Patent ID: 8895311

Claim:
A microprocessor-based method for controlling a microfluidic device, the method comprising: selecting a micro-droplet processing request from a pre-selected group of micro-droplet processing requests, wherein each request in the group specifies the creation or transformation of at least one micro-droplet confined in at least one microchannel in the microfluidic device, and wherein the microfluidic device comprises at least one resistive temperature detector which provides a sense signal indicative of a result of performing at least one selected micro-droplet processing request, wherein the microfluidic device is configured to perform two or more different processes relating to the micro-droplet processing requests on the micro-droplet contained in the microchannel, wherein the result comprises a temperature or a position of a micro-droplet; in response to each selected processing request, generating one or more control signals that, when applied to the microfluidic device, cause the device to perform the micro-droplet creation or the micro-droplet transformation specified by the processing request; for each sense signal provided for the at least one selected micro-droplet processing request, determining one or more of a position or a temperature of a micro-droplet, wherein selecting the micro-droplet processing request next after the at least one selected request is conditional upon the result of performing the at least one selected request, and repeating the selecting, the generating, and as applicable the determining, until the process is completed.