Automatic blood-sampling tube preparation device

Inventors

Matsumoto, Toshikazu • Hirasawa, Yoshimi • Nakano, Yasushi • Wada, Yusuke • Nakamura, Ichiro

Assignees

Techno Medica Co Ltd

Abstract

The present invention provides an automatic blood-sampling tube preparation device which can detect the presence of the proper or improper blood-sampling tube by selectively taking out a blood-sampling tube and transferring the blood-sampling tube to a label pasting position, printing information of the patient on a label, pasting the printed label on the blood-sampling tube positioned in the label pasting position, and collecting the label pasted blood-sampling tubes in the container for each patient. The device also includes photographing means for photographing an appearance of the blood-sampling tube taken out from the blood-sampling tube containing section and a control means arranged to have a threshold with respect to at least one characteristic information previously extracted from an appearance of a blood-sampling tube, to extract the characteristic information from the appearance image photographed to judge whether the blood-sampling tube corresponds to the instruction information from the doctor.

Core Innovation

The invention provides an automatic blood-sampling tube preparation device including at least two blood-sampling tube containing sections, each section intended to contain blood-sampling tubes of a same type. A transferring device selectively takes out a required blood-sampling tube for an examination of a patient according to instruction information indicated by a doctor, and transfers the taken-out blood-sampling tube to a label pasting position. The device further includes a label printing and pasting device for printing patient information on a label and pasting the printed label on the blood-sampling tube positioned at the label pasting position.

The device further comprises a photographing device for photographing an appearance of the blood-sampling tube taken out from the blood-sampling tube containing section. The photographing device is arranged upstream of the label printing and pasting device in the transporting direction of the blood-sampling tube. The control device has a threshold with respect to at least one characteristic information previously extracted from an appearance of a blood-sampling tube.

The control device extracts the characteristic information from the appearance image photographed by the photographing device, specifies the type of the blood-sampling tube taken out from the blood-sampling tube containing section on the basis of the threshold and the extracted characteristic information, and judges whether the blood-sampling tube corresponds to the instruction information from the doctor before transferring the taken-out blood-sampling tube to the label pasting position. When the control device determines that the removed blood-sampling tube is incorrect, it can stop the transfer device, and it can control the label printing and pasting device to attach an indication mark of the incorrect tube to the tube.

The device can output the judgment result to a user using an image and/or a sound, and receive a user judgment result as a final decision used to control each device. In further embodiments, the characteristic information includes at least one specified tube-related or content-related feature for type determination, and the judgment supports workflow control and labeling actions.

Claims Coverage

The patent includes one independent claim that covers the overall device, with dependent claims refining inventive features in tube-type identification and corrective actions. The independent claim contains four inventive features centered on upstream photographing, threshold-based extraction of characteristic information, tube type specification, and a doctor-instruction correspondence judgment before label pasting.

Across the independent claim’s coverage, the device combines upstream photographing, threshold-based extraction of characteristic information, tube type specification, and a judgment of correspondence with doctor instruction information prior to label pasting.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications