Patent ID: 6026174
Filing Date: 2000-02-15
Classification: G01N,G06K,G06T

Abstract:
A method for detecting epithelial cells in a cell sample, comprising the steps of:a. obtaining a cell sample;b. fixing the cells of the cell sample;c. staining the cells to identify cell nuclei in the cell sample;d. illuminating the sample and obtaining an image of the sample with a microscope and a digital camera;e. compensating the image for variations in background illumination;f. analyzing the image to detect objects of interest;g. determining a focus setting for each object of interest and obtaining an image of each object of interest at its determined focus setting;h. calculating an edge that bounds each object of interest;i. calculating a set of feature values for each object of interest; andj. providing the set of feature values to a classifier that identifies epithelial cells in the objects of interest.