Pathology slide scanner

A method of scanning at least a portion of a large specimen using an instrument comprising an imaging device having at least one lens, a holder to support said specimen, a two dimensional area detector array and a processor, said holder and said specimen being movable relative to said detector array, said method comprising moving said holder and said specimen relative to said detector array in a direction perpendicular to an edge dimension of said detector array and perpendicular to an optical train of the instrument, configuring said detector array to receive data from said specimen through said imaging device when a shutter of said detector array is open and to pass data to said processor when said shutter is closed, said detector array having N lines a distance X apart, moving said holder and said specimen relative to said detector array by successive distances of MX on said detector array and distances of MY on said specimen for each line of said detector array, operating a controller to briefly open and close said shutter within each incremental distance MX that said detector array moves relative to said specimen and corresponding incremental distance MY on said specimen, controlling said shutter to repeatedly open and close numerous times for each image strip of said specimen, taking a sufficient number of image strips to enable said specimen to be at least partially scanned so that each part of said specimen that is being scanned is exposed to said detector array N/M times resulting in N/M overlapping area images being taken for each part of said specimen, programming said processor to add together data for all N/M exposures of each line in the image strip for each part of said specimen being scanned and to assemble the resulting image strips for all of the parts of at least said portion of the specimen being scanned in order to produce a contiguous image of at least said portion of said specimen being scanned, where N is the number of lines in said detector array and is greater than 1, X is the distance between the lines of the detector array, Y is a distance on the specimen corresponding to the distance X on the detector array and M is a positive integer.

An instrument for alternatively scanning and stationary imaging of at least part of a specimen in combination, the instrument comprising an optical train to focus light from the specimen onto a two-dimensional area detector array, the detector array being part of the optical train, there being a holder for the specimen, the holder moving relative to the detector array during scanning by successive distances of MX on the detector array and corresponding successive distances of MY on the specimen, the holder being perpendicular to the optical train of the instrument during scanning, the detector array taking image strips of the specimen, there being a sufficient number of image strips taken to enable the specimen to be at least partially scanned so that each part of the specimen being scanned is exposed to the detector array N/M times resulting in N/M overlapping area images being taken for each part of the specimen being scanned, a processor being programmed to add together data for all N/M exposures for each line in the image strip for each part of said specimen being scanned and to assemble the resulting image strips for all parts of the specimen being scanned in order to produce a contiguous image of said portion of said specimen being scanned, where N is the number of lines of said detector array and is greater than 1, X is the distance between lines of the detector array, Y is the distance on the specimen corresponding to the distance on the detector array during scanning and M is a positive integer, the holder being fixed relative to the detector array during stationary imaging of the specimen.

An instrument for scanning at least a part of a specimen, the instrument comprising an optical train to focus light from the specimen onto a two-dimensional area detector array, the detector array being part of the optical train, there being a holder for the specimen, the specimen moving with the holder, the holder moving relative to the detector array during scanning by successive distances of MX on the detector array and corresponding successive distances of MY on the specimen, the holder being perpendicular to the optical train of the instrument during scanning, the detector array taking image strips of the specimen, there being a sufficient number of image strips taken to enable the specimen to be at least partially scanned so that each part of the specimen being scanned is exposed to the detector array N/M times resulting in N/M overlapping area images being taken for each part of the specimen being scanned, a processor being programmed to add together data for all N/M exposures for each line in the image strip for each part of said specimen being scanned and to assemble the resulting image strips for all parts of the specimen being scanned in order to produce a contiguous image of said portion of said specimen being scanned, where N is the number of lines of said detector array and is greater than 1, X is the distance between lines of the detector array, Y is the distance on the specimen corresponding to the distance on the detector array during scanning and M is a positive integer.