Laboratory Device, Laboratory Rack Assembly and Method for Coupling an RFID Chip

• US 20110095864A1
• Filed: 01/20/2009
• Published: 04/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roche Molecular Systems (Roche Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Roche Molecular Systems Inc (Roche Holding AG)
• Inventors: Birrer, Armin, Trueeb, Heinz, Brauner, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,400,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00732 Identification of carriers, materials or components in automatic analysers
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10079 the collision being resolved in the spatial domain, e.g. temporary shields for blindfolding the interrogator in specific directions
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10316 using at least one antenna particularly designed for interrogating the wireless record carriers antennas in general H01Q1/22

Abstract

The invention relates to devices and methods for the identification of test tubes in a test tube rack using RFID technology.

Claims

1. A laboratory device comprising:

a rack holding assembly for holding one or more laboratory racks, and

an antenna structure element for wireless coupling with an RFID chip of a laboratory rack, the antenna structure element comprising a substantially flat carrier substrate with a first carrier surface and a second carrier surface opposite the first carrier surface, and comprising at least two antennas applied on the carrier substrate, wherein a first antenna of the at least two antennas is applied on the first carrier surface and a second antenna of the at least two antennas is applied on the second carrier surface.

2. The laboratory device according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of rack receptacles capable of holding the laboratory racks in a row-and-column structure.

3. The laboratory device according to claim 2, wherein the antenna structure elements are arranged parallel to each other between columns or rows of rack receptacles.

4. The laboratory device according to claim 1, wherein the at least two antennas are printed on the carrier substrate.

5. The laboratory device according to claim 1, wherein the at least two antennas are deposited on the carrier substrate.

6. The laboratory device according to claim 1, wherein the at least two antennas are adhered onto the carrier substrate.

7. The laboratory device according to claim 1, wherein the at least two antennas are made of copper or aluminum.

8. The laboratory device according to claim 1, wherein the at least two antennas are produced by a (photo-)lithography process.

9. The laboratory device according to claim 1, wherein the two antennas are applied on the two carrier surfaces in a staggered format.

10. The laboratory device according to claim 1, wherein the carrier substrate is a substantially flat elongated substrate comprising an even number of antennas distributed on both carrier surfaces.

11. The laboratory device according to claim 10, wherein the antennas are applied alternatingly on the two carrier surfaces along the longitudinal direction of the carrier substrate.

12. The laboratory device according to claim 1, wherein the antennas have a short range of transmission.

15. A method for coupling an RFID chip of a laboratory rack, comprising:

providing at least two antenna element structures according to claim 1;

placing the antenna element structures in parallel to each other so that their respective carrier surfaces are facing the carrier surfaces of each adjacent antenna element structure;

placing one or more laboratory racks with RFID chips on each respective laboratory rack between two adjacent antenna element structures; and

consecutively energising each antenna.

16. A method for coupling an RFID chip of a laboratory rack, comprising:

providing at least two antenna element structures according to claim 1;

placing the antenna element structures in parallel to each other so that their respective carrier surfaces are facing the carrier surfaces of each adjacent antenna element structure;

placing one or more laboratory racks with RFID chips on each respective laboratory rack between two adjacent antenna element structures; and

simultaneously energising each antenna.

17. A laboratory device according to claim 1, wherein the laboratory device comprises at least one of member selected from the group consisting of a pipetting device, a stirrer, a tempering device, a shaker, and an agitator.

13. A rack assembly for holding a plurality of laboratory racks comprising:

a plurality of rack receptacles for receiving and holding the laboratory racks in a row-and-column structure, and

a plurality of antenna structure elements for wireless coupling with an RFID chip of a laboratory rack, wherein the antenna structure elements are arranged parallel to each other between columns or rows of rack receptacles.

14. The rack assembly according to claim 13, wherein the antenna structure element comprises a substantially flat carrier substrate with a first carrier surface and a second carrier surface opposite the first carrier surface, and comprising at least two antennas applied on the carrier substrate, wherein a first antenna of the at least two antennas is applied on the first carrier surface and a second antenna of the at least two antennas is applied on the second carrier surface.

18. An antenna structure element for wireless coupling with an RFID chip of a test tube rack, the antenna structure element comprising a substantially flat carrier substrate with a first carrier surface and a second carrier surface opposite the first carrier surface, and comprising at least two antennas applied on the carrier substrate, wherein a first antenna of the at least two antennas is applied on the first carrier surface and a second antenna of the at least two antennas is applied on the second carrier surface.

19. A rack assembly for holding a plurality of laboratory racks, comprising a plurality of rack receptacles capable of holding the laboratory racks in a row-and-column structure, and further comprising a plurality of antenna structure elements for wireless coupling with an RFID chip of a laboratory rack, wherein each antenna structure element comprises a substantially flat carrier substrate with a first carrier surface and a second carrier surface opposite the first carrier surface, and comprising at least two antennas applied on the carrier substrate, wherein a first antenna of the at least two antennas is applied on the first carrier surface and a second antenna of the at least two antennas is applied on the second carrier surface, the two antennas being applied on the two carrier surfaces in a staggered format such that the offset between the two antennas corresponds to two possible locations of the RFID laboratory rack chip to be read in the rack assembly.