Specimen preview and inspection system

A method for analyzing a Pap smear specimen, said specimen defining a plurality of regions each including cytological material, said method comprising, in combination:

• scanning said Pap smear specimen to obtain digital images of a plurality of said regions;
• analyzing said digital images and ranking a plurality of said regions according to levels of likelihood that said regions are of interest;
• storing a predetermined number of said digital images representing a group of regions having highest levels of likelihood among said regions, said group of regions defining a first subset of said regions of said specimen;
• displaying for preview by an observer a set of preview information comprising (i) said first subset of said regions and (ii) a set of additional biasing information, whereby subsequent review of said specimen by said observer may be biased according to a probability estimate that regions of said specimen are of interest;
• receiving input from said observer based on said observer's observation of said preview information, and recording said input in relation to said specimen for subsequent reference;
• generating a routing function that indicates an order for sequentially displaying regions among a second subset of said regions, said routing function further defining, respectively for each given region in said second subset of regions, a time period for display of said given region, wherein said routing function defines a longer time period for display of a region having a higher level of interest than another region;
• and
• displaying said second subset of said regions substantially according to said routing function for screening by said observer.

A method for assisting a human observer to analyze a cytological specimen, said specimen containing cellular objects, said method comprising, in combination:

• acquiring into a machine a set of information about said specimen, said set of information including a set of digital image data representing said specimen;
• said machine analyzing said digital image data and thereby identifying cellular objects in said specimen;
• said machine determining for each of said cellular objects a level of interest, said machine basing its determination of said levels of interest at least in part on a comparison of features of said cellular objects with known reference features;
• said machine maintaining a set of coordinates indicative of locations and focal positions of said cellular objects in said specimen;
• said machine generating a presentation function keyed to said coordinates, said presentation function defining speeds for sequential presentation of said cellular objects to a human observer via a microscope, said machine establishing said speeds based at least in part on said levels of interest of said cellular objects determined by said machine, wherein said presentation function defines slower speeds for presentation of cellular objects having higher levels of interest determined by said machine than other cellular objects;
• and
• employing said presentation function to control movement of a motorized microscope stage so as to sequentially present said cellular objects to said human observer via said microscope at said speeds defined by said presentation function,
• whereby said presentation function gives said human observer more time to screen a cellular object having a higher level of interest determined by said machine, and vice versa.

A method for assisting an observer to view regions of a specimen via a microscope, said microscope including a lens and a motorized stage for moving said specimen in relation to said lens so as to present various regions of said specimen to said observer via said microscope, said method comprising, in combination, the following steps carried out by a machine:

• receiving a set of data regarding said specimen, said set of data including digital image data representing regions of said specimen;
• analyzing said set of data including said digital image data and thereby assigning levels of interest respectively to said regions;
• displaying for preview by said observer a set of biasing-information including a first subset of regions of said specimen having highest assigned levels of interest, whereby subsequent screening of said specimen by said observer may be biased by said observer's preview of said biasing-information;
• and
• generating a routing function defining a sequence of regions of said specimen to be presented to said observer via said microscope and further defining, respectively for each region to be presented, a speed for presentation of said region to said observer via said microscope, wherein said speed for presentation of a given region is a function of the level of interest that said machine assigns to said region and therefore varies from region to region as said assigned level of interest vanes.

A method for assisting an observer to analyze a specimen, said specimen defining a plurality of regions, said method comprising, in order, the following steps:

• acquiring into a machine a set of data regarding a plurality of said regions;
• said machine analyzing said set of data and establishing respectively for each of a plurality of said regions a probability estimate that said region is of interest;
• said machine generating a presentation function defining parameters for presentation of a subset of said regions to said observer for screening via a microscope, said parameters including, respectively for each given region in said subset, a timing parameter defining how slowly said given region is presented to said observer via said microscope, said timing parameter for a given region being based at least in part on said probability estimate that said given region is of interest, wherein said timing parameter may vary among regions in said subset as said probability estimate varies among said regions in said subset;
• and
• presenting said subset of said regions via a microscope according to said presentation function, for screening of said subset of regions by said observer,
• whereby said observer may be given more time to screen a region that has a higher probability estimate that said region is of interest than another region.