Patent ID: 8902423

Claim:
A method of in situ detection and classification of an analyte within a fluid sample, the method comprising: continuously flowing the fluid sample through a multivariate optical computing device, wherein the multivariate optical computing device illuminates an area of the fluid sample as it flows through the multivariate optical computing device to elicit a continuous series of spectral responses, and wherein a multivariate spectral response is formed by illuminating the analyte with a beam of light to excite the electrons in molecules of the analyte causing them to emit light of a lower energy; continuously measuring the series of the multivariate spectral responses as the fluid sample flows through the multivariate optical computing device; detecting an analyte in the sample based on an multivariate spectral response of the plurality of spectral responses; and classifying the analyte based on the multivariate spectral response generated by the analyte.