Patent ID: 7856324

Claim:
A method for determining a threshold for a PCR amplification reaction, comprising: performing a quantitative PCR amplification reaction in a thermocycler system for at least one target sample template; acquiring detection information generated for the quantitative PCR amplification of the at least one target sample template; analyzing at least a subset of a plurality of intervals of the detection information to identify an exponential region; said intervals having a different length, the analyzing comprising: (a) performing a regression fit on a plurality of successive intervals of the at least one subset using a first interval length; (b) identifying a first best-fit line by evaluating the slopes of the plurality of successive intervals of the subset having the first interval length; (c) identifying the exponential region by repeating steps (a) through (b) on the plurality of successive intervals of the at least one subset, wherein the interval length is successively incremented until an overall best-fit line having the greatest slope is determined; and determining a threshold for the quantitative PCR amplification of the at least one target sample template, wherein the determination of the threshold is based on the identified exponential region.