Portable sensor
First Claim
1. A handheld sensing apparatus of modular design, comprising:
- a housing;
a plug-in sensor module including at least two sensors in at least one sampling chamber, wherein said sensors have a benefit selected from the group of being exchangeable, removeable, replaceable, upgradable and non-static, that provide a distinct response to a particular test sample, wherein the sensor module attaches externally to the housing; and
an onboard memory module and a microprocessor mounted in the housing and configured to analyze a particular response from the at least two sensors in the form of an electrical fingerprint, signature or signal, wherein the microprocessor detects, identifies or quantifies analytes within the test sample based on the particular response.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vapor sensing device that is sufficiently small and lightweight to be handheld, and also modular so as to allow the device to be conveniently adapted for use in sensing the presence and concentration of a wide variety of specified vapors. The device provides these benefits using a sensor module that incorporates a sample chamber and a plurality of sensors located on a chip releasably carried within or adjacent to the sample chamber. Optionally, the sensor module can be configured to be releasably plugged into a receptacle formed in the device. Vapors are directed to pass through the sample chamber, whereupon the sensors provide a distinct combination of electrical signals in response to each. The sensors of the sensor module can take the form of chemically sensitive resistors having resistances that vary according to the identity and concentration of an adjacent vapor. These chemically sensitive resistors can each be connected in series with a reference resistor, between a reference voltage and ground, such that an analog signal is established for each chemically sensitive resistor. The resulting analog signals are supplied to an analog-to-digital converter, to produce corresponding digital signals. These digital signals are appropriately analyzed for vapor identification.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A handheld sensing apparatus of modular design, comprising:
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a housing;
a plug-in sensor module including at least two sensors in at least one sampling chamber, wherein said sensors have a benefit selected from the group of being exchangeable, removeable, replaceable, upgradable and non-static, that provide a distinct response to a particular test sample, wherein the sensor module attaches externally to the housing; and
an onboard memory module and a microprocessor mounted in the housing and configured to analyze a particular response from the at least two sensors in the form of an electrical fingerprint, signature or signal, wherein the microprocessor detects, identifies or quantifies analytes within the test sample based on the particular response. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for detecting an analyte using a handheld sensing apparatus having an array of sensors, wherein said array of sensors has a modular design with a benefit selected from the group of being exchangeable, removeable, replaceable, upgradable and non-static, said method comprising:
contacting said handheld sensing apparatus with a test sample to generate a response; and
analyzing said response with a microprocessor in the form of an electrical fingerprint. signature or signal, wherein said microprocessor detects, identifies or quantifies said analyte within the test sample based on said particular response by performing digital signal processing and executing an algorithm to analyze said response from said sensor array.- View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A portable sensing device of modular design, comprising:
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a housing;
a plug-in sensor module including at least two sensors with a benefit selected from the group of being exchangeable, removeable, replaceable, upgradable and non-static, that provide a distinct response to a particular test sample; and
an onboard memory module and a microprocessor mounted in the housing and configured to analyze a particular response from the at least two sensors in the form of an electrical fingerprint, signature or signal, wherein the microprocessor detects, identifies or quantifies an analyte within the test sample based on the particular response, and wherein the microprocessor performs digital signal processing and executes an algorithm to analyze the response from the at least two sensors. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification