Patent ID: 8771202

Claim:
A blood sample acquisition and sensing system, comprising: device contacts; an elongated strip having a plurality of test sites arranged in series in a travel direction on the strip, wherein each test site includes a lancet hole, electrodes for determining a blood sample volume, test electrodes for determining a blood sample characteristic, and a plurality of conductive pads that are arranged in a matrix of rows and columns and are aligned to make electrical contact with the device contacts, wherein the conductive pads for the electrodes are electrically connected to the electrodes by respective conductive traces, wherein the conductive pads for the test electrodes are electrically connected to the test electrodes by respective conductive traces, and wherein a leading edge in the travel direction of a first conductive pad in a row is in front of a leading edge in the travel direction of a second conductive pad in the same row; a lancet and lancet injector; a motor adapted to advance the strip; and a processor adapted to receive signals produced when the device contacts make electrical contact with the conductive pads on the strip and adapted to communicate with the lancet injector to perform a lancing operation, the motor to perform a strip advance operation, and the test electrodes to perform a blood sample characteristic measurement operation.