IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,416,578
Granted Patent B2
US 12,416,578 · App. 18/024,266 · Granted Sep 16, 2025

Chromatographic reader devices for biodetection

Inventors: Antonia E. Schaefer (Lake Elmo, MN); Nicholas T. Gabriel (Grand Rapids, MN); Samuel J. Fahey (Woodbury, MN); Adam C. Nyland (St. Paul, MN); Thaine W. Fuller (Lakeland, MN); John M. Kruse (Minneapolis, MN); Nicholas G. Amell (Burnsville, MN); Glendon D. Kappel (Minneapolis, MN); Patrick A. Mach (Shorewood, MN)
Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
G01N21/78G01N21/251G01N21/8483G01N33/54388
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,416,578
App. No.
18/024,266
Granted
Sep 16, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A mobile computing device includes camera hardware configured to capture image data associated with an output signal area of a biological chromatographic test strip. The mobile computing device further includes processing circuitry in communication with the camera hardware, the processing circuitry being configured to determine, based on the image data captured by the camera hardware, a concentration of a target analyte in a test sample submitted via the biological chromatographic test strip. The mobile computing device further includes an interface in communication with the processing circuitry, the interface being configured to output data indicative of the concentration of the target analyte determined by the processing circuitry.

Claims (19)

1. A mobile computing device comprising:

camera hardware configured to capture image data associated with an output signal area of a biological chromatographic test strip;

processing circuitry in communication with the camera hardware, the processing circuitry being configured to:

identify, from the image data captured by the camera hardware, a control dot and a test dot displayed in the output signal area of the biological chromatographic strip, based on:

a search of the image data captured by the camera hardware for pixel groupings;

detecting, in a result of the search, two circles based on each respective circle of the two circles having a respective radius that falls within a predefined range between ten (10) pixels and fifty-five (55) pixels;

identifying a first circle of the two circles as the control dot; and

identifying a second circle of the two circles as the test dot;

determine, based on the image data captured by the camera hardware, (i) first colorimetric intensity information associated with the control dot identified in the output signal area of the biological chromatographic test strip, and (ii) second colorimetric intensity information associated with the test dot identified in the output signal area of the biological chromatographic test strip;

determine a ratio between the first colorimetric intensity information associated with the control dot and the second colorimetric intensity information associated with the test dot;

determine, based only on the ratio between the first colorimetric intensity information associated with the control dot and the second colorimetric intensity information associated with the test dot, a concentration of a target analyte in a test sample submitted via the biological chromatographic test strip; and

an interface in communication with the processing circuitry, the interface being configured to output data indicative of the concentration of the target analyte determined by the processing circuitry.

2. The mobile computing device of claim 1 , wherein the mobile computing device is a smartphone.

3. The mobile computing device of claim 2 , wherein the camera hardware is included in a rear-facing camera of the smartphone.

4. The mobile computing device of claim 2 , wherein the camera hardware is included in a front-facing camera of the smartphone.

5. The mobile computing device of claim 1 , wherein the mobile computing device is a tablet computer.

6. The mobile computing device of claim 1 , wherein the mobile computing device is a wearable device.

7. The mobile computing device of claim 1 , wherein the interface is a touchscreen display.

8. The mobile computing device of claim 1 , wherein each of the first colorimetric intensity information and the second colorimetric intensity information represents intensity values along individual color channels of an RGB color space.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 1, 2023
From: KAPPEL, GLENDON D.; KRUSE, JOHN M.; MACH, PATRICK A.; NYLAND, ADAM C.; SCHAEFER, ANTONIA E.; AMELL, NICHOLAS G.; FAHEY, SAMUEL J.; FULLER, THAINE W.; GABRIEL, NICHOLAS T.
To: 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY
Reel/Frame 062848/0439 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63074891 · Sep 4, 2020
Related Publication 20240027355A1 · Jan 25, 2024
References Cited (90)
US 6235241B1 · Catt et al. · 2001 [cited by applicant]
US 7297528B2 · Takaiwa et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 8889427B2 · Altschul et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 9063091B2 · Tsai · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 9194859B2 · Emeric et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9335290B2 · Ewart et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9476879B2 · Ma et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 9789483B2 · Khattak et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 11307147B2 · Lu · 2022 [cited by examiner]
US 11988596B2 · Marcelpoil · 2024 [cited by examiner]
US 20040203086A1 · Piasio · 2004 [cited by examiner]
US 20050026302A1 · Qian · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 20060222567A1 · Kloepfer · 2006 [cited by examiner]
US 20060281187A1 · Emery · 2006 [cited by examiner]
US 20070231922A1 · Petruno · 2007 [cited by examiner]
US 20080274565A1 · Samake et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20100267049A1 · Rutter · 2010 [cited by examiner]
US 20130273528A1 · Ehrenkranz · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20140038202A1 · Wheeler · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140072189A1 · Jena et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140206956A1 · Rabinovitz et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140240491A1 · Kauniskangas et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140242612A1 · Wang et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140273189A1 · Ma · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20150171236A1 · Murray · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20150244852A1 · Erickson · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20150308961A1 · Burg · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20150359458A1 · Erickson · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20160080548A1 · Erickson et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160291010A1 · Kim et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20160349185A1 · Park et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20170176418A1 · Bohannon · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20170184506A1 · Patel · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20180164222A1 · Pulitzer · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20180166155A1 · Pulitzer · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20180166171A1 · Pulitzer · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 20180259449A1 · Poulsen et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20190086296A1 · West · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190154566A1 · Ast · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190226985A1 · Roberts · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190343386A1 · Pulitzer · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190376966A1 · Pulitzer · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20200003698A1 · Lu · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200292539A1 · Ren · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200355613A1 · Hunter · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20210088506A1 · Berg · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20210096083A1 · Klein · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20210373010A1 · Liu · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20220238224A1 · Kilgarlin · 2022 [cited by examiner]
US 20220266248A1 · Qin · 2022 [cited by examiner]
US 20220283155A1 · Cao et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 20230146924A1 · Kumar · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 20230251256A1 · Seit-Nebi · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 20230314424A1 · Rai · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 20230384293A1 · Canale · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 20240302375A1 · Kight · 2024 [cited by examiner]
CN 103499687A · 2014 [cited by applicant]
CN 204392399U · 2015 [cited by applicant]
CN 104977278A · 2015 [cited by applicant]
CN 105334320A · 2016 [cited by applicant]
CN 106370843A · 2017 [cited by applicant]
CN 106771160A · 2017 [cited by applicant]
CN 206756844U · 2017 [cited by applicant]
CN 207751981U · 2018 [cited by applicant]
CN 108693173A · 2018 [cited by applicant]
CN 108918860A · 2018 [cited by applicant]
CN 109061205A · 2018 [cited by applicant]
CN 109116027A · 2019 [cited by applicant]
CN 109444423A · 2019 [cited by applicant]
CN 110231477A · 2019 [cited by applicant]
CN 110780064A · 2020 [cited by applicant]
EP 2313787B1 · 2017 [cited by applicant]
KR 20140045802A · 2014 [cited by applicant]
WO 2022049436A1 · 2022 [cited by applicant]
WO 2022049437A1 · 2022 [cited by applicant]
WO 2022049438A1 · 2022 [cited by applicant]
WO 2022049439A1 · 2022 [cited by applicant]
WO 2022049440A1 · 2022 [cited by applicant]
International Search Report for PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2021/057612, mailed on Nov. 24, 2021, 4 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Search Report for PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2021/057613, mailed on Dec. 20, 2021, 9 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Search Report for PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2021/057614, mailed on Nov. 10, 2021, 3 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Search Report for PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2021/057615, mailed on Nov. 8, 2021, 3 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Search Report for PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2021/057616, mailed on Dec. 20, 2021, 8 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Search Report for PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2021/057617, mailed on Nov. 8, 2021, 4 pages. [cited by applicant]
Lee, “NutriPhone: A Mobile Platform for Low-Cost Point-of-Care Quantification of Vitamin B12 Concentrations”, 2016, Scientific Reports, vol. 6, No. 1, 28237, pp. 1-8. XP055850387. [cited by applicant]
Lee, “Performance Improvement of the One-Dot Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Aflatoxin B1 by Using a Smartphone-Based Reading System”, 2013, Sensors, vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 5109-5116. XP055145211. [cited by applicant]
Lu, “Integration of a Lateral Flow Immunoassay Panel for Gastroenteritis with Swab-Based Sample Preparation Cartridge”, 2017, Texas State University, 83 pages. XP055728407. [cited by applicant]
Mudanyali, “Integrated Rapid-Diagnostic-Test Reader Platform on a Cellphone”, 2012, Lab on a Chip, vol. 12, No. 15, pp. 2678-2686. XP055058669. [cited by applicant]
Shuo, “Quantitative Analytical Colloidal Gold Instrument Using Android Smart Phone”, 2017, IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Techniques in Control, Optimization and Signal Processing (INCOS), pp. 1-5, XP03332… [cited by applicant]
Zhang, “An Integrated, Accurate, Rapid, and Economical Handheld Consumer Gluten Detector”, 2019, Food Chemistry, vol. 275, pp. 446-456, XP085515073. [cited by applicant]