Patent ID: 11933788
Assignee: SCANIT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  A  C | IPC A  C  G

Claim 0:
1. A method for determining a state of a fungal spore comprising:
defining a plurality of types of fluorescent biomolecules of interest within the fungal spore;
storing a first plurality of predetermined color characteristics of fluorescent light for each type of fluorescent biomolecules of interest, each predetermined color characteristic of the first plurality of predetermined color characteristics corresponding to excitement of a respective fluorescent biomolecule of interest under ultraviolet (UV) light having first spectral characteristics;
directing a flow of air comprising the fungal spore to a collection cartridge;
trapping the fungal spore within the collection cartridge;
illuminating the fungal spore in the collection cartridge with light;
while the fungal spore is illuminated with the light, capturing a first two-dimensional color image of the fungal spore;
analyzing the first two-dimensional color image to identify an outline of the fungal spore, the outline of the fungal spore being defined by a set of image pixels receiving light from the fungal spore;
illuminating the fungal spore in the collection cartridge with UV light of the first spectral characteristics;
while the fungal spore is illuminated with the UV light of the first spectral characteristics, capturing a second color image of the fungal spore;
measuring from the second color image a degree and color of fluorescence for each pixel within the outline of the fungal spore;
based on the measurements from the second color image of degree and color of fluorescence, estimating a concentration of each type of fluorescent biomolecule of interest for each image pixel within the outline of the fungal spore;
generating two-dimensional images of concentrations of the fluorescent biomolecules of interest within the outline of the fungal spore; and
determining the state of the fungal spore from the estimated concentrations of each type of fluorescent biomolecule of interest.