Bacteria identification device

Claim 1

A device for evaluating a first plurality of test results obtained by testing a test sample to determine into which of a second plurality of categories the test sample should be classified, comprising: A. a first plurality of manually operated electrical switch means for entering the first plurality of test results into the device as switch positions, B. a second plurality of sets of lamps, each set of lamps corresponding to a respective one of the second plurality of categories, C. first logic means responsive to the respective switch positions for controlling the lighting of individual lamps in respective sets of lamps for which the results of the respective test corresponding to the respective switch has a significant positive correlation with the respective category corresponding to the respective set of lamps, and D. second logic means responsive to the respective switch positions and operative to enable or disable the lighting of all of the lamps in respective sets of lamps, whereby a given lamp is lighted if and only if the second logic means causes the set of lamps containing the given lamp to be enabled to be lighted and the first logic means causes the given lamp within an enabled set to be lighted.

Claim 2

A device for evaluating a first plurality of test results obtained by testing a test sample to determine into which of a second plurality of categories the test sample should be classified, comprising: A. a first plurality of manually operated electrical switch means for entering the first plurality of test results into the device as switch positions, B. a second plurality of sets of lamps, each set of lamps corresponding to a respective one of the second plurality of categories, C. first logic means responsive to the respective switch positions for controlling the lighting of individual lamps in respective sets of lamps for which the results of the respective test corresponding to the respective switch has a significant positive correlation with the respective category corresponding to the respective set of lamps, and D. second logic means responsive to the respective switch positions and operative to enable or disable the lighting of all of the lamps in respective sets of lamps, whereby a given lamp is lighted if and only if the second logic means causes the set of lamps containing the given lamp to be enabled to be lighted and the first logic means causes the given lamp within an enabled set to be lighted.

Claim 3

A device for evaluating results of a plurality of biological tests conducted on a sample of bacteria of unknown type to determine which of a number of categories of bacteria types contains the unknown type of bacteria, comprising: A. a number of multi-segment numerical display elements corresponding respectively to the number of categories, each display comprising one common electrode and an opposite polarity electrode corresponding to each segment, each element representing one of the categories, B. a plurality of electrical switch means corresponding respectively to the plurality of biological tests, each switch means providing means for entering and storing the results of one of the tests, C. a number of logic gates corresponding respectively to the number of display elements, each gate having an output terminal connected to a common electrode of a respective display element for providing a gate output signal to enable or not enable operation of the respective display element, each gate having a plurality of input terminals for jointly controlling the signal applied to the common electrode, each plurality of input terminals being connected to a corresponding selected number of the plurality of switch means, said corresponding number of switch means being selected from among those switch means corresponding to the most significant tests, whereby the most significant selected tests control the enabling of the common electrode, and D. means for connecting a second number of the plurality of switch means to corresponding opposite polarity electrodes of each display element, said second number of switch means being next most significant after said selected number of switch means in corresponding to the most significant tests, whereby each of the second number of switch means operates to control the lighting of one segment of the corresponding display element if that element is enabled at the common electrode by the corresponding gate.

Claim 4

A device for evaluating results of a plurality of biological tests conducted on a sample of bacteria of unknown type to determine which of a number of categories of bacteria types contains the unknown type of bacteria, comprising: A. a number of multi-segment numerical display elements corresponding respectively to the number of categories, each display comprising one common electrode and an opposite polarity electrode corresponding to each segment, each element representing one of the categories, B. a plurality of electrical switch means corresponding respectively to the plurality of biological tests, each switch means providing means for entering and storing the results of one of the tests, C. a number of logic gates corresponding respectively to the number of display elements, each gate having an output terminal connected to a common electrode of a respective display element for providing a gate output signal to enable or not enable operation of the respective display element, each gate having a plurality of input terminals for jointly controlling the signal applied to the common electrode, each plurality of input terminals being connected to a corresponding selected number of the plurality of switch means, said corresponding number of switch means being selected from among those switch means corresponding to the most significant tests, whereby the most significant selected tests control the enabling of the common electrode, and D. means for connecting a second number of the plurality of switch means to corresponding opposite polarity electrodes of each display element, said second number of switch means being next most significant after said selected number of switch means in corresponding to the most significant tests, whereby each of the second number of switch means operates to control the lighting of one segment of the corresponding display element if that element is enabled at the common electrode by the corresponding gate.

Claim 6

A device for evaluating a first plurality of test results obtained by testing a test sample to determine into which of a second plurality of categories the test sample should be classified, comprising: A. a first plurality of manually operated electrical switch means for entering the first plurality of test results into the device as switch positions, B. a second plurality of sets of lamps, each set of lamps corresponding to a respective one of the second plurality of categories, and C. logic means responsive to the respective switch positions for controlling the lighting of individual lamps in respective sets of lamps for which the results of the respective test corresponding to the respective switch has a significant positive correlation with the respective category corresponding to the respective set of lamps, wherein each set of lamps is embodied in a numerical display element comprising a set of light-emitting diodes, each diode comprising one segment of the numerical display element.

Claim 7

A device for evaluating a first plurality of test results obtained by testing a test sample to determine into which of a second plurality of categories the test sample should be classified, comprising: A. a first plurality of manually operated electrical switch means for entering the first plurality of test results into the device as switch positions, B. a second plurality of sets of lamps, each set of lamps corresponding to a respective one of the second plurality of categories, and C. logic means responsive to the respective switch positions for controlling the lighting of individual lamps in respective sets of lamps for which the results of the respective test corresponding to the respective switch has a significant positive correlation with the respective category corresponding to the respective set of lamps, wherein each set of lamps is embodied in a numerical display element comprising a set of light-emitting diodes, each diode comprising one segment of the numerical display element.