Method and apparatus for automated tissue assay

Abstract

A system which performs a plurality of independent analysis procedures simultaneously, possibly involving differing types of tissues and differing process steps, comprising a robotic device, which may cause the different tissue samples to be processed by processing stations, and a processor, which may select the next process step. The processor may direct the robotic device to interleave the differing process steps. The processor may select a next process step in response to timing information about the procedures, which may specify the start time and end time of each process step. The specified times may be exact or may be a range of times. The processor may determine the exact time for a step by generating a possible sequence of steps and examining that sequence for conflicts, adjusting that sequence in response to those steps with a specified range of times, and iterating the calculation over a plurality of possible sequences. The processor may also optimize the order in which process steps are performed to minimize the total time required by the system to complete the procedures, for example by generating a plurality of possible sequences, evaluating each sequence for total expected time, and selecting the best sequence available.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.