A test strip reader is provided with an optical mouse integrated circuit
sensor that reads the test line, reference line and control line of a
lateral flow assay strip by light absorption and determines the position
of the test strip beneath the image on the integrated circuit board using
digital signal processing algorithms. The digital signal processing
algorithms process the imaged surface at a very high rate (e.g., 1500
frames per second) to determine the direction and speed of movement of
the lateral strip with respect to the reader optics and image capture
components. The sensor outputs this position information in a quadrature
pattern format. A microcontroller uses the known position of the strip
with respect to the reader to calculate the optical absorption of each
colored reagent line, and the diagnostic significance (i.e., either
qualitative or quantitative) of the test strip.