Converting a String from Byte array to int

I've been googling all night for this problem since it is my first time to use arduino and android. My question is, how can I convert the variable data *String to int? I've been getting NumberFormatException whenever I do: int pulse = Integer.ParseInt(data);

My objective here is to be able to get the data coming from the arduino and have it as an integer, for me to be able to compare it.

ADDITIONAL: The variable "data" is a pulse rate. I need to have it converted to int so I can compare the value if the pulse rate is still normal or not. After hours of searching I found out that what I am trying to convert to int is not purely a string since it came from the arduino, now my problem is how can I make the variable "data" an integer.

This is my code:

public void run()
        {                
            while(!Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted() && !stopWorker)
            {
                try 
                {
                    final int bytesAvailable = mmInputStream.available();                        
                    if(bytesAvailable > 0)
                    {
                        byte[] packetBytes = new byte[bytesAvailable];
                        mmInputStream.read(packetBytes);
                        for(i=0;i<bytesAvailable;i++)
                        {
                            byte b = packetBytes[i];
                            if(b == delimiter)
                            {
                                final byte[] encodedBytes = new byte[readBufferPosition];
                                System.arraycopy(readBuffer, 0, encodedBytes, 0, encodedBytes.length);
                                final String data = new String(encodedBytes, "US-ASCII");
                                readBufferPosition = 0;

                                handler.post(new Runnable()
                                {
                                    public void run()
                                    {   

                                        Intent i = new Intent(Bluetooth.this, Home.class);
                                        i.putExtra("theBPM",data);
                                        startActivity(i);
                                    }
                                });
                            }
                            else
                            {
                                readBuffer[readBufferPosition++] = b;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                } 
                catch (IOException ex) 
                {
                    stopWorker = true;
                }
            }
        }
    });

    workerThread.start();

Thank you.