Patent ID: 8506901

Claim:
A method of performing color-based reaction testing of biological materials using an all-in-one specimen cup, the method comprising the acts of: providing a biological specimen into a container portion of the all-in-one specimen cup; securing a lid portion to the container portion, wherein the lid portion comprises a volume to receive the biological specimen under at least a force of gravity, wherein the lid portion further comprises a color-based reaction test strip, having a plurality of test pads, affixed to an inner surface of a flat side of the lid portion, and also comprising a reference color chart affixed on either the inner surface or an outer surface of the flat side of the lid portion in an area adjacently-located to the test strip; rotating the all-in-one cup to an upside down position, thereby causing the biological specimen, under the force of gravity, to pass from the container portion such that the test strip is an exposed test strip by virtue of coming into contact with the biological specimen as it is received into the volume of the lid portion; capturing, by a camera of a smartphone-type device using ambient lighting in an uncalibrated environment, digital image information of both the exposed test strip and the reference color chart as a single digital image using ambient lighting in the uncalibrated environment; locating, by a diagnostic software application that is executing on the smartphone-type device, first image data within the digital image information of the single digital image corresponding to each of the plurality of test pads, said first image data having uncalibrated color information; locating, by the diagnostic software application executing on the smartphone-type device, second image data within the digital image information of the single digital image corresponding to each of the plurality of color blocks on the reference color chart, said second image data having uncalibrated color information; matching, by the diagnostic software application executing on the smartphone-type device, uncalibrated color information from the first image data to corresponding uncalibrated color information from the second image data, wherein said matching comprises comparing uncalibrated color information corresponding to a first test pad of the plurality of test pads to uncalibrated color information from each of a plurality of color blocks on the reference color chart that corresponds to a first test-specific sequence of color blocks; and generating, by the diagnostic software application executing on the smartphone-type device, test results based on said matching; and displaying, on a display screen of the smartphone-type device, a graphical representation of the test results indicating an absence, presence and degree of presence of a reactant within the biological specimen.