Patent ID: 7192777

Claim:
A method for determining the presence of at least one biological analyte that may be present in a liquid sample comprising: providing an apparatus for testing fluid samples that includes a flow cell with a measurement chamber, a monitor device that directly monitors flow of a sample and a reagent into measurement chamber, a light source that produces an incident beam directed to measurement chamber; and a sensor positioned to receive an output beam from the flow cell; introducing the liquid sample into the flow cell; using the monitor device to directly monitor flow of a sample and a reagent into the measurement chamber, the monitor device producing a signal indicative of an introduction and an exit of the sample and the reagent into the measurement chamber; in response to the monitoring determining if there is a sufficient amount of at least one of sample and reagent in the measurement chamber; and providing in a real time basis a sensing of a sample or a reagent without relying on information that originates outside the flow cell, wherein logic resources receive the signal from the monitor device and perform a comparison of a timing of the introduction and the exit of the sample to and from measurement chamber to produce a confirmation of a point in time of a valid reaction of the sample in measurement chamber.