The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 02, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 04, 1996
Steven Henry Mersch, Germantown, OH (US);
Point Source, Inc., Germantown, OH (US);
Abstract
A liquid sample is placed into a sample container which is placed into an optical fourier transform system to produce an image representative of characteristics of the liquid sample and particles within the liquid sample. The container, formed of an optical material, includes microchannels which continuously increase in path length from a minimum path length at a first side to a maximum path length at a second side. In one embodiment, the microchannels are immediately adjacent one another while in another embodiment the microchannels are spaced from one another by a defined spacing. By spacing the microchannels from one another, two fourier transform images are generated within the system, one a refracted image and the other a diffracted image. In addition, by forming the second sides of the spaced microchannels at an acute angle relative to the plane of the microchannels, a reflected fourier transform image can also be generated within the system. The fourier transform images, refracted, diffracted or reflected, formed by the samples in the noted containers are one dimensional. Two dimensional fourier transform images can be generated by forming a plurality of parallel chemical strips within the microchannels and orienting the chemical strips generally perpendicular to the microchannels.