Detection system and user interface for a flow cytometer system

• US 20100271620A1
• Filed: 04/29/2010
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accuri Cytometers, Inc. (Becton Dickinson & Co)
• Original Assignee: Accuri Cytometers, Inc. (Becton Dickinson & Co)
• Inventors: Goebel, Clement James, Rich, Collin A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,229,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 356/73
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/1459 the analysis being performed on a sample stream
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2015/0092 Monitoring flocculation or agglomeration
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2015/1477 Multiparameters

Abstract

The detection system of the first preferred embodiment includes a detector, having a wide dynamic range, that receives photonic inputs from the interrogation zone and produces an analog signal; and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), having a high bit resolution, that is coupled to the detector and converts an analog signal to a digital signal. The digital signal includes an initial data set of the full dynamic range of the input signals from the flow cytometer sample. The method of extracting and analyzing data from a flow cytometer system of the first preferred embodiment preferably includes the steps of: collecting a full dynamic range of input signals from a flow cytometer sample; recognizing and annotating aggregate particle events; and storing an initial data set and an annotated data set of the full dynamic range of the input signals from the flow cytometer sample.

Claims

1. A detection system for a flow cytometer having an interrogation zone, comprising:

a detector that receives photonic inputs from the interrogation zone and produces an analog signal, the detector having a wide dynamic range; and

an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), coupled to the detector, that converts an analog signal to a digital signal, the ADC having a high bit resolution;

wherein the digital signal includes an initial data set of the full dynamic range of the input signals from the flow cytometer sample.