Patent ID: 7593560

Claim:
In an environment comprising (i) a chip comprising a microchannel and (ii) an image sensor having a pixel array, wherein at least a portion of the microchannel is within a field of view of the pixel array, a nucleic acid analysis method comprising: introducing a sample of a solution comprising nucleic acid into the microchannel; forcing the sample to move though the microchannel; defining a first window of the pixel array; defining a second window of the pixel array, wherein the center of the second window is spaced apart from the center of the first window; and while the sample is moving through the microchannel, performing the steps of: (a) exposing the first window of the pixel array to light emitted from the sample at a time when the sample is within a field of view of first window and then selectively outputting first image data from the pixel array, wherein the step of selectively outputting the first image data from the pixel array comprises outputting data from only the first window of the pixel array; and (b) after performing step (a), exposing the second window of the pixel array to light emitted from the sample at a time when the sample is within a field of view of the second window and then selectively outputting second image data from the pixel array, wherein the step of selectively outputting the second image data from the pixel array comprises outputting data from only the second window of the pixel array.