US 11,710,005 B2
Use of microfluidic reader device for product authentication
Dirk Pfeiffer, Croton-on-Hudson, NY (US); Joshua T Smith, Croton-on-Hudson, NY (US); and Benjamin H Wunsch, Mount Kisco, NY (US)
Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed by International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed on Nov. 29, 2018, as Appl. No. 16/203,674.
Prior Publication US 2020/0175235 A1, Jun. 4, 2020
Int. Cl. G16C 20/20 (2019.01); G06K 7/02 (2006.01); B01L 3/00 (2006.01); G01N 15/10 (2006.01)
CPC G06K 7/02 (2013.01) [B01L 3/502761 (2013.01); G01N 15/10 (2013.01); G16C 20/20 (2019.02); B01L 2200/0652 (2013.01); B01L 2200/0663 (2013.01); B01L 2300/023 (2013.01); B01L 2300/0627 (2013.01); B01L 2300/0861 (2013.01); B01L 2400/0421 (2013.01); G01N 2015/1081 (2013.01); G01N 2015/1087 (2013.01); G01N 2015/1093 (2013.01)] 27 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A microfluidic reader device adapted to authenticate the integrity of a product having a physical code embedded therein, the device comprising:
a micro/nanofluidic chip that incorporates a series of nano-Deterministic Lateral Displacement (DLD) arrays, which are adapted to separate colloids based upon size and shape;
an interface for loading into said chip a fluid containing said physical code that has been extracted from said product;
at least one detector embedded in said chip and/or interfaced to said chip;
a housing for protecting said chip and providing said interface;
an electrophoretic driving mechanism for moving said fluid through said chip;
a power source selectably connected to the electrophoretic driving mechanism;
a wireless transceiver for sending/receiving data; and
a controller, which is adapted by stored instructions to:
receive physical condition instructions from an authentication service via said wireless transceiver;
obtain at least one of a Tier 1 result and a Tier 2 result from said detector by operating said electrophoretic driving mechanism according to said physical condition instructions, thereby moving through said micro/nanofluidic chip said fluid containing said physical code, while electrically interrogating said detector;
transmit said at least one of said Tier 1 result and said Tier 2 result via said wireless transceiver; and
provide a user interface for operating and monitoring the authentication process.