Automatic analysis system and alarm management method

Abstract

Alarm reasons and coping methods can be easily determined. The automatic analysis system is provided with: an inspection processing unit that executes at least a part of a process for inspection; and a management device that manages the inspection processing unit. The management device is provided with: an alarm detection unit that detects that an alarm indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the inspection processing unit has been issued; an alarm notification unit that notifies that an alarm has been issued in accordance with the detection result of the alarm detection unit; and a related alarm determination unit that determines a related alarm in an uncoped state among related alarms, which are other alarms having a predetermined degree of association with the alarm.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an automatic analysis system for analyzing biological samples such as blood and urine, and an alarm management method. Background Art

[0002] Automatic analyzers for analyzing biological samples such as blood and urine are indispensable devices in current diagnosis due to their advantages such as high reproducibility of analysis accuracy and rapidity of analysis processing. There are many types of such automatic analyzers depending on the type of analysis (e.g., colorimetric analyzers for biochemical analysis, immunoassay analyzers for analyzing antigens or antibodies in a sample using antigen / antibody reactions, coagulation analyzers for measuring the coagulation ability of blood, blood cell counters for measuring the number of blood cell components in blood, etc.).

[0003] In addition, when analyzing a sample using an automatic analyzer, a pretreatment device that performs pretreatments such as centrifugal separation of blood and aliquoting of samples to produce multiple sub-specimens is also provided together with the above-mentioned automatic analyzer to form an automatic analysis system as a whole. In a hospital, inspection center, etc., a plurality of these automatic analyzers and sample pretreatment devices are usually used. In addition, in the automatic analysis system, a robot that operates in the inspection room to assist the inspection technician in his work, and a storage device for storing specimens and reagents are sometimes provided. In this way, the automatic analysis system includes various peripheral devices other than the automatic analysis device, and they operate as a whole.

[0004] When analyzing a sample using such an automatic analysis system, an abnormality may occur in the automatic analysis device, preprocessing device, robot, storage device, etc. in the system, and an alarm is generated to notify the abnormality. In this case, if the alarm is not responded to as soon as possible, the analysis will be stagnant and the doctor's diagnosis may be delayed. As a technology for dealing with such a problem, the following automatic analysis system is proposed in Patent Document 1: the operation information of each device is collected by a management device independent of the device, and the cause of the alarm is estimated based on the collected operation information and the known abnormal pattern. The alarm information and multiple cause candidates are notified.

[0005] However, the alarm notification method of Patent Document 1 notifies the terminal of the technician of the alarm of a device when an abnormality occurs in a device in the system. The technician cannot know the specific cause of the alarm and its response method only through the notification of the alarm information. The technician who receives the alarm notification determines the specific cause of the alarm and the appropriate response method according to his own opinion and the action history in the system. However, if the technician's opinion and action history information are insufficient, the judgment becomes difficult and may take time.

[0006] Prior art literature

[0007] Patent Literature

[0008] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-266271 Summary of the invention

[0009] Problems to be solved by the invention

[0010] The present disclosure provides an automatic analysis system and an alarm management method that can easily determine the cause of an alarm and a countermeasure.

[0011] Means for solving problems

[0012] The automatic analysis system of the present disclosure includes: an inspection processing unit that performs at least a part of the processing for inspection of a specimen; and a management device that manages the inspection processing unit. The management device includes: an alarm detection unit that detects the issuance of an alarm indicating the occurrence of an abnormality in the inspection processing unit; an alarm notification unit that notifies the issuance of an alarm according to the detection result of the alarm detection unit; and a related alarm determination unit that determines a related alarm that is in an unhandled state among other alarms, i.e., related alarms, that have a predetermined degree of correlation with the alarm.

[0013] Effects of the Invention

[0014] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide an automatic analysis system and an alarm management method that can easily identify the cause of an alarm and a countermeasure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 This is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an automatic analysis system according to an embodiment.

[0016] Figure 2 This is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of the alarm management table 110 .

[0017] Figure 3 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of the related alarm management table 111 .

[0018] Figure 4 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an alarm list screen 201 notified by the alarm notification unit 107 and displayed on the display terminal 116 .

[0019] Figure 5 301 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the alarm detailed information screen 301 .

[0020] Figure 6 The alarm detailed information screen 501 is an example of an alarm detailed information screen displaying alarm information related to the inspection room.

[0021] Figure 7 The alarm detailed information screen 401 is an example of an alarm detailed information screen that displays relevant alarm information (analysis correlation) in the device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings, functionally identical elements are sometimes shown with the same number. In addition, the accompanying drawings show embodiments and installation examples that follow the principles of the present disclosure, but they are only for understanding the present disclosure and are by no means used to interpret the present disclosure in a limiting manner. The descriptions in this specification are merely typical examples and do not limit the scope of the patent protection requested or the application examples of the present disclosure in any sense.

[0023] In the present embodiment, the present disclosure is explained in sufficient detail for those skilled in the art to implement the present disclosure, but other installations and methods are also possible, and it is necessary to understand that the structure and construction can be changed and various elements can be replaced without departing from the scope and spirit of the technical idea of ​​the present disclosure. Therefore, the following description is not limited to this for interpretation.

[0024] Reference Figure 1 The block diagram of the embodiment is used to illustrate the general structure of the automatic analysis system of the embodiment. As an example, the automatic analysis system is configured to connect the management device 101, multiple analysis devices 112, multiple pre-processing devices 113, multiple consumables storage devices 114, multiple inspection room robot devices 115, and display terminal 116 (display device) through a network 122, so that data communication can be carried out mutually. The multiple analysis devices 112 are analysis devices for analyzing specimens, and the multiple pre-processing devices 113, multiple consumables storage devices 114, and multiple inspection room robot devices 115 function as peripheral devices that assist the operation of the analysis device 112. The analysis device 112 and the peripheral devices constitute an analysis processing unit, and the management device 101 manages the analysis processing unit. In addition, the devices 112 to 115 can be arranged in one inspection room or in multiple inspection rooms. In addition, the management device 101 does not need to manage all of the devices 112 to 115, and can also manage a device that performs at least a part of the processing for inspection (referred to as an "inspection processing unit" in this specification).

[0025] The display terminal 116 is a display device that displays the analysis results of the analysis device 112 (analysis processing unit), receives information related to the operation status of the analysis device 112, the pre-processing device 113, the consumables storage device 114, and the inspection room robot device 115, and displays the information. The network 122 is a network that connects various devices and terminals, and can be a wired / wireless local area network, a wired / wireless global area network, a mobile phone line network, or a combination thereof.

[0026] The analyzer 112 is a device that automatically performs analysis of various components in the sample by being supplied with the sample and inputting reagents, etc. The pretreatment device 113 is a device that automatically performs pretreatment for clinical examination, is connected to the analyzer 112, and has the function of conveying the sample to the analyzer 112 after pretreatment. In addition, the pretreatment device 113 is also connected to the consumables storage device 114, and can also have the function of supplying reagents and consumables required for analysis to the analyzer 112.

[0027] In addition, the consumables storage device 114 is a device for storing reagents, consumables and / or specimens used in the analysis device 112, and can have a refrigeration function and a freezing function for storing reagents and specimens at a suitable temperature. The inspection room robot device 115 is, for example, a robot used to assist the inspection technician in the inspection room by performing operations such as transporting, mixing, and discarding specimens and reagents in the inspection room. Specifically, various operations are performed, such as the separation of specimens to be analyzed, the replacement of reagents in the analysis device, and the replacement of consumables in the analysis device 112 and the pretreatment device 113. In the example shown in the figure, each device 112 to 115 is provided in plurality, but the number is not limited to a specific number, and it can also be a single one. There are cases where the analysis device 112 acts alone and cases where multiple analysis devices act in combination with each other.

[0028] The display terminal 116 is a display device for executing the operation status of the automatic analysis system, the generation status of the alarm, and other displays, and is equipped with an input device 117, an output device 118, a communication device 119, and a terminal information processing device 120. The display terminal 116 can be, for example, a portable terminal, a wearable terminal, a glasses-type terminal carried by the inspection technician, or a notebook or desktop PC, a digital sign installed in the inspection room, etc. By using a portable terminal as the display terminal 116, the inspection technician can read the alarm information even if he is in a remote place. In the case of using a digital sign as the display terminal 116, multiple inspection technicians can read the alarm information at the same time. In addition, the display terminal 116 can also be replaced by an operation or information display PC equipped with the management device 101, the analysis device 112, the pre-processing device 113, and the consumables storage device 114, and an operation or information display PC of the inspection room robot device 115.

[0029] The input device 117 is a device for processing input of various data and signals including data related to the analysis results in the analysis device 112 and alarms from the management device 101. The output device 118 is a device for outputting various data, such as a display and a printer. The communication device 119 is a communication unit responsible for data communication with external devices including the management device. The terminal information processing device 120 is an information processing unit for processing various information input via the input device 117, etc., and has an alarm acquisition unit 121 for acquiring alarm information.

[0030] The management device 101 has the following functions: managing multiple analysis devices 112, multiple pre-processing devices 113, multiple consumable storage devices 114, and multiple inspection room robot devices 115, determining the abnormalities of their management data, especially the devices 112 to 115, notifying alarms, and managing the alarm information. Specifically, as an example, the management device 101 includes an input device 102, an output device 103, a communication device 104, an information processing device 105, and a storage device 109. The management device 101 collects alarm information of various devices 112 to 115 via a network 122, thereby being able to comprehensively manage the alarm information of multiple devices. In addition, the management device 101 is sometimes set as a local server in the inspection room for the purpose of protecting personal information, so as not to take the information out to the outside, and sometimes the supplier of the automatic analysis system is also set as a cloud server outside the inspection room to comprehensively manage the information of multiple inspection rooms.

[0031] The input device 102 may include, for example, a keyboard and a mouse, and may also include an input device using a touch panel of the output device 103, and may be used together with the output device 103. As the input device 102, a device capable of performing input operations based on voice, line of sight, or finger movement, such as a voice recognition engine, a line of sight dynamics measurement device, or a finger dynamics measurement device, may be used.

[0032] The output device 103 is a monitor for displaying input information and other result information, and is sometimes replaced by a display terminal 116. The communication device 104 is a device for the management device 101 to communicate with at least a plurality of analysis devices 112, pre-processing devices 113, consumables storage devices 114, inspection room robot devices 115, and display terminals 116 via a network 122, and can use a wired / wireless local area network, a wired / wireless global area network, a mobile phone line network, or a combination thereof.

[0033] In addition, the communication device 104 may have a function of encrypting and decrypting the communication content, and may perform encrypted communication with the analysis device 112, the preprocessing device 113, the consumables storage device 114, the inspection room robot device 115, and the display terminal 116. In particular, in the communication between the management device 101, the analysis device 112, the preprocessing device 113, the consumables storage device 114, the inspection room robot device 115, and the display terminal 116, encrypted communication using a common key encryption method can prevent communication fraud, communication interception, and other problems.

[0034] The information processing device 105 is a computer for executing functions required by the management device 101 to perform alarm notification, and further includes an alarm detection unit 106 , an alarm notification unit 107 , and a related alarm determination unit 108 .

[0035] The alarm detection unit 106 has a function of receiving alarms indicating abnormalities occurring in the analysis device 112, pre-processing device 113, consumables storage device 114, and inspection room robot device 115 via the communication device 104, and detecting that an alarm has been issued in these devices.

[0036] The alarm notification unit 107 has a function of transmitting the received alarm information and the information of the alarm related calculated by the related alarm determination unit 108 to the display terminal 115 via the communication device 104. The alarm detection unit 106 and the alarm notification unit 107 may have a function of encrypting and decrypting the communication content in addition to the function of encrypting and decrypting the communication content of the communication device 104. In particular, in the communication between the management device 101, the analysis device 112, the pre-processing device 113, the consumables storage device 114, the inspection room robot device 115, and the display terminal 116, encrypted communication is performed when handling information such as personal information that should be kept secret, thereby preventing the leakage of personal information and other problems. The related alarm determination unit 108 has a function of determining the related alarms that are in an unhandled state among other alarms that have a predetermined degree of correlation with the alarm detected by the alarm detection unit 106. By determining the related alarms that are related to the newly generated alarm and are in an unhandled state, it is easy to determine the specific cause of the alarm and the method of handling it. As a notification method of the alarm by the alarm notification unit 107, in addition to the transmission to the display terminal 116 as described above, mail distribution, notification based on sound, notification using dynamic images such as AR / VR, etc. are also conceivable, and the method is not limited to a specific method.

[0037] The storage device 109 is a storage device for storing programs and data executed by the information processing device 105, and can be, for example, a non-volatile memory such as an EEPROM or a flash memory, a HDD, an SSD, etc. In addition, the storage device 109 includes an alarm management table 110 and a related alarm management table 111. The alarm management table 110 is a table for managing / storing the contents of an alarm that has been generated. In addition, the related alarm management table 111 is a table for managing an alarm that has been generated and other alarms that have been generated and not responded to, i.e., related alarms.

[0038] Reference Figure 2 , an example of the alarm management table 110 is described.

[0039] Figure 2 An example of the alarm management table 110 is shown. The management device 101 registers the alarm information obtained by the alarm detection unit 106 in the alarm management table 110 for management. The alarm information obtained by the alarm detection unit 106 may be obtained from various devices 112 to 115 for event notification, or the management device 101 may send a request for alarm information acquisition to various devices 112 to 115 and obtain a response, or a combination thereof.

[0040] The alarm management table 110 has a management table 601 including columns 602 to 609, and the information of columns 602 to 609 of one row in the row direction represents information about one alarm. The alarm ID column 602 records the alarm ID for identifying the alarm. The alarm level column 603 records the alarm level indicating the severity of the alarm. For example, when the alarm level is "Stop", it means that an alarm has been generated to stop the target device, indicating that the severity is high. When the alarm level is "Caution", it does not reach the level of stopping the device. In this sense, it means that although the severity is not high compared to "Stop", it requires certain attention. In the example shown in the figure, the alarm levels are only "Stop" and "Caution", but of course other alarm levels can also be set.

[0041] The alarm classification column 604 records alarm classification information for classifying the alarm into its category (abnormality occurrence site, abnormality type, etc.). For example, the alarm classification "1" means that an alarm related to the analysis action (analysis-related alarm) such as an abnormality of reagents and consumables used for clinical examinations, an abnormality of calibration, an abnormality of QC measurement, etc. has occurred. In addition, the alarm classification "2" means that an alarm related to the hardware structure of the analysis device 112 to 115 itself has occurred (hardware association). In addition, the alarm classification "3" means that an alarm related to an abnormality (error occurrence, crash, etc.) of the software of the analysis device 112 to 115 has occurred. In addition to the examples illustrated here, the alarm classification can also include various classifications such as ISE association measured with a focus on ion concentration, immunoassay association related to immune item measurement, and biochemical measurement association related to biochemical item measurement, and is not limited to the above examples.

[0042] The generation date and time column 605 records information related to the date and time when the alarm was generated. For example, the information "2020-02-10 13:20" means that the alarm was generated at 13:20 on February 10, 2020. The generation examination room column 606 records information that identifies the examination room where the alarm was generated. In addition, when there is only one examination room and all devices are configured in one examination room, column 606 can also be omitted from the alarm management table 110.

[0043] The generating device column 607 is a column containing the identification code of the device that generated the alarm. For example, the identification code "A01" means that an alarm was generated in the analysis device 112 having the identification code A01. The alarm content column 608 is a column containing the content of the generated alarm. For example, in the case where the alarm content is "QC measurement failure", it means that the alarm was generated due to the failure of the QC measurement performed for the precision management of the reagent. The response column 609 contains information on whether the response to the generated alarm has been completed or is in a state that still needs to be responded to (unresponded). For example, "unresponded" means that the response to the alarm is not responded to (uncompleted), and a response is required. "Completed" means that the response to the alarm has been completed and no new response is required.

[0044] Figure 3 An example of the data structure of the related alarm management table 111 is shown. The related alarm management table 111 includes a related alarm statistics table 702, and may include a statistics period 703, a related minimum threshold value 704, and a related maximum threshold value 705 as setting items.

[0045] The related alarm determination unit 108 of the management device 101 determines other alarms that are related to the newly generated alarm and have not been dealt with as related alarms based on the information in the related alarm management table 111. The related alarm management table 111 indicates the result of calculating the correlation of multiple alarms in the related alarm statistical table 702. Specifically, the related alarm statistical table 702 counts the number of repeated occurrences of multiple alarms within the period set in the statistical period 703.

[0046] The related alarm statistics table 702 sets all possible combinations of alarm ID, generation location, and alarm classification as a two-dimensional table, and manages the number of repeated generation times through the values ​​of the intersection of the matrices of the two-dimensional table. Figure 3 In the example shown in the figure, in order to simplify the description, Figure 2 Only alarms whose responses are “not responded” are displayed in FIG. 7 . However, in the actual related alarm statistical table 702 , not only unresponded alarms but also responded alarms can be included in the related alarm statistical table 702 .

[0047] Items 701 in the row and column directions of the associated alarm statistics table 702 respectively represent possible alarms, and the numerical values ​​(1, 2, 3, ...) at their intersections represent the number of times different alarms are repeatedly generated in the same period or in an associated period, i.e., the number of repeated occurrences. For example, the row and column [1] means an alarm with an alarm ID of A0101, a generation location of A-A01 (A01 device in the A inspection room), and an alarm classification of 1 (analysis association). The numerical values ​​at the intersection of rows and columns (for example, the numerical values ​​6, 1, 5, 4, 1, 6, 5, 2 in the first row) represent the number of repeated occurrences with other alarms. As described later, with respect to an alarm, the timing of the associated alarms is determined in the associated alarm judgment unit 108, and the data on the number of repeated occurrences is updated (cumulatively added).

[0048] Statistics period 703 is a setting item that can set the statistics start period and statistics end period. If statistics period 703 is not set, statistics are taken for the entire period. For example, if statistics period 703 is "2020-01-01-current", it means that the statistics start period is set to 2020-01-01 and the statistics end period is set to the current date (2021-02-28).

[0049] The lowest correlation threshold 704 is the lowest threshold for determining alarms to be related. When the value of the number of repetitions counted in the related alarm statistics table 702 is smaller than the value set in the lowest correlation threshold 704, the corresponding two alarms are determined to be unrelated alarms.

[0050] The highest correlation threshold 705 is the highest threshold for determining an associated alarm. When the value of the number of repeated occurrences counted in the associated alarm statistics table 702 is greater than the value set as the highest correlation threshold 705, the corresponding two alarms are determined to be alarms that are not related to each other. By setting the highest correlation threshold 705, when the number of repeated occurrences is too large, it is considered that the reliability of the value is low and it can be excluded from the associated alarms. In this way, in this embodiment, whether it is an associated alarm is determined based on the relationship between the minimum threshold and / or the maximum threshold and the number of repeated occurrences.

[0051] In addition, if the lowest correlation threshold 704 or the highest correlation threshold 705 is not set, the above-mentioned exclusion action is not performed, and the correlation is determined to be high in descending order of numerical values, and whether it is a correlation alarm is determined. The statistical period 703, the lowest correlation threshold 704, and the highest correlation threshold 705 can be set by the facility manager, the person in charge of the maintenance company, the inspection technician, and other operators who have authority among the operators who operate the management device 101.

[0052] In addition, if the Figure 3 As shown, the statistical period 703, the associated minimum threshold 704, and the associated maximum threshold 705 can also be input from the management device 101 to the associated alarm management table 111, but can also be input in the alarm acquisition unit 121 of the display terminal 116 instead of (or in addition to) this. In this case, the management device 101 creates the associated alarm management table 111 based on the value set by the display terminal 116, and returns the alarm information to the display terminal 116 that has set the value. The associated alarm statistical table 702 illustrates a table that counts the number of repeated occurrences of alarms within the set period, but in addition to this, the degree of association can also be counted by calculating the similarity based on cluster analysis. Alternatively, the degree of association can be obtained by learning the similarity using a method such as deep learning.

[0053] Figure 4 An example of an alarm list screen 201 notified by the alarm notification unit 107 and displayed on the display terminal 116 is shown. The alarm list screen 201 illustrated here displays alarms for which responses have not been completed among the generated alarms. The alarm list screen 201 has, for example, an alarm list 202, and may also have an input field 203 for filtering and displaying the displayed alarms and a "filter" button 204.

[0054] As an example, the input field 203 is an input field for filtering alarms according to the name or identification code of the device that generated the alarm. For example, the inspection technician enters the identification code "A01" as the generating device to be filtered in the input field 203, and presses the "Filter" button 204, thereby updating the display of the alarm list 202. The inspection technician can confirm that the alarm list shows A01 as the generating device. In addition, the input field 203 for inputting the identification code of the device, etc., or on this basis, an input field for inputting other conditions such as the alarm ID, alarm level, generation date and time, and alarm content can be provided.

[0055] The alarm list 202 is an example of display of information in a tabular format, which allows for a list of alarms that are currently being generated or have been generated but for which responses have not yet been completed. Figure 4 In the illustrated alarm list 202, as examples of display items, there are an alarm ID column 205, an alarm level column 206, a generation date and time column 207, a generation device column 208, and an alarm content column 209. The information group arranged in the row direction represents the content of an alarm that has been generated. By clicking on the screen to select the alarm information of that row, it is possible to switch to the detailed information screen of the alarm. For example, when the inspection technician selects the alarm information at the top of the alarm list 202 with the mouse, and the alarm ID is A0101, the alarm level is stop, the generation date and time is 13:20 on February 10, 2020, the generation device is A01 (analyzer), and the alarm content is QC measurement failure, the screen switches to Figure 5 The alarm detailed information screen 301 is shown. In addition, when an alarm occurs, it is also possible to set the alarm to be automatically displayed without performing a selection operation. Figure 5 The detailed information screen 301 of the alarm is shown in the operation mode.

[0056] In addition, the columns 205 to 209 in the alarm list 202 also function as buttons, and by selecting any of the columns 205 to 209 by double-clicking the mouse, the information in the column can be rearranged in ascending / descending order such as dictionary order or date order. In addition, in the alarm list 202, when the number of alarm information is too large to be displayed on one screen, the list 202 can be displayed by scrolling.

[0057] Figure 5 This is an example of the alarm detailed information screen 301. The alarm detailed information screen 301 can be automatically displayed on the display terminal 116 when a new alarm is generated from the alarm notification unit 107 of the management device 101, and can also be displayed on the display terminal 116. Figure 4The alarm detailed information screen is transmitted from the alarm notification unit 107 to the display terminal 116 via the communication device 104 and the network 122 when a specific alarm is selected in the alarm list screen 201 .

[0058] Figure 5 The screen of is an example, and may have elements other than those shown in the figure, or may omit some elements. As an example, the alarm detailed information screen 301 includes an alarm detailed information table 302, an in-device related alarm information table 303, an inspection room related alarm information acquisition button 304, an analysis related alarm information acquisition button 305, a hardware related alarm information acquisition button 306, and a software related alarm information acquisition button 307. Buttons 304 to 307 are buttons to be pressed when acquiring information different from the information being displayed and transferring to other screens.

[0059] The alarm detailed information table 302 is information in a tabular form that summarizes detailed information about the selected alarm. In addition to the information displayed in the alarm list 202, for example, Figure 5 As shown, recommended coping methods can also be displayed.

[0060] In addition, the in-device related alarm information table 303 can display the related alarms in the same device as the new alarm, among the related alarms that are related to the alarm newly notified by the alarm notification unit 107 and have not been dealt with. The display (308 to 312) of the in-device related alarm information table 303 is controlled according to the information of the related alarm management table 111. In addition, the in-device related alarm information table 303 can display the related alarms in the same device as the new alarm, but as described later, the related alarms to be displayed can be switched appropriately by operating the buttons 304 to 307.

[0061] exist Figure 5 If the button 304 for obtaining alarm information related to the inspection room is pressed in the screen, the screen is transferred to the alarm detailed information screen showing the alarm information related to the inspection room (see Figure 6 ), the related alarm information in the examination room displays the related alarms related to the device existing in the same examination room as the device involved in the newly generated alarm. By displaying the related alarms related to the device existing in the same examination room, the cause of the alarm can be easily determined through the association with the device located in the same examination room.

[0062] Figure 6The alarm detailed information screen 501 is an example of an alarm detailed information screen displaying alarm information related to the inspection room. The alarm detailed information screen 501 displaying alarm information related to the inspection room includes, for example, an alarm detailed information table 502 and an alarm information table 503 related to the inspection room. In addition, it can include an in-device related alarm information acquisition button 504 for transitioning to other screens, an analysis related alarm information acquisition button 505, a hardware related alarm information acquisition button 506, and a software related alarm information acquisition button 507.

[0063] The alarm detailed information table 502 is information in a table format that summarizes detailed information about the alarm, similar to the alarm detailed information table 302 , and may additionally include alarm contents and recommended countermeasures, for example.

[0064] The laboratory-related alarm information table 503 is a table format information that summarizes the information of related alarms currently occurring or having occurred but not yet responded to in the same laboratory as the newly notified alarm. Columns 508 to 512 respectively display the alarm ID, alarm level, occurrence date and time, occurrence device, and alarm content.

[0065] On the other hand, Figure 5 When the analysis-related alarm information acquisition button 305 is pressed in the screen, the screen is transferred to the alarm detailed information screen displaying the analysis-related alarm information, which displays the related alarms in the related alarms that are in the same device as the analysis device 112 involved in the newly generated alarm and are related to the same analysis action (refer to Figure 7 ). By displaying the associated alarms related to the same analysis action, the specific cause of the new alarm can be easily identified. Figure 7 The alarm detailed information screen 401 is an example of an alarm detailed information screen that displays analysis-related alarm information in the associated alarm within the device. Figure 5 Similarly, there is an alarm detailed information table 402 and an in-device related alarm information table 403. In addition, as an example, as buttons for transitioning the screen, there are an inspection room related alarm information acquisition button 404, an in-device related alarm information acquisition button 405, a hardware related alarm information acquisition button 406, and a software related alarm information acquisition button 407.

[0066] The device-related alarm information table 403 is information in the form of a table that classifies the alarm types of the currently generated and unhandled alarms in the same device as the newly generated alarm into alarms that are analyzed and related and have a high degree of correlation. Columns 408 to 412 respectively display the alarm ID, alarm level, generation date and time, generation device, and alarm content.

[0067] In addition, Figure 6 , Figure 7 In the alarm detail screen, buttons for switching to other alarm detail screens are also displayed. By pressing these buttons, you can Figure 5 , Figure 6 , Figure 7 In addition, by pressing the "return to list" button 309, 409, 509, you can also return to the Figure 4 The alarm list screen 201 is displayed.

[0068] In addition, if the hardware-related alarm information acquisition button 506 or 406 is pressed, the alarm detailed information screen showing the associated alarm information associated with the hardware in the associated alarm can be transferred to. In the case where the newly generated alarm is hardware-related, the specific cause of the new alarm can be easily determined by similarly displaying the associated alarm information associated with the hardware.

[0069] In addition, if the software-related alarm information acquisition button 507 or 407 is pressed, the screen can be transferred to the alarm detailed information screen displaying the associated alarm information associated with the software in the associated alarm. In the case where the newly generated alarm is software-related, the associated alarm information associated with the software is similarly displayed, so that the specific cause of the new alarm can be easily determined.

[0070] A specific example of the operation of the automatic analysis system of the present embodiment will be described below. Here, a case where the operation of the device is stopped due to failure of QC measurement in one of the analysis devices 112, namely, device A01, will be described as an example.

[0071] One of the analysis devices 112 (device A01) that has failed in QC measurement and stopped the operation of the device issues an alarm to notify the failure of QC measurement. Information on the issued alarm is transmitted to the management device 101 via the network 122. However, information on the issued alarm may be stored in the device for display on a monitor of the analysis device 112 (device A01) that has issued the alarm or for the purpose of log analysis.

[0072] Due to the cooperation between the devices, the alarm notification via the network 122 is sometimes also notified to the pre-processing device 113, the consumable storage device 114, and the inspection room robot device 115. It can also be directly notified to the display terminal 116 held by the inspection technician when the inspection room does not have the management device 101.

[0073] When the alarm information is sent to the network 122 by the analysis device 112, the management device 101 obtains the communication message through the communication device 104, and interprets the alarm information through the alarm detection unit 106 in the information processing device 105. After interpreting the alarm information, the management device 101 registers the obtained alarm information of QC measurement failure in the alarm management table 110 in the storage device 109. Figure 2 The shown format is registered in the alarm management table 110 .

[0074] For example, Figure 2 As shown in the alarm ID = A0101 in the top row, an alarm is registered at 2020-02:20 for the A01 device located in the A inspection room. In the alarm classification of column 604, "1" is registered to indicate an alarm related to analysis. In addition, the alarm classification information can also be attached to the acquired alarm information by the management device 101, and the alarm classification information can also be included in the notified alarm information from the beginning. In addition, the response column 609 shows that the response to the acquired QC measurement failure alarm is not completed.

[0075] After the alarm management table 110 is updated, the management device 101 activates the related alarm determination unit 108 to update the related alarm management table 111. In the related alarm statistics table 702 of the related alarm management table 111, the alarm of QC measurement failure is generated in the A01 device of the A inspection room, so the generation location is "A-A01", and the row and column [1] correspond to the alarm.

[0076] The update of the associated alarm management table 111 can be performed in the following manner. That is, at the time when the management device 101 obtains the generated alarm information, within the period set in the statistical period 703, for the alarms whose response column 609 in the alarm management table 110 is set to "unresponded", it is possible to update by adding 1 to the number of repeated occurrences of the generated alarm. Figure 3 In the illustrated related alarm management table 111 , only unhandled alarms are displayed, and therefore, for example, the value of the intersection of the row of the alarm [1] and the column of the alarm [1] can be incremented by 1.

[0077] After the associated alarm management table 111 is updated, the management device 101 transmits the alarm information to the display terminal 116 via the network 122 connected to the communication device 104 through the alarm notification unit 107. In the alarm notification method of the alarm notification unit 107, there are (1) a case where the inspector selects an alarm from the alarm list screen 201 through the display terminal 116 to notify the selected alarm information, and (2) a case where the information of the updated row is notified at the timing when the associated alarm management table 111 is updated. For example, in the case of the former alarm notification (1), the inspector Figure 4In the alarm list screen 201, the alarm information to be viewed in detail is selected, and the alarm detailed information screen 301 is displayed. On the other hand, in the latter case (2), the alarm detailed information screen 301 is notified from the management device 101 to the display terminal 116 regarding the information of the row [1] updated in the related alarm management table 111. Here, the former alarm notification case is described.

[0078] To confirm the alarm information, the technician checks the alarm list screen 201 through the display terminal 116. The display terminal 116 receives the instruction from the technician and requests the management device 101 to transmit the information required for drawing the alarm list screen 201 through the network 122 connected to the communication device 119 via the alarm acquisition unit 121.

[0079] The management device 101 receives a request for information required to draw the alarm list screen 201 through the communication device 104 via the network 122, and returns a list of responses in column 609 as unresponded from the alarm management table 110 as a response. Here, the alarm information included in the returned response may also include information that the information in column 609 is "completed" in response to the request from the display terminal 116. In this case, the alarm information included in the response may only be the alarm information for which the response column 609 is "completed". The display terminal 116 obtains the response from the management device 101 through the network 122 connected to the communication device 119 through the alarm acquisition unit 121, and draws the alarm list screen 201 on the screen.

[0080] The inspection technician checks the alarm list screen 201 displayed on the display terminal 116 used by the inspection technician, and can find out that an alarm such as "2020-02-10 13:20", "A01", and "QC measurement failure" has occurred. In this case, in order to know the details of the alarm, the inspection technician can select the row in the alarm list screen 201 and transfer to the alarm detailed information screen.

[0081] The display terminal 116 receives an instruction from the inspection technician, and sends a request to the management device 101 through the network 122 connected to the communication device 119 through the alarm acquisition unit 121 to send the information required to draw the alarm detailed information screen 301. After receiving the information, the management device 101 refers to the alarm management table 110 and sends the required information to the display terminal 116. Specifically, according to the request from the display terminal 116, the alarm management table 110 is analyzed, and the alarm information with the alarm ID A0101, the alarm level is "stop", the generation date and time is 2020-02-10 13:20, the generation device is A01, and the alarm content is QC measurement failure is determined, and sent to the display terminal 116 as information for drawing the alarm detailed information screen. In addition, according to the determined alarm information, the related alarm management table 111 is referenced to determine the related alarm information corresponding to the determined alarm information.

[0082] When determining the associated alarm information, the associated minimum threshold 704 and the associated maximum threshold 705 are also referenced to extract the alarm information that meets them as the associated alarm information. Figure 3 For alarm information [1], the associated minimum threshold is set to [3], then alarm information [2], [4], [5], [7], and [8] are selected as associated alarms.

[0083] When the setting of displaying the in-device related alarms is made as the related alarms, the management device 101 refers to the generating device column 607, extracts only the alarms generated in the same device as the selected alarm information [1], and displays them as in-device related alarms in the in-device related alarm information table 303.

[0084] The laboratory technician may check the alarm detailed information screen 301 and the device related alarm information table 303 and notice that an alarm such as an abnormal absorbance, a cell blank failure, or an approaching reagent expiration date has occurred. In this case, the laboratory technician can press the analysis related alarm information acquisition button 305 to acquire (extract) the analysis related alarm information as related alarm information.

[0085] When the analysis-related alarm information acquisition button 305 is pressed, the management device 101 refers to the alarm management table 110 and the related alarm management table 111, and extracts the alarm information common to the analysis-related items as the analysis-related alarm information as the alarm content column 608. The extracted analysis-related alarm information can be Figure 7 As shown, the relevant alarm information table 403 in the device is displayed.

[0086] In addition, the inspector sometimes confirms Figure 7The alarm detailed information screen 401 shown in the figure shows that the alarms "Unit Blank Failure" and "Reagent Expiration Approaching" have occurred as analysis-related alarms among the alarms related to the apparatus. In this case, the laboratory technician may suspect that the specific cause of the alarm is the deterioration of the measurement unit or the deterioration of the reagent.

[0087] Deterioration of the measuring unit As the inspection unit inside the device, which is a consumable, deteriorates and changes the state of the wall surface, it may cause abnormal absorbance of the measuring sensor and abnormal inspection results. On the other hand, the degradation of the reagent may cause the following problems: the state of the compound in the reagent changes, making it more difficult to react than usual during the inspection, or causing unexpected reactions, etc.

[0088] Although the reagent is close to its expiration date, it is still within the expiration date, so the technician can confirm when the unit of the analyzer was replaced. As a result, it can be seen that a considerable amount of time has passed since the last unit replacement, and the specific cause of the alarm is the degradation of the measurement unit, and it can be determined that the solution is to replace the measurement unit. In this case, it is effective for the technician to also confirm the related alarms in the inspection room in order to confirm whether there is a similar problem in other devices in the inspection room.

[0089] When the button 404 for obtaining relevant alarm information in the inspection room is pressed in the alarm detailed information screen 401, a corresponding request is sent to the management device 101. The management device 101 can refer to the alarm management table 110 and the relevant alarm management table 111, refer to the generating device column 607, extract the alarm information related to the device in the same inspection room as relevant alarm information, and display it in the inspection room relevant alarm information table 503.

[0090] Various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, but the present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments and includes various modified examples. For example, the above-mentioned embodiments are embodiments described in detail in order to easily explain the present disclosure, and are not necessarily limited to having all the structures described. In addition, a part of the structure of a certain embodiment can be replaced with the structure of other embodiments, and in addition, the structure of other embodiments can be added to the structure of a certain embodiment. In addition, with respect to a part of the structure of each embodiment, other structures can be added, deleted, or replaced.

[0091] Explanation of symbols

[0092] 101… management device, 102… input device, 103… output device, 104… communication device, 105… information processing device, 106… alarm detection unit, 107… alarm notification unit, 108… associated alarm judgment unit, 109… storage device, 110… alarm management table, 111… associated alarm management table, 112… analysis device, 113… preprocessing device, 114… consumables storage device, 115… inspection room robot device, 116… display terminal, 117… input device, 118… output device, 119… communication device, 120… terminal information processing device, 121… alarm acquisition unit, 122… network.

Claims

1. An automatic analysis system comprising: an inspection processing unit that performs at least a part of a process for inspecting a specimen; and a management device that manages the inspection processing unit, characterized in that: The management device comprises: an alarm detection unit that detects and issues an alarm indicating that an abnormality has occurred in the inspection processing unit; an alarm notifying unit that notifies that an alarm has been issued according to the detection result of the alarm detecting unit; and The related alarm determination unit determines a related alarm that is in an unhandled state among other related alarms having a predetermined degree of relevance to the alarm.

2. The automatic analysis system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The management device further includes an alarm management table for managing generated alarms. The alarm management table includes information indicating whether the alarm has been responded to or not responded to.

3. The automatic analysis system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The alarm notification unit is configured to notify alarm detailed information related to details of the alarm and the related alarm.

4. The automatic analysis system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The inspection processing unit includes an analysis device and its peripheral devices for analyzing the sample. The peripheral device includes at least one of a pretreatment device that performs pretreatment of the sample, a consumables storage device that stores consumables including reagents, and a robot device that operates in an inspection room.

5. The automatic analysis system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The related alarm determination unit is configured to determine the degree of relevance based on the number of times the alarm and the related alarm are repeatedly generated.

6. The automatic analysis system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The related alarm determination unit is configured to determine the degree of relevance based on the number of repeated occurrences within a predetermined period.

7. The automatic analysis system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The related alarm determination unit determines the degree of relevance based on a magnitude relationship between the number of repetition occurrences and a predetermined threshold value.

8. The automatic analysis system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The related alarm determination unit determines, as the related alarm, an alarm related to the same device as the device that generated the alarm.

9. The automatic analysis system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The related alarm determination unit determines, as the related alarm, an alarm related to another device arranged in the same inspection room as the inspection room in which the device generating the alarm is arranged.

10. The automatic analysis system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The related alarm determination unit determines an alarm related to an abnormality in software as the related alarm.

11. The automatic analysis system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The related alarm determination unit determines an alarm related to an abnormality in hardware as the related alarm.

12. The automatic analysis system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The automatic analysis system further comprises: a display device for displaying the analysis result and the operation status in the inspection processing unit; The display device is configured to display a related alarm information table that displays the alarms determined as the related alarms by the related alarm determination unit, and the related alarm information table is configured to select and display related alarms having predetermined characteristics among the related alarms.

13. An alarm management method for an automatic analysis system, characterized in that: The alarm management method comprises the following steps: Detecting that an alarm indicating an abnormality has occurred in the automatic analysis system; Based on the results of said detection, notification of an alarm is issued; and A related alarm that is in an unhandled state among other alarms, namely related alarms, having a predetermined degree of relevance with the alarm is determined.

14. The alarm management method according to claim 13, characterized in that: The step of determining the related alarm determines the degree of correlation based on the number of times the alarm and the related alarm are repeatedly generated.

15. The alarm management method according to claim 14, characterized in that: The step of determining the related alarm determines the degree of relevance based on the number of repeated generation times within a predetermined period.

16. The alarm management method according to claim 14, characterized in that: The step of determining the related alarm determines the degree of relevance based on a magnitude relationship between the number of repeated generation times and a predetermined threshold value.

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