Patent ID: 9435755
Filing Date: 2016-09-06
CPC Classification: B82Y,G01N,G01T,Y10S

Claim Text:
1. A method of detecting particles, said method comprising: generating a reaction to a plurality of particles using a plurality of different converter materials, wherein each of said converter materials are designed to generate a detectable reaction with one of said plurality of particles; converting a response to said reaction to a readable electrical signal using a plurality of discrete pixel sensor arrays wherein each pixel sensor array is composed of one of the plurality of different converter materials such that each pixel sensor array is designed to detect a different type of particle in said plurality of particles; processing said readable electrical signal from said plurality of pixel sensor arrays to generate information regarding each pixel on said pixel sensor arrays; transmitting said information to a processing unit; and analyzing said information using said processing unit to determine instances of impingement of said plurality of particles on each of said pixel sensor arrays; wherein each pixel sensor array is in communication with a particle discrimination algorithm dedicated to detecting a type of particle in said plurality of particles that the converter material included in the pixel sensor array is designed to detect, and wherein each discrimination algorithm distinguishes between instances of impingement of a type of particle it is dedicated to detect and impingement of particles it is not dedicated to detect.