摘要:
A method and apparatus for drug product tracking (or other pharmaceutical, health care or cosmetics products, and/or the packages or containers they are supplied with) using diffraction grating-based encoded optical identification elements 8 includes an optical substrate 10 having at least one diffraction grating 12 disposed therein. The grating 12 has one or more colocated pitches Λ which represent a unique identification digital code that is detected when illuminated by incident light 24. The incident light 24 may be directed transversely from the side of the substrate 10 (or from an end) with a narrow band (single wavelength) or multiple wavelength source, and the code is represented by a spatial distribution of light or a wavelength spectrum, respectively, or a combination thereof. The encoded element 8 may be used to label any desired item, such as drugs or medicines, or other pharmaceutical or health care products or cosmetics. The label may be used for many different purposes, such as for sorting, tracking, identification, verification, authentication, anti-theft/anti-counterfeit, security/anti-terrorism, or for other purposes. In a manufacturing environment, the elements 8 may be used to track inventory for production information or sales of goods/products. Such labeling provides product identification at the pill or liquid medicine level, which provides traceability of these products to their manufacturer, thereby reducing counterfeit products in the marketplace. Also, the elements 8 may be incorporated into a film, liquid, coating or adhesive tape at attached to the product package.
摘要:
An optical reader system 7 for diffraction grating-based encoded microbeads (or bead reader system), comprises a reader box 100, which accepts a bead cell (or cuvette) 102 that holds the microbeads 8, having an embedded code therein. The reader box 100 interfaces along lines 103 with a known computer system 104. The reader box 100 interfaces with a stage position controller 112 and the controller 112 interfaces along a line 115 with the computer system 104 and a manual control device (or joy stick) 116 along a line 117. The reader interrogates the microbeads to determine the embedded code and/or the fluorescence level on the beads. The reader provides information similar to a bead flow cytometer but in a planar format, i.e., a virtual cytometer.
摘要:
A method and apparatus is provided for writing a code on an optical element, wherein the code is written on the optical element in the form of a holographic image of an n-dimensional code generated by an interference pattern between a reference beam and a signal beam reflected off a spatial light modulation device having the n-dimensional code configured thereon. The method includes steps of generating the interference pattern between the reference beam and the signal beam reflected off the spatial light modulation device having the n-dimensional code thereon; as well as writing the interference pattern on the optical element as a holographic image of the n-dimensional code.
摘要:
An optical identification element 8 includes an optical substrate 10 having at least one diffraction grating 12 disposed therein. The grating 12 has a one or more of collocated pitches Λ which represent a unique identification N bit digital code that is detected when illuminated by incident light 24. The incident light 24 may be directed transversely onto the side or onto an end of the substrate 10 with a narrow band (single wavelength) or multiple wavelength source, in which case the code is represented by a spatial distribution of light or a wavelength spectrum, respectively. The element 8 can provide a large number of unique codes, e.g., greater than 67 million codes, and can withstand harsh environments. The element 8 can be used in any application that requires sorting, tagging, tracking or identification, and can be made on a micron scale “microbeads” if desired, or larger “macro-elements” for larger applications. The code may be digital binary or may be other numerical bases.
摘要:
An optical identification element for identifying an item comprises a binder material and one or more materials embedded in the binder material. The one or more materials provide an encoded composite X-ray diffraction pattern when illuminated by an X-ray beam. The encoded composite X-ray diffraction pattern is indicative of the item. The one or more materials are preferably powdered crystal materials. The optical identification element may be shaped as a microbead or a macrobead. Alternatively, the binder material may be in the form of a thread or fiber. The labeled item may be selected from the group, comprising: large or small objects, products, solids, powders, liquids, gases, plants, pharmaceuticals, currency, ID cards, minerals, cells and/or animals. The item may be a chemical or a DNA sequence. The optical identification element may be used for many different purposes, such as for sorting, tracking, identification, verification, authentication, anti-theft/anti-counterfeit, security/anti-terrorism, or for other purposes. In a manufacturing environment, the elements 8 may be used to track inventory for production information or sales of goods/products.
摘要:
An optical identification element 8 includes an optical substrate 10 having at least one diffraction grating 12 disposed therein. The grating 12 has a one or more of collocated pitches A which represent a unique identification N bit digital code that is detected when illuminated by incident light 24. The incident light 24 may be directed transversely onto the side or onto an end of the substrate 10 with a narrow band (single wavelength) or multiple wavelength source, in which case the code is represented by a spatial distribution of light or a wavelength spectrum, respectively. The element 8 can provide a large number of unique codes, e.g., greater than 67 million codes, and can withstand harsh environments. The element 8 can be used in any application that requires sorting, tagging, tracking or identification, and can be made on a micron scale “microbeads” if desired, or larger “macro-elements” for larger applications. The code may be digital binary or may be other numerical bases.
摘要:
An optical channel monitor is provided that sequentially or selectively filters an optical channel(s) 11 of light from a (WDM) optical input signal 12 and senses predetermined parameters of the each filtered optical signal (e.g., channel power, channel presence, signal-noise-ratio). The OCM 10 is a free-space optical device that includes a collimator assembly 15, a diffraction grating 20 and a mirror 22. A launch pigtail emits into free space the input signal through the collimator assembly 15 and onto the diffraction grating 20, which separates spatially each of the optical channels 11 of the collimated light, and reflects the separated channels of light onto the mirror 22. A λ/4 plate 26 is disposed between the mirror 22 and the diffraction grating 20. The mirror reflects the separated light back through the λ/4 plate 26 to the diffraction grating 20, which reflects the channels of light back through the collimating lens 18. The lens 18 focuses each separated channel of light (λ1-λN) at a different focal point in space. One of the optical channels 11 is focused onto a receive pigtail 28, which then propagates to a photodetector 30. A pivoting mechanism 34 pivots the diffraction grating 20 or mirror 22 about a pivot point 36 to sequentially or selectively focus each optical channel 11 to the receive pigtail 28. A position sensor 42 detects the displacement of the diffraction grating 24 or mirror.
摘要:
The present invention features incorporating an adaptive spectral filter into a confocal scanner optical arrangement or other suitable optical device to permit real time control of the fluorescence signal spectrum being monitored. This new arrangement would allow for better balancing of the fluorescence signals in the analysis of the array.
摘要:
A method for manufacturing a diffusion grating-based optical identification element is provided. The optical identification element includes a known optical substrate, having an optical diffraction grating disposed in the volume of the substrate. A large number of substrates or microbeads having unique identification codes can be manufactured by winding a substrate, such as a fiber, around a polygonal shaped cage/basket to form a fiber ribbon having flat sections. A grating writing station writes one or more gratings into each flat section to form a unique code to this section. Each flat section of fibers of the fiber ribbon is written with the same gratings to provide the same identification code, or alternatively each flat section may be have a different grating(s) written therein so that each section has a different identification code. The fiber ribbon is then removed from the cage and diced to form a groups of optical identification elements, each group having unique optical identification codes.
摘要:
A method and apparatus are provided for aligning optical elements or microbeads, wherein each microbead has an elongated body with a code embedded therein along a longitudinal axis thereof to be read by a code reading device. The microbeads are aligned with a positioning device so the longitudinal axis of the microbeads is positioned in a fixed orientation relative to the code reading device. The microbeads are typically cylindrically shaped glass beads between 25 and 250 microns (μm) in diameter and between 100 and 500 μm long, and have a holographic code embedded in the central region of the bead, which is used to identify it from the rest of the beads in a batch of beads with many different chemical probes. A cross reference is used to determine which probe is attached to which bead, thus allowing the researcher to correlate the chemical content on each bead with the measured fluorescence signal. Because the code consists of a diffraction grating typically disposed along an axis, there is a particular alignment required between the incident readout laser beam and the readout detector in two of the three rotational axes. The third axis, rotation about the center axis of the cylinder, is azimuthally symmetric and therefore does not require alignment.