Abstract: Apparatus and method for detecting patient sample quality, and/or analytes, in the tip used to aspirate the patient sample liquid and then dispense it onto a slide test element. Spectrophotometric analysis is done on the liquid while still in the tip, by scanning the tip for transmittance in a light-tight enclosure, using NIR and adjacent visible radiation, and detecting the absorbance spectra of the liquid. Thereafter, or prior thereto, the liquid is dispensed onto a dried slide test element for assaying analytes that are not assayed spectrophotometrically, thus enhancing throughput.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
July 14, 1998
Date of Patent:
January 11, 2000
Assignee:
Ortho-Clinical Diagnostis, Inc.
Inventors:
Merrit Nyles Jacobs, Davis Freeman, III, James David Shaw, James Samsoondar, Thomas Moffett