Patent Document ID: 8198092
Application ID: 13109640
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A system for sorting a mixture of stained particles, including stained particles having a characteristic A and stained particles having a characteristic B, the system comprising: a. a fluid delivery system for delivering a fluid containing the stained particles in a flow path; b. an electromagnetic radiation source for exciting fluorescence emissions from the stained particles having characteristic A and the stained particles having characteristic B in the flow path; c. a photodetector for detecting the fluorescence emissions from the stained particles; d. a processor in communication with the photodetector for classifying the stained particles according to their fluorescence emissions as either particles having characteristic A or particles having characteristic B; e. a sorting system for sorting the stained particles according to the classification to provide at least one population containing desired particles; f. an analog to digital converter for sampling a time-varying analog output from the photodetector and providing an output including digital information corresponding to the time-varying analog output wherein the time-varying analog output and the corresponding digital information include a series of waveform pulses, the waveform pulses being indicative of characteristic A or characteristic B; and g. a digital signal processor for analyzing and classifying the digital information and providing a sorting signal to the sorting system as a function of the analyzed and classified digital information wherein the digital signal processor includes instructions for detecting the waveform pulses corresponding to the digital information, instructions for extracting features in the detected waveform pulses, and instructions for discriminating the detected waveform pulses as a function of their extracted features.