PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15988503
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-05
Publication Date: 2018-09
Patent Classification: ["436", "180000"]

Abstract:
A microfluidic circuit element comprising a microfluidic main channel and nano interstices is disclosed. The nano interstices are formed at both sides of the main channel and are in fluid communication with the main channel. The nano interstices have a height less than that of the main channel, gives more driving force of the microfluidic channel and provides stable flow of a fluid. The microfluidic circuit element may be made from a plastic material having a contact angle of 90 degrees or less. The microfluidic circuit element is particularly useful when filling a liquid sample to the channel which is empty or filled with air and shows greatly improved a storage stability.

Claim (Index 4):
A method of stabilized filling of a liquid into a microfluidic device comprising an inlet, an outlet, and a microfluidic channel connecting the inlet and the outlet, said method comprising a step of filling a sample liquid into an empty microfluidic channel from the inlet,\n wherein a position of an air-liquid interface, which is formed by a flowing of the sample liquid, in the nano interstice precedes an air-liquid interface, which is formed by the flowing of the sample liquid in the main microfluidic channel; wherein the liquid filling is not generated by pressure and electrokinetic force, but dragged by pre-filled liquid in the nano interstices; and wherein the microfluidic device is a microfluidic circuit element comprising a first plastic substrate, a second plastic substrate bonded to one surface of the first plastic channel, an inlet for introducing a fluid sample, an outlet for discharging the fluid sample, a microfluidic main channel formed between the first substrate and the second substrate and connecting the inlet and the outlet wherein the longitudinal axis of the microfluidic main channel is defined as the direction of a flow of the sample; wherein said microfluidic main channel has a height of 5 \u03bcm-2 mm, and a width of 100 \u03bcm-20 mm, wherein an aspect ratio of the width to the height is 10-2000; wherein the microfluidic circuit element further comprises nano interstices formed along with the microfluidic main channel at both sides lateral with respect to the longitudinal axis, said nano interstices being in fluid communication with the microfluidic channel in their entire length; wherein the nano interstices has a height ranging from 100 nm to 5 \u03bcm and a width ranging from 100 \u03bcm to 3 mm; wherein the height of the nano interstices is \u2155 or less of the height of the main channel; and wherein the plastic substrates have a static contact angle of 40-90 degrees.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 3.0
- Percentile: 93.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.76119
- Patent Class: 436.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: True
- Related Applications: ['14921042', '13131356', '14758249', '15343784', '15763742']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.6189492437772948
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5372785578382675
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6107821751833921
- Mean Citation Score: 233.61859600000005
- Max Citation Score: 394.60696
- Similarity Product: 311.26260708129405

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