PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16058414
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-08
Publication Date: 2018-12
Patent Classification: ["435", "288300"]

Abstract:
A method and apparatus for locating and selecting a colony of microorganisms on a culture dish and identifying microorganisms in said selected colony using MALDI. The method comprises the automated steps of locating and selecting a colony of microorganisms on a culture dish; obtaining a sample of said selected colony of microorganisms; depositing at least some of said sample of said selected colony of microorganisms on a target plate; and transferring said target plate with said sample in an apparatus for performing MALDI for identification of said sample of said selected colony of microorganisms. A sample of a colony of microorganisms is automatically deposited on a depositing spot such that the sample covers at most approximately half of said one of the depositing spots of the target plate. A suspension of a sample of microorganisms is automatically prepared by automatically picking the sample with a picking tool and submerging the picking tool with said sample in a suspension, after which the picking tool is vibrated in vertical sense only to release the sample from the picking tool.

Claim (Index 61):
A method comprising:\n locating one or more colonies of microorganisms in a culture dish; positioning a first picking tool in a picking tool holder of a positioning device; obtaining, with the positioning device, a first sample of at least one of the located colonies of microorganisms for performing MALDI, in part, by: (a) positioning the first picking tool above one of the located colonies of microorganisms in the culture dish, (b) automatically lowering the first picking tool towards the culture dish and into contact with the one of the located colonies of microorganisms, and (c) automatically raising the first picking tool with the sample of the one of the located colonies of microorganisms away from the culture dish; depositing, with the positioning device, at least some of the first sample on at least one depositing spot of a target plate having a plurality of depositing spots, in part, by: (a) positioning the first picking tool above one of the depositing spots of the target plate, (b) lowering the first picking tool such that at least some of the first sample comes into contact with the target plate, and (c) raising the first picking tool from the target plate; obtaining, with the positioning device, a second sample of at least one of the located colonies of microorganisms for performing a susceptibility test, in part, by: (a) positioning the first picking tool or a second picking tool above one of the located colonies of microorganisms in the culture dish, wherein, if used, the second picking tool is previously positioned in the picking tool holder of the positioning device, (b) automatically lowering the first or second picking tool towards the culture dish and into contact with the one of the located colonies of microorganisms, and (c) automatically raising the first or second picking tool with the sample of the one of the located colonies of microorganisms away from the culture dish; depositing, with the positioning device, at least some of the second sample in a suspension tube containing a suspension medium, in part, by: (a) positioning the first or second picking tool above the suspension tube, (b) lowering the first or second picking tool such that at least some of the second sample is submerged in the suspension medium in the suspension tube, and (c) raising the first or second picking tool from the suspension tube; measuring the turbidity of a suspension in the suspension tube comprising the at least some of the second sample and the suspension medium; and when the measured turbidity is below a first threshold value and above a second threshold value, providing a signal that the suspension tube holding the suspension can be further processed, wherein the first threshold value is equal to or greater than the second threshold value.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 59.0
- Percentile: 96.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.72059
- Patent Class: 435.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['14388430', '15383573', '15663540', '15504549', '13600702']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.6084478981347299
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5858320064157051
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6061863089628274
- Mean Citation Score: 383.133374
- Max Citation Score: 506.5773
- Similarity Product: 421.0759609320223

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

Dataset: test