Electrical connector for substrate having conductive tracks

A system for detecting an analyte in a bodily-fluid sample, said system comprising:

• a) a controller;
• b) a test strip having a sample-receiving chamber and a plurality of conductive tracks electrically discontinuous from each other, each conductive track arranged at least partially on a first side of said test strip and at least partially adjacent to the sample-receiving chamber;
• c) an electrical connector comprising:
• i) a housing with a port adapted to receive the test strip inserted in a direction of permitted insertion;
• ii) three or more function pins mounted to the housing, each said function pin having a respective contact arranged to electrically connect to a respective one of the plurality of conductive tracks of the test strip inserted in the electrical connector;
• and
• iii) a sense pin mounted to the housing and having a contact adapted to electrically connect to one of the respective ones of the plurality of conductive tracks of the test strip inserted in the electrical connector, the contact of said sense pin being arranged opposite the port along the direction of permitted insertion;
• d) a continuity sensor adapted to detect an electrical connection between the sense pin and at least one of the function pins and provide an indication of which function pin(s) are electrically connected to the sense pin;
• and
• e) a storage unit storing a selected continuity configuration and a corresponding selection of two or more of the function pins;
• wherein the controller is adapted to automatically:
• i) in response to the continuity sensor, compare the provided indication to the stored selected continuity configuration;
• and
• ii) if the provided indication corresponds to the stored selected continuity configuration, activate the ones of the function pins indicated by the stored corresponding selection to apply a test electrical signal across the sample-receiving chamber, and measure a result electrical signal to detect the analyte in the sample-receiving chamber.

A method for determining an analyte in a bodily-fluid sample, the method comprising:

• receiving an analytical test strip using a electrical connector of a test meter such that at least three conductive tracks exposed on a first side of the analytical test strip make electrical contact with respective function pins of the electrical connector and at least one of the conductive tracks further makes electrical contact with a sense pin of the electrical connector, the analytical test strip including a sample-receiving chamber adapted to receive the bodily-fluid sample;
• sensing, using a controller of the test meter, electrical continuity between the sense pin and a first one of the function pins;
• when continuity is sensed, the controller comparing an identity of the first one of the function pins to stored continuity-configuration information;
• if the identity of the first one of the function pins corresponds to the stored continuity-configuration information, the controller automatically applying a selected electrical signal to selected ones of the function pins indicated by the stored continuity-configuration information and measuring a result electrical signal;
• and
• the controller automatically processing the result electrical signal to detect whether a bodily-fluid sample has been applied to the sample-receiving chamber and, if so, to determine the analyte in the applied bodily-fluid sample.

An electrical connector adapted to receive a first substrate of a selected width, the first substrate having a plurality of conductive tracks disposed over a face surface of the first substrate, the electrical connector comprising:

• a) a housing comprising:
• i) a port;
• and
• ii) at least one first alignment feature spaced apart from the port to define a direction of permitted insertion of the first substrate into the electrical connector;
• b) at least three function pins mounted to the housing, each said function pin having a respective contact arranged to electrically connect to a respective one of the plurality of conductive tracks of the first substrate inserted in the electrical connector, the respective contacts being arranged between the port and the at least one first alignment feature in the direction of permitted insertion;
• and
• c) a sense pin mounted to the housing, the sense pin having a contact adapted to electrically connect to at least one of the plurality of conductive tracks of the first substrate when inserted a predetermined distance into the electrical connector;
• wherein said contact of said sense pin is arranged between said respective contacts of two of said at least three function pins in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of permitted insertion.