Patent ID: 8241919

Claim:
A method comprising: acquiring a chemical sample; modulating the chemical sample at a frequency greater than a drift frequency of a sensor to produce a modulated chemical sample; and determining at least one of a presence and a concentration of an analyte within the modulated chemical sample using the sensor; wherein modulating the chemical sample comprises repeatedly heating and cooling a sorbent material to cause the sorbent material to repeatedly absorb and release a portion of the analyte; wherein the absorption of the portion of the analyte by the sorbent material decreases an amount of the analyte in the modulated chemical sample provided to the sensor through a flow channel, and the release of the portion of the analyte from the sorbent material increases the amount of the analyte in the modulated chemical sample provided to the sensor through the flow channel; wherein the repeated absorption and release of the portion of the analyte causes the amount of the analyte in the modulated chemical sample provided to the sensor to oscillate above and below an actual amount of the analyte in the acquired chemical sample; and wherein determining at least one of the presence and the concentration of the analyte within the modulated chemical sample comprises measuring the amount of the analyte in the modulated chemical sample above and below the actual amount of the analyte in the acquired chemical sample.