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EP-4134677-B1 - BIOLOGICAL SAMPLE ANALYSIS DEVICE

EP4134677B1EP 4134677 B1EP4134677 B1EP 4134677B1EP-4134677-B1

Inventors

  • SAO, Mayu
  • INOMATA, HIROFUMI
  • SATO, FUMIYASU

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20210208

Claims (13)

  1. A biological specimen analysis device (100) for analyzing a biological specimen contained in a biological sample tube (116) to which a colored label (118) is attached, the biological specimen analysis device (100) comprising: a rotation mechanism (114) configured to grip and rotate the biological sample tube (116); a camera (101) configured to acquire a plurality of two-dimensional color images by capturing images of the biological sample tube (116), while the biological sample tube is being rotated; and a processor (106) configured to process the two-dimensional color image, wherein the processor (106) cuts out a partial region in the two-dimensional color image, the processor (106) synthesizes a developed view of the biological sample tube (116) by connecting the images of the cut-out partial region along a circumferential direction of the biological sample tube (116), and the processor (106) extracts a detection target region as a detection target in the two-dimensional color image from the developed view by identifying an image of the label (118) included in the two-dimensional color image based on information indicating a feature of the image of the label (118), and extracting the detection target region from a portion of the two-dimensional color image excluding the identified image of the label (118), characterized in that : the processor (106) is configured to cut out, as the partial region, a portion of each of the two-dimensional color images in which variation in a brightness value along the circumferential direction of the biological sample tube (116) is within a predetermined range to keep the variance of the brightness value in the developed view within an allowable range.
  2. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the processor (106) uses, as the information indicating the feature of the image of the label (118), information obtained by comparing the two-dimensional color image of the biological sample tube (116) to which the label (118) is attached with the two-dimensional color image of the biological sample tube (116) to which no label (118) is not attached.
  3. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, further comprising: an interface (109) configured to receive an instruction input specifying at least one of a color of the label (118), a position of the label (118), a shape of the label (118), and a size of the label (118), wherein the processor (106) determines the information indicating the feature of the image of the label (118) according to the instruction input received by the interface (109).
  4. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, further comprising: a storage device (108) configured to store data describing at least one of a color of the label (118), a position of the label (118), a shape of the label (118), and a size of the label (118), wherein the processor (106) uses information described in the data stored in the storage device (108) as the information indicating the feature of the image of the label (118).
  5. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, further comprising: a light source (103a, 103b) configured to irradiate the biological sample tube (116) with light, wherein the processor (106) cuts out, as the partial region, a portion in which the amount of reflected light noise generated by reflecting the light emitted by the light source (103a, 103b) on a surface of the biological sample tube (116) is equal to or less than an allowable threshold.
  6. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the processor (106) controls a rotation speed of the rotation mechanism (114), an image-capturing timing of the two-dimensional color image, and the number of captured two-dimensional color images.
  7. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the processor (106) acquires a color of the detection target region from the developed view, and the processor (106) specifies a type of the biological specimen included in the detection target region by comparing the acquired color of the detection target region with data describing a color of the biological specimen, and outputs the specified type.
  8. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the processor (106) calculates the amount of the biological specimen included in the detection target region using information describing coordinates of the detection target region, the number of pixels of the detection target region, and a size of the biological sample tube (116).
  9. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the processor (106) detects, in the two-dimensional color image, a position of a rotation axis when the rotation mechanism rotates the biological sample tube (116), and the processor (106) specifies a cut-out region as the partial region by using a direction orthogonal to the detected rotation axis as the circumferential direction of the biological sample tube (116).
  10. The biological specimen analysis device according to claim 9, wherein the processor (106) generates a reversed image obtained by reversing the two-dimensional color image horizontally, the processor (106) calculates a distance in a color space between the two-dimensional color image and the reversed image, and the processor (106) specifies the rotation axis by connecting coordinates having a minimum distance along a vertical direction.
  11. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the processor (106) corrects distortion of the two-dimensional color image using curvature of the biological sample tube (116), and the processor (106) synthesizes the developed view using the two-dimensional color image in which the distortion is corrected.
  12. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, further comprising: an interface (109) configured to receive an instruction input specifying a position and a size of the partial region, wherein the processor (106) determines the position and the size of the partial region according to the instruction input received by the interface (109).
  13. The biological specimen analysis device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the processor (106) identifies an image of the label (118) included in the two-dimensional color image, and the processor (106) specifies an attribute of the biological specimen by extracting information describing the attribute of the biological specimen from the identified image of the label (118), and analyzes the biological specimen according to the specified attribute.

Description

Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a biological specimen analysis device that analyzes a biological specimen contained in a biological sample tube to which a plurality of labels are attached. Background Art To improve the efficiency of clinical tests such as blood tests, a technique for automating a biological specimen confirming operation, which has been performed by visual confirmation in the related art, has been proposed. Among them, in a specimen confirming operation before biochemical analysis, there is a demand for an analysis technique for measuring a solution volume of a sample stored in a container such as a blood collection tube or determining a specimen state such as a serum type (normal, hemolysis, icterus, and chyle) in a blood specimen. As a technique for determining such a specimen state, for example, PTL 1 discloses a detection device that detects information of a biological sample in a biological sample tube to which a label is attached. More specifically, the detection device includes: an image-capturing unit that captures an image of a biological sample tube; a detection target region extraction unit that extracts a detection target region from the image captured by the image-capturing unit; a label extraction unit that extracts a label positioned on an imaging surface side of the image-capturing unit from the image captured by the image-capturing unit; and an analysis unit that identifies a boundary position of the label in the detection target region extracted by the detection target region extraction unit based on the boundary position of the label extracted by the label extraction unit. The detection device acquires information on a specimen type based on measurement of a solution volume and color information of the detection target region extracted from an image of the specimen. Further, for example, PTL 2 discloses a liquid detection device that detects transmitted light by irradiating a blood collection tube with infrared light, obtains a boundary of a label based on a first derivative value, and estimates a serum amount of the blood collection tube. Citation List Patent Literature PTL 1: JP-A-2015-040696PTL 2: JP-A-2004-037322PTL 3: US 2011/102542 discloses a system and method for panoramic image stitchingPTL 4: US 2016/109350 discloses a detection device and biological-sample analysis devicePTL 5: US 2011/056290 discloses a system and method for detection of liquid level in a vessel Summary of Invention Technical Problem The technique disclosed in PTL 1 relates to a method of extracting color information of a detection region by specifying the boundary position of a label in the detection target region extracted based on the boundary position of the extracted label. However, in PTL 1, for a specimen to which a colored label having a color similar to a color of a detection target is attached, since consideration is not given to identification of the color of the colored label and the color of the detection target region and separation of the colored label region and the detection target region from each other, there is a problem that color extraction accuracy is reduced by erroneously extracting the color of the colored label. In PTL 2, the boundary of the label is obtained and the serum amount is measured, but color information of an analysis target cannot be acquired, and the specimen type cannot be determined. The present disclosure has been made in view of such a situation, and provides a technique capable of acquiring an analysis target region and color information without causing a decrease in extraction accuracy of the analysis target region due to erroneous extraction of a color of a colored label, measuring a solution volume of the specimen, and determining a specimen type. Solution to Problem The biological specimen analysis device according to the present disclosure is as set forth in claim 1. Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the biological specimen analysis device in the present disclosure, a color and an amount of a sample consisting of a plurality of components can be detected with high accuracy in a specimen to which a colored label is attached. More features relating to the present disclosure are clarified based on descriptions of the present description and accompanying drawings. Aspects of the present disclosure are achieved and implemented using elements, combinations of various elements, and the following detailed description, and accompanying claims. It should be understood that the descriptions of the present description are merely exemplary, and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims or application examples of the present disclosure in any sense. Brief Description of Drawings [FIG. 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration example of a biological specimen analysis device 100 according to a first embodiment.[FIG. 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing schematic functions implemented by loading a program stored i