| CPC G01N 15/1459 (2013.01) [G01N 2015/0046 (2013.01); G01N 2015/1486 (2013.01); G01N 2015/1493 (2013.01)] | 15 Claims |

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1. A portable particle counter apparatus, comprising:
a device housing for an optical particle counter having a form factor enabling the device housing to be carried during operation by a user;
an air intake and outlet fluidly connected to a chamber in the device housing wherein an airstream passes through the chamber;
a light source in the device housing that emits a beam of light that passes through the airstream passing through the chamber;
a light detector in the device housing that detects light that passes through the airstream in the chamber, the light detector configured to detect airborne particles passing through the beam of light in the airstream traversing from the air intake to the outlet;
an analog circuit in the device housing connected to the light detector, the analog circuit including at least one amplifier in communication with the light detector, the at least one amplifier configured to convert signals from the light detector into amplified electrical pulses;
a microcontroller configured to count particles from the user's local environment that are detected passing through the chamber wherein the microcontroller processes particle count data from signals received from the analog circuit; and
at least one external communications interface communicatively coupled with the microcontroller that transfers particle count data to a mobile phone.
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