Apparatus and method for carrying out histological analysis of specimens

A system for conducting a histological inspection of a specimen said system comprising:

• an optical disc for use in conducting a histological inspection of a specimen, in association with an optical reader capable of scanning and reading the optical disc and a computer display capable of displaying the specimen, said disc comprising:
• a substrate having optically readable position and tracking encoded information to be scanned and read by said reader for controlling the scanning of said reader relative said disc and specimen;
• and
• a specimen support surface associated with said disc to be scanned by said reader, said support surface being provided to receive a biological specimen located on said support surface for histological inspection by said reader and display on said computer display;
• and
• a histological inspection system adapted to read information stored on said disc and discern attributes of said specimen.

A method of conducting a histological inspection of a specimen in association with an optical disc and optical reader, said method comprising;

• providing a specimen support surface on or within said disc;
• providing optically readable position and tracking encoded information to be read by said optical reader in association with said disc;
• reading said encoded information with an optical reader and visually inspecting said disc for a specimen using a light source and detector of said reader or another reader;
• and
• displaying said specimen on a computer display using said position and tracking encoded information to locate said specimen to be displayed.

A method for carrying out a histological analysis in association with a computer display unit, comprising:

• providing optically readable position encoded information in conjunction with an optical disc capable of being scanned and read by an optical reader, providing a biological specimen for histological inspection on a sample support surface associated with said optical disc;
• visually inspecting said specimen with a light source and detector system and producing a first data stream suitable for input to a computer display unit to display said specimen on said display unit;
• and
• optically reading the encoded information of said disc and producing a second data stream suitable for input to a computer to use said position information in association with the display of said specimen.

A method of conducting a histological inspection of a biological sample comprising:

• supporting at least one sample on a surface location of a substrate;
• directing electromagnetic radiation from a radiation source onto the substrate;
• scanning over the substrate by rotating the substrate about an axis substantially perpendicular to the substrate and by moving the radiation source in a direction having a component radial to said axis;
• detecting radiation reflected from and transmitted through the substrate and the sample and providing an output signal from the detected radiation corresponding to the optically inspected sample at said surface location on which said incident beam is currently directed;
• modulating at least a part of said incident beam by distributed electromagnetic radiation modulating means provided on the substrate at said surface location;
• analyzing said output signal during the scanning step to extract, from said detected radiation, digital position address information at said surface location on which said incident beam is currently directed;
• converting said output signal to a digital form by an analog to digital converter;
• transmitting said output signal in digital form to a bitstream generator and generating an output signal bitstream;
• transmitting said digital position address information to an address bitstream generator and generating an address bitstream;
• and
• transmitting said output signal bitstream and said address bitstream to a computer associated display unit and displaying said sample.

Apparatus for conducting a histological inspection of a biological sample supported on a substrate, the apparatus comprising:

• means for supporting a substrate and for rotating the substrate about an axis substantially perpendicular to the substrate;
• a source of electromagnetic radiation for providing an incident beam of electromagnetic radiation;
• drive means for moving the radiation source over the mounted sample in a direction having a component radial to said axis so that in combination with the means for rotating the substrate the incident beam can be scanned over the substrate;
• detector means for detecting radiation reflected from or transmitted through the substrate and sample and for providing an output signal corresponding to the detected radiation;
• decoding means for extracting digital address information or calibration information from said output signal, said information having been modulated by radiation modulating means provided on the substrate at the location on the surface of the substrate on which the incident beam is currently directed;
• and
• means for using said information to align the scan with the substrate and for providing a display of said sample on an associated computer display unit.

A method of conducting a histological inspection of a biological sample in association with a computer display unit, comprising:

• supporting at least one sample on a substrate at a surface location associated with said substrate;
• directing electromagnetic radiation from a radiation source onto the substrate;
• scanning over the substrate by rotating the substrate about an axis substantially perpendicular to the substrate and by moving the radiation source in a direction having a component radial to said axis;
• detecting radiation reflected from and transmitted through the substrate and the sample and providing an output signal from the detected radiation corresponding to the optically inspected sample at said surface location on which said incident beam is directed;
• modulating at least a part of said incident beam by distributed electromagnetic radiation modulating means provided with the substrate at a said surface location;
• analyzing said output signal during the scanning step to extract, from said detected radiation, digital position address information at said surface location on which said incident beam is directed;
• and
• displaying a visual representation of said sample on a display of said computer display unit generated by use of said output signal from the detected radiation corresponding to the optically inspected sample.

A method of conducting a histological inspection of a biological sample, comprising:

• supporting at least one sample on a respective surface location of a substrate;
• directing electromagnetic radiation from a radiation source onto the substrate;
• scanning over the substrate by rotating the substrate about an axis substantially perpendicular to the substrate and by moving the radiation source in a direction having a component radial to said axis;
• detecting radiation reflected from and transmitted through the substrate and the sample and providing an output signal from the detected radiation corresponding to the optically inspected sample at said surface location on which said incident beam is currently directed;
• modulating at least a part of said incident beam by distributed electromagnetic radiation modulating means provided on the substrate at said surface location;
• analyzing a modulated part of said incident beam during the scanning step to extract digital position address information at said respective surface location;
• converting said output signal to a digital form by an analog to digital converter;
• transmitting said output signal in digital form to a bitstream generator and generating an output signal bitstream;
• transmitting said digital position address information to an address bitstream generator and generating an address bitstream, and transmitting said output signal bitstream and said address bitstream to a computer associated display unit and displaying said sample.

A system for carrying out an a histological inspection of a sample the system comprising:

• an optical disc having a surface for supporting at least one sample;
• a source of electromagnetic radiation for providing an incident beam of electromagnetic radiation;
• means for scanning across said surface;
• detector means which in use is arranged to detect radiation reflected from and passing through the substrate and the sample, the disc being provided with distributed electromagnetic radiation modulating means for modulating at least a part of said incident beam with a digitally encoded position address at the location on said surface on which the incident beam is currently directed, the detector means being arranged to decode the modulated radiation to determine the encoded address and to determine if the incident beam radiation has been modulated by any of said material present in the sample;
• and
• a computer display unit and means for generating digital bitstream information from information provided by said detector means to display said sample.

Apparatus for conducting a histological inspection of a biological sample supported on a substrate, the apparatus comprising:

• means for supporting a substrate and for rotating the substrate about an axis substantially perpendicular to the substrate;
• a source of electromagnetic radiation for providing an incident beam of electromagnetic radiation;
• drive means for moving the radiation source over the mounted sample in a direction having a component radial to said axis so that in combination with the means for rotating the substrate the incident beam can be scanned over the substrate;
• detector means for detecting radiation reflected from or transmitted through the substrate and sample and for providing an output signal corresponding to the detected radiation;
• decoding means for extracting digital address information or calibration information from said output signal, said information having been modulated by radiation modulating means provided on the substrate at the location on the surface of the substrate on which the incident beam is currently directed;
• means for using said information to align the scan with the substrate;
• and
• means for displaying a visual representation of said address information and said sample on a computer display unit.