Patent ID: 6151405
Filing Date: 2000-11-21
Classification: G01N,G06K

Abstract:
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 magnified 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 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; andcomparing 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.