Automatic Determination System for Chromatographic Strip Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automated reading of weak line colorings on chromatographic strips is challenging due to intensity dependence on analyte concentration and susceptibility to overexposed highlights, leading to inaccurate determinations and difficulties in long-term storage of expression information.
Innovation Solution
An automatic determination system that includes an information storage unit for storing result-of-detection image information and a result-of-determination deriving unit to check images against a data table, allowing for accurate derivation of results and long-term storage of expression information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If automated reading using an image sensor is performed to objectively determine line coloring, then human errors of mistaken reading are minimized, but weak line colorings with low intensity may fail to be correctly read due to insufficient signal detection
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures the image of the line coloring at the optimal moment during development, before the color fades or becomes too intense. This preliminary capture ensures the maximum possible signal is recorded, resolving the contradiction between automated detection reliability and weak signal detection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of directly reading the weak line coloring with an image sensor, the system creates a photograph (copy) of the line coloring state at the optimal moment. This photograph preserves the visual information that can be subsequently analyzed, effectively transferring the detection task from direct sensor reading to image analysis, thereby maintaining both automated reliability and weak signal detection capability.
2Extent of automation
If a photograph is taken to read line coloring, then the determination process is automated, but the photograph may be affected by overexposed highlights that reduce reading accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The system determines the optimal timing for photographing before overexposure occurs, capturing the line coloring at the precise moment when the signal is strongest but before the highlight artifact degrades the image quality. This preliminary timing decision resolves the contradiction between automation and reading accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses image processing to analyze the captured photograph and detect the presence of overexposed highlights. When highlights are detected, the system can adjust exposure parameters or reject the image and recapture, creating a feedback loop that maintains reading accuracy while preserving automation. This feedback mechanism resolves the contradiction by enabling the automated system to self-correct for overexposure artifacts.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If the chromatographic strip is stored for long term, then the test result information can be preserved, but the line coloring may discolor over time making the stored information inaccurate
Solution Approach 1:
The system captures the line coloring information at the optimal moment during development, before discoloration can occur. By performing the photographing action preliminarily at the correct time, the system preserves the accurate test result information in a stable photograph that can be stored indefinitely without degradation, resolving the contradiction between long-term storage and information accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a permanent copy (photograph) of the line coloring state at the moment of optimal development. This photograph serves as a stable, non-degrading record that preserves the test result information accurately over long storage periods, eliminating the discoloration problem inherent in storing the actual chromatographic strip while maintaining information fidelity.
4Measurement precision
If visual checking by human is used to read line coloring, then weak line colorings can be discerned by human eyes, but human errors of mistaken reading may occur when there are multiple colored test lines
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a photograph (copy) of the line coloring that preserves the visual information visible to the human eye. This photograph can then be analyzed using image processing techniques that systematically identify and distinguish multiple colored lines, combining the human eye's sensitivity to weak colorings with automated analysis accuracy to eliminate human reading errors while maintaining detection capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is, for example, an automatic determination system. The automatic determination system includes an information storage unit configured to store result-of-detection image information acquired from a chromatographic strip support tool carrying the result-of-detection image information, the result-of-detection image information representing transcribed information regarding expression information obtained on a chromatographic strip that has been through testing, and a result-of-determination deriving unit configured to check an image included in the result-of-detection image information against a data table, and derive a result of determination included in the data table and corresponding to the image.