Profile recognition apparatus for identifying bacteria
AssigneeAmerican Home Products Corporation
InventorPierre R. Janin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A suspension of an unknown micro-organism is introduced into a plurality of reaction chambers, each containing a different specific biochemical reagent. The presence or absence of each reaction is subsequently transformed to a multi-digit numerical profile, which serves to identify the micro-organism by means of a numerical Profile Register. Apparatus is also provided to facilitate the transformation of the test result data to the numerical profile while simultaneously providing a verification of the transformation.
Claims14
Apparatus for the identification of an unknown substance, a specimen of the substance having been prepared to be analyzed, portions of the prepared specimen being caused to undergo a plurality of different tests, and a determination made as to whether the specimen has reacted with each of the tests, the determinations being arranged into at least one group which includes a plurality of determinations, the identification being accomplished by transforming the determination into a score value, the score value for each determination being different dependent upon whether the specimen has or has not reacted, the score value weighted differently among determinations in a group for one of the conditions of whether the specimen has or has not reacted and combining the score values of each group to form an intermediate value which is a function of all of the score values of the group, the apparatus comprising:
- a. structure forming a supporting frame;
- b. at least one strip slidably mounted for movement along the length of the supporting frame, each strip corresponding to a different group of determinations;
- c. means for shifting said strip in increments in the direction of the length of said strip, the magnitude of each increment being a function of the score value of a different determination in a group corresponding to said strip and thereby transforming each determination into a score value, the sequential movements of said strip providing a total movement representative of the combining of the score values of the group and thereby the intermediate value thereof;
- A. said means for moving said strip including a cover portion having a plurality of elongated slots for each group, the number of slots for each group corresponding to the number of determinations for the group, each slot having its length extending substantially parallel to the length of the slide and spaced apart from one another and a function of the maximum weighted score value corresponding to each determination;
- B. said strip having elements disposed in rows thereon, each row extending in alignment with a different slot of said slots associated with said strip, the elements of each row being spaced apart from one another at intervals corresponding to a function of the movement of said strip to a score value in the range between the minimum and maximum score values for the determination;
- and
- d. indicia associated with said strip for presenting the intermediate value in response to the total movement of said strip and including indicia disposed along a line parallel to the length of said strip.
Apparatus for encoding into a numerical representation the results of biochemical reactions comprising
- A. a support frame comprising
- 1. a base member;
- 2. a cover member rigidly secured to said base member and defining a plurality of elongated chambers;
- B. a plurality of elongated slides each adapted to move within one of said chambers;
- C. first and second sets of indicia defined on each of said slides;
- D. a plurality of elongated slots defined on said cover member in spaced relation to said first set of indicia on said slide, the length of any one of said slots being in a fixed ratio to the remainder of said slots;
- E. a first window defined in said cover member in spaced relation to said first indicia on said slide;
- F. second windows defined in said cover member in spaced relation to said second indicia on said slides
- whereby moving said slides the length of said slots as selected according to biochemical reactions places a portion of said first indicia beneath said first window and a portion of said second indicia beneath said second windows thereby providing a code symbol for the reactions and a visual check of the slide position with said reactions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.