System for flexibly sorting particles
First Claim
1. A control system for sorting particles comprising:
- a sensor for generating input signals for said particles;
timing circuitry receiving said input signals generated by said sensor and generating a trigger signal after a predetermined time interval for each of the input signals generated by said sensor;
inter-event counting circuitry for receiving the trigger signals generated by said timing circuitry and incrementing an inter-event counter in response to said input signals generated by said sensor received within said predetermined time interval;
inter-event storage circuitry for storing values of said inter-event counter;
sort decision storage circuitry for storing sort decision values for respective characteristics of said particles;
sort decision control circuitry receiving the trigger signal generated by said timing circuitry and thereby updating an availability level variable in response to the trigger signal generated by said timing circuitry;
said sort decision control circuitry generating a read storage signal for respectively reading sort decision values from said sort decision storage circuitry and values of said inter-event counter from said inter-event storage circuitry in response to the trigger signal generated by said timing circuitry;
comparing circuitry, coupled to said inter-event storage circuitry, for comparing said respective values of said inter-event counter with a predetermined value to thereby generate compared values when said respective values of said inter-event counter are less than said predetermined value; and
logic decision circuitry receiving said respective sort decision values from said sort decision circuitry, said availability level variable updated by said sort decision control circuitry, and said compared values generated by said comparing circuitry, and generating a sort pulse signal for said particles in response to the trigger signal generated by said timing circuitry whenever a selected yield/purity ratio which includes intermediate values between maximum yield and maximum purity occurs.
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Abstract
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for flexibly controlling sorting decisions for a flow cytometer or similar instrument at a purity vs. yield ratio of sorted particles, particularly at high event rates. The system monitors distances between sequential objects to determine if they are in close enough proximity to be within a single resolution unit of the sorting device. The "friend" or "foe" status of neighboring events is considered by this system in dealing with detected "coincident" events. The system operates on information of the desirability to sort the object, i.e. droplet, based upon the properties of the individual object. A storage and retrieval method is provided for making the information available at the time a sort operation based on a sorting logic condition is performed. Accordingly, an easily reconfigurable mode of operation control is provided to allow customized sorting strategies, based on the needs of individual applications or experiments. This system may be included as an integral part of a flow cytometer/cell sorter or similar instrument and may also be provided as an outboard module to such systems.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A control system for sorting particles comprising:
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a sensor for generating input signals for said particles; timing circuitry receiving said input signals generated by said sensor and generating a trigger signal after a predetermined time interval for each of the input signals generated by said sensor; inter-event counting circuitry for receiving the trigger signals generated by said timing circuitry and incrementing an inter-event counter in response to said input signals generated by said sensor received within said predetermined time interval; inter-event storage circuitry for storing values of said inter-event counter; sort decision storage circuitry for storing sort decision values for respective characteristics of said particles; sort decision control circuitry receiving the trigger signal generated by said timing circuitry and thereby updating an availability level variable in response to the trigger signal generated by said timing circuitry; said sort decision control circuitry generating a read storage signal for respectively reading sort decision values from said sort decision storage circuitry and values of said inter-event counter from said inter-event storage circuitry in response to the trigger signal generated by said timing circuitry; comparing circuitry, coupled to said inter-event storage circuitry, for comparing said respective values of said inter-event counter with a predetermined value to thereby generate compared values when said respective values of said inter-event counter are less than said predetermined value; and logic decision circuitry receiving said respective sort decision values from said sort decision circuitry, said availability level variable updated by said sort decision control circuitry, and said compared values generated by said comparing circuitry, and generating a sort pulse signal for said particles in response to the trigger signal generated by said timing circuitry whenever a selected yield/purity ratio which includes intermediate values between maximum yield and maximum purity occurs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A control system for sorting particles comprising:
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a source of detection signals pertaining to selected parameters for respective particles generated in response to the respective particles passing a selected point; a timing circuit which receives the detection signals and generates a respective trigger signal; an overlap detection circuit, responsive to successive trigger signals generated by said timing circuit, to generate respective overlap signals in response to time separation of less than selected intervals; a sort logic circuit, responsive to the trigger signals generated by said timing circuit, the detection signals and the overlap signals generated by said overlap detection circuit, to generate respective sort logic signals to be applied to the respective particles whenever a selected yield/purity ratio which includes intermediate values between maximum yield and maximum purity correspond to a selected logic condition. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification