US 12,449,362 B2
Apparatus and method for extended depth of field
Jeffrey Gau, San Mateo, CA (US); Joseph Pinto, Solana Beach, CA (US); Anindita Dutta, San Francisco, CA (US); Geraint Evans, Cambridge (GB); Yina Wang, San Jose, CA (US); Simon Prince, Carlsbad, CA (US); and Stanley Hong, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Assigned to Illumina, Inc., San Diego, CA (US)
Appl. No. 18/879,735
Filed by Illumina, Inc., San Diego, CA (US)
PCT Filed Mar. 14, 2024, PCT No. PCT/US2024/019870
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 27, 2024,
PCT Pub. No. WO2024/196690, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 26, 2024.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/452,835, filed on Mar. 17, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2025/0164398 A1, May 22, 2025
Int. Cl. G01N 21/64 (2006.01); C12Q 1/6869 (2018.01)
CPC G01N 21/6428 (2013.01) [C12Q 1/6869 (2013.01); G01N 21/6458 (2013.01); G01N 2021/6439 (2013.01); G01N 2021/6441 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for extending a depth of field of a nucleic acid sequencer, the method comprising:
performing a set of optimization steps comprising:
determining a first result, wherein the first result is a result of passing light emitted by a sample at a nucleic acid site through an objective lens and a mask, wherein the objective lens is focused on a plane which is separated from the nucleic acid site by a target defocus amount, and wherein the mask is disposed between the objective lens and a set of detection pixels;
determining whether there is a discrepancy between the first result and a second result, wherein the second result is an ideal result for detecting light emitted by the sample at the nucleic acid site; and
based on determining there is the discrepancy between the first result and the second result, performing a set of updating tasks comprising updating the mask based on the determined discrepancy between the first result and the second result; and
repeating the set of optimization steps one or more times.