Method and apparatus for liquid addition and aspiration in automated immunoassay techniques

Claim 1

A method for adding liquid to, and aspirating liquids from, reaction tubes disposed in rack comprising the steps of: providing reaction tubes disposed in a rack, said rack having n rows in a first horizontal x-direction and m columns in a second horizontal y-direction, perpendicular to the x-direction; a liquid probe depended from a carriage above said rack of tubes, said probe selectively moveable along its longitudinal axis relative to said carriage and perpendicular to the rack horizontal plane; means for moving said carriage in the x-direction or y-direction; means for selectively registering the liquid probe with a row of tubes in said rack; and, control means for selecting and effecting absolute and relative movement of the carriage, probe and rack; introducing a controlled, timed, tube-dependent pause in a sequence for adding liquid to, and aspirating liquid from, a rack of reaction tubes by controlling the carriage and liquid probe movement so that for each of y=1 to m columns, a. liquid is added to tube in x row, y column; b. previously-added liquid from tube in (x-1) row, y column is aspirated; c. carriage, rack and probe are returned to register said probe with the tube in x row, (y+1) column; wherein x is between 1 and n.

Claim 2

A method for adding liquid to, and aspirating liquids from, reaction tubes disposed in rack comprising the steps of: providing reaction tubes disposed in a rack, said rack having n rows in a first horizontal x-direction and m columns in a second horizontal y-direction, perpendicular to the x-direction; a liquid probe depended from a carriage above said rack of tubes, said probe selectively moveable along its longitudinal axis relative to said carriage and perpendicular to the rack horizontal plane; means for moving said carriage in the x-direction or y-direction; means for selectively registering the liquid probe with a row of tubes in said rack; and, control means for selecting and effecting absolute and relative movement of the carriage, probe and rack; introducing a controlled, timed, tube-dependent pause in a sequence for adding liquid to, and aspirating liquid from, a rack of reaction tubes by controlling the carriage and liquid probe movement so that for each of y=1 to m columns, a. liquid is added to tube in x row, y column; b. previously-added liquid from tube in (x-1) row, y column is aspirated; c. carriage, rack and probe are returned to register said probe with the tube in x row, (y+1) column; wherein x is between 1 and n.

Claim 5

An apparatus for adding liquid to, and aspirating liquids from, tubes which comprises: a rack of reaction tubes, said rack having n rows in a first horizontal x-direction and m columns in a second horizontal y-direction, perpendicular to the x-direction, in a rectangular matrix, wherein x=1 to n rows, and y=1 to m columns; means for receiving and positioning said rack; a carriage above said rack; at least one liquid probe depended from said carriage above said rack and selectively moveable along said probe longitudinal axis relative to said carriage; means for selectively moving said carriage in the x-direction or y-direction; means for selectively registering the liquid probe with a row of tubes in said rack; control means for actuating said rack positioning means to move said rack discrete distances in the y-direction substantially equivalent to one column of tubes, relative to said probe, and for selecting movement of said carriage in the x-direction or y-direction; and, second control means, for each of x=1 to n rows and y=1 to m columns, for first delivering liquid from said liquid probe to a tube located in x row, y column, for aspirating through the probe previously added liquid in a tube located at (x-1) row, y column, and for returning said carriage, rack and probe to register said probe with the tube in x row, (y+1) column.

Claim 6

An apparatus for adding liquid to, and aspirating liquids from, tubes which comprises: a rack of reaction tubes, said rack having n rows in a first horizontal x-direction and m columns in a second horizontal y-direction, perpendicular to the x-direction, in a rectangular matrix, wherein x=1 to n rows, and y=1 to m columns; means for receiving and positioning said rack; a carriage above said rack; at least one liquid probe depended from said carriage above said rack and selectively moveable along said probe longitudinal axis relative to said carriage; means for selectively moving said carriage in the x-direction or y-direction; means for selectively registering the liquid probe with a row of tubes in said rack; control means for actuating said rack positioning means to move said rack discrete distances in the y-direction substantially equivalent to one column of tubes, relative to said probe, and for selecting movement of said carriage in the x-direction or y-direction; and, second control means, for each of x=1 to n rows and y=1 to m columns, for first delivering liquid from said liquid probe to a tube located in x row, y column, for aspirating through the probe previously added liquid in a tube located at (x-1) row, y column, and for returning said carriage, rack and probe to register said probe with the tube in x row, (y+1) column.