ASSAY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT METHODS AND DEVICES
First Claim
1. A method of using an assay consumable in an assay system, wherein said assay consumable comprises a consumable identifier and said assay system comprises a reader adapted to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of (i) read information from said consumable identifier;
- (ii) erase information from said consumable identifier;
(iii) write information to said consumable identifier; and
(iv) combinations thereof, said method comprising the steps of (a) reading information from said consumable identifier;
(b)conducting an assay in said assay system using said assay consumable;
(c) writing information resulting from said assay conducted in step (b) to said consumable identifier; and
(d) tracking use of said assay consumable.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to methods, devices and systems for associating assay information with an assay consumable used in a biological assay. Provided are assay systems and associated consumables, wherein the assay system includes a reader adapted to read/erase/write information from/to an assay consumable identifier associated with the assay consumable. Various types of assay information are described, as well as methods of using such information in the conduct of an assay by an assay system.
7 Citations
9 Claims
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1. A method of using an assay consumable in an assay system, wherein said assay consumable comprises a consumable identifier and said assay system comprises a reader adapted to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of (i) read information from said consumable identifier;
- (ii) erase information from said consumable identifier;
(iii) write information to said consumable identifier; and
(iv) combinations thereof, said method comprising the steps of (a) reading information from said consumable identifier;
(b)conducting an assay in said assay system using said assay consumable;
(c) writing information resulting from said assay conducted in step (b) to said consumable identifier; and
(d) tracking use of said assay consumable.
- (ii) erase information from said consumable identifier;
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2. A method of tracking use of an assay consumable comprising an assay consumable identifier and a plurality of test sites, said method comprising (a) reading test site usage information from said assay consumable identifier;
- (b) identifying, based on said test site usage information, an available test site on said consumable;
(c) carrying out an assay using said available test site; and
(d) writing updated test site usage information to said assay identifier. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- (b) identifying, based on said test site usage information, an available test site on said consumable;
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8. A method of tracking the manufacture of an assay consumable, wherein said assay consumable comprises an identifier and one or more component parts and said manufacturing process includes one or more operations conducted by one or more manufacturing consumables each comprising a reader adapted to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of (i) reading manufacturing information from said identifier;
- (ii) erasing manufacturing information from said identifier;
(iii) writing manufacturing information to said identifier; and
(iv) combinations thereof;
said method comprising (a) affixing said identifier to a first component of said consumable;
(b) performing an operation of said manufacturing process;
(c) writing manufacturing information to said identifier, wherein said manufacturing information comprises information related to the operation performed in step (b);
(d) performing an additional step in said manufacturing process; and
(e) writing manufacturing information to said identifier, wherein said manufacturing information comprises information related to the operation performed in step (d). - View Dependent Claims (9)
- (ii) erasing manufacturing information from said identifier;
Specification