Granted Patent B2

US 12,435,241 · App. 18/036,096 · Granted Oct 7, 2025

Inventors: Brandon Lee Goodchild Drake (Greeley, CO); Ry Nathaniel Zawadzki (Belmont, AU)

Assignees: DECISION TREE, LLC; VERACIO, LTD.

G01N23/223G01N33/24G01N2223/076G01N2223/616

Abstract

Claims (46)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, sample data associated with a plurality of material samples, wherein the sample data comprises x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectra associated with the plurality of material samples, wherein each XRF spectrum is indicative of one or more properties present within a sample of the plurality of material samples;

determining, based on a plurality of reference values and a plurality of analysis thresholds:

a first subset of the plurality of material samples associated with acceptable XRF spectra; and

a second subset of the plurality of material samples associated with unacceptable XRF spectra;

and

providing, at a user interface, an indication of the first subset and the second subset.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of reference values and the plurality of analysis thresholds are associated with at least one sample of the plurality of material samples.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each reference value of the plurality of reference values comprises a range of energy levels and a range of counts-per-second associated with a property of the one or more properties.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of analysis thresholds comprises a match percentage threshold, a property-specific threshold, a signal-to-noise threshold, and a counts-per-second threshold.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the match percentage threshold is based on the plurality of reference values.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein at least one of:

the property-specific threshold comprises:

a percentage of Argon present within at least one sample of the plurality of material samples, or

a percentage of an anode material reflectance present within the at least one sample,

or

the signal-to-noise threshold comprises a variance and a mean of a selected portion of an XRF spectrum.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the counts-per-second threshold comprises a percentile value.

8. A method comprising:

receiving first data associated with at least one sample of a plurality of material samples, wherein the first data comprises an x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrum associated with the at least one sample;

providing, at a user interface, the XRF spectrum, wherein the XRF spectrum is indicative of one or more properties present within the at least one sample;

receiving a plurality of reference values associated with the one or more properties;

receiving a plurality of analysis thresholds associated with the plurality of material samples; and

storing the plurality of reference values and the plurality of analysis thresholds.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein each reference value of the plurality of reference values comprises a range of energy levels and a range of counts-per-second associated with a property of the one or more properties.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of analysis thresholds comprises a match percentage threshold, a property-specific threshold, a signal-to-noise threshold, and a counts-per-second threshold.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the match percentage threshold is based on the plurality of reference values, and wherein the signal-to-noise threshold comprises a measure of variance present in a measurement of the at least one sample.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the property-specific threshold comprises a percentage of Argon and/or anode material reflectance present within the at least one sample.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the counts-per-second threshold comprises a percentile value.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising

determining, based on the plurality of reference values and the plurality of analysis thresholds:

a first subset of the plurality of material samples associated with acceptable XRF spectra; and

a second subset of the plurality of material samples associated with unacceptable XRF spectra.

15. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

receive first data associated with at least one sample of a plurality of material samples, wherein the first data comprises an x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrum associated with the at least one sample;

provide, at a user interface, the XRF spectrum, wherein the XRF spectrum is indicative of one or more properties present within the at least one sample;

receive a plurality of reference values associated with the one or more properties;

receive a plurality of analysis thresholds associated with the plurality of material samples; and

store the plurality of reference values and the plurality of analysis thresholds.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein each reference value of the plurality of reference values comprises a range of energy levels and a range of counts-per-second associated with a property of the one or more properties.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of analysis thresholds comprises a match percentage threshold, a property-specific threshold, and a counts-per-second threshold.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the match percentage threshold is based on the plurality of reference values.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the property-specific threshold comprises a percentage of Argon present within the at least one sample or a percentage of an anode material reflectance present within the at least one sample.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the counts-per-second threshold comprises percentile value.

Assignments (5)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (12)