The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 11, 1994
Filed:
Aug. 05, 1991
Steven A Bernstein, Los Olivos, CA (US);
Page A Erickson, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Bio Tek Instruments, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Abstract
A system which performs a plurality of independent analysis procedures simultaneously, comprising a robotic arm and a processor, which may direct the robotic arm to interleave the differing process steps. The processor may select a tissue sample to be moved in response to timing information about the procedures, which may specify the start time and end time of each process step. The specified times may be exact or may be a range of times. The processor may determine the exact time for a step by generating a possible sequence of steps and examining that sequence for conflicts, adjusting that sequence in response to those steps with a specified range of times, and iterating the calculation over a plurality of possible sequences. The processor may also optimize the order in which samples are moved to minimize the total time required by the system to complete the procedures, e.g., by generating a plurality of possible sequences, evaluating each sequence for total expected time, and selecting the best sequence available. The processor may comprise a graphic interface by which an operator may specify the steps of a procedure.