Patent ID: 7269518

Claim:
A method comprising: (i) reading a chemical array on an array reader, wherein the chemical array comprises biopolymer features and was exposed to a sample, and saving results of the reading in a memory, wherein the saved results are linked with a performance characteristic of the array reader which performed the reading, and processing the saved results using the linked performance characteristic of the reader which performed the reading; or (ii) retrieving from a memory the results from reading an array, the results being linked with a performance characteristic of a reader which performed the reading, wherein the array comprises biopolymer features and was exposed to a sample, and processing the retrieved results using the retrieved performance characteristic of the reader which performed the reading; and, based on said processing, a human user who is interpreting the results of the reading assesses whether one or more targets is present in the sample or whether an organism from which the sample was obtained exhibits a particular condition, wherein the performance characteristic comprises one or more of a reader accuracy or a reader responsivity of the reader which performed the reading and wherein processing includes rejecting or flagging as suspect a result from one or more of the features based on a predetermined performance characteristic or generating error bars or confidence intervals for a result from one or more of the features.