System and method for cellular specimen grading

A system for evaluating the amount of a visually detectable marker identifying precipitate in a cellular specimen bound to a microscope slide comprising:

• an image processor for obtaining a color digital image of a magnified view of a cellular specimen bound to microscope slide;
• means for identifying candidate objects of interest in the cellular specimen;
• means for identifying a centroid for each candidate object of interest;
• means for computing a color ratio of at least two color components for each pixel of an area centered about each identified centroid;
• means for computing an average color ratio for all pixels in the area centered about each centroid that have a computed color ratio that exceeds a predetermined ratio threshold;
• and
• means for comparing the computed average ratio to at least one intensity threshold to evaluate the amount of marker identifying precipitate in each area centered about each centroid.

A method for evaluating the amount of a visually detectable marker identifying precipitate in a plurality of candidate objects of interest located in a digital image of a cellular specimen bound to a microscope slide comprising the steps of:

• identifying a centroid for each candidate object of interest in a plurality of candidate objects of interest;
• computing a color ratio of at least two color components for each pixel of an area centered about each identified centroid;
• computing an average color ratio for all pixels in the area centered about each centroid that have a computed color ratio that exceeds a predetermined color ratio threshold;
• and
• comparing the computed average color ratio to at least one intensity threshold to evaluate the amount of marker identifying precipitate in each area centered about each centroid.

A system for scoring the amount of a marker identifying precipitate in a cellular specimen bound to a microscope slide comprising:

• a color ratio generator for computing color ratios for pixels within an area centered about a centroid for a candidate object of interest in image data of a magnified view of the cellular specimen;
• a color ratio comparator for comparing the computed color ratios to a predetermined threshold to determine which color ratios are included in a normalized color ratio;
• a color ratio normalizer for generating a normalized color ratio;
• a grade generator for generating a grade for the candidate object of interest from the normalized color ratio;
• and
• a score generator for generating a score indicative of an amount of a marker identifying precipitate in the cellular specimen by summing grades for a predetermined number of candidate objects of interest.

A method for evaluating the amount of a visually detectable marker identifying precipitate in a cellular specimen bound to a microscope slide comprising the steps of:

• obtaining a color digital image of a manified view of a cellular specimen bound to microscope slide;
• processing the color digital image to identify a plurality of candidate objects of interest in the cellular specimen;
• identifying a centroid for identified candidate objects of interest in the plurality of candidate objects of interest;
• computing a color ratio for a pixel in an area centered about each identified centroid in response to a largest color component value for the pixel being greater than a white threshold and a smallest color component value for the pixel being less than a black threshold, the color ratio being a ratio of a difference between a first pixel color component and a second pixel color component to a sum of the first pixel color component and the second pixel color component;
• computing an average color ratio for all pixels in the area centered about each centroid that have a computed color ratio that exceeds a predetermined color ratio threshold;
• and
• comparing the computed average color ratio to at least one intensity threshold to evaluate the amount of marker identifying precipitate in each area centered about each centroid.

A system for scoring the amount of a marker identifying precipitate in a cellular specimen bound to a microscope slide comprising:

• a color ratio generator for computing color ratios for pixels within an area centered about a centroid for a candidate object of interest in image data of a magnified view of the cellular specimen, the color ratio generator having a white threshold and a black threshold that are used by the color ratio generator to determine whether a color ratio is computed for a pixel;
• a color ratio comparator for comparing the computed color ratios to a predetermined threshold to determine which color ratios are included in a normalized color ratio;
• a color ratio normalizer for generating a normalized color ratio;
• a grade generator for generating a grade for the candidate object of interest from the normalized color ratio;
• and
• a score generator for generating a score indicative of an amount of a marker identifying precipitate in the cellular specimen by summing grades for a predetermined number of candidate objects of interest.