Pathology slide automation system and method

Inventors

Creasey, Megan E. • Mette, Matthew D. • OSSWALD, Denny • PHILLIPS-PORTILLO, James E. • Reynolds, Clayton • Rose, Curtis C. • Schmelzer, Alexander • Ventura, Franklin R.

Assignees

Ventana Medical Systems Inc • Roche Molecular Systems Inc

Abstract

A slide carrier includes: a base support; and a slide platform having a surface that is parallel to a first plane defined by a first vector and a second vector, wherein a vector extending in a direction opposite to the direction of gravity is normal with respect to a second plane defined by a third vector and a fourth vector, an angle between the first vector and the third vector is greater than zero degrees and less than 90 degrees, and an angle between the second vector and the fourth vector is greater than zero degrees and less than 90 degrees.

Core Innovation

A slide processing system is disclosed for processing slides using a gripper and multiple slide holders. The system includes a first slide holder configured to hold a plurality of first slides and a second slide holder configured to hold a plurality of second slides. A first carriage has a first interior cavity keyed to an exterior side surface around the first slide holder, and a second carriage has a second interior cavity keyed to an exterior side surface around the second slide holder, wherein the form factor of the first interior cavity is different from the form factor of the second interior cavity.

The first carriage has a contoured surface corresponding to a first gripping location, and the second carriage has a contoured surface corresponding to a second gripping location. The gripper is configured to grip the first carriage at the first gripping location and to grip the second carriage at the second gripping location, with the contour and location of the first gripping location on the first carriage having a same form factor as the contour and location of the second gripping location on the second carriage. The exterior form factors of the first and second carriages are matched, and pluralities of other gripping locations have form factors that correspond.

Example implementations include first and second slide holders as trays with different exterior form factors or as racks with different exterior form factors, including racks held in a vertical orientation with overlapping front faces. A slide information-based routing is described for directing slides to corresponding portal slots/carriages based on slide type and form factor, and slide carrier cassette and automated histology storage are described with slots and retention features.

Slide position detection is described using imaging/depth mapping and barcode/label detection to identify which slide slots are occupied and to reduce handling errors and slide damage.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim provides claim coverage for a slide processing system that uses form-factor-keyed carriages for different slide holder types while maintaining compatible gripping-location geometry for a gripper. Across the independent claim and refinements, the central inventive features are keyed interior cavities, contoured gripping locations, and the same form factor relationship at the gripping locations despite different slide-holder arrangements.

Overall, the claims cover a gripper-based slide processing system that supports different slide-holder and cavity geometries by using keyed carriages with different interior cavity form factors while ensuring that the gripper gripping locations on the corresponding carriages have the same form factor. Dependent refinements extend the same form-factor relationship to exterior form factors and to multiple gripping locations, and they specify tray- or rack-based implementations with different exterior form factors.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications