Patent ID: 7596454

Claim:
A method for separating detection channels, comprising the steps of: providing a sample with at least two fluorescent dyes; exciting the at least two fluorescent dyes with light of different excitation wavelengths, wherein the number of different excitation wavelengths does not exceed the number of fluorescent dyes in the sample; obtaining a measured emission spectrum of the sample; determining wavelength separation points of the emission spectrum to allocate a corresponding portion of the measured emission spectrum to a corresponding detection channel; and conveying light from the sample into the different detection channels according to the separation points, wherein the separation points are determined by: finding a difference between an emission spectrum of one fluorescent dye of the at least two dyes present in the sample measured at a certain wavelength and a measured emission spectrum of the sample measured at the same wavelength; squaring the difference; and minimizing an integral of the square of the difference.