Method of distinguishing among strips for different assays in an automated instrument
AssigneesBio-Tek Instruments, Inc., Syva Company
InventorMichael Kontorovich
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of distinguishing between strips for different assays in an automated instrument, wherein characteristics to which the instrument is sensitive are selectively introduced in microwells of individual microstrips which are pretreated with a specific antigen or antibody for a particular test. On each microstrip, the wells having the characteristic collectively define a multi-bit code which corresponds to a particular condition or disease to be tested for. The automated instrument reads the characteristic from the selected wells and thus determines what test is to be conducted. The marks may have optical, radioactive, luminescent, fluorescent, or magnetic characteristics, in accordance with the test to be conducted.
Claims18
A method for distinguishing among strips for different assays in testing by an automated instrument which performs said testing based on detection of one or more physical characteristics to which said automated instrument is sensitive, said method comprising the following steps:
- selectively introducing, in a predetermined order, one of said physical characteristics into wells of the microstrip to which the automated instrument is sensitive, said automated instrument correlating said predetermined order to a particular assay;
- and
- detecting the presence or absence of said introduced characteristic in each of the wells, wherein the elements of said automated instrument which detect said introduced characteristic perform said testing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.