Patent ID: 7366617

Claim:
A method for generating a set of mass values of ions for a sample containing a known class of biopolymers using a mass spectrometer that has a statistical or a pseudo-statistical mass determination error distribution, the method comprising the following steps: (a) acquiring a mass spectrum of molecular ions or fragment ions of biopolymers of the known class in the sample with the mass spectrometer, wherein the mass values of all ions of biopolymers from the known class are concentrated in distributions around most probable mass values, (b) assigning measured mass values to ion signals of the mass spectrum to generate a set of measured mass values, (c) generating the set of mass values for the sample from the set of measured mass values by automatically replacing one or more measured mass values in the set of measured mass values, wherein each of the measured mass values is replaced either by that one of the most probable mass values that is nearest to the measured mass value, or by a weighted average value of the measured mass value averaged with that one of the most probable mass values that is nearest to the measured mass value.