A minimum-interrupt digital interface for the Coulter S blood analyzer and IBM 1800 computer

A computer interface for the fully automatic transfer of data from a Coulter model S blood analyzer to an IBM 1800 data acquisition and control system is described. The design objective was to eliminate manual handling of hematology data in order to enhance the reporting effectiveness of a computer-supported clinical pathology laboratory. Using integrated circuits and optical isolation techniques, the interface requires no modification of either the Coulter analyzer or the IBM computer. Successful operation of the interface has been demonstrated for over 4 years in two different hospitals.