Patent ID: 8244477
Filing Date: 2012-08-14
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method for estimating a stage of growth of a selected algae, the method comprising: placing an algae, having a growth stage that may be unknown, in a chamber that also contains an ambient fluid, the chamber having one or more windows that are at least partly transparent to light in a selected wavelength range R; passing N light beams, numbered n=1, . . . , N (N≧2), having initial light beam intensities I receiving the modified N light beams and estimating or measuring modified light beam intensities, I(n), numbered n=1, . . . , N, for the respective N modified light beams; providing N reference light beam intensities I(ref;n;g), numbered n=1, . . . , N, for each reference growth stage, numbered g=1, . . . , G (G≧2) for the selected algae; comparing the N modified light beam intensities I(n) with the corresponding N reference initial light beam intensities I(ref;n;g) for each reference growth stage g of the algae; computing an error value ε(g), based upon differences between the N modified light beam intensities I(n) and the respective N reference light beam intensities I(ref;n;g), for each growth stage g of the algae; and when, for a selected growth stage number g0, (1) the error value ε(g) for at least one growth stage, g−g0, is no greater than a value ε(g′), for any other growth stage g′, and (2) ε(g0) is no greater than a selected error threshold value ε(thr), interpreting these conditions as indicating that the algae is most likely in the growth stage g0.