System and method for reconstructing a diagnostic trajectory

• US 20100034437A1
• Filed: 06/26/2009
• Published: 02/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: Jack A. Zeineh
• Inventors: Zeineh, Jack A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,916,913 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 9/007 Transform coding, e.g. discrete cosine transform
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/40 for data related to laboratory analysis, e.g. patient specimen analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

A system and method for reconstructing a diagnostic trajectory.

Claims

1. A method of reconstructing a diagnostic trajectory of an examination of a specimen, comprising:

transmitting a plurality of images of a specimen, the plurality of images at a first magnification, the plurality of images together comprising a reference image of substantially the entire specimen;

receiving a plurality of requests to view a plurality of areas of the reference image at magnifications greater than the first magnification;

transmitting an area image for each of said plurality of areas; and

archiving said images, X-Y coordinates of each of said areas, and a time stamp of each of said requests; and

reconstructing a trajectory of an examination of the specimen by presenting the archived images in temporal order according to the time stamps.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising archiving illumination data of each of the requests.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising archiving a resolution of each of the requests.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising archiving the magnifications greater than said first magnification.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the specimen comprises tissue.

6. A system for reconstructing a diagnostic trajectory of an examination of a specimen, the system comprising:

a microscope with a computer controlled stage for receiving the specimen, the stage selectively shiftable according to X-Y coordinates;

an image capturing device arranged to capture images of the specimen through the microscope;

a processor arranged to control the microscope and the image capturing device, the processor programmed with an algorithm for;

capturing a specimen image with the image capturing device at a first magnification and transmitting the specimen image;

receiving a plurality of requests to view a plurality of areas of the specimen image at magnifications greater than the first magnification;

capturing an area image of each of the plurality of areas with the image capturing device, and transmitting each of the area images;

archiving the area images, X-Y coordinates of each of the areas, and a time stamp for each of the requests; and

reconstructing a trajectory of an examination of the specimen by presenting the archived images in temporal order according to the time stamps.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the algorithm includes archiving illumination data for each of the requests.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the algorithm includes archiving a resolution for each of the requests.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the algorithm includes archiving magnifications greater than said first magnification.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the specimen comprises tissue.

11. A system for reconstructing a diagnostic trajectory of an examination of a specimen, the system comprising:

means for capturing images of the specimen through the microscope at a plurality of magnifications;

means for archiving the captured images; and

a processor programmed with an algorithm for;

capturing a specimen image at a first magnification with the means for capturing images;

receiving a plurality of requests to view a plurality of areas of the specimen image at magnifications greater than the first magnification;

capturing an area image of each of the plurality of areas with the means for capturing images;

archiving the area images, X-Y coordinates of each of the areas, and a time stamp for each of the requests with the means for archiving images; and

reconstructing a trajectory of an examination of the specimen by presenting the archived images in temporal order according to the time stamps.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the algorithm further includes archiving illumination data for each of the requests with the means for archiving images.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the algorithm further includes archiving a resolution for each of the images with the means for archiving images.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for capturing images includes an image capturing device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the image capturing device comprises a high-resolution, color, digital video camera.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for archiving images includes a computer.

17. The system of claim 11, further comprising a graphical user interface for enabling a user to generate the requests.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising a telecommunications interface,

19. The system of claim 11, further comprising a microscope.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the microscope includes a computer controlled stage.