AUTOMATIC TRACKING OF A SPECIMEN HOLDER MOVED FROM ONE SPECIMEN RACK TO ANOTHER

摘要

A user may move a specimen holder from one specimen rack to another specimen rack. A database automatically tracks the movement of the specimen holder from a rack slot of one specimen rack to a rack slot of the other specimen rack. To track movement of the specimen holder, the user places a specimen rack on a specimen reader that determines the location of any specimen holders in slots of the specimen rack. The user removes a particular specimen holder from a particular rack slot of the specimen rack and the database is updated to reflect removal of the particular specimen holder from the specimen rack. The user places another specimen rack on the reader and inserts the newly removed specimen holder in a slot of the another specimen rack. The database is updated to reflect insertion of the specimen holder in a particular slot of the another rack.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
providing first and second specimen racks that each include a plurality of rack slots that receive specimen holders, each specimen holder including an RFID tag with an RFID unique identifier and a barcode unique identifier that are stored in a database in association with one another; receiving, by the second specimen rack, a specimen holder previously located in the first specimen rack and which is designated as the newly inserted specimen holder, the second specimen rack being situated on a specimen reader; optically scanning, by the specimen reader, the plurality of rack slots of the second specimen rack to determine the particular rack slot at which the newly inserted specimen holder is located, thus indicating an insertion change event; and determining, by the specimen reader, the RFID unique identifier of the newly inserted specimen holder.