Patent ID: 6867005

Claim:
A method for enhancing the dynamic range of an assay of the presence, absence, activity or concentration of two or more target analytes in one or more samples wherein the presence, absence, activity or concentration of said target analytes is assayed by detecting the emission or quenching of a light signal, wherein said method comprises the steps: (A) conducting an assay for the presence, absence, activity or concentration of each of said target analytes in said one or more samples wherein said assays each cause light signals to be emitted or quenched; (B) employing a computer system comprising a CCD camera detector to detect said light signals for an initial detection time duration, and to generate data corresponding to said initially detected signals; and (C) for each target analyte being assayed, independently causing said computer system to compare said generated data-to data corresponding to the light signal generated by a known concentration of said target analyte and to determine whether said detected signal is within the known dynamic range of said detector's ability to assay that target analyte, wherein, for at least one target analyte said initially detected signal is outside the known dynamic range of said detector's assay for said target analyte, and: (1) for each target analyte whose initially detected signal is outside the known dynamic range of said detector's assay for a target analyte, causing said computer system to vary the detection time duration relative to said initial detection time duration until the detected signal for such analyte is within the known dynamic range of said detector's assay for that target analyte, and then causing said computer system to report the presence, absence, activity or concentration of such target analyte; and (2) for each target analyte whose initially detected signal is within the known dynamic range of said detector's assay for a target analyte, causing said computer system to report the presence, absence, activity or concentration of such target analyte; so that, for each target analyte being assayed the presence, absence, activity or concentration of such target analyte is determined using data corresponding to a light signal that is within the dynamic range of said detector's assay for that target analyte.