Assay reader operable to scan a test strip

A system comprising:

• an assay test strip including a test portion and an encoder portion, the test portion including at least one analyte reaction section, the encoder portion including a plurality of optically detectable markings each at one of a plurality of known positions along a length of the assay test strip;
• an assay test strip reader comprising a body sized to receive the assay test strip;
• at least one detector fixedly connected to the body, the at least one detector positioned within the body such that an inserting of the assay test strip or a removing of the assay test strip by an operator, which results in movement of the assay test strip with respect to the body and the at least one detector, causes the at least one detector to detect signals from different points along the length of the assay test strip, the at least one detector configured to detect encoder optical signals indicative of a position along the length of the assay test strip that is positioned in a field of view of the at least one detector and to detect analyte optical signals indicative of a reaction of at least one analyte at the different points along the length of the assay test strip;
• at least one light source associated with the at least one detector, the at least one light source configured to illuminate at least a portion of the assay test strip adjacent to the at least one detector;
• and
• control electronics coupled to the at least one detector, the control electronics configured to:
• receive the analyte optical signals and the encoder optical signals from the at least one detector,
• for particular ones of the analyte optical signals:
• determine a magnitude of the analyte optical signal detected by the detector,
• determine, using at least one of the encoder optical signals, the position along the length of the assay test strip that was in the field of view of the detector at a time of detection of the analyte optical signal, and
• store a data pair including a first value indicating the position along the length of the assay test strip and a second value indicating the magnitude of the analyte optical signal,
• determine a distance between the known positions of the optically detectable markings of the encoder portion;
• use the determined distance and the data pairs to generate a linearized representation of a spacing of the magnitudes of the analyte optical signals along the length of the test strip, and
• determine a result in response to comparing the linearized representation to an expected position of analyte optical signals.