Signal transmission bandwidth allocation on a microfluidic chip

• US 10,639,633 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2015
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Lu, Sirena C., Giri, Manish, Smith, Matthew David, Valencia, Melinda M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wright, Kathryn
• Application Number:
  US15/546,392
• Publication Number:
  US 20180264470A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,922 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2200/147 Employing temperature sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/023 Sending and receiving of information, e.g. using bluetooth
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0645 Electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0816 Cards, e.g. flat sample carriers usually with flow in two horizontal directions
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0415 electrical forces, e.g. electrokinetic
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502715 characterised by interfacing components, e.g. fluidic, electrical, optical or mechanical interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/50273 characterised by the means or forces applied to move the fluids micropumps F04B19/006, of the membrane type F04B43/043
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/4875 Details of handling test elements, e.g. dispensing or storage, not specific to a particular test method test-elements per se B01L, automatic analysers G01N35/00, in-vivo analysis on the human body for medical diagnosis A61B
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 15/00 Arrangements characterised by the use of multiplexing for the transmission of a plurality of signals over a common path

Abstract

A controller is connected to controlled devices on a microfluidic chip with a multiplexer. Signal transmission band width is differently allocated amongst the plurality of controlled devices on the microfluidic chip.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a microfluidic chip comprising;

a fluid channel;

a plurality of controlled devices in the fluid channel;

a plurality of electrical connectors fewer in number than the first plurality of controlled devices; and

a first electrical multiplexer circuitry electrically connecting the plurality of controlled devices to the plurality of electrical connectors;

a second electrical multiplexer circuitry electrically connected to the plurality of electrical connectors; and

a controller connected to the second electrical multiplexer circuitry to differently allocate signal transmission bandwidth amongst the plurality of controlled devices.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of controlled devices comprises a plurality of electric sensors.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of sensors comprise a first electric sensor to identify a first characteristic of a fluid on the microfluidic chip and a second electric sensor to identify a second characteristic of the fluid on the microfluidic chip, the second characteristic being different than the first characteristic and wherein the controller differently allocates signal transmission bandwidth amongst the first electric sensor and the second electric sensor.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first plurality of controlled devices further comprises a pump.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the controller is to allocate a first signal transmission bandwidth to each of the plurality of electric sensors and a second signal bandwidth to the pump.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the controller is to allocate a first signal transmission bandwidth to a first electric sensor of the plurality of electric sensors, a second signal transmission bandwidth to a second electric sensor of the plurality of electric sensors and a third signal bandwidth to the pump, the first signal transmission bandwidth being different than the second signal transmission bandwidth, the second transmission bandwidth being different than the third signal transmission bandwidth and the first signal transmission bandwidth being different than the third signal transmission bandwidth.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises a temperature sensor.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the controller is to allocate a first signal transmission bandwidth to each of the plurality of electric sensors, a second signal transmission bandwidth to the pump and a third signal transmission bandwidth to the temperature sensor, wherein the first signal transmission bandwidth is different than the second signal transmission bandwidth, wherein the second signal transmission bandwidth is different than the third signal transmission bandwidth and wherein the first signal transmission bandwidth is different than the third signal transmission bandwidth.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller is to allocate the signal transmission bandwidth such that the controller is to poll and receive data from each of the plurality of electric sensors at a frequency of at least once every 2 μ

s, such that the controller is to transmit pulses to the pump at a frequency of at least once every 100 μ

s and not more frequent than once every 50 μ

s and such that the controller is to poll and receive signals from the temperature sensor at a frequency of at least once every 10 ms and not more frequent than once every 1 ms.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the individual controlled devices are of different classes of controlled devices, wherein the controller is to allocate the signal transmission bandwidth differently amongst the individual controlled devices based upon a geometry of the fluid channel proximate to each of the individual controlled devices.

11. A method of operating the apparatus of claim 1, the method comprising:

with the controller, allocating different amounts of signal transmission bandwidth amongst the plurality of controlled devices.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of controlled devices comprises a plurality of sensors, each of the plurality of sensors to sense a different characteristic the fluid on the microfluidic chip, wherein signal transmission bandwidth is differently allocated amongst the plurality of sensors.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising adjusting the allocation of signal transmission bandwidth amongst the plurality of controlled devices based upon at least one of signal quality and signal resolution.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of controlled devices comprises different types of controlled devices and the method comprises allocating different amounts of bandwidth to different controlled devices based on a type of the controlled device.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, the controller further to:

receive signals from a controlled device on the microfluidic chip indicating a fluid parameter; and

automatically adjust an allocation of signal transmission bandwidth to the controlled device on the microfluidic chip based upon at least one of a signal quality and a signal resolution of the received signals.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a microfluidic chip comprising;

a fluid channel;

a plurality of controlled devices in the fluid channel;

a plurality of electrical connectors fewer in number than the first plurality of controlled devices; and

a first electrical multiplexer circuitry electrically connecting the plurality of controlled devices to the plurality of electrical connectors;

a second electrical multiplexer circuitry electrically connected to the plurality of electrical connectors; and

a controller connected to the second electrical multiplexer circuitry to allocate different amounts of bandwidth amongst the plurality of controlled devices.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the plurality of controlled devices comprises different types of controlled devices, each type of controlled device configured to sense fluid in the fluid channel differently.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the controller to multiplex output from the microfluidic chip based on user input indicating from which type of controlled device output will be processed.