Method and system for automated focus-distance determination for molecular array scanners

US6770892B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC. · US

Inventors

• John Corson · Stanford, US
• Stanley Woods · Santa Clara, US
• Russell Parker · San Jose, US
• Xiangyang Zhou · Beijing, CN
• Bo Curry · Redwood City, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 28, 2002
• Grant date: Aug 3, 2004
• Expiry date: Apr 19, 2022

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N2021/6463
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An automated method and system for determining an optimal focus distance for scanning a molecular array scanner. Blocks of rows of a reference array are automatically scanned at successively greater distances of the stage from a light gathering medium, such as an optical fiber, or z-positions, to produce data providing a functional relationship between z-position and measured signal intensities. The data is then processed by a peak-height-based, or window-based, focus-finding routine that selects an optimal focus-distance for data scans.