JPH0259943B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical field to which the invention pertains) The present invention relates to an automatic specimen enclosing device, and in particular, the present invention relates to an automatic specimen enclosing device, and in particular to an automatic specimen enclosing device, in which slide glass is supplied to a conveying means at predetermined time intervals. The present invention relates to an automatic specimen enclosing device that detects the presence of a slide glass and thereby detects whether or not a slide glass has been transported without any abnormality.

(Prior art and its problems) In general, tissue specimens for microscopy used for cell histological examination etc. are prepared by pre-treatment.
The material cut out to an appropriate size is dehydrated with alcohol, etc., embedded in paraffin, etc., and further thinly sliced. The thin section of the specimen obtained is attached to a slide glass and stained, and then placed in a xylene bath. Store in a tank such as These specimens are usually pulled out of the tank all at once and sealed with adhesive and a cover glass of about 0.09 to 0.1 mm to form a sealed specimen suitable for preservation.

However, conventionally, most of these steps have been performed manually. In recent years, efforts have been made to automate each of these processing steps, but fully automated devices for mounting specimens attached to glass slides are rare, and only one has been developed. However, there are still various problems.

(Object of the Invention) An object of the present invention is to completely automate such a specimen encapsulation device and perform a predetermined encapsulation operation on a slide glass moving on a conveyance path, and to prevent abnormalities from occurring in the slide glass during the process. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic specimen enclosing device having a means for detecting whether or not the specimen has been transported without any damage.

(Summary of the Invention) That is, the present invention provides a conveyance means for moving slide glass supplied onto a conveyance path at a predetermined pitch at predetermined time intervals, and a means for moving a slide glass supplied onto a conveyance path at a predetermined pitch, and slide glass detecting means provided near the end position of each slide glass; and a storage block corresponding to each movement position of each of the predetermined pitches on the conveyance path, and a memory block corresponding to each of the slide glasses. a storage means capable of storing the signal and the detection signal obtained from the detection means provided near the slide glass supply position as data, and shifting the data to the adjacent block in synchronization with the movement of the slide glass; and each time the supplied slide glass is detected by a detection means provided in the vicinity of the supply position, a signal corresponding to the slide glass and a detection signal obtained from the detection means are used as the data. At the same time as storing the data, the data is shifted in synchronization with the movement of the slide glass, and at the time of movement of the slide glass when the data has been shifted to the block corresponding to the end position of the conveyance path, the data is shifted to the end position of the slide glass. By comparing the detection signal obtained from the detection means provided near the position and the signal included in the data in the block corresponding to the termination position, the slide glass is moved from the supply position to the termination position. This feature is characterized in that it detects whether or not the object has been conveyed to the original position.

(Embodiment of the Invention) An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of the configuration of the automatic specimen enclosing device of the present invention.

Here, 100 is a slide glass shooter that supplies slide glasses 110 one by one to a conveyance device 200 at predetermined time intervals. It is transported from the right to the left.

300 is a discrimination device, and the slide glass 110 on the conveyance device 200 is first transferred to the discrimination device 30.
0 determines the size of the specimen attached to the top surface. Next, the slide glass 11 whose size of the specimen has been detected by the discrimination device 300
0 is sent to a liquid injection device 400, where adhesive liquid is supplied onto the slide glass 110 according to the size of the specimen.

500 is a cover glass sorting and supplying device. 5
Reference numeral 10 designates the sorter, and the sorter 510 has a sorting section 511 that stores cover glasses of multiple types, four different sizes in this example, stacked one above the other. Only one cover glass of a corresponding size can be selectively pulled out by the extraction mechanism 530. Further, the pulled-out cover glass is guided by the transfer mechanism 550 onto the slide glass that has finished dripping the adhesive liquid and has been transported to the bonding position.

Below the slide glass 110 at this adhesion position, slide glass 11 is moved up and down at appropriate timing.
Adhesive device 6 for adhering 0 and the cover glass
00 is provided. Therefore, slide glass 110
is placed on the pedestal of the adhesive device 600, and
The cover glass is gently dropped from above and a slight pressing force is applied to complete the adhesive encapsulation.

The glass slides 110 that have been completely encapsulated are pushed out one after another into the product reservoir 710 of the storage device 700. When a predetermined number of glass slides 110 have been sealed in this manner and accumulate in the product reservoir 710 (in this example,
10 sheets) are automatically pushed out to a tray (receiving tray) 750 by an extrusion mechanism 730, and one gigantic slide glass encapsulation is completed with a total of 40 products stored in the tray.

Furthermore, 800 is a control unit that controls these series of enclosing operations by a microcomputer (CPU) not shown, and 810 is an operation panel thereof. The operation panel 810 is provided with a display, switches, various display means when an abnormality occurs, etc., and the enclosing device can be operated and its operation can be monitored via the operation panel 810. Note that 820 is a switch box equipped with a button switch for starting and stopping the enclosing device.

Next, a control mechanism for detecting the movement of the slide glass 110 and performing each work operation will be explained with reference to FIG. Here, 111 to 118 are slide glasses supplied onto the conveyance path 210 of the conveyance device 200, and these slide glasses 1
11 to 118 are dropped onto the conveyance path 210 at predetermined time intervals from the shooter 100 (see FIG. 1) located on the right side of the figure. Each time these slide glasses 110 are dropped, they are transported to the right at a predetermined pitch by the claws 231 of the roller chain 230 shown in FIG. 2 one after another from position 210S
They are moved to positions 10A, 210B, . . . 210G.

In this example, 301 is an actuator that starts the operation of the discrimination device 300, and 401 is the liquid injection device 4.
Actuator for starting work at 00, 60
1 is an actuator that starts work in the bonding device 600, and these actuators are started by a program according to a flowchart described later, and each device 3
Perform operations at 00, 400 and 600.

250A and 250B are sensors as slide glass detection means provided along the transport path 210 at positions 210A and 210G (see FIG. 1);
50B to each position 210A on the conveyance path 210.
The presence or absence of the slide glass 110 at ~210G can be detected.

Furthermore, the control unit 800 is provided with a memory 850 having a block whose memory contents can be shifted.
Assuming that the slide glass 110 is now in the positions 210S to 210G as shown in FIG. 2, the memory 850 has the position 210A as shown in FIG.
Data 1 to 8 corresponding to the slide glass numbers 112 to 118, respectively, and a detection signal ("1" and "0") indicating the presence or absence of a slide glass based on a binary signal are stored in each block A to G representing 210G.

Note that this example shows a case where there is no slide glass 116 at position 210E on the conveyance path 210 shown in FIG. Furthermore, since the slide glass 112 is detected by the sensor 250A at the position 210A, "1" is stored as the glass detection signal.

Next, in such a state, the next slide glass 110 is supplied and each position 210S~
Slide glasses 111 to 118 at 210G
If moves one step to the left in Figure 2, then
The data in memory 850 is also shifted one bit to the left, and as shown in FIG. 3B, the previously stored value 8/1 in block G is shifted and disappears, and block The number value 1 and the detection signal "1" are input.

However, now each slide glass 111-1
17 at such positions 210A to 210G, the control unit 800 searches for data in the memory 850, and since the detection signal "1" is input to blocks A and C, these blocks A and set flags to perform the work in C.

Note that in the automatic specimen enclosing device, the work to be performed during the moving operation of the transport device 200 and the work to be performed during the stop period of the transport device 200 are set by sequence control, such as determining the size of the specimen. The work to be done is with the slide glass 110 in position 2.
10A to position 210B;
The liquid pouring operation for supplying the adhesive onto the slide glass 110 is carried out at the position 210C while the conveyance device 200 is stopped, and the cover glass sorting and supply operation for sorting and supplying the cover glasses onto the slide glass 110 is mainly carried out when the slide glass 110 is in the position 210C. During the stop period before being moved to the position 210E, the sealing operation by the adhesive device 600 is further performed at the position 210E.
during the suspension period.

Next, the control operation by the sequence control mechanism configured as described above will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4. Now, suppose that each slide glass 110 moves one step from the state shown in FIG. 2 and then stops. First, the flag is reset, and then a signal as shown in FIG. Therefore, the detection signal of block A is “1”.
, the A flag is set to cause the discriminating unit 300 to perform the discriminating operation.

Furthermore, if the detection signal of block A is “0”, A
A search is made to see if the detection signal of the next block C is "1" without setting a flag. Thus, in this example, when the detection signal is "1", flag C is set to cause the liquid injection device 400 to perform the liquid injection operation, and then by searching block E, the detection signal is also detected here. When the flag is "1", an E flag is set which causes the bonding device 600 to perform the enclosing operation.

Furthermore, if each slide glass 110 is located at the position shown in FIG. 2, for example, the signal shown in FIG. 3A is input to the memory 850, so when searching for block E, Since the detection signal is "0", the E flag is not set.

In this way, as a result of the search, the C flag is set, so that during this stop period, a liquid injection operation is performed via the liquid injection section actuator 401, and an adhesive sealing operation is also executed via the adhesive section actuator 601. . Subsequently, each slide glass 110 is moved one step by the transport device 200, but since the A flag is set here, the size determination work of the specimen is executed via the discrimination section actuator 301 during this movement. .

In this way, work is performed at each predetermined position by repeatedly moving and stopping the slide glass 110, and in FIG. 3C, by repeating such operations, the slide glass 110 shown in FIG. Memory 850 when the array is moved 6 steps
The data for each block A to G in FIG.

On the other hand, on the conveyance path 210, as shown in FIG. 2, a slide glass sensor 250B provided at a position 210G detects the presence or absence of the slide glass 110 being conveyed to this position 210G. Now, suppose that when the slide glass 110 is moved six steps from the state shown in FIG. 2, the detection signal from the sensor 250B outputs a "1" signal indicating "glass present". 800, by comparing the data 2/1 stored in block G of memory 850 and the signal "1" from this sensor 250B, the data shown in FIG.
It is determined that the slide glass 112 at position 210A has been transported to position 210G without any abnormality, and transport and work are continued.

Furthermore, at this time, if the sensor 250B outputs a "0" signal when the product number is "without glass", then at the time of the above comparison, the memory 850
Even though data 2/1 has been shifted to block G, the slide glass 112 corresponding to that data is not detected, so that this slide glass 112 is not detected at any position on the transport path 210. It is possible to determine that an abnormality such as separation from the transport device 210 has occurred, and take measures such as outputting an abnormality signal or stopping the transport device 200 via the control unit 800.

The operation of detecting whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the slide glass 110 on the conveyance path 210 as described above is shown as a flowchart in FIG.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a conveyance means for moving a slide glass supplied on a conveyance path at a predetermined pitch at every predetermined time interval, and a slide glass supply position on the conveyance path. Detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a slide glass provided nearby and near the end position of the transport path, signals corresponding to each slide glass, and detection signals obtained from the detection means near the slide glass supply position are detected on the transport path. A slide glass is supplied by providing storage means for storing memory contents in each block corresponding to each movement position for each pitch of the slide glass and shifting such memory contents to the next adjacent block in synchronization with the movement of the slide glass. The signal detected by the detection means provided near the position is input to the storage device, and this data is shifted in synchronization with the movement of the slide glass, so that the slide glass has moved to the vicinity of the end of the conveyance path. At times, the slide glass is detected again by the detection means installed at this position, and the detected signal is compared with the data shifted from the memory contents. If there is an abnormality in the glass, the abnormality can be automatically detected and the control means can be made to generate an abnormality signal or take appropriate countermeasures.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the automatic specimen enclosing device of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of means for carrying out the series of enclosing operations and monitoring the presence or absence of a slide glass during the enclosing operations. , FIGS. 3A to 3C are block diagrams showing three aspects of the data shift state in the memory provided in the monitoring means, and FIGS. 4 and 5 show the procedure for executing the series of operations and the process during the operations. 3 is a flowchart showing steps for monitoring the presence or absence of a slide glass. 100...slide glass shooter, 110,
111-118...slide glass, 200...
Conveyance device, 210... Conveyance path, 210S, 210
A~210G...Position, 230...Roller chain, 231...Claw, 250A, 250B...Sensor, 300...Discrimination device, 301,401,60
1...actuator, 400...liquid injection device, 5
00... Cover glass sorting and supply device, 510...
Sorter, 511... Sorting unit, 530... Extraction mechanism, 550... Transfer mechanism, 600... Adhesive device, 700... Storage device, 710... Product reservoir,
730...Extrusion mechanism, 750...Saucer, 800
...Control unit, 810...Operation panel, 820...Switch box, 850...Memory, A to G...Block.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transport means for moving slide glass supplied onto a transport path at a predetermined pitch at predetermined time intervals; and a storage block corresponding to each movement position for each of the predetermined pitches on the conveyance path, and the block has a storage block that receives a signal corresponding to each of the slide glasses and a memory block in the vicinity of the slide glass supply position. storage means capable of storing the detection signal obtained from the detection means provided in the slide glass as data and shifting the data to the adjacent block in synchronization with the movement of the slide glass; Every time a slide glass is detected by the detection means provided near the supply position, a signal corresponding to the slide glass and a detection signal obtained from the detection means are stored as the data, and the data is stored in the slide The detection means is shifted in synchronization with the movement of the glass, and is provided near the end position at the time of movement of the slide glass when the data has been shifted to the block corresponding to the end position of the transport path. It can be determined whether the slide glass has been conveyed from the supply position to the end position by comparing the detection signal obtained from the end position with the signal included in the data in the block corresponding to the end position. An automatic specimen enclosing device characterized in that it detects whether