Systems and methods for the automated pre-treatment and processing of biological samples

Abstract

Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the present invention allow for the automatic control and scheduling of a staining apparatus for biological samples on slides present within the apparatus. In some embodiments, the actions of a robot coupled to the staining apparatus, which performs some of the staining tasks on the individual slides in accordance with their respective protocols, may be prioritized and scheduled. In some embodiments, the scheduling may result in increasing or maximizing the throughput of slides. In some embodiments, robot scheduling ensures that the individual slides are processed substantially within the tolerances specified by their respective protocols. In some embodiments, the robot scheduler may respond to spontaneous user actions and adaptively schedule or re-schedule robot actions.

1 . A method comprising steps for adaptively scheduling robot tasks in a time interval for a robot coupled to a stainer, wherein the robot treats slides coupled to the stainer according to a treatment protocol with reagents in reagent bottles or fluid containers coupled to the stainer, the steps comprising:
 creating a robot task list comprising all robot tasks that are ready for execution within the time interval;   calculating a robot task priority for each robot task in the robot task list;   sorting the robot task list in descending order of robot task priority; and   adding robot tasks starting from the top of the sorted robot task list to a robot task execution queue until the robot is fully utilized in the time interval or the robot task list is exhausted.   
   
   
       2 - 20 . (canceled)