Signal offset for prevention of data clipping in a molecular array scanner
First Claim
1. A method for reliably acquiring emitted-light intensity from the surface of a molecular array, the method comprising:
- providing a probe-molecule excitation system;
providing an emitted-light photodetection system;
producing an analog signal by detecting light emitted from the surface of the molecular array;
adding a signal offset to the analog signal;
digitizing the analog signal to produce a digital signal;
subtracting a portion of the signal offset from the digital signal; and
integrating the digital signal to produce integrated digital signals that are each associated with a pixel in an image of the molecular array.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for preventing signal clipping in a molecular array scanner by adding an offset signal to the signal generated by the photodetectors and initial stages of signal processing within a molecular array scanner in order to promote the signal above the level where signal information is lost during analog-to-digital signal conversion and/or digital signal integration. A portion of the offset is then subtracted from the digital signal or integrated digital signals, leaving a smaller, constant offset that is reported to the user, stored in a data file, or otherwise made available for further correction during later molecular array data processing.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method for reliably acquiring emitted-light intensity from the surface of a molecular array, the method comprising:
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providing a probe-molecule excitation system;
providing an emitted-light photodetection system;
producing an analog signal by detecting light emitted from the surface of the molecular array;
adding a signal offset to the analog signal;
digitizing the analog signal to produce a digital signal;
subtracting a portion of the signal offset from the digital signal; and
integrating the digital signal to produce integrated digital signals that are each associated with a pixel in an image of the molecular array. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A molecular array scanner comprising:
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a probe-molecule excitation system;
an emitted-light photodetection system that produces an analog signal representative of the emitted-light intensity;
a signal-offset adder that adds an offset to the analog signal;
an analog-to-digital converter that digitizes the analog signal to produce a digital signal;
signal-offset-subtractor logic that subtracts a portion of the signal offset from the digital signal; and
a digital-signal integrator that integrates portions of the digital signal to produce integrated digital signals that are each associated with a pixel in a scanned image of the molecular array. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification