Patent ID: 9683984
Date: 2017-06-20
CPC Classifications: B01F,B01L,G01N,G02B

Claim:
1. A blood analyzer, comprising: a) a case; b) holder, associated with the case, the holder being configured to retain a blood analysis cartridge, the blood analysis cartridge comprising at least one mixing chamber and being configured to accept a blood sample, wherein the blood analysis cartridge is further configured to enable flow of a mixture including a viscoelastic fluid and at least a portion of the blood sample through a microchannel, wherein a width of the microchannel is larger than a height of the microchannel, such that blood cells from the at least a portion of the blood sample align in a focusing region in a two-dimensional array of the blood cells; c) an image acquisition device, associated with the case, the image acquisition device defining an optical path configured to intersect the focusing region when the blood analysis cartridge is retained in the holder; and d) at least one processor configured to receive from the image acquisition device images of the two-dimensional array and determine, based on the images of the two dimensional array, at least one of blood cell count, blood cell concentration, blood cell size, blood cell shape, or blood cell type.