Patent ID: 6980677
Filing Date: 2005-12-27
Classification: G06K,G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for processing data in digitized images of biological microarrays to identify one or more groupings of spots present in the microarray, the method comprising: importing a captured digitized image of a biological microarray of spots in an electronic format, the array comprising a plurality of approximately rectangular groupings of spots, called blocks, the groupings being defined by 1 through N, where N is an integer greater than 1, the blocks being arranged in a regular pattern, with rows and columns of blocks being separated by substantially horizontal and vertical isolation regions comprising background, the background regions being long, narrow areas approximating a rectangular shape, which are substantially free from any spots; processing the captured image to reduce background noise from the captured image; identifying at least the isolation region between the groupings in the captured image using a frequency domain filter applied to the captured image, the filter being constructed according to periodic components of the captured image, the periodic components being defined by a spatial distribution of the spots in the captured image of the microarray; determining the locations of the boundaries of the groupings in the captured image of the biological microarray to isolate any one of the groupings from any one of the other groupings; and storing the locations of the boundaries of the groupings in the captured image of the biological microarray into memory.