Optimizing Virtual Slide Image Quality
AssigneeAperio Technologies, Inc.
InventorsAllen Olson, Kiran Saligrama, Dirk G. Soenksen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for assessing and optimizing virtual microscope slide image quality are provided. In order to determine whether a virtual slide image has any out of focus areas and is therefore a candidate for manual inspection, the various focus points used to scan the virtual slide image are used to calculate a best fit surface for the virtual slide image. The distance of each focus point from the best fit surface is then calculated and the largest distance is compared to a predetermined value. If the largest distance from a focus point to the best fit surface is larger than the predetermined value, then the virtual slide image is designated as needing a manual inspection and possible re-scan.
Claims17
A computer implemented method for real-time image quality optimization of a virtual microscope slide image, comprising:
- identifying a set of focus points corresponding to a tissue sample on a microscope slide;
- calculating a best fit surface from the set of focus points;
- determining the distance of each focus point from the best fit surface;
- identifying the maximum distance of any focus point from the best fit surface;
- comparing the identified maximum distance of any focus point to a predetermined threshold distance to identify one or more outlier focus points;
- modifying the set of focus points;
- determining a focal surface in accordance with the modified set of focus points;
- and
- scanning the tissue sample on the microscope slide in accordance with the modified set of focus points.
A computer implemented system for optimizing the image quality of a virtual microscope slide image in real-time, comprising:
- a microscope slide scanning system configured to scan a specimen on a microscope slide to create a virtual microscope slide image;
- a memory configured to store the scanned virtual microscope slide image;
- the microscope slide scanning system comprising:
- a focus point identifier module configured to identify a set of focus points corresponding to a tissue sample on the microscope slide;
- a best fit surface module configured to calculate a best fit surface from the set of focus points;
- a distance module configured to identify the maximum distance of any focus point from the best fit surface;
- a comparison module configured to compare the identified maximum distance of any focus point from the best fit surface to a predetermined threshold distance to identify one or more outlier focus points;
- an adjustment module configured to modify the set of focus points;
- a focal surface module configured to generate a focal surface in accordance with the modified set of focus points;
- a scanning module configured to scan the tissue sample on the microscope slide in accordance with the modified set of focus points.
A computer implemented method for real-time image quality optimization of a virtual microscope slide image, comprising:
- identifying a set of focus points on a scan stripe corresponding to a portion of a tissue sample on a microscope slide;
- calculating a best fit surface from the set of focus points;
- determining the distance of each focus point from the best fit surface;
- identifying the maximum distance of any focus point from the best fit surface;
- comparing the identified maximum distance of any focus point to a predetermined threshold distance to identify one or more outlier focus points;
- modifying the set of focus points;
- recalculating the best fit surface from the modified set of focus points;
- determining a focal surface in accordance with the modified set of focus points;
- and
- scanning the scan stripe portion of the tissue sample on the microscope slide in accordance with the modified set of focus points.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.