Data structure of an image storage and retrieval system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of storing a digital image acquired by a computer-controlled digitizing microscope, comprising:
- partitioning a microscopic image into a matrix of zelles, wherein each zelle comprises a discrete portion of the microscopic image and each zelle includes a plurality of pixels of the microscopic image;
for each zelle, capturing attribute data descriptive of an associated zelle and capturing image data descriptive of a discrete portion of the microscopic image contained in the associated zelle;
for each zelle, determining whether said zelle contains specimen content therein;
classifying each zelle either partially or fully including specimen content therein as having information of interest and classifying each zelle not including any specimen content therein as not having information of interest;
compressing the image data;
storing the attribute data in a zelle database comprised of at least one zelle database file, each zelle database file being associated with at least one corresponding zelle; and
storing the compressed image data in an image database comprised of at least one image file, wherein each image file is associated with a corresponding zelle database file.
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Abstract
Disclosed is an imaging system that stores and retrieves very large scanned digital images, as in applications that automatically scan biological samples using a computer-controlled digital camera microscope. Slide data is entered, zelle data is captured and compressed and a zelle database file is loaded. Furthermore, an image database file is loaded and it is determined whether another zelle is to be stored. The image can be retrieved by accessing the zelle database, reading a zelle record, reading an image file, loading the display buffer, and determining whether another zelle is to be loaded.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of storing a digital image acquired by a computer-controlled digitizing microscope, comprising:
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partitioning a microscopic image into a matrix of zelles, wherein each zelle comprises a discrete portion of the microscopic image and each zelle includes a plurality of pixels of the microscopic image; for each zelle, capturing attribute data descriptive of an associated zelle and capturing image data descriptive of a discrete portion of the microscopic image contained in the associated zelle; for each zelle, determining whether said zelle contains specimen content therein; classifying each zelle either partially or fully including specimen content therein as having information of interest and classifying each zelle not including any specimen content therein as not having information of interest; compressing the image data; storing the attribute data in a zelle database comprised of at least one zelle database file, each zelle database file being associated with at least one corresponding zelle; and storing the compressed image data in an image database comprised of at least one image file, wherein each image file is associated with a corresponding zelle database file. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a computer program comprising instructions to cause a computer to:
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partition a microscopic image into a matrix of zelles, wherein each zelle comprises a discrete portion of the microscopic image and wherein each zelle includes a plurality of pixels of the microscopic image; for each zelle, capture attribute data descriptive of an associated zelle and capture image data descriptive of a discrete portion of the microscopic image contained in the associated zelle; for each zelle, determine whether said zelle contains specimen content therein;
classifying each zelle either partially or fully including specimen content therein as having information of interest and classifying each zelle not including any specimen content therein as not having information of interest;compress the image data for each zelle; store the attribute data in a zelle database comprised of at least one zelle database file, each zelle database file being associated with at least one corresponding zelle; and store the compressed image data in an image database comprised of at least one image file, wherein each image file is associated with a corresponding zelle database file. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A microscope imaging system comprising:
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a computer comprising;
a processor;
a computer program on computer readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions to cause the computer to;partition a microscopic image into a grid of zelles, wherein each zelle comprises a discrete portion of the microscopic image and wherein each zelle includes a plurality of pixels of the microscopic image; for each zelle, capture attribute data descriptive of an associated zelle and capture image data descriptive of a discrete portion of the microscopic image contained in the associated zelle; for each zelle, determine whether said zelle contains specimen content therein; classify each zelle either partially or fully including specimen content therein as having information of interest and classify each zelle not including any specimen content therein as not having information of interest; compress the image data for each zelle; store the attribute data in a zelle database comprised of at least one zelle database file, each zelle database file being associated with at least one corresponding zelle; and store the compressed image data in an image database comprised of at least one image file, wherein each image file is associated with a corresponding zelle database file. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification