Method and Device for Scanning Microscope Slides

Abstract

A method for scanning microscope slides using a device with at least one feed unit for microscope slide holders, at least two microscope slide scanners, at least one depositing device, and at least one industrial robot, includes: a) loading the feed unit with at least one microscope slide holder, which holds at least one microscope slide, b) removing the microscope slide from the at least one microscope slide holder, c) inserting the removed microscope slide into one of the microscope slide scanners, d) removing the microscope slide from one of the microscope slide scanners, and e) depositing the microscope slide in the depositing device, wherein steps b) to e) are carried out by at least one industrial robot.

Claims

1. A method for scanning microscope slides using a device with at least one feed unit for microscope slide holders, at least two microscope slide scanners, at least one depositing device and at least one industrial robot, comprising the steps: a) loading the feed unit with at least one microscope slide holder, which holds at least one microscope slide, b) removing a microscope slide from the at least one microscope slide holder, c) inserting the removed microscope slide into one of the microscope slide scanners, d) removing the microscope slide from one of the microscope slide scanners, and e) depositing the microscope slide in the depositing device, wherein the steps b) to e) are carried out by the at least one industrial robot.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein steps b) to e) are repeated until all the microscope slides are removed from the at least one microscope slide holder.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one industrial robot is a jointed-arm robot.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the at least one jointed-arm robot has a gripper for gripping the microscope slides.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting an information signal with the information that the scanning process is completed, from a microscope slide scanner to the industrial robot, wherein the removal of the microscope slide from the microscope slide scanner takes place only after the receiving of the information signal.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps: f) removing the microscope slide holder from the feed unit and g) depositing the microscope slide holder, preferably in a microscope slide holder depositing device, wherein the steps f) and g) are preferably carried out by the at least one industrial robot.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the feed unit has at least one base plate and at least one front wall.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the feed unit is arranged so obliquely that a microscope slide holder, placed onto the base plate, slips owing to the weight force towards the front wall of the feed unit or towards a microscope slide holder which is already present in the feed unit.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the microscope slide scanners respectively have a rotatable mount for microscope slides.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the industrial robot, after the removal of the microscope slide from one of the microscope slide scanners and the depositing of the microscope slide in the depositing device immediately following removes a microscope slide from the at least one microscope slide holder and inserts it into the microscope slide scanner which is not yet loaded.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein steps b) and c) are repeated until each microscope slide scanner is loaded with a microscope slide.

12. A device for scanning microscope slides comprising: A) at least one feed unit, which is designed to receive microscope slide holders which are loaded with microscope slides, B) at least two microscope slide scanners, C) at least one depositing device for receiving the scanned microscope slides, and D) at least one industrial robot, which is configured to remove a microscope slide from a microscope slide holder arranged in the feed unit, load each microscope slide scanner with a microscope slide, remove a microscope slide from each microscope slide scanner and deposit a microscope slide in a depositing device.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the at least one feed unit has a base plate and a front wall.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one industrial robot is a 6-axis jointed-arm robot.

15. The device according to claim 13, wherein the base plate presents an oblique plane with a low end and a high end.

16. The device according to claim 15, wherein the front wall is arranged at the low end of the base plate.

17. The device according to claim 15, wherein the low end of the base plate has a holding-down device.

Description

[0072] The invention is explained again below with the aid of the FIGURE.

[0073] FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of the device according to the invention.

[0074] FIG. 1 shows a device 1 for scanning microscope slides, comprising a base frame 2, on which a feed unit 3, five microscope slide scanners 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, an industrial robot 9 and a depositing device 12 are arranged.

[0075] The feed unit 3 forms a type of chute for the microscope slide holders, so that the microscope slide holders, after the depositing on the base plate in the form of a sloped plane, slip to the front wall which is arranged lower.

[0076] The industrial robot 9 is a 6-axis jointed robot with a gripper 10, which holds the microscope slide 11. The microscope slide 11 was removed from the microscope slide mounting, arranged in the feed unit 3, by means of the gripper 10 and is inserted into the microscope slide scanner 4 which is not yet loaded, which subsequently carries out the scanning process. Subsequently, further microscope slides can be removed from the feed unit 3 and inserted into the not yet occupied microscope slide scanners 5, 6, 7, 8. This process can be repeated so often until all microscope slide scanners 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 are occupied. After the transmission of information that one of the microscope slide scanners 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 has completed the scanning process, the gripper 10 removes the microscope slide out of the corresponding microscope slide scanner and deposits it in the depositing device 12. The empty microscope slide scanner can now be loaded again with a microscope slide which is to be scanned.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0077] 1) device [0078] 2) base frame [0079] 3) feed unit [0080] 4) microscope slide scanner [0081] 5) microscope slide scanner [0082] 6) microscope slide scanner [0083] 7) microscope slide scanner [0084] 8) microscope slide scanner [0085] 9) industrial robot [0086] 10) gripper [0087] 11) microscope slide [0088] 12) depositing device