Patent ID: 6819421
Filing Date: 2004-11-16
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
A method for identifying unknown-particles that are present in a fluid at a particular location, which includes interrogating particles by directing a beam of light through the fluid and detecting light scattered from the beam in a plurality of different directions to detectors, when a particle passes through a detection zone that lies along said beam, and recording the outputs of said detectors for an event to produce an event vector, which includes establishing data in a memory that represents a multi-dimensional projection wherein groups of eventvectors of each of a plurality of different known-species of particles lie in each of a plurality of separated known-particle volumes of the projection, including:determining the locations in said memory that represent a multi-dimensional projection, of each of a multiplicity of unknown-particles that do not lie in one of said known-particle volumes; identifying a possible new species of particles which lies in a location in said multi-dimensional projection, which is outside said known particle volumes, and where the density of particles is at least 50% greater than the average density of particles in said multi-dimensional projection.