Cloud-based system for water analysis

• US 9,569,858 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2015
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taylor Technologies, Inc. (Rand Worldwide Incoporated)
• Original Assignee: Bretton Wade, Dominic Kennedy, James Bennett Babcock, Rebecca Elizabeth Petruccy
• Inventors: Babcock, James Bennett, Petruccy, Rebecca Elizabeth, Wade, Bretton, Kennedy, Dominic
• Primary Examiner(s): COUSO, JOSE L
• Application Number:
  US14/622,282
• Publication Number:
  US 20150310634A1
• Time in Patent Office: 732 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/7759 Dipstick; Test strip
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/274 Calibration, base line adjustment, drift correction
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/78 producing a change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/18 Water
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30108 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics

Abstract

A cross-platform web-based system for water testing capable of measuring, analyzing and maintaining the quality of water using a plurality of different test strip readers each configured to obtain a digital image of a reagent test strip, normalize and analyze color information in the digital image by colorimetric analysis, and to transmit a set of colorimetric values corresponding to said digital image to a cross-platform cloud-based system for analysis. The cloud-based server(s) receive the colorimetric values, calculate analyte parts-per-million (ppm), and return the calculated analyte ppm with consistant results no matter which reader is used.

Claims

1. A cloud-based system for water testing, comprising:

a cloud computing network including at least one web-enabled computer having a processor, a computer readable non-transitory storage medium, and software comprising instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium for receiving a set of colorimetric values corresponding to a test sample, calculating analyte parts-per-million (ppm) from said set of colorimetric values, and outputting said calculated analyte ppm;

a plurality of different test strip readers chosen from among a group comprising smartphones, kiosk computers, portable digital strip readers, and remote computers, all in communication with said cloud computing network, said plurality of different test strip readers all including a processor, a computer readable non-transitory storage medium, an on-board camera, and software comprising instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium for providing a user interface to obtain a digital image of a reagent test strip by guiding alignment of said camera relative to a reagent test strip, for normalizing and analyzing color information in the digital image by colorimetric analysis, and for transmitting a set of colorimetric values corresponding to said digital image to said cloud-based computer system for analysis.

2. The cloud-based system for water testing according to claim 1, wherein said test strip reader software comprises instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium to color-calibrate said camera.

3. The cloud-based system for water testing according to claim 1, wherein said test strip reader software comprises instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium to facilitate taking said digital image by automatically targeting sample areas to image on a sample test strip, and by allowing a user to manually adjust the sample areas via said user interface.

4. The cloud-based system for water testing according to claim 3, wherein said test strip reader software comprises instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium for automatically capturing multiple digital images across the identified targeted sample areas and for averaging, said multiple images to account for variation.

5. The cloud-based system for water testing, according to claim 4, wherein said test strip reader software comprises instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium for executing a flatfield adjustment of the averaged images to normalize lighting variations.

6. The cloud-based system for water testing according to claim 4, wherein said test strip reader software comprises instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium for executing a grayscale adjustment of the averaged images relative to a reference image to normalize differences in said camera hardware.

7. The cloud-based system for water testing according to claim 4, wherein said test strip reader software comprises instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium for executing RGB to LAB color data conversion.

8. The cloud-based, system for water testing according to claim 1, wherein said a cloud computing network software comprises instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium for receiving said set of colorimetric values corresponding to a test sample, and for calculating analyte parts-per-million (ppm) from said set of colorimetric values by reference to a lookup table.

9. A method for water testing, comprising the steps of providing software executable on a plurality of different test strip read ers chosen from among a group comprising smartphones, kiosk computers, portable digital strip readers, and remote computers, all of said test strip readers including a computer processor and computer readable non-transitory storage medium;

executing said software on one of said plurality of different test strip readers to instantiate a user interface;

guiding a user by said user interface to capture a digital image of a reagent test strip;

said executed software automatically normalizing and analyzing color information in the captured digital image by colorimetric analysis to produce a set of colorimetric values corresponding to said digital image;

transmitting said a set of colorimetric values to a remote computer system for analysis;

receiving said transmitted colorimetric values at said remote computer system;

calculating at said remote computer system analyte parts-per-million (ppm) from said received set of colorimetric values;

outputting said calculated analyte ppm back to said one of said plurality of different test strip readers;

displaying said calculated analyte ppm to said user at said one of said plurality of different test strip readers.

10. The method for water testing according to claim 9, further comprising a step of automatically targeting sample areas to image on a sample test strip and allowing a user to adjust the sample areas.

11. The method for water testing according to claim 10, further comprising a step of automatically acquiring multiple images across said targeted sample areas.

12. The method for water testing according to claim 11, further comprising a step of averaging said multiple images across the identified targeted sample areas.

13. The method for water testing according to claim 12, further comprising a step of initiating a flatfield adjustment of the averaged images to account for lighting variations.

14. The method for water testing according to claim 12, further comprising a step of grayscale adjusting the averaged images relative to a reference image.

15. The method for water testing according to claim 9, further comprising a step of completing a RGB to LAB color data conversion.

16. The method for water testing according to claim 15, wherein said step of calculating at said remote computer system analyte parts-per-million (ppm) comprises comparing said adjusted LAB color values to a lookup table to determine analyte ppm.

17. The method for water testing according, to claim 9, further comprising the step of analyzing said calculated analyte ppm to a to determine treatment recommendations and displaying said treatment recommendations to said user in real time.

18. An apparatus for water testing, comprising:

a web-enabled computer having a processor, a computer readable non-transitory storage medium, and software comprising instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium for receiving a set of colorimetric values corresponding to a test sample, calculating analyte parts-per-million (ppm) from said set of colorimetric values, and outputting said calculated analyte ppm; and

a test strip reader comprising a kiosk computer having a user display, a loading shuttle for insertion of a test strip, a lighting assembly for illuminating said inserted test strip, an on-board camera, a processor, a display, and non-transitory storage medium, and software comprising instructions stored on said non-transitory storage medium for providing a user interface on said display to facilitate taking a digital image of said test strip on said loading shuttle of a reagent test strip, for normalizing and analyzing color information in the digital image by colorimetric analysis, and for transmitting a set of colorimetric values corresponding to said digital image to said web-enabled computer for analysis.

19. The apparatus for water testing according to claim 18, further comprising a gas cylinder for ejecting said loading shuttle.

20. The apparatus for water testing according to claim 19, wherein said processor automatically actuates said lighting assembly.