Method, system, and program product for controlling chemical reactions in a digital microfluidic system
First Claim
1. A method of controlling chemical reactions in a digital microfluidic system, the method comprising:
- (i) logically partitioning cells of a digital microfluidic system array into a plurality of virtual components, at least one of the plurality of virtual components being capable of handling droplets of reactants associated with distinct chemical reactions concurrently;
(ii) determining a respective next cell for each of a plurality of chemical droplets in the digital microfluidic system array, the plurality of chemical droplets comprising the droplets of reactants; and
(iii) inducing a chemical droplet of the plurality of chemical droplets to move to the respective next cell determined for the chemical droplet by said determining step.
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Abstract
The present invention provides, in a first aspect, a method, system, and program product for controlling chemical reactions in a digital microfluidic system that include logically partitioning cells of a digital microfluidic system array into a plurality of virtual components wherein at least one of the virtual components is capable of handling droplets of reactants associated with distinct chemical reactions concurrently. In a second aspect, a respective next cell is determined for each of a plurality of chemical droplets in the digital microfluidic system array, which may include droplets of reactants associated with distinct chemical reactions. In another aspect, a method, system, and program product for controlling chemical reactions in a digital microfluidic system in accordance with the present invention induce a chemical droplet of the plurality of chemical droplets in the digital microfluidic system array to move to the respective next cell determined for the chemical droplet.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of controlling chemical reactions in a digital microfluidic system, the method comprising:
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(i) logically partitioning cells of a digital microfluidic system array into a plurality of virtual components, at least one of the plurality of virtual components being capable of handling droplets of reactants associated with distinct chemical reactions concurrently;
(ii) determining a respective next cell for each of a plurality of chemical droplets in the digital microfluidic system array, the plurality of chemical droplets comprising the droplets of reactants; and
(iii) inducing a chemical droplet of the plurality of chemical droplets to move to the respective next cell determined for the chemical droplet by said determining step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for controlling chemical reactions in a digital microfluidic system, the system comprising:
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(i) means for logically partitioning cells of a digital microfluidic system array into a plurality of virtual components, at least one of the plurality of virtual components being capable of handling droplets of reactants associated with distinct chemical reactions concurrently;
(ii) means for determining a respective next cell for each of a plurality of chemical droplets in the digital microfluidic system array, the plurality of chemical droplets comprising the droplets of reactants; and
(iii) means for inducing a chemical droplet of the plurality of chemical droplets to move to the respective next cell determined for the chemical droplet by said means for determining. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. At least one program storage device readable by a machine embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of controlling chemical reactions in a digital microfluidic system, the method comprising:
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(i) logically partitioning cells of a digital microfluidic system array into a plurality of virtual components, at least one of the plurality of virtual components being capable of handling droplets of reactants associated with distinct chemical reactions concurrently;
(ii) determining a respective next cell for each of a plurality of chemical droplets in the digital microfluidic system array, the plurality of chemical droplets comprising the droplets of reactants; and
(iii) inducing a chemical droplet of the plurality of chemical droplets to move to the respective next cell determined for the chemical droplet by said determining step. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification