System and method of registering field of view

• US 20050281484A1
• Filed: 06/17/2004
• Published: 12/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microimaging Ais, Inc. (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Inventors: Perz, Cynthia B., Torre-Bueno, Jose De La
• Granted Patent: US 7,653,260 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/294
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/365 Control or image processing arrangements for digital or video microscopes G02B21/361, G02B21/362 take precedence

Abstract

Disclosed is a system for and a method of registering images captured by a computer-controlled microscope. The imaging system of the present invention includes a computer-controlled microscope electrically connected to a controller having a display device. The microscope further includes a barcode reader, a camera, a serial interface, one or more sensors, one or more motors, a light source, a turret, and a data interface. The method of image registration includes the steps of defining areas of interest on a microscope slide, creating a database of microscopic image locations, commanding a microscope to each location, capturing and storing an image, calculating correlation with neighbors, registering correlation scores and offsets, determining an anchor, and attaching neighbors using correlation scores and offsets.

Claims

1. A method of registering images captured by a computer controlled microscope, comprising:

partitioning a microscopic image into a series of segments, wherein each segment comprises a discrete portion of the microscopic image;

capturing image data for each of the segments, wherein the image data for each segment includes at least one duplicate region of image data that overlaps with the image data of an adjacent segment;

determining an anchor-segment by which all adjacent segments will be compared;

aligning the segments with one another to create a single macroscopic image comprised of the aligned segments.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the microscopic image relates to an image of a microscope slide having a biological sample, and wherein the method further comprises classifying each segment as either an interesting segment that contains at least a portion of the sample, or a nonintersecting segment that contains none of the sample.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein the capturing, determining, and aligning steps are performed only on segments classified as interesting.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising storing attribute data relative to each segment in a database.

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein the attribute data include the area covered by each segment as defined by a coordinate system.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising, for each segment, calculating at least one correlation score indicative of the level of correlation of a segment with each of its adjacent segments, wherein the correlation score is calculated by correlating the duplicate region of the segment to a corresponding duplicate region of an adjacent segment.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, further comprising, for each segment, calculating at least one offset value relative to an adjacent segment, the offset value being indicative of the amount that the segment is offset relative to the adjacent segment.

8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the anchor segment is determined based on which segment has the highest number of adjacent segments with interesting content contained in the adjacent segments.

9. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the anchor segment is further determined based on which segment is closest to the center of the microscopic image.

10. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein aligning the segments with one another comprises:

using the offset values of each of the anchor zelle'"'"'s adjacent segments to contiguously align each of the adjacent segments to the anchor zelle;

using the correlation scores to resolve conflicting offset values between the adjacent segments and the anchor segment, wherein the offset value corresponding to the neighbor with the highest correlation score relative to the anchor segment is used to align the neighbor segments to the anchor segment.

11. A method as defined in claim 10, further comprising successively aligning all of the segments to the anchor segment to form the single macroscopic image.

12. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein a north, south, east or west adjacent segment is aligned to a subject segment prior to aligning a diagonal segment to the subject segment.

13. A computer-implemented method of claim 1.

14. A computer program on computer readable medium comprising instructions to cause a computer to:

partition a microscopic image into a series of segments, wherein each segment comprises a discrete portion of the microscopic image;

capture image data for each of the segments, wherein the image data for each segment includes at least one duplicate region of image data that overlaps with the image data of an adjacent segment;

determine an anchor segment by which all adjacent segments will be compared;

align the segments with one another to create a single macroscopic image comprised of the aligned segments.

15. A computer program as defined in claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to:

for each segment, calculate at least one correlation score indicative of the level of correlation of a segment with each of its adjacent segments, wherein the correlation score is calculated by correlating the duplicate region of the segment to a corresponding duplicate region of an adjacent segment.

16. A computer program as defined in claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to:

for each segment, calculate at least one offset value relative to an adjacent segment, the offset value being indicative of the amount that the segment is offset relative to the adjacent segment.

17. A computer program as defined in claim 14, wherein the anchor segment is determined based on which segment has the highest number of adjacent segments with interesting content contained in the adjacent segments.

18. A computer program as defined in claim 14, wherein the anchor segment is further determined based on which segment is closest to the center of the microscopic image.

19. A computer program as defined in claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to:

use the offset values of each of the anchor zelle'"'"'s adjacent segments to contiguously align each of the adjacent segments to the anchor zelle;

use the correlation scores to resolve conflicting offset values between the adjacent segments and the anchor segment, wherein the offset value corresponding to the neighbor with the highest correlation score relative to the anchor segment is used to align the neighbor segments to the anchor segment.

20. A computer program as defined in claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to successively align all of the segments to the anchor segment to form the single macroscopic image.

21. A microscope imaging system comprising:

a computer comprising;

a system processor;

a computer program on computer readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions to cause the computer to;

partition a microscopic image into a series of segments, wherein each segment comprises a discrete portion of the microscopic image;

capture image data for each of the segments, wherein the image data for each segment includes at least one duplicate region of image data that overlaps with the image data of an adjacent segment;

determine an anchor segment by which all adjacent segments will be compared;

align the segments with one another to create a single macroscopic image comprised of the aligned segments.

22. A system as defined in claim 21, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to:

for each segment, calculate at least one correlation score indicative of the level of correlation of a segment with each of its adjacent segments, wherein the correlation score is calculated by correlating the duplicate region of the segment to a corresponding duplicate region of an adjacent segment.

23. A system as defined in claim 22, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to:

for each segment, calculate at least one offset value relative to an adjacent segment, the offset value being indicative of the amount that the segment is offset relative to the adjacent segment.

24. A system as defined in claim 21, wherein the anchor segment is determined based on which segment has the highest number of adjacent segments with interesting content contained in the adjacent segments.

25. A system as defined in claim 21, wherein the anchor segment is further determined based on which segment is closest to the center of the microscopic image.

26. A system as defined in claim 23, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to:

use the offset values of each of the anchor zelle'"'"'s adjacent segments to contiguously align each of the adjacent segments to the anchor zelle;

use the correlation scores to resolve conflicting offset values between the adjacent segments and the anchor segment, wherein the offset value corresponding to the neighbor with the highest correlation score relative to the anchor segment is used to align the neighbor segments to the anchor segment.

27. A system as defined in claim 23, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to successively align all of the segments to the anchor segment to form the single macroscopic image.