Distributed Cluster Management for Laboratory Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large laboratory systems with many instruments face complexity and single-point failures due to centralized management, leading to inefficiencies and inflexibility, particularly in handling changes in instrument capabilities and availability, and are prone to data communication overload.
Innovation Solution
The system groups laboratory instruments into clusters with dedicated cluster managers that publish resource descriptions and maintain inventory, allowing for flexible resource allocation and dynamic reconfiguration without manual intervention, and employs a peer-to-peer data communication topology for high availability and scalability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a central laboratory information system manages all instruments, then resource allocation can be coordinated, but system complexity increases and creates a single point of failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the centralized laboratory information system into distributed instrument group managers, where each manager handles a specific group of instruments. This segmentation eliminates the single point of failure by distributing management functions across multiple independent managers, while still maintaining coordinated resource allocation through group-level management.
2Reliability
If instruments are grouped into clusters with dedicated managers, then system reliability improves, but manual reconfiguration is needed when instruments are added or removed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automatic reconfiguration where the instrument group manager dynamically updates group configurations when instruments are added or removed. The system automatically detects changes in instrument availability and capability, and reassigns test orders without manual intervention, making the system self-adapting to configuration changes.
3Device complexity
If a centralized topology is used for data communication, then system management is simplified, but data communication becomes overloaded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized data communication topology into distributed peer-to-peer connections within instrument groups. Each instrument group manager communicates directly with relevant instruments and other group managers, reducing the communication burden on any single central node while maintaining simplified management through the group manager hierarchy.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for operating a laboratory system comprising laboratory instruments and a laboratory information system is presented. The method comprises grouping laboratory instruments into instrument cluster(s) and providing a cluster manager thereto. The plurality of laboratory instruments publishes their instrument resource descriptions. Each cluster manager maintains an inventory of cluster resources and publishes a list of processing capabilities of the instrument cluster. The laboratory information system assigns processing of test order(s) to instrument clusters. Each cluster manager assigns resources of the laboratory instruments corresponding to test orders from the laboratory information system in view of the inventory of cluster resources. Each laboratory instrument carries out the processing step(s) on the biological sample as instructed by the cluster manager.