| CPC H01J 49/0036 (2013.01) [G01N 33/4833 (2013.01)] | 21 Claims |
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1. A method for processing a mass spectrum, which contains a first group of signals including actual ionic mass peaks of analytical interest and a second group of signals including omnipresent or ubiquitous noise, such as chemical or electronic noise, and improving a discrimination of the first group of signals from the second group of signals in the mass spectrum, comprising:
providing the mass spectrum which contains a plurality of data pairs, each data pair being representative of a mass value or mass-related value on a mass scale or mass-related scale and an abundance value or abundance-related value associated with the respective mass value or mass-related value, the mass spectrum being acquired from a sample by a mass spectrometry instrument chosen from among the group including: linear time-of-flight mass analyzer, reflector time-of-flight mass analyzer, orthogonal time-of-flight mass analyzer, Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FT ICR) mass analyzer, and mass analyzer of the Kingdon type,
selecting a plurality of intervals on the mass scale or mass-related scale, each interval containing a multitude of the said data pairs,
for each interval, applying a first mathematical-statistical analysis to the said data pairs contained in the respective interval in order to derive an interval-specific peak width,
using the said interval-specific peak widths to determine an estimated peak width for each mass value or mass-related value on the mass scale or mass-related scale, and - complementing the mass spectrum with the estimated peak widths and subjecting it to a second mathematical-statistical analysis, wherein the second mathematical-statistical analysis is a peak picking or peak detection algorithm used to differentiate between the first group of signals and the second group of signals in the mass spectrum, the first group of signals being chosen from among the group including: lipids, metabolites, glycans, peptides, and proteins.
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