample liquid; an exciting light source for emitting light for exciting fluorescence to irradiate the particle in the flat flow; a capturing device for capturing a fluorescent image of the particle when the particle reaches a predetermined position of the flat flow, the exciting light source and the capturing device being disposed so that a capturing optical axis of the capturing device is perpendicular to a surface of the flat flow and orthogonal to a light emitting optical axis of the exciting light source; and a shutter device for allowing the capturing device to receive the fluorescence from the particle for a predetermined period of time.

Particle analyzer

A particle analyzer comprising a one-dimensional image sensor for producing imaging signals by scanning a particle in a flow of specimen containing particle components such as blood and urine in a flat sheath flow thin in thickness in the light emitting direction and broad in the direction orthogonal to the light emitting direction, and a signal processing device for processing the signals and operating on the basis of the imaging signals from the one-dimensional image sensor. A particle analyzer excellent in analyzing capability for obtaining morphological information of particles in the liquid specimen flowing in a flow cell in real time is presented. Besides, by emitting light to a flowing particle, the transmitted light image is focused on the one-dimensional image sensor (line sensor), and the detected image signal from the line sensor is further processed in detail in the signal processing device. The signal processing device comprises a background correction processing circuit, a binarizing processing circuit, a binary signal processing circuit, a particle region division processing circuit and an arithmetic circuit. A particle analyzer high in analyzing capability for obtaining the absorption quantity and morphological information of individual particles in the liquid specimen flowing in a flow cell in real time is presented.

An imaging flow cytometer includes a flow path such as a transparent tube for allowing subject particles to move in a separate fluidity, the subject particles being present in a sample liquid, a light source for applying light to the subject particles which flow through the transparent tube, a beam splitter for distributing to two optical paths image light obtained from each of the subject particles irradiated with the light, a capturing device which has a light receiving surface on which an image is formed, projectors for magnifying at different magnification powers each image light distributed by the beam splitter and forming an image on respective portions of the light receiving surfaces of the capturing device, and an image processor for storing and displaying images of particles captured by the capturing device.

Imaging flow cytometer and imaging method having plural optical paths of

A particle analyzer includes a flow cell for enclosing an electrolyte flow containing particles in a sheathed flow, the flow cell including a first and second cells which are interconnected through an orifice, the sheathed flow flowing through the orifice from the first cell to the second cell, a first and second electrodes provided in the first and second cells, respectively and a voltage application device for applying voltage between the first and second electrodes. The particle analyzer further includes a resistance detection device for detecting a variation of electric resistance between the first and second electrodes when the particle passes through the orifice to output the detected variation as a resistance detection signal. A first diameter calculation device is included for calculating each diameter of the particles based on the detected variation of electric resistance. Further a light source device for emitting a light beam to the particles enclosed in the sheathed flow and a light detection device for detecting each intensity of scatter light of the particles irradiated with the light beam to output the detected intensity as a scatter light detection signal are included. Finally, the particle analyzer includes a refractive index calculation device for calculating a refractive index of the particle based on the resistance detection signal and the scatter light detection signal and a second diameter calculation device for calculating each diameter of the particles based on the calculated refractive index and the scatter light detection signal.

An apparatus for analyzing particles at high precision capable of obtaining informations in real time such as morphological informations and fluorescence image of cells (particles) contained in a sample liquid such as blood and urine. It comprises a flow cell (18) for forming a flat sample liquid flow (20), a light source (10) for emitting light to the sample liquid flow, an image intensifier (34) for amplifying particle fluorescence image emitted from the broader side of the sample liquid flow, a line sensor (36) for scanning the fluorescence image amplified by the image intensifier and issuing imaging signal (Sf (i)) in every scanning i, and a signal processing device (42) for processing signals or operating on the basis of the imaging signal (Sf (i)) from the line sensor.

Growing community of inventors

Kakogawa, Japan

Tokihiro Kosaka