Patent ID: 8647272

Claim:
A sample scanning and analysis system comprising: a sample module for holding a sample to be scanned; a scanner module for scanning said sample, including a transmitter for transmitting a series of separately transmitted electromagnetic signals, each signal of said series of separately transmitted electromagnetic signals having a transmitted amplitude over a plurality of sample points within a range of distinct frequencies, and a receiver for receiving said series of separately transmitted electromagnetic signals as said series of separately transmitted electromagnetic signals are reflected from or transmitted through said sample, and generating a series of spectral data sets representing at least a scanned amplitude of each signal of said series of separately transmitted electromagnetic signals over said plurality of sample points, said scanner module including a transmitter node having a first dipole antenna connected to said transmitter and a receiver node having a second dipole antenna connected to said receiver, said scanner module including a base formed to hold said transmitter node and said receiver node close to or in contact with said sample; and an analyzer module including a memory and a processor for generating one or more composite spectrograms from said series of spectral data sets including each signal in said series of separately transmitted electromagnetic signals, analyzing said composite spectrograms to recognize one or more patterns within said composite spectrograms directly representing one or more characteristics of said sample, and making a determination regarding said characteristics based on said patterns.