Patent ID: 7427512

Claim:
A method of decoding an assay in which a substantially planar array of beads, said planar array including differently-encoded beads and wherein different ligands are attached to differently-encoded beads, is used to bind to and determine the existence of and identity of optically labeled analytes which are present in a sample, said optically labeled analytes capable of binding to one or more of the ligands and wherein following said binding, the optical labels of said optically labeled analytes can be optically detected, comprising the following steps: (i) imaging the substantially planar array of beads to identify the relative locations of different beads within the array; (ii) placing the sample in contact with the substantially planar array of beads under binding conditions whereby the optically labeled analytes can bind to the ligands; (iii) imaging the substantially planar array of beads to identify the relative locations of beads bearing ligands within the array which bound to optically labeled analytes by optically detecting said optical labels; and (iv) comparing the images in steps (i) and (iii) so as to identify the ligands which are bound to optically labeled analytes or the optically labeled analytes which bound to ligands.