Object oriented microfluidic design method and system

In a computer system having a computer memory and an object-oriented environment, a method for physically laying out a microfluidic circuit, having a plurality of microfluidic components, said method comprising:

• placing a first symbol object representing a microfluidic component of said plurality of microfluidic components, said first symbol object comprising a fluid channel object representing a first fluid channel of said microfluidic component;
• placing a connecting fluid channel object on a channel layer, said connecting fluid channel object representing a second fluid channel used to connect two microfluidic components of said plurality of microfluidic components;
• and
• linking said fluid channel object to said connecting fluid channel object, wherein said linking representing connecting said first fluid channel to said second fluid channel.

An object-oriented system for laying out a microfluidic circuit having a plurality of microfluidic components, said system comprising:

• a symbol object for modeling a microfluidic component of said plurality of microfluidic components, said symbol object comprising a symbol layer object;
• a first channel object as a part of said symbol layer object;
• a primary layer object for modeling a layer of said microfluidic circuit, said primary layer object comprising a channel layer object;
• a second channel object as a part of said channel layer object;
• and
• a connecting routine linking said first channel object to said second channel object.

A object-oriented system for laying out a microfluidic circuit having a plurality of microfluidic components, on a template having a plurality of layers, said system comprising:

• a model object representing said laid out microfluidic circuit on said template;
• a symbol object associated with a microfluidic component of said plurality of microfluidic components said symbol object being part of said model object;
• a plurality of symbol layer objects associated with a fluid layer and a control layer of said microfluidic component, said plurality of symbol layer objects being part of said symbol object;
• a component fluid channel object associated with said fluid layer of said microfluidic component, said component fluid channel object being part of a symbol layer object of said plurality of symbol layer objects;
• a layer object associated with a fluid layer of said plurality of layers, said layer object being part of said model object;
• a fluid channel object associated with a fluid channel on said fluid layer of said plurality of layers, said fluid channel object being part of said layer object;
• and
• a linking model for linking said component fluid channel object with said fluid channel object, when said microfluidic component is connected to said fluid channel on said template.

An object-oriented system stored in a computer readable memory, comprising:

• a model class object for providing a container for objects on a drawing area, said model class object owning a symbol object and a primary layer object;
• said symbol object for providing a representation of a microfluidic component;
• and
• said primary layer object for providing a layer for said drawing area.