PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15948944
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-04
Publication Date: 2018-08
Patent Classification: ["436", "086000"]

Abstract:
A method and system are provided for detecting the concentration of an analyte in a fluid sample. The method and system involve analysis of a volatilized, ionized fluid sample using a mass spectrometer or other ionic analyte detection device that provides a signal proportional in intensity to the quantity of ionized analyte detected. The improvement involves replacement of a necessary non-analyte component in the fluid sample with a substitute component that serves the same purpose as the original component but is either more volatile than the original component and/or the analyte or undergoes a reaction to provide lower molecular weight reaction products, and results in an increased intensity in signal and signal-to-noise ratio. Acoustic fluid ejection is a preferred method of generating nanoliter-sized droplets of fluid sample that are then volatilized, ionized, and analyzed. Also provided are zwitterionic compounds suitable as the substitute components that when ionized and heated decompose to provide carbonic dioxide, a nitrogenous species such as ammonia, an amine, or nitrogen gas, and a volatile aromatic compound.

Claim (Index 66):
An improved method for determining the concentration of an analyte in each of a plurality of fluid samples that additionally comprises a necessary non-analyte original component, the method comprising volatilizing and ionizing the samples and introducing each ionized, volatilized sample into an ionic analyte detection device that provides a signal proportional in intensity to the quantity of ionized analyte detected,\n wherein the improvement comprises substituting for the necessary non-analyte original component a substitute component that functions as the original component in the fluid sample, is more volatile than the necessary original component, and results in an increase in the intensity of the signal and/or a greater signal-to-noise ratio than either the signal intensity or signal to noise ratio obtained using the original component, and additionally comprises (a) providing the fluid samples in each of a plurality of fluid reservoirs; (b) acoustically coupling an acoustic droplet ejector to a first of the fluid reservoirs; (c) activating the ejector to generate focused acoustic radiation toward the first reservoir and into the fluid sample therein, in a manner effective to eject nanoliter-sized droplets of the fluid sample into the ionic analyte detection device, wherein the droplets have a mean droplet size of less than approximately 50 pl; (d) positioning another of the fluid reservoirs and the acoustic droplet ejector in acoustic coupling relationship; (e) repeating step (c); and (f) repeating steps (d) and (e) with additional fluid reservoirs in the plurality of fluid reservoirs at a rate of greater than 10 reservoirs per second.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 17.0
- Percentile: 91.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.86735
- Patent Class: 436.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['14887320', '11041999', '10379379', '15330635', '11272450']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.6463296612485477
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5661322413665378
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6383099192603467
- Mean Citation Score: 245.316076
- Max Citation Score: 470.93735
- Similarity Product: 435.2808312636881

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 0
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test