Equipment for linking the Auto-Analyzer to an off-line computer.

Abstract

The increasing demand for laboratory investigation of patients has created many new problems for the pathologist, not least of which is the difficulty of handling all the data involved. Manual data processing systems are still operating satisfactorily at present but there are sound reasons for considering the use of automatic data processing in the future (Flynn, 1966).To enable data to be handled entirely by mechanical or electronic means a language is required which can be written, recognized and reproduced without the aid of the human eye. In the punched hole language which is commonly used for this purpose there are only two symbols, a hole or no hole, and different numbers and combinations of these symbols are used to represent each 'character', that is each letter, digit, or sign. The machines detect where holes are present and convert the information into electrical impulses.Getting information into suitable form for machine handling represents one of the major obstacles to the use of automatic data processing systems. Of the two steps that are involved, namely, the collection of significant data and the coding of such data, the second presents the greater difficulty and is often dependent on specially trained personnel. Because a high proportion of our analyses are now performed with the Technicon AutoAnalyzer, we have concentrated in the first instance on devising equipment which will automatically collect data from these instruments in machine-readable form. We have collaborated in designing a suitable analogueto-digital converter which when attached to the AutoAnalyzer recorders automatically finds the peaks during the run of analyses and records their height on punched paper-tape ready for direct computer entry. In this paper we describe the equipment and report on our experience with it; preliminary accounts have already been published (Flynn, 1965a and b). Details of how a computer has been programmed to process the data captured by the analogue-to-digital converter will be described elsewhere.Received for publication 9 August 1966. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONSThe basic requirement of the analogue-to-digital converter equipment is that it should automatically select, code, and store for subsequent computer processing the significant part of the analogue information presented on the AutoAnalyzer recorder. The equipment therefore incorporates facilities for recognizing the peaks, quantitating their heights, converting the values to binary form, and punching the coded information on to paper-tape.It is not possible to select peak values by a timing device because the intervals between them are not quite constant for a given rate of sampling of specimens, and therefore peaks have to be recognized in some way. This could be done electronically by monitoring the magnitude of the voltage signal to the recorder, or mechanically by following the direction of rotation of the potentiometer shaft. The latter method has been selected because of its relative simplicity. The existence of background noise on the recordin...

Equipment for linking the AutoAnalyzer on-line to a computer

“…The length of each breakdown has been closely related to the ease with which the fault could be detected, but the time to secure the services of an engineer and the availability of replacement components have also been important features. Discussion The on-line system described in this paper has several advantages compared with the off-line system which used an Elliott 803 computer in a batchprocessing mode (Flynn et al, 1966;Whitby et al, 1968). It Table II Summary of operation of system for 20-month period tion of calibration curves and continuing with the assessment of individual peaks, the measurement of drift, and the monitoring of concentrations observed when a control serum is analysed repeatedly; with the off-line system none of these assessments could be performed automatically until the end of an analytical run and only some could be included in the off-line programs.…”

Routine operation of an Elliott 903 computer in a clinical chemistry laboratory

“…In this laboratory's programme of work, attention initially focused on the acquisition of signals from AutoAnalyzers, to provide computer-assisted operations that would replace and improve an earlier off-line system (Flynn, 1965(Flynn, , 1966Flynn, Piper, and Roberts, 1966;Whitby, Proffitt, and McMaster, 1968), and insufficient thought was given to the hospital interface. The interest and cooperation of the Medical Records Department should have been sought and obtained at a very early stage.…”

Computer processing of biochemical information without going on-line.

“…Cumulative reports are prepared for the wards, comparing new results with the previous ones, and displaying the results in an integrated and compact form (Flynn and Vernon, 1965;Whitby and Owen, 1965).…”