Patent ID: 7410468

Claim:
A skin penetrating system, comprising: a housing member; an electronic drive force generator; a plurality of penetrating members positioned in the housing member, each of a penetrating member being couplable to the drive force generator; a plurality of sample chambers, each sample chamber including electrodes, having a volume no greater than 1 μL and an analyte sensor, each of a sample chamber being positioned to receive fluid from a wound created by a penetrating member, and determine a concentration of an analyte in a fluid using a sample of less than 1 μL of the fluid, wherein when the penetrating member is removed from the sample chamber, the electrodes remain in the sample chamber and the volume of the sample chamber is less than 1 μL wherein a tip of the penetrating member is configured to extend through an opening of a sample chamber, wherein each penetrating member of the plurality of penetrating members has a packing density of no more than 1.0 cm 3 /penetrating member; a single substrate that supports the plurality of penetrating members and the plurality of sample chambers, the single substrate being rotatably positioned in the housing to position each of a penetrating member in a launch position to penetrate a tissue site, and then rotate to a next position for a launch position of a next penetrating member; and a programmable processor operatively programmed with software that has control instructions for controlling the drive force generator, to keep a wound tract created by a penetrating member open for a sufficient time to provide for spontaneous flow of blood for sample capture into an associated sample chamber, the control instructions selected from at least one of, penetration depth of a penetrating member, velocity of a penetrating member, velocity of a penetrating member in or out of target tissue and a dwell time of a penetrating member in the target tissue.