Patent ID: 7778485
Filing Date: 2010-08-17
Classification: G02B,G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for viewing a digital, virtual slide, the method comprising: capturing multiple digital regional images for each physical slide using a digital imaging device; scanning the physical slide in accord with the defined multiple digital regional images; storing the scanned images in accord with a positional index metric associated to each image's location in a mosaic representation of the entire physical slide; performing a normalized correlation search on next neighbor regional image blocks; determining a set of relative positional offset values and a correlation coefficient for a regional image block and each of a plurality of next neighbor regional image blocks; viewing a first field of view consisting of less than all of the multiple digital regional images and including a portion of the regional image block and a portion of at least one of the next neighbor regional image blocks; stitching together a first composite image of the portion of the regional image block and the portion of the at least one next neighbor regional image block, the stitching being limited to said portions of the first regional image block and the at least one next neighbor regional image block contained within the field of view and using only the relative positional offset values and the correlation coefficient for the regional image blocks contained within the first field of view; viewing a second field of view including a portion of the regional image block and a portion of a next neighbor regional image block not included in the first field of view; and stitching together a second composite image of the portion of the regional image block and the portion of the at least one next neighbor regional image block included in the second field of view, the stitching using only the relative positional offset values and the correlation coefficient for the regional image blocks contained within the second field of view without regard to the relative positional offset values and the correlation coefficient for the regional image blocks contained in the first field of view and not contained in the second field of view.