Biocontamination and particulate detection system

Claim 1

A method of determining the characterisitics of an unknown microscopic contaminant existing on a surface, comprising the steps of photographing said surface to produce an enlarged full-color photographic negative, overlaying said full-color negative one at a time with a plurality of individually different single-color filters, and consecutively photographing the image produced by each overlaid filter on said full color negative to create an equal number of color separation negatives, image-enhancing said full-color negative and each of said color separation negatives to produce respectively a clarified image-enhanced full-color negative and a plurality of clarified image-enhanced color separation negatives, developing a color print from said image-enhanced full-color negative, developing a single monochromatic print from each of said image-enhanced color separation negatives, scanning said color print and each of said monochromatic prints separately to produce profiles of reflectance as a function of optical wavelength, and comparing said reflectance profiles of contaminants with previously stored profiles of known contaminants produced in the same way, said previously stored profiles describing a known spectral signature characteristic of a known contaminant, said comparing being accomplished by matching profiles of said unknown contaminants with said stored profiles, each matching profile thus identifying an unknown microscopic contaminant.

Claim 2

A method of determining the characterisitics of an unknown microscopic contaminant existing on a surface, comprising the steps of photographing said surface to produce an enlarged full-color photographic negative, overlaying said full-color negative one at a time with a plurality of individually different single-color filters, and consecutively photographing the image produced by each overlaid filter on said full color negative to create an equal number of color separation negatives, image-enhancing said full-color negative and each of said color separation negatives to produce respectively a clarified image-enhanced full-color negative and a plurality of clarified image-enhanced color separation negatives, developing a color print from said image-enhanced full-color negative, developing a single monochromatic print from each of said image-enhanced color separation negatives, scanning said color print and each of said monochromatic prints separately to produce profiles of reflectance as a function of optical wavelength, and comparing said reflectance profiles of contaminants with previously stored profiles of known contaminants produced in the same way, said previously stored profiles describing a known spectral signature characteristic of a known contaminant, said comparing being accomplished by matching profiles of said unknown contaminants with said stored profiles, each matching profile thus identifying an unknown microscopic contaminant.

Claim 8

A method of isolating and identifying an unknown microscopic contaminant existing on a surface, said unknown contaminant having an unknown spectral signature, said unknown signature being individually distinctive to said unknown contaminant, which comprises the following steps: photographing said surface to produce an enlarged full-color photographic negative, said full-color negative serving as a baseline for identifying said unknown spectral signature, overlaying said full-color negative one at a time with a plurality of single-color filters, said filters each having individually different colors, said full-color negative and said overlaid filters being photographed consecutively to create an equal number of color separation negatives; image-enhancing said full color negative and each of said color separation negatives to produce respectively a clarified image-enhanced full-color negative and a plurality of clarified image-enhanced color separation negatives; developing a color print from said image-enhanced full-color negative; developing a single monochromatic black-and-white print from each of said image-enhanced color separation negatives; optical density scanning said color print and each of said monochromatic prints, said scanning generating a plurality of analog plots, said analog plots measuring a percentage of incident light reflectance with respect to an optical wavelength, said plots providing a spectral signature for said unknown microscopic contaminant; converting each of said analog plots into a digital form, said digital forms being stored electronically; and comparing said digital forms to a plurality of profiles stored in a data bank, said profiles describing a known spectral signature characteristic of a known contaminant, said comparing being accomplished by matching said unknown spectral signature with said profiles, said matching identifying said unknown microscopic contaminant.

Claim 9

A method of isolating and identifying an unknown microscopic contaminant existing on a surface, said unknown contaminant having an unknown spectral signature, said unknown signature being individually distinctive to said unknown contaminant, which comprises the following steps: photographing said surface to produce an enlarged full-color photographic negative, said full-color negative serving as a baseline for identifying said unknown spectral signature, overlaying said full-color negative one at a time with a plurality of single-color filters, said filters each having individually different colors, said full-color negative and said overlaid filters being photographed consecutively to create an equal number of color separation negatives; image-enhancing said full color negative and each of said color separation negatives to produce respectively a clarified image-enhanced full-color negative and a plurality of clarified image-enhanced color separation negatives; developing a color print from said image-enhanced full-color negative; developing a single monochromatic black-and-white print from each of said image-enhanced color separation negatives; optical density scanning said color print and each of said monochromatic prints, said scanning generating a plurality of analog plots, said analog plots measuring a percentage of incident light reflectance with respect to an optical wavelength, said plots providing a spectral signature for said unknown microscopic contaminant; converting each of said analog plots into a digital form, said digital forms being stored electronically; and comparing said digital forms to a plurality of profiles stored in a data bank, said profiles describing a known spectral signature characteristic of a known contaminant, said comparing being accomplished by matching said unknown spectral signature with said profiles, said matching identifying said unknown microscopic contaminant.