METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MICROFLUIDIC DEVICE AND IMAGING THEREOF
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A biological substrate, e.g., microfluidic chip. The substrate includes a rigid substrate material, which has a surface region capable of acting as a handle substrate. The substrate also has a deformable fluid layer coupled to the surface region. One or more well regions are formed in a first portion of the deformable fluid layer and are capable of holding a fluid therein. The one or more channel regions are formed in a second portion of the deformable fluid layer and are coupled to one or more of the well regions. An active region is formed in the deformable fluid layer. At least three fiducial markings are formed within the non-active region and disposed in a spatial manner associated with at least one of the well regions. A control layer is coupled to the fluid layer.
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Citations
162 Claims
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1-39. -39. (canceled)
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40. A method for processing a microfluidic device, the method comprising:
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providing a flexible substrate including a first plurality of fiducial markings, wherein in a first state, the first plurality of fiducial markings correspond to a first plurality of design locations respectively, the first plurality of design locations having a first spatial relationship with respect to each other; determining a first plurality of actual locations corresponding to the first plurality of fiducial markings respectively, wherein in a second state, one or more of the first plurality of actual locations are shifted from the first plurality of design locations such that the first plurality of actual locations have a second spatial relationship with respect to each other different from the first spatial relationship; processing information associated with the first plurality of actual locations and the first plurality of design locations; determining a transformation between a design space and a measurement space based on at least information associated with the first plurality of actual locations and the first plurality of design locations, the design space associated with the first plurality of design locations, the measurement space associated with the first plurality of actual locations; performing a first alignment to the flexible substrate based on at least information associated with the transformation between the design space and the measurement space; acquiring a first plurality of images of a first fiducial marking; processing information associated with the first plurality of images; performing a second alignment to the flexible substrate based on at least information associated with the first plurality of images; and acquiring a second image of the flexible substrate. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 161)
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57. A method for processing a microfluidic device, the method comprising:
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providing a flexible substrate including at least three fiducial markings, a first additional fiducial marking, and a first chamber capable of holding a fluid therein, wherein in a first state, the at least three fiducial markings correspond to at least three design locations respectively, the at least three design locations having a first spatial relationship with respect to each other; obtaining information associated with at least three actual locations of the at least three fiducial markings respectively, the at least three actual locations associated with a measurement space, wherein in a second state, one or more of the at least three actual locations are shifted from the at least three design locations such that the actual locations have a second spatial relationship with respect to each other different from the first spatial relationship; determining a transformation between a design space and the measurement space based on at least information associated with the at least three actual locations and the at least three design locations; performing a first alignment of the flexible substrate based on at least information associated with the transformation between the design space and the measurement space; acquiring at least a first image of the first additional fiducial marking associated with the first chamber; performing a second alignment of the flexible substrate based on at least information associated with the first image; and acquiring a second image of the first chamber associated with the flexible substrate. - View Dependent Claims (58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
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59. (canceled)
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80. A system for processing one or more microfluidic devices, the system including one or more computer-readable media, a stage for locating a flexible substrate, and an imaging system operable to acquire an image of the flexible substrate, the flexible substrate comprising at least three fiducial markings, a first additional fiducial marking, and a first chamber capable of holding a fluid therein, the one or more computer-readable media including:
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one or more instructions for providing the flexible substrate; one or more instructions for obtaining information associated with at least three design locations, wherein in a first state the at least three fiducial markings correspond to the at least three design locations respectively, the at least three design locations having a first spatial relationship with respect to each other and being associated with a design space; one or more instructions for obtaining information associated with at least three actual locations of the at least three fiducial markings respectively, wherein in a second state one or more of the at least three actual locations are shifted from the at least three design locations such that the at least three actual locations have a second spatial relationship with respect to each other different from the first spatial relationship and are associated with a measurement space; one or more instructions for determining a transformation between the design space and the measurement space based on at least information associated with the at least three actual locations and the at least three design locations; one or more instructions for positioning at least one of the stage or the imaging system to perform a first alignment of the flexible substrate based on at least information associated with the transformation between the design space and the measurement space; one or more instructions for acquiring at least a first image of the first additional fiducial marking associated with the first chamber using the imaging system; one or more instructions for positioning at least one of the stage or the imaging system to perform a second alignment of the flexible substrate based on at least information associated with the first image; and one or more instructions for acquiring a second image of the first chamber associated with the flexible substrate using the imaging system. - View Dependent Claims (81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 162)
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82. (canceled)
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102. A method for processing a microfluidic device, the method comprising:
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providing a flexible substrate comprising one or more well regions and a plurality of fiducial marks, the well regions being capable of holding a fluid therein, at least three of the fiducial marks being within a vicinity of one of the well regions; locating the flexible substrate on a stage; capturing an image of at least the three fiducial marks within the vicinity of the one well region of the flexible substrate, wherein in a first state the at least three fiducial marks correspond to at least three design locations respectively, the at least three design locations having a first spatial relationship with respect to each other and being associated with a design space, and in a second state one or more actual locations of the three fiducial marks are shifted from the at least three design locations such that the at least three fiducial marks have a second spatial relationship with respect to each other different from the first spatial relationship and are associated with a measurement space; generating a mapping from the design space to the measurement space based on at least the captured image; aligning the flexible substrate to an image acquisition location using at least the mapping from the design space and at least one additional fiducial mark associated with the one well region; acquiring a second image of at least the one well region; and storing the second image in a memory. - View Dependent Claims (104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123)
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103. (canceled)
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124-125. -125. (canceled)
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126. A system for processing one or more microfluidic devices, the system including one or more computer memories, the system also including a stage for locating a flexible substrate and an imaging system operable to acquire images of the flexible substrate, the flexible substrate comprising one or more well regions and a plurality of fiducial marks, the well regions being capable of holding a fluid therein, at least three of the fiducial marks being within a vicinity of one of the well regions, the one or more computer memories comprising one or more computer codes, the one or more computer codes including:
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a first code directed to capturing an image using the imaging system of at least the three fiducial marks within the vicinity of the one well region of the flexible substrate, wherein in a first state the at least three fiducial marks correspond to at least three design locations respectively, the at least three design locations having a first spatial relationship with respect to each other and being associated with a design space and in a second state actual locations of one or more of the at least three fiducial marks are shifted from the at least three design locations such that the at least three fiducial marks have a second spatial relationship with respect to each other different from the first spatial relationship and are associated with a measurement space; a second code directed to generating a mapping from the design space to the measurement space based on the captured image; a third code directed to aligning the flexible substrate to an image acquisition location using at least the mapping from the design space and at least one additional fiducial mark associated with the one well region; a fourth code directed to acquiring a high-resolution image of at least the one well region using the imaging system; and a fifth code directed to storing the high-resolution image in a memory.
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127-160. -160. (canceled)
Specification