System and method for creating variable quality images of a slide

• US 20060159367A1
• Filed: 01/18/2006
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microimaging Ais, Inc. (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: Trestle Corporation (Balincan USA, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zeineh, Jack A., Dong, Rui-Tao
• Application Number:
  US11/334,138
• Publication Number:
  US 20060159367A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/276
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/365 Control or image processing arrangements for digital or video microscopes G02B21/361, G02B21/362 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30024 Cell structures in vitro; Tissue sections in vitro
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/693 Acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

Systems and methods for creating variable quality images of a slide.

Claims

1. A method for creating an image of a portion of an area, the area having a specimen disposed therein, the process comprising:

determining a probability that the portion is a region of interest;

designating a quality in which to create the image, the designation of the quality based, at least in part, on the probability; and

creating the image at the quality.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion is the region of interest if it at least part of the specimen is disposed on the portion.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality is dependent, at least in part, upon a resolution at which the image is created.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality is dependent, at least in part, upon a speed at which the image is captured.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality is dependent, at least in part, upon an optical resolution of a device capturing the image.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality is dependent, at least in part, upon a focus quality parameter of a device capturing the image.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the focus parameter is dependent, at least in part, upon a focal distance at which the image is captured.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality is dependent, at least in part, upon a bit-depth capturing ability of a device capturing the image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality is dependent, at least in part, upon a compression level of the image.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality is dependent, at least in part, upon a compression format of the image.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality is dependent, at least in part, upon an image correction technique to be applied to the image.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality is dependent, at least in part, upon a number of focal planes in which the image is captured.

13. A system for evaluating an area containing a specimen, the system comprising:

an imager to capture an image of a portion of the area; and

a processor to execute instructions to analyze the image and thereby determine a confidence score related to whether at least a part of the specimen is disposed on the portion.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the confidence score corresponds, at least in part, to a range of probabilities the portion contains the part of the specimen.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the confidence score corresponds, at least in part, to a probability that the portion contains the part of the specimen.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the confidence score corresponds, at least in part, to an image quality designation for the portion.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the correspondence of the confidence score to the image quality designation is based, at least in part, on thresholding.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the correspondence of the confidence score to the image quality designation is based, at least in part, on adaptive thresholding.

19. A system for evaluating a slide, the system comprising:

an imager to capture an image of the slide; and

a processor to execute instructions to partition the image into portions and to analyze each of the portions to determine an image quality to associate with each of the portions.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the image quality is selected from at least three values.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the determination of the image quality for each of the portions is dependent upon the probability each of the portions is a region of interest.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the image quality is dependent upon one or more imaging parameters.

23. A system for obtaining an image of a portion of an area, the area having a specimen disposed therein, the system comprising:

a processor that executes instructions and thereby causes the processor to determine a probability that the portion is a region of interest and to determine a quality in which to capture the image as a function of the probability; and

an imager to capture the image at the quality.