Patent ID: 7271588

Claim:
Apparatus for the real-time monitoring of a process comprising: (1) means for conducting a process in real-time; (2) means for monitoring the process in real time by repeatedly acquiring a series of multidimensional spectra within a single scan implemented at preselected short time intervals; each single scan being carried out comprising: (3) means for partitioning, at least notionally, a sample of the process into a set of independent subensembles; (4) means for applying the single scan to the sample by exciting the set of subensembles by a time-incremented series of polychromatic sequences; (5) means for generating a signal from each subensemble with a final, homogeneous sequence; (6) means for simultaneously acquiring the subensemble-resolved spectral signals for each preselected short time interval; and (7) means for processing such series of signals into a series of multidimensional spectra, so as to visualize the nature of the process in a real time fashion.