Electronic pipette with two-axis controller

摘要

A handheld electronic pipette including several features aimed at improving ease of use, including a color dot matrix display, an intuitive thumb-operated two-axis controller, and multifunction soft buttons adjacent to the display. A simple and consistent user interface facilitates easy access to various modes of operation, including a manual pipetting mode and a remote mode.

主权项

1. A handheld electronic pipette, comprising:
a linear actuator, including a motor for driving a piston to aspirate and dispense fluid into and from a pipette tip; a control circuit for the pipette including a user controllable microprocessor and memory; a display electrically connected to the microprocessor; and a user operable controller connected to the microprocessor; wherein the microprocessor is programmed to present a plurality of selectable modes of operation on a user interface to a user on the display, and to control the motor in response to a programmed sequence or instructions from the user; wherein one of the selectable modes of operation comprises a mode in which the piston is driven in response to a position of the controller during a pipetting operation; wherein the microprocessor is programmed to control the motor to aspirate or dispense liquid into or from the pipette tip in response to a movement of the controller; and the microprocessor is further programmed to control a speed of the aspiration or dispensing or a position of the piston during the pipetting operation at least in part by a magnitude of the user's actuation of the controller from a home position; andwherein the controller is further operable by the user to navigate and select at least one option in the user interface.