System and Method for Determining Fill Volume in a Container

• US 20100003714A1
• Filed: 09/11/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Becton, Dickinson & Co
• Original Assignee: Becton, Dickinson & Co
• Inventors: Bachur, Nicholas R. JR., Foley, Timothy G. JR.
• Granted Patent: US 9,365,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/29
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 41/34 of gas
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 41/40 of pressure
• CPC Class Codes: C12M 41/44 of volume or liquid level
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/4925 measuring blood gas content, e.g. O2, CO2 , HCO3
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 435/808 Optical sensing apparatus

Abstract

A system and method for detecting a pathogen in a sample is provided, the system capable of measuring the volume of a sample in a container through the use of various measurement technologies, thereby ensuring that a user is aware of volumes not meeting specification and/or allowing correction of results to account for the out-of-specification sample.

Claims

1. A method for the detection of a pathogen in a biological fluid sample comprising the steps of,

determining the volume of said sample in a sample container comprising said sample and a growth medium,

incubating said sample, and

monitoring one or more parameters in said incubated sample indicative of growth of said pathogen.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the incubating step comprises;

placing said container in an incubation and measurement module.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of determining the volume of said sample comprises;

placing said container in a sample volume sensor separate from said incubation and measurement module.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of determining the volume of said sample comprises;

placing said container in a sample volume sensor disposed on or within said incubation and measurement module.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the volume of said sample comprises;

measuring the height of the sample in the container, and

calculating the sample volume from said sample height measurement.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said sample height is measured by ultrasonic reflectometry.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein said sample height is measured by a laser displacement sensor.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein said sample height is measured by a through beam optical sensor.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein said sample height is measured by a laser scanning photodiode array.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein said sample height is measured by a refractive index, internal reflection apparatus.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein said sample height is measured by a retro-reflective optical detection apparatus.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein said sample height is measured by a machine vision apparatus.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said sample volume is determined by a capacitive proximity detection apparatus.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said sample volume is determined by measurement of sample weight.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the volume of said sample comprises;

providing a fluorescent, luminescent or phosphorescent dye at a specific concentration in the sample container prior to introducing the biological fluid sample,

measuring the fluorescence, luminescence or phosphorescence, of said dye and sample, and

calculating said sample volume from the difference in initial and subsequent fluorescence, luminescence or phosphorescence measurements.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein said sample volume is determined by optical scattering.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein said sample volume is determined by nuclear magnetic resonance.

18. A method for the detection of a pathogen in a biological fluid sample comprising the steps of,

determining the volume of said sample in a sample container comprising said sample and a growth medium,

comparing the sample volume to that of a sample volume specification,

if said sample volume is outside of said sample volume specification, providing a corresponding message to a user,

responding to any user input regarding said message,

incubating said sample, and

monitoring one or more parameters in said incubated sample indicative of growth of said pathogen.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of,

prompting user to place said sample container into a test rack of an incubation and measurement module if sample volume value is within sample volume specification.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of,

applying an alternate background filter, if said sample volume is greater than said sample volume specification.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of,

applying an appropriate algorithm to augment detection sensitivity, if said sample volume is less than said sample volume specification.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said algorithm is a positivity sense boost algorithm.

23. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of,

storing said determined sample volume for sample volume specification compliance reports.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of providing the user a corresponding message comprises questioning the user whether to apply an algorithm or analysis responsive to said sample volume.

25. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of,

calculating the initial concentration of said pathogen in said sample using the determined sample volume.