Method for operating a laboratory system

1 . A laboratory system, the laboratory system comprising:

a plurality of laboratory instruments for processing biological samples,

wherein each laboratory instrument has processing capabilities configured to execute specific processing steps on the biological samples;

a plurality of instrument clusters,

wherein each instrument cluster of the plurality of instrument clusters comprises at least one laboratory instrument from the plurality of laboratory instruments;

a laboratory information system; and

a plurality of cluster managers,

wherein each instrument cluster

of the plurality of instrument clusters is associated with a cluster manager from the plurality of cluster managers,

wherein a first instrument cluster comprises at least a first type of laboratory instrument,

wherein the first type of laboratory instrument comprises at least two laboratory instruments from the plurality of laboratory instruments, and

wherein the first instrument cluster comprises at least a second type of laboratory instrument different than the first type of laboratory instrument;

wherein each cluster manager of the plurality of instrument clusters is configured to:

gather an instrument resource description of each laboratory instrument in instrument cluster(s) associated with the cluster manager,

wherein the instrument resource description comprises a list of hardware and/or software resources of each laboratory instrument;

maintain an inventory of cluster resources of the instrument cluster(s) associated with the cluster manager based on the instrument resource descriptions; and

publish and transmit a list of processing capabilities of the instrument cluster(s) associated with the cluster manager to the laboratory information system,

wherein the list of processing capabilities is indicative of processing step(s) that the respective instrument cluster is able to carry out based on the inventory of cluster resources;

wherein the laboratory system is configured to:

at a laboratory instrument of the plurality of laboratory instruments, receive a biological sample;

at the laboratory information system, receive a test order corresponding to the biological sample,

wherein the test order is indicative of processing step(s) to be carried out on the biological sample;

by the laboratory information system, assign processing of the test order on the biological sample to at least a subset of the plurality of instrument clusters according to the list of processing capabilities of the plurality of instrument clusters received from each cluster manager;

by the laboratory information system, forward at least a subset of the test order to respective cluster manager(s) associated with the subset of the plurality of instrument cluster;

by the respective cluster manager(s), receive the test order(s) from the laboratory information system;

by the respective cluster manager(s), assign and instruct respective laboratory instrument(s) of the respective instrument cluster to execute assigned processing step(s) on the biological sample corresponding to the received test order; and

by the respective laboratory instrument(s), execute the assigned processing step(s) on the biological sample.

2 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the first instrument cluster of the one or more instrument clusters comprises a second instrument cluster of the plurality of instrument clusters.

3 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein a third cluster manager of a third instrument cluster comprises a single laboratory instrument, wherein the third cluster manager is configured to:

wake up from a standby mode when a further laboratory instrument is added to the third instrument cluster, and

switch into the standby mode when the single laboratory instrument is the only laboratory instrument in the third instrument cluster.

4 . The laboratory system according to claim 3 , wherein the third cluster manager is configured to be woken up manually.

5 . The laboratory system according to claim 3 , wherein the third cluster manager is configured to be woken up by an automated selection procedure.

6 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein if an instrument cluster comprises a plurality of a same type of laboratory instruments, and

if the same type of laboratory instruments each have an integrated cluster manager, the integrated cluster manager is configured to be awoken is by a random process.

7 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one instrument cluster comprises two or more cluster managers configured such that, at any time, only one of the two or more cluster managers is active and further configured such that, if a first of the two or more cluster managers becomes inoperable, a second of the two or more cluster managers is activated.

8 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the cluster manager is integrated into at least one laboratory instrument of the instrument cluster.

9 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the multi-instrument assay workflow provides specific processing steps to be collaboratively processed by different types of laboratory instruments in the plurality of laboratory instruments in sequence.

10 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the multi-instrument assay workflow provides specific processing steps to be collaboratively processed by different types of laboratory instruments in the plurality of laboratory instruments simultaneously.

11 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the cluster manager comprises a cluster resource manager and a cluster workflow manager.

12 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of laboratory instruments comprises pre-analytical instruments and/or post-analytical instruments, and/or analytical instruments.

13 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of laboratory instruments are shared by the one or more instrument clusters.

14 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the cluster manager is configured to perform load balancing between laboratory instruments in the plurality of laboratory instruments having equivalent resources.

15 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the instrument cluster comprises a plurality of virtual instruments.

16 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein each laboratory instrument in the plurality of laboratory instruments are communicatively connected by peer-to-peer data communication.

17 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of laboratory instruments and the cluster manager are inter-connected via a brokered data communication via a communication broker.

18 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 , wherein an instrument cluster in the one or more instrument clusters comprises a transportation system configured to transport the biological samples and/or consumables between the plurality of laboratory instruments in the instrument cluster.

19 . The laboratory system according to claim 18 , wherein the one or more instrument clusters comprises a first transportation system and a second transportation system.

20 . The laboratory system according to claim 19 , further comprising, a transportation instrument cluster comprising the first and second transportation systems.

21 . The laboratory system according to claim 1 ,

wherein a second instrument cluster of the plurality of instrument clusters comprises the second type of laboratory instrument.

22 . A laboratory system, the laboratory system comprising:

a plurality of laboratory instruments for processing biological samples,

wherein each laboratory instrument has processing capabilities configured to execute specific processing steps on the biological samples;

a plurality of instrument clusters,

wherein each instrument cluster of the plurality of instrument clusters comprises at least one laboratory instrument from the plurality of laboratory instruments;

a laboratory information system; and

a plurality of cluster managers,

wherein each instrument cluster of the plurality of instrument clusters is associated with a cluster manager from the plurality of cluster managers,

wherein a first instrument cluster comprises at least a first type of laboratory instrument,

wherein the first instrument cluster comprises at least a second type of laboratory instrument different from the first type of laboratory instrument, and

wherein there is at least one processing step that the first type of laboratory instrument can perform that the second type of laboratory instrument cannot perform or vice versa;

wherein each cluster manager of the plurality of instrument clusters is configured to:

gather an instrument resource description of each laboratory instrument in instrument cluster(s) associated with the cluster manager,

wherein the instrument resource description comprises a list of hardware and/or software resources of each laboratory instrument;

maintain an inventory of cluster resources of the instrument cluster(s) associated with the cluster manager based on the instrument resource descriptions; and

publish and transmit a list of processing capabilities of the instrument cluster(s) associated with the cluster manager to the laboratory information system,

wherein the list of processing capabilities is indicative of processing step(s) that the respective instrument cluster is able to carry out based on the inventory of cluster resources;

wherein the laboratory system is configured to:

at a laboratory instrument of the plurality of laboratory instruments, receive a biological sample;

at the laboratory information system, receive a test order corresponding to the biological sample,

wherein the test order is indicative of processing step(s) to be carried out on the biological sample;

by the laboratory information system, assign processing of the test order on the biological sample to at least a subset of the plurality of instrument clusters according to the list of processing capabilities of the plurality of instrument clusters received from each cluster manager;

by the laboratory information system, forward at least a subset of the test order to respective cluster manager(s) associated with the subset of the plurality of instrument cluster;

by the respective cluster manager(s), receive the test order from the laboratory information system;

by the respective cluster manager(s), assign and instruct respective laboratory instrument(s) of the respective instrument cluster to execute assigned processing step(s) on the biological sample corresponding to the received test order; and

by the respective laboratory instrument(s), execute the assigned processing step(s) on the biological sample.