Patent ID: 7323696

Claim:
A method of determining the identity of at least two coded beads in a mixture, wherein each coded bead comprises a substrate, two or more different phosphor particles, and at least one member of an affinity set, comprising: a) irradiating at least one bead with at least one irradiating wavelength of light, wherein the at least one irradiating wavelength of light causes at least one phosphor particle to emit at least one emitting wavelength of light; b) detecting the at least one emitting wavelength of light; c) optionally repeating (a) and (b) 1 to 20 times, wherein at least one of the at least one irradiating wavelength of light for each repetition is the same or different from at least one of the at least one irradiating wavelength of light for any previous irradiating of the beads, and wherein at least one of the at least one emitting wavelength of light for each repetition is the same or different from at least one of the at least one emitting wavelength of light for any previous emission by a phosphor particle; and d) determining the identity of at least one coded bead.