Patent ID: 8487979

Claim:
A spectral detection system comprising: a scanner; a spectrometer connected to the scanner; and a processor connected to the spectrometer; and wherein: the scanner is for capturing fields of view (FOV's) of spectra; the spectrometer is for detecting and converting the FOV's of spectra into electrical signals; and the processor is for: processing the FOV's of spectra from the electrical signals; processing each FOV for a spectrum of interest; selecting an FOV having the spectrum of interest; recalling several FOV's previous to the FOV having the spectrum of interest; and/or calculating an estimated background spectrum from the background spectra of the several FOV's according to their weights of significance; and wherein: an estimated background spectrum is about equal to ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ ⁢ W i * Spec i ; W i is a weight of an i th FOV background spectrum; Spec i is the i th FOV background spectrum; and n is a number of the several FOV's not regarded as having the spectrum of interest.