Patent ID: 6249593
Filing Date: 2001-06-19
Classification: G01N,G06T

Abstract:
A method for determining the presence of at least one biological analyte in a liquid sample suspected of containing said one analyte comprising:a) applying said liquid sample to a testing substrate having at least one receptor immobilized thereon in at least one receptor area of said testing substrate, said one receptor being capable of directly or indirectly binding to said analyte, said one receptor area being located in a limited region of said testing substrate;b) applying a reagent capable of binding directly or indirectly to said one analyte and capable of generating a color at said one receptor area when said one analyte is present;c) illuminating said testing substrate and acquiring a digital image of said testing substrate;d) using data processing equipment,(i) automatically scanning said digital image to locate an optically densest portion of said one receptor area and generating a first measurement of the density of said densest portion;(ii) locating an area peripheral to said one receptor area and generating a second measurement of density of said area peripheral to said one receptor area; and(iii) generating an output signal by adjusting said first measurement with said second measurement in accordance with a predefined mathematical function in order to generate an output signal that indicates whether said one analyte is present in said liquid sample.