Patent Document ID: 8502137
Application ID: 13541354
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for interpreting a spectrum obtained by Fourier transformation of time-dependent voltage signals arising from a difference in image charges between two detector plates induced by the motion of ions in an FTMS analyzer comprising: a. extracting only component signals arising from a population of ions which have essentially the same mass-to-charge ratio and whose motion along one or more orthogonal directions is essentially sinusoidal; b. estimating the frequency (f) and phase (φ) of each essentially sinusoidal detected component signal; c. selecting a class of functions, indexed by the values of two or more parameters; d. determining a vector of parameter values (p) for which the corresponding instantiated function is an optimal interpretation, relative to all other elements of that class, of the pairs of estimated frequency and phase values (f, φ); and e. applying the vector of parameter values (p) to extract information from the FTMS spectrum with improved i) sensitivity to detect weak signals from low abundance analytes embedded in noise; ii) mass resolving power to detect signals substantially overlapped by or overshadowed by adjacent signals; iii) accuracy in estimating frequency or m/z; and/or iv) accuracy in quantifying signal intensities or relative abundances of ions derived from the sample.