Abstract: Methods of identifying the location and dimensions of a contaminant particle on a calibration strip may be used to compensate for contaminant particles on a calibration strip. A method of locating a contaminant particle on a calibration strip comprises imaging a calibration strip comprising a plurality of channels arranged in rows and a plurality of pixel columns, wherein each channel comprises a plurality of horizontally adjacent pixels, and each pixel column comprises pixels from a plurality of channels. The method also includes generating an average pixel intensity value by normalizing the channels and locating a contaminant particle in a pixel column by comparing the intensity of an individual pixel in the pixel column to the average pixel intensity value. An intensity value of an individual pixel less than a predefined limit set below the normalized local average pixel intensity value corresponds to a location of a contaminant particle.

Abstract: A method for generating a quality scan by predicting scanner lamp output whenever a scanner operation is initialized. Lamp output is measured within a duration after powering on the lamp and prior to a point at which maximum lamp output is reached. The lamp output for the remaining duration of the scanning operation is predicted based on these lamp output measurements, a threshold value and the maximum lamp output. The gain of the scanner output control device is adjusted to compensate for the predicted lamp output to produce quality scan.