BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of my specimen carrier with a standard test tube inserted therein.

FIG. 2 is a side view of my specimen carrier illustrating the elevation of a standard test tube for the automatic sipping by an automatic clinical analyzer.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the requisition form and punch card identification utilized in my invention.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of my specimen carrier when utilized in the manual analysis of laboratory specimens.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of an endless train of specimen carriers utilized in an automatic clinical analyzer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention, when a doctor requests that a certain test be performed, a therapist or technician will draw the sample into a test tube or other standard container and place the test tube in the specimen carrier. At the same time therequistion form illustrated in FIG. 3 may be filled out by the nurse drawing the sample, or generated by a computer requisitioning program. The tear tab portion 12 is then detached from the requisition form and slipped into the specimen carrier in amanner which will be later described. This tear tab carries with it a visual and machine readable identification number that will serve not only as the requisition number, but also the lab and control number as the sample is analyzed. The carrier,together with its specimen and identification, is then sent to the clinical laboratory where it is normally centrifuged. After the centrifugation, the carrier is then inserted into a self-propelled train for sampling by an automatic analyticalinstrument or other analyzing machinery, or it may be transferred from lab bench to lab bench for manual analysis. Since the carrier is selfsupporting, it provides a support stand and base for the test tube during analysis. If the analysis is done byan automatic clinical analyzer, the machine readable identification provides a computer input for each and every sample. In this manner the computer is able to provide a report of the analysis to the physician as well as to correlate the results of aprevious test on the same sample with the result that is now being transmitted from a specific analysis. Thus the number of utilized not only in a multiple analysis operation wherein the results of a previous step are correlated, but it is also usefulin the subsequent analysis of a different bulk sample taken from the same patient. It is also used in determining the proper routing of the report.

The test results from the automatic clinical analyzer in conjunction with the specimen number are fed automatically into the computer memory for subsequent printout at the nurse's station together with the specimen identification.

Technician observations may also be entered relevant to the specimen and its examination. This information obtained by the technician is entered in conjunction with the instrument's analytical result and the specimen number through the"Laboratory Data Control Station."

This carrier is part of a larger system, the "Laboratory Data Control System," which includes a communications console, a reader for recognition of the card number, the card reader electronics, and a portion of the drive mechanism for driving thecarrier past the card reader.

A manual keyboard is provided for the technician at certain stations for entering the results of any essentially morphologic tests such as hematology, urinalysis, or bacteriology. For these tests, the technician will enter into the computermemory system the results observed from the test, without the requirement of keying in the requisition number, since this will also be read from the specimen carrier.

Examples of analytic instruments which provide an analogue readout are colorimeters, flame photometers, fluorometers, spectrophotometers, densitometers, blood cell counters, chloridometers, pH meters, and fibrometers. An electronic analogue todigital conversion will occur automatically at the time of analysis with the direct electronic transfer to the computer in its memory bank. At the same time the result is identified as well as being logged so that the identification of the samplethroughout the entire analysis operation is done automatically by machine to prevent the human errors in transposition.

After all of the analytical steps are completed, the computer is then able to provide an automatic printout of all tests and test results when queried about the identification number. Since the identification number was entered in the firstrequisition, and carried throughout all of the analyzing steps, the only chance for error in the identification of the sample would be computer error caused by completely random failure within the computer.

In addition to the immediate transfer of information electronically from the clinical laboratory to the nursing station where the results are printed out, the computer also provides automatic billing for the lab analysis when the bill isprepared. In addition a physician will automatically be able to obtain a complete case record including all previous analyses by querying the computer using the patient's name. The availability of a single, type-written, printed compilation containingboth daily test results and a complete record of all test results on that patient eliminates the frustration of leafing through pages of charts to find the pertinent past reports as is presently required.

The specimen carrier itself is molded from plastic, although it may be formed out of any suitable material and is illustrated in FIG. 1. The specimen carrier 13 constitutes a stable base portion 14 and support means 15 extending upwardly fromthe base to support a test tube or other standard container 16. This allows the specimen carrier to be self-supporting when placed on a flat horizontal surface to support the specimen carrier 16 in an upright position. identification means 17 areprovided along the inner walls of the specimen carrier to allow the entry of the tear tab 12. This tab is inserted in a pair of narrow slots 17 (FIG. 2) and is visible through a large opening 18 which is provided in the front of the specimen carrier. The tear tab 12, illustrated in FIG. 1 is provided with a plurality of punch apertures 19 or magnetically coated indicia 20.

For the purposes of the invention, any suitable machine readable identification may be used. FIG. 1 illustrates a card which may be read by an optical scanner by scanning the numbers printed on tab 12 on the upper most portion 21. It may alsobe read by an optical scanner which would scan the face of the tear tab and provide a reflected light reading that would provide an absent pulse where ever the light failed to strike the card due to the punch card openings 19. The tear tab also providesfor magnetic identification by means of magnetic indicia 20. This indicia may be magnitized, unmagnitized, or magnetized in opposite polarities or may be a specific geometric arrangement of permeable material to enable a magnetic sensor to obtain adigital or analogue output. Additionally, the punchcard openings 19 would allow a machine reading by mechanical fingers, to provide a punchcard readout.

Base 14 defnes a guide rail opening 22 and transmissions means 23. Transmission means 23 constitutes a rack gear which is moulded or mounted on the bottom of the carrier for an engagement with a corresponding transmission means in the"Laboratory Data Control Station." In this manner the carrier may be transported automatically past the station to acquire the requisition number and to start the next analysis.

Carrier 13 also defines a pair of openings 24 on either side or rear of the standard container 16 to enable an optically deformable beam to analyze the bulk sample by projecting the beam through the opening in the specimen carrier and the bulksample.

The requisition form 11 has appropriate spaces for entry of the patient's name, the room and bed number, the outpatient address, the patient's social security number and age, the physician ordering the test, together with the supervising nurseand the nurse who collects the specimen, together with the clinical laboratory to which the sample will be sent, the type of test requested, the way in which the sample was obtained, the present diagnosis, and the critical identification number. Thisidentification number is also entered on the tear tab portion which is inserted in the specimen carrier. In operation, the nurse collecting the specimen, detaches the tear tab and inserts it in the specimen carrier along with the specimen before sendingthe specimen to the clinical laboratory.

FIG. 2 illustrates my invention at "Laboratory Data Control Station," wherein a pinion gear 25 has moved the specimen carrier to the appropriate position for automatic sipping by sipping tube 26. Elevator rod 27 is injected through elevatoropening 28 defined by the base of the specimen carrier. This elector rod elevates the test tube 16 to a predetermined height to enable the automatic analytic instrument to sip a discrete sample from the bulk sample contained in this specimen carrier. At the same time the machine readout 29 correlates the identification provided on tear tab 12 and the results of the analysis from the analytical instrument and forwards the two to the computer memory bank. The identification means 17, together with thetear tab 12, are illustrated by the dotted lines in the specimen carrier. Additionally, this would allow the supernatant height to be detected and obviates the need to decant the sample from the initial tube holder into a special holder for theanalytical instrument.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the upper portion of the specimen carrier 13 is provided with two abutments 30 and 31 which extent outwardly from the center axis of the carrier in opposite directions. The carrier is also dimensionally stable and itsweight is dynamically and statically balanced about the three major center lines for centrifugation. The primary center being the center axis for the test tube or standard container 16. This enables the clinical lab technician to insert the specimentogether with the specimen carrier into a centrifuge for centrifugation without the necessity of labeling the test tube separately, removing the test tube from the carrier, centrifuging it, and then decanting the specimen into a specific machine carrierfor an analytical instrument and transferring the number from the specimen container to the new specialized recepticle for the automatic clinical analyzer. Thus the lab technician does not have to transfer a single entry throughout all of the analysisof the specimen and the identification number and the specimen remain together throughout all operations.

The carrier is not dependent upon any one system of automatic analysis. It is designed to be compatible with all systems and has no features which are unduly restrictive, which would limit it to a single system.

Any of the present commercial systems may be modified by addition of the transport means to utilize the carrier, and indeed two different types of analyzers may be used at different stations. Thus, the carrier is compatible with its own system,and other systems of manufacture and manual analysis.

The carrier itself is self-supporting and rugged, virtually indestructible and is dimensionally stable. Its performance is not hindered by variations in atmospheric conditions of temperature, pressure, or relative humidity. It is washable,autoclavable, and can be cold sterilized. It is not a custom carrier inasmuch as the central opening for the test tube 16 is adaptable to various test tubes. The carrier is constructed of electrically impervious material and cannot store charge or beaffected by electric, magnetic, or optical fields.

FIG. 5 illustrates the specimen carrier in a connected chain of carriers for use in an automatic clinical analyzer. The carrier is transported past the "Laboratory Data Control Station" by means of the transmission means 23 illustrated in FIG.1, which may be engaged by a pinion gear as illustrated in FIG. 2, or it may be engaged by a bicycle chain clip holder, an endless belt, a gear train, or a pneumatic, electromagnetic, or hydraulic drive. The guide rail opening 22 is designed to followguide rail 32 to enable the drive mechanism to precisely center the specimen carrier for automatic sipping as illustrated in FIG. 2, and to assist the machine reader 29 in reading the identification presented on tear tab 12. The specimen carriers areconnected together by means of clips 33 which engage the openings 34 defined in the top of the specimen carrier. The openings 39 are used as illustrated in FIG. 4 to move a plurality of samples from the nursing station to the clinical laboratory, or foruse in the manual processing of a number of samples in the clinical laboratory. The holder 35 is panel shaped with a broad flat horizontal surface to support the specimen carriers and an upstanding flange 36 to provide a back and brace. This brace isthen equipped with two pairs of parallel rods 37 and 38 and the specimen carrier is mounted on the hand carrier by inserting the rods 37 or 38 into the openings 39 defined in the base of the specimen carrier. Thus a large number of specimen carriers maybe manually transported from station to station quickly and conveniently.

FIG. 5 also discloses a method and means of flagging the individual specimen carriers to alert the technicians or the automatic analyzer to special conditions. A plurality of openings generally shown at 51 are placed between the clip openings 34and the opening for the test tube 16. In operation a plurality of pins 52 may be inserted in the opening 51 to code certain information. The coded information may be placed in a binary code as shown by the row of binary numbers 53 or it may be placedin a numerical or analogue code as indicated at 54. A microswitch arrangement 55 positioned on the control station 29 is utilized to read out the presence or absence of pins 52. Thus if the micro-switch assembly 55 sensed flag pins in the first,second, and fourth openings the binary code read out would be 1101 or 13. Alternately, each of the openings 51 could be utilized to determine a specific type of information, i.e., that this specimen carrier has a high priority or special handling.

Additionally, the openings 51 and pins 52 could be utilized to enter certain information which is visible to the operator or laboratory technician, but which cannot be sensed by the control station 29. In essentially morphologic tests, thelaboratory technician could enter the results of the tests in a binary code on the upper portion of the specimen carrier by inserting the appropriate pins 52 into openings 51. Thus when the carrier passes through a control station which would normallyutilize the results of the morphologic test in conducting its specific analysis, the information would be available by means of the flagpins and read out means 55. In an emergency, information could be directly coded into the control station 29 eventhough the master computer program has no provisions for a morphologic entry at this station.

As can be seen, the openings 51 and pins 52 can be used for a wide variety of purposes such as indicating high priority or special handlings specimens, indicating special billing or charges for the analysis, indicating the number of carriers in acarrier train, or to enter certain manually derived information into the analyzing station.

While the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments having a plurality of means for a machine readable identification, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the various combinations may beinterchanged in various manners to provide other combinations of identification means and transmission means. It should be noted that the embodiments illustrated are presented by way of example only, and not in any limiting sense. The invention, inbrief, comprises all of the embodiments and modifications coming with the scope and sphere to the following claims.

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