IMAGE DETECTION METHOD FOR DIAGNOSTIC PLATES

• US 20080304721A1
• Filed: 06/11/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kaiwood Technology Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Kaiwood Technology Company Limited
• Inventors: Lin, Chien-Der, WU, Tzu-Chiang
• Application Number:
  US11/760,884
• Publication Number:
  US 20080304721A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/8483 Investigating reagent band test-element handling not specific to a test method G01N33/4875; analytical elements specific to chemical analysis of biological material G01N33/52; autometer with reagent band G01N35/04

Abstract

The present invention relates to an image detection method for diagnostic plates, which detects the changes of signal lines in multiple assay regions at the same time, and promotes the detection efficiency remarkably. The diagnostic plates in the present invention may comprise Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, and comprise at least one assay region, and at least one signal line within the assay region. This image detection method for diagnostic plates according to the present invention comprises: reading the parameters from the RFID tags of the diagnostic plates directly, or reading the alternative RFID tags provided with an RFID reader, or downloading the parameters from external files of computer; detecting the changes of the images whether reaches the stable state; analyzing and measuring the color of signal lines and the background in the image of the diagnostic plates after the images are stabilized; calculating the color intensity difference between the images of the signal line and the corresponding background; and determining the result of the signal lines in the assay region based on the difference in intensity.

Claims

1. An image detection method for diagnostic plates, and the diagnostic plates comprise at least one assay region, and at least one signal line in the assay region, the method comprising the steps of:

reading the corresponding parameters of the diagnostic plates;

detecting the changes of the images whether reaches the stable state;

analyzing and measuring the color of signal lines and the background in the image of the diagnostic plates after the image change is stable;

calculating the difference in color intensity between the images of signal line and the corresponding background; and

determining the results of the signal lines in the assay region based on the intensity difference.

2. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 1, wherein the corresponding parameters of the diagnostic plates comprise the number of assay regions, the test items, the size of the diagnostic plate, the size of assay regions, the correction curves for the test items, the diagnostic negative/positive thresholds.

3. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 1, wherein the corresponding parameters of the diagnostic plates are read directly from the RFID tags of the diagnostic plates, or the RFID tags provided with an RFID reader or external files.

4. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 1, wherein the image is regarded stable if the image difference between the images of the two diagnostic plates is smaller than a threshold value.

5. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 1, further comprising automatic location of assay regions in the images of diagnostic plates.

6. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 1, further comprising automatic location of signal lines in the images of diagnostic plates.

7. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signal line is a control line, the difference in color intensity between the images of the control line and the corresponding background is used as a standard to determine the validity of the test items.

8. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 7, wherein the test item is determined to be valid if the difference in color intensity between the image of the control line and the corresponding background is higher than a threshold value.

9. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 8, wherein the test item is determined to be invalid if the difference in color intensity between the images of the control line and the corresponding background is lower than the threshold value.

10. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signal line is a reaction line, the difference in color intensity between the images of the reaction line and the corresponding background is used to determine if the result of the test items corresponding to the assay region is positive or negative.

11. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 10, wherein the test item is determined to be positive if the difference in color intensity between the images of the reaction line and the corresponding background is higher than a threshold value, and when the test item belongs to the category of disease screening.

12. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 10, wherein the test item is determined to be positive if the difference in color intensity between the images of the reaction line and the corresponding background is lower than the threshold value, and when the test item belongs to the category of drug screening.

13. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 1, comprising at least one control line and at least one reaction line in the assay region.

14. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 13, further comprising calculating the first difference in color intensity between the images of the control line and the corresponding background of the assay region, and calculating the second difference in color intensity between the image of the reaction line and the corresponding background of the assay region.

15. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 14, further comprising calculating the ratio of the second difference in color intensity to the first difference in color intensity, and determining if the result of the test items corresponding to the assay regions is negative or positive.

16. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 1, further comprising capturing serial images of the diagnostic plates, and analyzing the color of signal lines and the background in each image of the diagnostic plates respectively after the image change is stable.

17. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 16, further comprising statistics calculating the test items corresponding to the assay regions based on the difference in color intensity between the images of the signal line and the corresponding background for each image.

18. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 17, further comprising determining the result of each signal line in the assay regions according to reported values based on the statistics calculation for each test item.

19. An image detection method for diagnostic plates, and the diagnostic plates comprise at least one assay region, and at least one signal line within the assay region, comprising the steps of:

reading the corresponding parameters of the diagnostic plates;

determining if the image changes of the diagnostic plates is lower than a threshold value;

analyzing and measuring the color of signal lines and the background in the image of the diagnostic plates if the image change is lower than the threshold value;

calculating the difference in color intensity between the images of signal line and the corresponding background; and

determining the result of the signal lines in the assay region based on the intensity difference.

20. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 19, wherein the corresponding parameters of the diagnostic plates comprise the number of assay regions, the test items, the size of the diagnostic plate, the size of assay regions, the correction curves for the test items, the diagnostic negative/positive thresholds.

21. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 19, wherein the corresponding parameters of the diagnostic plates are read directly from the RFID tags of the diagnostic plates, or the RFID tags are read from an RFID reader or external files.

22. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 19, wherein the image is regarded stable if the image difference between the images of the two diagnostic plates is smaller than a threshold value.

23. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 19, further comprising automatic location of assay regions in the images of diagnostic plates.

24. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 19, further comprising automatic location of signal lines in the images of diagnostic plates.

25. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 19, wherein the signal line is a control line, the difference in color intensity between the images of the control line and the corresponding background is used as a standard to determine the validity of the test items.

26. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 25, wherein the test item is determined to be valid if the difference in color intensity between the images of the control line and the corresponding background is higher than a threshold value.

27. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 26, wherein the test item is determined to be invalid if the difference in color intensity between the images of the control line and the corresponding background is lower than the threshold value.

28. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 19, wherein the signal line is a reaction line, the difference in color intensity between the images of the reaction line and the corresponding background is used to determine if the result of the test items corresponding to the assay region is positive or negative.

29. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 28, wherein the test item is determined to be positive if the difference in color intensity between the images of the reaction line and the corresponding background is higher than a threshold value, and when the test item belongs to the category of disease screening.

30. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 28, wherein the test item is determined to be positive if the difference in color intensity between the images of the reaction line and the corresponding background is lower than the threshold value, and when the test item belongs to the category of drug screening.

31. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 19, comprising at least one control line and at least one reaction line in the assay region.

32. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 31, further comprising calculating the first difference in color intensity between the images of the control line and the corresponding background of the assay region, and calculating the second difference in color intensity between the images of the reaction line and the corresponding background of the assay region.

33. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 32, further comprising calculating the ratio of the second difference in color intensity to the first difference in color intensity, and determining if the result of the test items corresponding to the assay regions is negative or positive.

34. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 19, further comprising capturing serial images of the diagnostic plates, and analyzing the color of signal lines and the background in each image of the diagnostic plates respectively after the image change is lower than a threshold value.

35. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 34, further comprising statistics calculating the test items corresponding to the assay regions based on the difference in color intensity between the image of signal line and the corresponding background for each image.

36. The image detection method for diagnostic plates as claimed in claim 35, further comprising determining the result of each signal line in the assay regions according to reported values based on the statistics calculation for each test item.