Patent ID: 8173956

Claim:
A method of scanning a sample, the method comprising: (a) creating a virtual confined area in relation to the sample, the confined area being a grid divided into a plurality of parcels that are grid elements; (b) striking the sample to be scanned with a laser beam so as to release analytes from the sample; (c) displacing the laser beam and the sample substantially continuously relative to one another, so that the laser beam substantially continuously traces a predefined path within a grid element in the confined area, so that when the laser beam strikes the sample within the grid element, analytes are released from the sample, the laser beam substantially continuously traces a predefined path over the confined area by tracing a predefined path within each successive grid element until the entire predefined path over the confined area has been traced; (d) obtaining mass spectra of the released analytes while the laser beam and the sample are displaced relative to one another; and (e) performing a mass analysis of the released analytes.