Patent ID: 7784495

Claim:
A microfluidic logic device, comprising: a logic circuit configured for performing a logic operation, the logic circuit configured to receive as an input representational of the input of the logic operation at least one input stream of gaseous or liquid bubbles disposed within an immiscible liquid, to transform the received input into an output representational of the result of the logic operation, and to output an output representational of the result of the logic operation as an output stream of gaseous or liquid bubbles disposed within the immiscible liquid, the logic circuit comprising: a configuration of microchannels having interconnections, the microchannels and microchannel interconnections being configured so that the flow, through the microchannels, of the input stream of gaseous or liquid bubbles disposed in an immiscible liquid is controlled by at least one of the group selected from: a resistive or constrictive force caused by interaction between the received input stream of bubbles and the geometry of the microchannels, a resistive or constrictive force caused by interaction between the received input stream of bubbles and the configuration of the microchannel interconnections, and the interaction between bubbles from the received input stream of bubbles and other bubbles; at least one microchannel input for accepting the input stream of liquid and disposed bubbles into the configuration of interconnected microchannels; and at least one microchannel output for discharging the output stream of liquid and disposed bubbles from the configuration of interconnected microchannels.