Patent ID: 11875981
Assignee: THERMO FINNIGAN LLC
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 2:
3. A mass spectrometer system, comprising:
(a) an ion source;
(b) a mass filtering device configured to receive ions from the ion source;
(c) an ion storage device configured to receive and accumulate mass-filtered ions received from the mass filtering device;
(d) a fragmentation cell configured to receive accumulated mass-filtered ions from the ion storage device;
(e) a mass analyzer configured to receive fragment ions from the fragmentation cell; and
(f) a computer or electronic controller electrically coupled to the mass filtering device, the ion storage device, the fragmentation cell and the mass analyzer, the computer or electronic controller comprising computer-readable program instructions operable to:
(1) prepare the mass filtering device to transmit therethrough ion species comprising a pre-determined range of mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) values;
(2) cause the ion source to transmit a first batch of ion species to the mass filtering device, cause the mass filtering device to transmit a subset of the first batch of ion species to the ion storage device, and cause the ion storage device to accumulate the subset of the first hatch of ion species therein, whereby the transmitted subset of the first batch of ion species comprises m/z values within the predetermined range;
(3) cause the ion storage device to transfer the accumulated subset of the first batch of ion species to the fragmentation cell, whereby the fragmentation cell generates a first set of fragment-ion species from the subset of the first batch of ion species;
(4) cause the fragmentation cell to transfer the first set of fragment-ion species to the mass analyzer, whereby the first set of fragment-ion species are mass analyzed;
(5) prepare the mass filtering device to transmit therethrough ion species comprising a second pre-determined range of m/z values, wherein said preparing is concurrent with at least a portion of either the accumulating of the subset of the first batch of ion species within the mass storage device, the generating of the first set of fragment-ion species or the mass analyzing of the first set of fragment-ion species;
(6) cause the ion source to transmit a second batch of ion species to the mass filtering device, cause the mass filtering device to transmit, to the ion storage device, a subset of the second batch of ion species comprising m/z values within the second predetermined range and cause the ion storage device to accumulate the subset of the second batch of ion species therein, wherein said transmitting, transmitting and accumulating are concurrent with at least a portion of either the generating of the first set of fragment-ion species or the mass analyzing of the first set of fragment-ion species; and
(7) prepare the mass filtering device to transmit therethrough ion species comprising a third pre-determined range of m/z values, wherein said preparing is concurrent with at least a portion of the mass analyzing of the first set of fragment-ion species.