Method and apparatus for automated image analysis of biological specimens
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- loading a slide which includes a medical sample onto a scanning stage;
acquiring an electronic image of at least a portion of said slide;
varying a focus of said slide by changing a distance between said slide and hardware that obtains said electronic image, and reacquiring an image, thereby obtaining multiple images;
based on said acquiring and said varying, fitting at least one characteristic of the multiple images to a Gaussian function, said fitting comprising determining a characteristic relative to a pixel value mean between different portions of the slide; and
using said fitting to select an optimum characteristic.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for automated cell analysis of biological specimens automatically scans at a low magnification to acquire images which are analyzed to determine candidate cell objects of interest. The low magnification images are converted from a first color space to a second color space. The color space converted image is then filtered. The candidate interest pixels are morphologically processed and compared to blob parameters to identify candidate objects of interest which correspond to cells or other structures relevant to medical diagnosis of the biological specimen. The location coordinates of the objects of interest are stored and additional images of the candidate cell objects are acquired at high magnification.
185 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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loading a slide which includes a medical sample onto a scanning stage; acquiring an electronic image of at least a portion of said slide; varying a focus of said slide by changing a distance between said slide and hardware that obtains said electronic image, and reacquiring an image, thereby obtaining multiple images; based on said acquiring and said varying, fitting at least one characteristic of the multiple images to a Gaussian function, said fitting comprising determining a characteristic relative to a pixel value mean between different portions of the slide; and using said fitting to select an optimum characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method comprising;
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acquiring images of medical slides at a plurality of different focus positions; determining a position which produces a maximum value of pixel values relative to a pixel value mean, wherein said value related to pixel value mean is a pixel value variance; and producing a focus control signal that is related to said maximum value to control a focus position, wherein said determining a position comprises fitting a plurality of points to a Gaussian function, and using a specified portion on the Gaussian function as a coarse estimate as a focus position. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An automated microscope system, comprising:
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a slide stage, adapted for holding at least one medical slide; an electronic camera, positioned to obtain an image of a slide that is mounted on the slide stage; a slide stage moving portion, connected to said slide stage, and moving said slide stage in at least a Z direction, that moves the slide stage closer to the electronic camera and further from the electronic camera; and a processing portion, receiving an electronic signal indicative of said image of the slide, and processing said image to determine a value related to maximum pixel value mean, and to determine a second value that represents a best value in the z direction that produces a maximum focus, and to produce a signal output to said slide stage moving portion indicative of said best value, wherein said processing portion controls said slide stage moving portion to a plurality of different values to determine said value related to maximum pixel value mean, wherein said value related to maximum pixel mean is pixel value variance, and wherein said processing portion carries out curve fitting to a Gaussian function and uses a value related to peak of said Gaussian as said value related to maximum pixel mean. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. An automated microscope system, comprising:
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a slide stage, adapted for holding at least one medical slide; an electronic camera, positioned to obtain an image of a slide that is mounted on the slide stage; a slide stage moving portion, connected to said slide stage, and moving said slide stage in at least a Z direction, that moves the slide stage closer to the electronic camera and further from the electronic camera; and a processing portion, receiving an electronic signal indicative of said image of the slide, and processing said image to determine a value related to maximum pixel value mean, and to determine a second value that represents a best value in the z direction that produces a maximum focus, and to produce a signal output to said slide stage moving portion indicative of said best value, wherein said processing portion controls said slide stage moving portion to a plurality of different values, to determine said value related to maximum pixel value mean, wherein said value related to maximum pixel mean is a pixel value standard deviation, and wherein said processing portion carries out curve fitting to a Gaussian function and uses a value related to peak of said Gaussian as said value related to maximum pixel mean.
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17. A method comprising;
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acquiring images of medical slides at a plurality of different focus positions; determining a position which produces a maximum value of pixel values relative to a pixel value mean, wherein said value related to pixel value mean is a pixel value standard deviation; and producing a focus control signal that is related to said maximum value to control a focus position, wherein said determining a position comprises fitting a plurality of points to a Gaussian function, and using a specified portion on the Gaussian function as a coarse estimate as a focus position.
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Specification