CN220224190U - Full-automatic cell sampling culture device - Google Patents

Full-automatic cell sampling culture device Download PDF

Info

Publication number
CN220224190U
CN220224190U CN202320259309.7U CN202320259309U CN220224190U CN 220224190 U CN220224190 U CN 220224190U CN 202320259309 U CN202320259309 U CN 202320259309U CN 220224190 U CN220224190 U CN 220224190U
Authority
CN
China
Prior art keywords
cell
shaking table
carrier
platform
horizontal
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Active
Application number
CN202320259309.7U
Other languages
Chinese (zh)
Inventor
吴咪
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
SHANGHAI PRIMEGENE BIO-TECH Ltd
Original Assignee
SHANGHAI PRIMEGENE BIO-TECH Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by SHANGHAI PRIMEGENE BIO-TECH Ltd filed Critical SHANGHAI PRIMEGENE BIO-TECH Ltd
Priority to CN202320259309.7U priority Critical patent/CN220224190U/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CN220224190U publication Critical patent/CN220224190U/en
Active legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

Links

Landscapes

  • Apparatus Associated With Microorganisms And Enzymes (AREA)

Abstract

The utility model discloses a full-automatic cell sampling culture device, which comprises a shell and a bottom plate; the shell and the bottom plate enclose a structure with a culture chamber inside; install shaking table and shaking table on arranging carrier platform in the cultivation room, carrier platform is last to be equipped with a plurality of carrier fixed positions that are used for fixed cell reagent bottle, carrier fixed position is including the flexible stator piece of polylith carrier that encloses into the round, the round that the flexible stator piece of polylith carrier encloses matches with the cell reagent bottle, still install ball screw cross slip table in the cultivation room, be fixed with horizontal slider on the horizontal lead screw, horizontal slider is fixed with cell liquid suction means, cell liquid suction means's suction port matches with the relay pipe that penetrates in the cell reagent bottle and cell liquid suction means's liquid outlet passes through the cell liquid pipe and is connected with the negative pressure flow extraction pump, the outlet of negative pressure flow extraction pump communicates with the cell liquid outlet of seting up on the casing. The full-automatic cell sampling culture device is simple to operate and has small pollution risk.

Description

Full-automatic cell sampling culture device
Technical Field
The utility model relates to the technical field of cell culture, in particular to a full-automatic cell sampling culture device, which can be used for sampling cells.
Background
The biological shaking table is a common laboratory instrument and equipment, is mainly used for bacterial culture, fermentation, hybridization, biochemical reaction and enzyme and cell tissue culture research, and has wide application in industries such as medicine, biology, molecular science, pharmacy, food, environment and the like.
When the existing cell culture shaking table is used, the following problems exist: 1. the carrier platform of the cradle is self-contained and non-adhesive, so that the viscosity degradation easily causes the bottle body to turn over in the shaking process after long-time use, unnecessary pollution is caused, and a plurality of bottle bodies easily collide to cause the bottle body to be broken when working at the same time, so that potential safety hazards exist; 2. when a professional performs cell sampling or passage, a cell bottle needs to be taken out of the incubator, when the cabin door is opened, the carrier platform stands still for working, and the inside of the incubator is completely circulated with the external environment, so that conditions such as temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide in the incubator are suddenly changed to destroy the optimal condition of cell culture, in addition, the bottle cap of the existing cell bottle is in a thread shape, the opening/closing of the bottle cap is inconvenient, and cell pollution is easy to cause; 3. when a cell sample is sucked or passaged, the liquid remained in the pipette easily flows back into a cell bottle, and unnecessary pollution occurs; 4. the operation steps of the existing cell culture shaking table are complex, and manpower and material resources are consumed.
Therefore, the development of the cell culture device with the advantages of small risk of bottle damage, simple operation and small pollution risk is of great practical significance.
Disclosure of Invention
Due to the defects in the prior art, the utility model provides the cell culture device with small risk of bottle damage, simple operation and small pollution risk, so as to overcome the defects of large risk of bottle damage, large pollution risk and complicated operation when the conventional cell culture device is used for cell sampling or passage.
In order to achieve the above object, the present utility model provides the following technical solutions:
a full-automatic cell sampling culture device comprises a shell and a bottom plate;
the shell and the bottom plate enclose an integral structure with a hollow part inside, and the hollow part is a culture chamber;
the cell reagent bottle comprises a culture chamber, a carrier platform is arranged on the culture chamber, the carrier platform comprises a platform substrate, a plurality of carrier fixing positions for fixing a cell reagent bottle are arranged on the platform substrate, the carrier fixing positions comprise a plurality of carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets which encircle the culture chamber, the rings encircled by the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets are matched with the cell reagent bottle (in the use process, the cell culture bottle is placed in the carrier platform, the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets lock the cell culture bottle, the flexible characteristic of the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets not only can effectively fix the cell reagent bottle, but also can avoid damaging the cell reagent bottle, and the cell reagent bottle is convenient to operate, and can be directly inserted into or pulled out of the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheet ring, compared with the prior art, the safety problem that the shaking table is used for causing crushing and environmental pollution due to the collision of a bottle body in shaking is solved, the cell reagent bottle is damaged, the general fixing effect is solved, the cell reagent bottle is covered with a through hole, a bottle cap is arranged on the cell reagent bottle, and a relay tube penetrates into the cell reagent bottle from the outside the cell reagent bottle through the through hole;
still install ball screw cross slip table in the culture chamber, ball screw cross slip table includes vertical lead screw and horizontal lead screw, vertical lead screw passes through vertical lead screw driving motor drive, horizontal lead screw passes through horizontal lead screw driving motor drive, vertical lead screw driving motor is fixed under the bottom plate, be fixed with horizontal slider on the horizontal lead screw, horizontal slider is fixed with cell liquid suction means, cell liquid suction means's suction port matches with the relay pipe and cell liquid suction means's liquid outlet passes through the cell liquid pipe and is connected with negative pressure flow extraction pump, the outlet of negative pressure flow extraction pump communicates with the cell liquid outlet of seting up on the casing.
The full-automatic cell sampling culture device can finish sampling of each cell reagent bottle without opening a shell and a bottle cap of the cell reagent bottle, the cell reagent bottle can be selected by controlling a ball screw cross sliding table (the existing maturation device) to adjust the position of a cell fluid suction device, sampling can be finished by utilizing the cell fluid suction device and a negative pressure flow extraction pump, the devices are all maturation technologies (the control can be finished through PLC (ProgrammableLogicController)), the full-automatic operation mode can be directly realized, the tedious process of operating cells is greatly facilitated, cell pollution can be reduced, and the defects of complicated operation, large pollution risk during cell sampling or passage of original equipment are overcome.
As a preferable technical scheme:
the full-automatic cell sampling culture device further comprises a back flushing device fixed with the horizontal sliding block;
the back flush liquid inlet of the back flush device is connected with the back flush liquid inlet arranged on the shell through a back flush liquid conduit, the back flush liquid outlet of the back flush device is communicated with the liquid outlet of the cell liquid suction device, and the back flush liquid outlet is arranged on the shell and is flush with the bottom plate. The back flush device can back flush the cell fluid suction device, so that the influence of the cell fluid in the previous time on the subsequent sampling is avoided.
The full-automatic cell sampling culture device comprises a cell fluid conduit I and a cell fluid conduit II which are connected in sequence;
the cell fluid conduit I is connected with the cell fluid suction device, the cell fluid conduit I is positioned in the culture chamber, and the cell fluid conduit II and the negative pressure flow extraction pump are arranged in the shell.
The fully automatic cell sampling culture device comprises a backwash liquid conduit I and a backwash liquid conduit II which are sequentially connected;
the back flush liquid conduit I is connected with the back flush device, the back flush liquid conduit I is positioned in the culture chamber, the back flush liquid conduit II is arranged in the shell, and the tail end of the back flush liquid conduit II is communicated with the back flush liquid inlet.
The full-automatic cell sampling culture device comprises a shaking table platform, a shaking table driven shaft and a shaking table main driving device;
the shaking table platform passes through shaking table driven shaft and bottom plate fixed connection and shaking table platform is driven by shaking table main drive arrangement, and the carrier platform is arranged on shaking table platform. The shaking table driven shaft can ensure stable shaking during shaking table operation.
The full-automatic cell sampling culture device comprises two shaking table driven shafts, wherein the number and the positions of the shaking table driven shafts can be selected according to actual conditions;
the shaking table driven shafts are arranged on two sides of the shaking table platform, and the shaking table main driving device is arranged between the two shaking table driven shafts.
The full-automatic cell sampling culture device is characterized in that the carrier flexible stator piece is perpendicular to the platform substrate;
the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheet is an arc-shaped sheet;
the flexible fixing sub-sheets of a plurality of carriers belonging to the same carrier fixing position are of petal-shaped separation structures.
The full-automatic cell sampling culture device comprises a ball screw cross sliding table, a horizontal screw rod fixing block and a horizontal screw rod fixing block, wherein the ball screw cross sliding table comprises a plurality of horizontal screw rods and a plurality of horizontal screw rods;
the horizontal screw rod fixing block is provided with a vertical screw hole matched with the vertical screw rod and a horizontal screw hole matched with the horizontal screw rod respectively, and the horizontal screw rod fixing block is sleeved on the vertical screw rod and the horizontal screw rod simultaneously.
According to the full-automatic cell sampling culture device, the relay pipe is fixed with the bottle cap.
The above technical solution is only one possible technical solution of the present utility model, the protection scope of the present utility model is not limited thereto, and a person skilled in the art can reasonably adjust the specific design according to the actual requirements.
Said utility model has the following advantages or beneficial effects:
(1) According to the full-automatic cell sampling culture device, sampling of each cell reagent bottle can be completed without opening the shell and the bottle cap of the cell reagent bottle, and cell pollution is reduced;
(2) According to the full-automatic cell sampling culture device, the position of the cell fluid suction device can be adjusted through controlling the ball screw cross sliding table, namely, the cell reagent bottle is selected, sampling can be completed through the cell fluid suction device and the negative pressure flow extraction pump, sampling pollution can be avoided through back flushing of the cell fluid suction device through the back flushing device, the automation degree is high, the operation is simple and convenient, the manpower and the expendable products are reduced greatly through learning, and the application prospect is good.
Drawings
The utility model and its features, aspects and advantages will become more apparent from the detailed description of non-limiting embodiments with reference to the following drawings. Like numbers refer to like parts throughout the several views, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the utility model.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a fully automated cell sampling culture apparatus according to the present utility model;
FIG. 2 is a top view of the carrier platform;
the device comprises a 1-shell, a 2-culture chamber, a 3-horizontal screw rod, a 4-vertical screw rod, a 5-bottom plate, a 6-shaking table driven shaft, a 7-shaking table main driving device, an 8-carrier platform, 81-carrier fixing positions, 82-carrier flexible fixing sub-pieces, a 9-cell reagent bottle, a 10-relay pipe, an 11-cell liquid suction device, a 12-horizontal sliding block, a 13-back flushing device, a 14-cell liquid guide pipe I, a 15-cell liquid guide pipe II, a 16-negative pressure flow extraction pump, a 17-cell liquid outlet, a 18-back flushing liquid guide pipe I, a 19-back flushing liquid guide pipe II, a 20-back flushing liquid inlet, a 21-vertical screw rod driving motor, a 22-horizontal screw rod driving motor, a 23-back flushing liquid outlet and a 24-horizontal screw rod fixing block.
Detailed Description
The structure of the present utility model will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific examples, which are not intended to limit the utility model.
Example 1
A full-automatic cell sampling culture device, as shown in figure 1, comprises a shell 1 and a bottom plate 5;
the shell 1 and the bottom plate 5 enclose a whole structure with a hollow part inside, and the hollow part is a culture chamber 2;
a shaking table (the shaking table comprises a shaking table platform, two shaking table driven shafts 6 and a shaking table main driving device 7), the shaking table platform is fixedly connected with a bottom plate 5 through the shaking table driven shafts 6, the shaking table platform is driven by the shaking table main driving device 7, the shaking table driven shafts 6 are arranged at two sides of the shaking table platform, the shaking table main driving device 7 is arranged between the two shaking table driven shafts 6), a carrier platform 8 shown in fig. 2 is arranged on the shaking table platform, the carrier platform 8 comprises a platform substrate, a plurality of carrier fixing positions 81 for fixing a cell reagent bottle are arranged on the platform substrate, the carrier fixing positions 81 comprise a plurality of carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets 82 (arc-shaped sheets) which encircle a circle, the circle encircled by the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets 82 is matched with the cell reagent bottle 9, the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets 82 are perpendicular to the platform substrate, the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets 82 of the same carrier fixing position 81 are petal-shaped separation structures, the cell reagent bottle 9 is covered with through holes, the relay pipe 10 penetrates into the cell reagent bottle through the outer part of the cell reagent bottle through the through holes, and the bottle cover is fixed with the relay pipe 10;
a ball screw cross sliding table is also arranged in the culture chamber 2, the ball screw cross sliding table comprises a vertical screw 4 and a horizontal screw 3 (a vertical screw hole matched with the vertical screw 4 and a horizontal screw hole matched with the horizontal screw 3 are respectively arranged on a horizontal screw fixing block 24, the horizontal screw fixing block 24 is sleeved on the vertical screw 4 and the horizontal screw 3 at the same time), the vertical screw 4 is driven by a vertical screw driving motor 21, the horizontal screw 3 is driven by a horizontal screw driving motor 22, the vertical screw driving motor 21 is fixed under the bottom plate 5, a horizontal sliding block 12 is fixed on the horizontal screw 3, the horizontal sliding block 12 is respectively fixed with a cell fluid suction device 11 and a back flushing device 13, a suction port of the cell fluid suction device 11 is matched with a relay pipe 10, a liquid outlet of the cell fluid suction device 11 is connected with a cell fluid conduit (the cell fluid conduit comprises a cell fluid conduit I14 and a cell fluid conduit II15 which are connected in sequence), the cell liquid conduit I14 is connected with the cell liquid suction device 11, the cell liquid conduit I14 is positioned in the culture chamber 2, the cell liquid conduit II and the negative pressure flow extraction pump are arranged in the shell) is connected with the negative pressure flow extraction pump, the outlet of the negative pressure flow extraction pump 16 is communicated with the cell liquid outlet 17 arranged on the shell, the back flushing liquid inlet of the back flushing device 13 is connected with the back flushing liquid inlet 20 arranged on the shell 1 through the back flushing liquid conduit (the back flushing liquid conduit comprises a back flushing liquid conduit I18 and a back flushing liquid conduit II19 which are sequentially connected, the back flushing liquid conduit I18 is connected with the back flushing device 13, the back flushing liquid conduit I18 is positioned in the culture chamber 2, the back flushing liquid conduit II19 is arranged in the shell 1, the tail end of the back flushing liquid conduit II19 is communicated with the back flushing liquid inlet 20), the back flush liquid outlet of the back flush device 13 is communicated with the liquid outlet of the cell liquid suction device 11, a back flush liquid outlet 23 is also arranged on the shell, and the back flush liquid outlet 23 is flush with the bottom plate 5.
The operation steps of the fully automatic cell sampling culture device are as follows:
(1) Placing the cell culture bottle into a carrier platform, locking the cell culture bottle by a carrier flexible stator sheet ring, preventing the cell culture bottle from falling down in the shaking process, and starting a shaking table main driving device through a PLC control program, wherein the shaking table main driving device provides shaking power for the carrier platform;
(2) When the cell fluid is required to be extracted, the ball screw cross sliding table is adjusted according to a program instruction in a fully closed state, a motion power position is provided for the cell fluid suction device, the cell fluid suction device performs docking work after reaching an instruction point, the negative pressure flow extraction pump starts negative pressure vacuum to extract the cell fluid, and the cell fluid is guided out through a cell fluid outlet;
(3) And after the cell liquid is extracted, back flushing the cell liquid suction device through a back flushing device, and discharging the cleaning liquid through a back flushing liquid outlet.
Through verification, the full-automatic cell sampling culture device can finish sampling each cell reagent bottle without opening the shell and the bottle cap of the cell reagent bottle, and reduces cell pollution; the position of the cell fluid suction device can be adjusted by controlling the ball screw cross sliding table, namely, the cell reagent bottle is selected, sampling can be completed by utilizing the cell fluid suction device and the negative pressure flow extraction pump, sampling pollution can be avoided by back flushing the cell fluid suction device by utilizing the back flushing device, the degree of automation is high, the operation is simple and convenient, the manpower and the consumable are reduced greatly in learning, and the application prospect is good.
Those skilled in the art will understand that the skilled person can implement the modification in combination with the prior art and the above embodiments, and this will not be repeated here. Such modifications do not affect the essence of the present utility model, and are not described herein.
The preferred embodiments of the present utility model have been described above. It is to be understood that the utility model is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, wherein devices and structures not described in detail are to be understood as being implemented in a manner common in the art; any person skilled in the art can make many possible variations and modifications to the technical solution of the present utility model or modifications to equivalent embodiments without departing from the scope of the technical solution of the present utility model, using the methods and technical contents disclosed above, without affecting the essential content of the present utility model. Therefore, any simple modification, equivalent variation and modification of the above embodiments according to the technical substance of the present utility model still fall within the scope of the technical solution of the present utility model.

Claims (9)

1. A full-automatic cell sampling culture device which is characterized in that: comprises a shell and a bottom plate;
the shell and the bottom plate enclose an integral structure with a hollow part inside, and the hollow part is a culture chamber;
the cell culture device comprises a culture chamber, a carrier platform, a relay pipe, a cell reagent bottle, a carrier platform, a carrier substrate, a carrier fixing device and a cell reagent bottle, wherein a shaking table is arranged in the culture chamber and is provided with the carrier platform, the carrier platform comprises a platform substrate, a plurality of carrier fixing positions for fixing the cell reagent bottle are arranged on the platform substrate, each carrier fixing position comprises a plurality of carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets which enclose a circle, the circle enclosed by the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheets is matched with the cell reagent bottle, the cell reagent bottle is covered with a bottle cap, the bottle cap is provided with a through hole, and the relay pipe penetrates into the cell reagent bottle from outside the cell reagent bottle through the through hole;
still install ball screw cross slip table in the culture chamber, ball screw cross slip table includes vertical lead screw and horizontal lead screw, vertical lead screw passes through vertical lead screw driving motor drive, horizontal lead screw passes through horizontal lead screw driving motor drive, vertical lead screw driving motor is fixed under the bottom plate, be fixed with horizontal slider on the horizontal lead screw, horizontal slider is fixed with cell liquid suction means, cell liquid suction means's suction port matches with the relay pipe and cell liquid suction means's liquid outlet passes through the cell liquid pipe and is connected with negative pressure flow extraction pump, the outlet of negative pressure flow extraction pump communicates with the cell liquid outlet of seting up on the casing.
2. The fully automated cell sampling culture device of claim 1, further comprising a backwash assembly secured to the horizontal slide;
the back flush liquid inlet of the back flush device is connected with the back flush liquid inlet arranged on the shell through a back flush liquid conduit, the back flush liquid outlet of the back flush device is communicated with the liquid outlet of the cell liquid suction device, and the back flush liquid outlet is arranged on the shell and is flush with the bottom plate.
3. The fully automated cell sampling culture device of claim 1, wherein the cell fluid conduit comprises a cell fluid conduit I and a cell fluid conduit II connected in sequence;
the cell fluid conduit I is connected with the cell fluid suction device, the cell fluid conduit I is positioned in the culture chamber, and the cell fluid conduit II and the negative pressure flow extraction pump are arranged in the shell.
4. The fully automatic cell sampling culture device of claim 2, wherein the backwash liquid conduit comprises backwash liquid conduit I and backwash liquid conduit II connected in sequence;
the back flush liquid conduit I is connected with the back flush device, the back flush liquid conduit I is positioned in the culture chamber, the back flush liquid conduit II is arranged in the shell, and the tail end of the back flush liquid conduit II is communicated with the back flush liquid inlet.
5. The full-automatic cell sampling culture apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shaking table comprises a shaking table platform, a shaking table driven shaft and a shaking table main driving device;
the shaking table platform passes through shaking table driven shaft and bottom plate fixed connection and shaking table platform is driven by shaking table main drive arrangement, and the carrier platform is arranged on shaking table platform.
6. The fully automatic cell sampling culture device of claim 1, wherein there are two shaking table driven shafts;
the shaking table driven shafts are arranged on two sides of the shaking table platform, and the shaking table main driving device is arranged between the two shaking table driven shafts.
7. The fully automated cell sampling culture device of claim 1, wherein the carrier flexible stator sheet is perpendicular to the platform substrate;
the carrier flexible fixing sub-sheet is an arc-shaped sheet;
the flexible fixing sub-sheets of a plurality of carriers belonging to the same carrier fixing position are of petal-shaped separation structures.
8. The fully automated cell sampling culture device of claim 1, wherein the ball screw cross slide further comprises a horizontal screw rod fixed block;
the horizontal screw rod fixing block is provided with a vertical screw hole matched with the vertical screw rod and a horizontal screw hole matched with the horizontal screw rod respectively, and the horizontal screw rod fixing block is sleeved on the vertical screw rod and the horizontal screw rod simultaneously.
9. The fully automated cell sampling culture device of claim 1, wherein the relay tube is secured to the bottle cap.
CN202320259309.7U 2023-02-20 2023-02-20 Full-automatic cell sampling culture device Active CN220224190U (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202320259309.7U CN220224190U (en) 2023-02-20 2023-02-20 Full-automatic cell sampling culture device

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CN202320259309.7U CN220224190U (en) 2023-02-20 2023-02-20 Full-automatic cell sampling culture device

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CN220224190U true CN220224190U (en) 2023-12-22

Family

ID=89197053

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CN202320259309.7U Active CN220224190U (en) 2023-02-20 2023-02-20 Full-automatic cell sampling culture device

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CN (1) CN220224190U (en)

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US20080139865A1 (en) Environmental containment systems
CN201288178Y (en) Circular current airlift fermentor
CN201942671U (en) Fully automatic working station for polymerase chain reaction amplification
CN220224190U (en) Full-automatic cell sampling culture device
CN206553507U (en) Clinical laboratory's Anaerobic culturel control box
CN117385000A (en) Multitasking parallel nucleic acid extraction and transformation method and device thereof
CN215374640U (en) Sample extraction equipment for plant quarantine
CN208949284U (en) Fermentation tank with liftable top cover
CN214881491U (en) Device for extracting supernatant in microcarrier cell culture and bioreactor
CN2393886Y (en) Bacteria culturing instrument
CN209338505U (en) A kind of Microbiological detection of foods incubator
CN216141538U (en) Reaction unit is used in intestinal fungus crowd culture
CN220999633U (en) Anaerobic culture solution preparation taking device
CN111607518A (en) Automatic IVF culture and time difference analysis device and matched culture dish
CN212128124U (en) Plasmid extraction kit with runner structure
CN220976994U (en) Dissolved oxygen control device of bioreactor
CN220990452U (en) Stirring equipment with sampling function
CN220034524U (en) Biochemical incubator with monitoring function
CN219839714U (en) Liquid microorganism fermentation tank
CN213835376U (en) Suspension cell culture bioreactor
CN219575023U (en) Beer processing fermenting installation for teaching
CN215799575U (en) EM fungus culture immobilization fermenting installation
CN211718135U (en) Virus character detection device
CN220999638U (en) Top core thorn membrane pipetting system
CN220503024U (en) Anaerobic bacteria incubator

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
GR01 Patent grant
GR01 Patent grant