Patent ID: 6141657
Filing Date: 2000-10-31
Classification: C12N,C12Q,G16B,Y10S

Abstract:
A programmable apparatus for analyzing signals comprising:(a) an inputting device for inputting one or more actual signals generated by probing a sample comprising a plurality of nucleic acids with recognition means, each recognition means recognizing a target nucleotide subsequence or a set of target nucleotide subsequences, said signals comprising a representation of (i) the length between occurrences of said target subsequences in a nucleic acid of said sample, and (ii) the identities of said target subsequences in said nucleic acid, or the identities of said sets of target subsequences among which is included the target subsequences in said nucleic acid;(b) a searching device operatively coupled to said inputting device for searching a sequence in a nucleotide sequence database for occurrences of said target subsequences or target subsequences that are members of said sets of target subsequences, and for the length between such occurrences, said database comprising a plurality of known nucleotide sequences that may be present in said sample;(c) a comparing device operatively coupled to said inputting device and to said searching device for finding a match between said one or more actual signals and a sequence in said database, said one or more actual signals matching a sequence from said database when the sequence from said database has both (i) the same length between occurrences of target subsequences as is represented by said one or more actual signals, and (ii) the same target subsequences as are represented by said one or more actual signals, or target subsequences that are members of the sets of target subsequences represented by said one or more actual signals; and(d) a control device operatively coupled to said comparing device for causing said comparing to be done for sequences in the database and for outputting those database sequences that match said one or more actual signals.