Patent ID: 6484556
Filing Date: 2002-11-26
Classification: G01N,Y10T

Abstract:
A method for determining whether a fluid has been properly aspirated into a fluid container comprising:a) determining the pressure inside the gas filled container during initial aspiration of the fluid; b) determining the pressure inside the container while dispensing a portion of the fluid; c) determining the pressure inside the container at some time other than during step a) to establish a reference pressure; d) determining the difference between the value attained in step a) and the reference pressure; e) determining the difference between the reference pressure and the value attained in step b); and g) indicating that a thin film of fluid has been aspirated if the absolute values obtained in step d) or step e) are less than a predetermined threshold wherein the threshold is determined statistically as the CpK that is acceptable for a given false positive and/or false negative rate.