Patent ID: 7648469

Claim:
A body fluid sampling system for use on a tissue site, the system comprising: an electrically powered drive force generator, wherein the drive force generator is selected from a voice coil drive force generator and a rotary voice coil drive force generator; a penetrating member operatively coupled to said force generator, said force generator moving said member along a path out of a housing having a penetrating member exit, into said tissue site, stopping in said tissue site, and withdrawing out of said tissue site; an analyte detecting member positioned to receive fluid from a wound created by said penetrating member, said detecting member configured to determine a concentration of an analyte in the fluid using a sample of less than 1 μL of the body fluid; a programmable processor operatively programmed with software that has control instructions for controlling the drive force generator to provide controlled impact of the penetrating member to and through the tissue site, to provide controlled retraction velocity of the penetrating member from the tissue site, and to provide controlled dwell time of the penetrating member at the tissue site, with the penetrating member being withdrawn from the tissue site at a slower speed than a speed of initial penetration into the tissue site, and to determine a concentration of the analyte in the fluid using less than 1 μL of the fluid, wherein the control instructions are selected based on at least one of, penetration depth of the penetrating member and velocity of the penetrating member, the programmable processor providing a tissue dwell time that is related to an amount of skin deformation as the penetrating member tries to puncture a surface of the tissue site.