US Patent 6930773 Spectral imaging

A method is described that includes measuring, at each of a set of W wavelength bins, a spectral response of at least one region of a sample stained with multiple stains, and determining the concentration of at least one of the stains in the region of the sample based in part on the spectral responses, the wavelength bins being chosen so that a matrix of elements that represent the responses of the stains at the wavelength bin has an inverse for which a mathematical stability is maximum relative to the inverses of other matrices of elements that represent the responses of the stains for other possible sets of wavelength bins.