Patent ID: 7471390

Claim:
A spectrometry method wherein a spectrometer is powered during: i) a data collection time wherein one or more spectra from a sample are collected by a detector, and ii) an idle time wherein no spectra from the sample are collected by the detector, the method comprising the steps of: a) collecting detector background readings with a detector during background exposure times occurring within the idle time, wherein the background exposure times are provided by continuously cycling through ranges of background exposure times before and/or after the data collection time; b) providing a spectrum from a sample, the spectrum being generated from one or more spectra collected from a sample during the data collection time, wherein each of the spectra have the same sample exposure time; c) generating a reference detector background reading from the collected detector background readings and their background exposure times, wherein the reference detector background reading corresponds to the collected detector background reading occurring at the background exposure time which is at least substantially equal to the sample exposure time.