Patent ID: 7917301

Claim:
An automated method for identifying a component in a DNA sample, comprising: using a mass spectrometer to generate a computer readable data set comprising data representing components in the biological sample for analysis by a computer, and using the computer to: denoise the data set to generate denoised data; correct a baseline from the denoised data to generate an intermediate data set, the intermediate data set having a plurality of data values associated with respective points in an array of data; compress the intermediate data set to obtain compressed data; define putative peaks in the compressed data, wherein the putative peaks represent components in the DNA sample; generate a residual baseline by removing the putative peaks from the compressed data; remove the residual baseline from the compressed data to generate a corrected data set; locate a putative peak in the corrected data set; and identify the component that corresponds to the located putative peak; wherein the compressed data comprises compressed data points and wherein a compressed data point is a real number that includes a whole number portion that is determined by calculating the difference between the whole number portions of two consecutive points in the array of data.