Patent ID: 7693666

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of controlling chemical reactions in a digital microfluidic system comprising an array of cells, the computer-implemented method comprising: (i) automatically generating a logical partition of the cells of the digital microfluidic system array into a plurality of virtual components capable of handling droplets of reactants based on at least a physical size of the digital microfluidic system array and a list comprising at least a plurality of work area and routing function virtual components; (ii) automatically determining a respective next cell for each of a plurality of chemical droplets located in the plurality of generated virtual components of the digital microfluidic system array, the plurality of chemical droplets comprising the droplets of reactants, wherein said determining step: (a) automatically ascertains whether at least one of the chemical droplets can be moved to a cell in a direction toward an exit of a present virtual component of the plurality of virtual components, the present virtual component comprising at least one cell in which said at least one of the chemical droplets is currently located; and (b) automatically ascertains whether an adjacent virtual component can accept said chemical droplet, the adjacent virtual component being located adjacent to said present virtual component of the plurality of virtual components; and (iii) automatically generating a control signal to induce said chemical droplet of the plurality of chemical droplets to move along the digital microfluidic system array to the respective next cell determined for said chemical droplet in the step (ii).