Patent ID: 8340918

Claim:
A kinetic Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) system, comprising: a kinetic PCR analysis module that generates a melt curve dataset representing a DNA melt curve, said dataset including a plurality of data points, each having a pair of coordinate values; and a processor adapted to process the melt curve dataset to determine a Tm value, by: numerically determining first derivative values for data points of the melt curve; determining a baseline for the first derivative values; subtracting out the baseline from the first derivative values to produce modified first derivative values; determining a first maximum value of the modified first derivative values; calculating an approximation of a curve that fits the modified first derivative values by applying a regression process to a Gaussian Mixture Model function to determine one or more parameters of the function, wherein the one or more parameters include initial conditions, and wherein the first maximum value is used as an initial condition for a first parameter of the one or more parameters; and outputting the first parameter, wherein the determined first parameter represents a melting temperature, Tm, of the DNA sample.