Patent ID: 6754375
Filing Date: 2004-06-22
Classification: B01J,G16B,Y10T

Abstract:
A method for interactively developing a regular pattern of grid patterns including at least one grid pattern from at least one digital image of rows and columns of spots, the regular pattern of grid patterns defining an array set, and the rows and columns of spots defining rows and columns of arrays, the method comprising:displaying the rows and columns of spots including a corner spot located in one of the rows and columns; receiving a first set of commands from a user to select an approximate location of the corner spot to obtain pattern origin data; receiving a second set of commands from the user to select at least one column spot in the same column as the corner spot to obtain column data wherein the at least one column spot includes a spot furthest away from the corner spot, and wherein the column data is processed with the pattern origin data and the at least one digital image to obtain the at least one grid pattern; receiving a third set of commands from the user to select at least one row corner spot in the row of arrays corresponding to the corner spot of the at least one grid pattern to obtain row array data wherein the at least one row corner spot is in an array furthest from the at least one grid pattern in the same row of arrays as the at least one grid pattern; and receiving a fourth set of commands from the user to select at least one column corner spot in the column of arrays corresponding to the corner spot of the at least one grid pattern to obtain column array data wherein the at least one column corner spot is in an array furthest from the at least one grid pattern in the same column of arrays; and processing the at least one digital image and the pattern origin data to obtain the at least one grid pattern, wherein the at least one grid pattern includes rows and columns of grid elements, wherein the step of processing includes the step of calculating the number of rows and columns of grid elements, average spacing between adjacent rows and average spacing between adjacent columns of grid elements, and wherein processing also processes the row array data and the column array data with the spot dimension data, the pattern origin data and the row and column data to obtain the regular pattern of grid patterns.