Method and apparatus for determining analyte concentration by quantifying and interpreting color information captured in a continuous or periodic manner

An apparatus for automatic test diagnosis of a biological sample with a test paddle, the apparatus comprising:

• a personal computing device including:
• a camera to capture images over time of test pads of a test paddle;
• a processor coupled to the camera, the processor to
• analyze color over time of each test pad;
• determine a color trajectory over time for each test pad;
• compare the color trajectory for each test pad with associated color calibration curves for each test pad to determine analyte concentrations in a biological sample;
• and
• a display device coupled to the processor, the display device to display results of the analyte concentrations to a user in response the comparison.

A method comprising:

• (a) applying a known concentration of an analyte in a biological sample of a predetermined acidity to a test pad at a predetermined temperature;
• (b) capturing color images over a plurality time points of the test pad as it reacts to the biological sample;
• (c) quantifying a color of the test pad in each of the captured color images at each of the plurality of time points;
• repeating steps (a) through (c) for a plurality of differing concentrations of the analyte in a plurality of biological samples for one or more test pads;
• and
• plotting along a curve in three dimensions of color space coordinates of a color graph, the quantified color for each respective time point for the plurality of concentrations of analyte to form a plurality of color calibration curves respectively associated with the plurality of time points.

A method comprising:

• applying a biological sample with an unknown concentration of analyte to a test pad;
• capturing color images of the test pad at measured time points as it reacts to the unknown concentration of analyte in the biological sample;
• quantifying each color of the test pad in each of the captured color images at each measured time point from a first measured time point to a last measured time point;
• and
• determining a concentration of an analyte in the measured biological sample in response to one or more quantified colors of the test pad at one or more measured time points.