Patent ID: 6424415
Filing Date: 2002-07-23
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
A method of determining flow quality of a fluid sample, in a particle analyzer, through an examination area of a flow chamber, comprising:measuring the fluid sample flowing through the examination area of the flow chamber to determine a plurality of measurement values each at least partially indicative of a degree of flow of the fluid sample through the examination area; combining the measurement values to generate a combined value; and determining the flow quality of the fluid sample responsive to the combined value; wherein the measuring step includes for each of a plurality of degrees of flow, determining degree of support values for each measurement value by applying a membership function to the measurement value, the membership function applied corresponding to the measurement and the degree of flow, and the degree of support values for a particular degree of flow and for a particular measurement value corresponding to an association of a linguistic description of the particular degree of flow of the fluid sample with the particular measurement value; and wherein the combining step includes for each of the plurality of degrees of flow, determining degree of flow disruption prediction values by applying an inference rule to one or more of the degree of support values determined for the degree of flow, the inference rule corresponding to the degree of flow, and the degree of flow disruption value for each degree of flow corresponding to the association of that particular degree of flow based collectively on the measurement values from which the degree of support values determined for the that particular degree of flow; and for each degree of flow, determining values of a final prediction for the degree of flow by combining the determined degree of flow disruption prediction values for that degree of flow, wherein the final prediction values are the combined value.