Patent · US Expired

Scanning system and method of operation for automatically setting detection sensitivity

US6078390A · kind A · utility

81Cited by
21References
35Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateMay 4, 1998
Grant dateJun 20, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 4, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N21/6452
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An optical scanning system uses a low-resolution scanning operation, to automatically adjust the sensitivity of the system. The system performs a low-resolution scanning operation by scanning a line, automatically and iteratively setting the levels of excitation signal power and detector gain, skipping a plurality of lines and scanning a next line, adjusting the levels as appropriate, skipping a plurality of lines and scanning a next line, and so forth. After the system sensitivities have been set, the calibrated system then scans all the lines of the sample to collect data. The calibrated system thus scans for the first time the lines that were skipped during the low resolution scanning operation.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.