Patent ID: 8742903

Claim:
A method of performing a diagnostic test using: 1) a reaction vessel having an identification tag readable by a remote tag reader; and 2) a thermal cycler including: a) the remote tag reader; and b) a computer that reads a computer readable medium that contains data associating reaction vessel identities with specific operations to be performed on the reaction vessel; and c) a display, the method comprising: i) providing the reaction vessel in sufficient proximity to the thermal cycler so that the readable identification tag can be read by the remote tag reader; and ii) operating the thermal cycler so that it: reads the readable identification tag from the reaction vessel so that identity of the reaction vessel is determined; queries the computer readable medium with the determined identity so that the associated specific operations for the determined identity are selected; performs the selected specific operations on the reaction vessel; and displays one or more results of the performed specific operations.