Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7667890?dq=ELIST
Timestamp: 2015-08-04 05:49:55
Document Index: 649446665

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 2002228837', 'Application No. 2002228837', 'Application No. 2002228837', 'Application No. 2002228837', 'Application No. 2002228837', 'Application No. 2002228837', 'Application No. 01989956', 'application No. 2005']

Patent US7667890 - Cytological imaging systems and methods - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsThe present invention relates to the analysis of specimens. Specifically, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for reviewing specimen slides, including apparatus for holding the slides. The invention also relates to an automatic focusing method for an imaging system and methods for accommodating...http://www.google.com/patents/US7667890?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7667890 - Cytological imaging systems and methodsAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7667890 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/861,227Publication dateFeb 23, 2010Filing dateSep 25, 2007Priority dateOct 29, 1999Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS7369304, US7446935, US7468836, US20030179445, US20060077538, US20060077541, US20080013168, US20080013812, US20080018994, US20100128944Publication number11861227, 861227, US 7667890 B2, US 7667890B2, US-B2-7667890, US7667890 B2, US7667890B2InventorsGarrick L. Maenle, William J. Knox, David ZahniserOriginal AssigneeCytyc CorporationExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (103), Non-Patent Citations (22), Referenced by (1), Classifications (36), Legal Events (6) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetCytological imaging systems and methods
US 7667890 B2Abstract
respectively performing a plurality of subsequent fine focus actions along a plurality of focal axes at a plurality of scan positions corresponding to different points on the slide surface, performing the plurality of subsequent fine focus actions comprising obtaining a plurality of images of the slide at a plurality of coordinates, each image comprising a two-dimensional array of pixels, wherein each of the fine focus actions is performed more quickly than the initial coarse focus action.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance of the coarse focus action comprises determining a coarse in-focus coordinate along the focal axis.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the performance of each of the fine focus actions is based on the coarse in-focus coordinate determined in the coarse focus action.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the performance of each of the fine focus actions comprises estimating a fine in-focus coordinate along the respective focal axis as a function of the coarse in-focus coordinate determined in the coarse focus action.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the performance of at least one of the fine focus actions comprises estimating a fine in-focus coordinate along the respective focal axis as a function of a global focal plane.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance of the coarse focus action comprises repeatedly obtaining an image of the slide at different coordinates along the focal axis until a coarse in-focus coordinate is determined.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance of each of the fine focus actions comprises estimating a fine in-focus coordinate along the respective focal axis and obtaining images of the slide at predetermined coordinates relative to the estimated fine in-focus coordinate along the respective focal axis.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the coarse focus action and fine focus actions are performing during a single image scan.
14. The method of claim 1, the two-dimensional array of pixels having a 640�480 pixel array size.
examining the two-dimensional arrays of pixels of the plurality of images; and
selecting one of the plurality coordinates as a fine in-focus coordinate based on examining the two-dimensional arrays of pixels.
16. The method of claim 15, examining the two-dimensional arrays comprising comparing pixels to each other.
17. The method of claim 16, examining the two-dimensional arrays comprising comparing gray scale values of the pixels.
18. The method of claim 17, comparing gray scale values comprising comparing gray scale values between pairs of pixels separated by a fixed number of pixels.
19. The method of claim 15, wherein the selected coordinates are evenly distributed within a pre-determined range.
20. The method of claim 1, performing the initial coarse focus action comprising repeatedly obtaining an image of the slide at different coordinates along the focal axis.
21. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the initial coarse focus action and performing each of the fine focus actions comprises:
22. The method of claim 5, the slide comprising at least three fiducial points, the method further comprising determining the global focal plane based on the at least three fiducial points.
23. The method of claim 22, determining the global focal plane comprising:
determining positions of the at least three fiducial points; and
determining a scan axis slope, an index axis slope and a focus intersect of the global focal plane based on the positions of the at least three fiducial points. Description
This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/008,379, filed Nov. 5, 2001, which claims the benefit of provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/245,971, filed Nov. 3, 2000, and which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/430,198, filed Oct. 29, 1999, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/430,116, filed Oct. 29, 1999, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
This application is also related to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/236,407, filed Sep. 26, 2005 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/236,220, filed Sep. 26, 2005. This application is further related to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/861,230 and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/861,234, all of which are filed on the same date herewith. The disclosures of the foregoing applications are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Still another embodiment provides for an automatic focusing method involving two kinds of focus actions—an initial coarse focus and subsequent fine focuses. The initial coarse action is a more thorough procedure than the fine focus actions and may provide a baseline coordinate used to enable quicker performance of the subsequent fine focus actions relative to the initial coarse focus. Another embodiment limits the number of times the slide is imaged at a particular position to five.
At the start of the autoscan mode 614, 622, the RS 1 calculates the end points of all the moves that constitute the scan based upon the cell spot center from the SDR and the selected motion profile (start-stop or continuous) and orientation (horizontal or vertical). The RS 1 moves to the scan start position. In addition, the RS 1 indicates autoscan progress and paused condition on the display (e.g. “scan paused—25% complete”), which will prompt the user to enter the next or resume command to begin/resume the scan if the scan is not complete. The RS 1 also enables the SPID for user-directed positioning of the stage, the electronic marking/unmarking function while the objective is at 10�, the mark indication function while the objective is at 10�, and the changing of magnification. If the user enters a reset command during autoscan, the RS 1 moves to the scan start position and cancels the scan in progress.
The specimen ID reader 16 captures an image of the specimen ID and CRC on the specimen label. The specimen label may have at least one line of characters with up to 7 characters on a line. The label may include characters representing a patient ID. In one embodiment, the last three characters are the CRC. All characters are OCR-A and are limited to the digits 0 through 9 and the symbol “-”. The electrical interface to the specimen ID reader 16 consists of two cable assemblies, which can be combined into one for routing from the review station processor 8. Communication over the interface is bi-directional and allows the review station processor 8 to control the specimen ID reader 16 and receive the specimen ID data or any error messages.
Step 274 of FIG. 31 is the determination of a fine focus jurisdiction for the first point. The concept of a fine focus jurisdiction of this embodiment allows more efficient performance of the scan pass, such that focus actions do not have to be performed at each location at which an image is acquired. Instead, a focus action (coarse or fine) has a “jurisdiction” of influence, wherein any other image can reasonably rely upon that previous focus action for guidance on the focal plane. Note that FIG. 31 uses the term “fine focus jurisdiction,” whether the focus action taken at a given point is coarse or fine. A focus action jurisdiction in this embodiment is defined as having a range of 6 images along the scan axis and �3 images along the index axis. An elliptical jurisdiction pattern applies for images that are not exactly along the scan or index axes from a previous fine focus action. If a new image is not within any focus action jurisdiction, then a new focus action occurs.
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PCT/US01/46810, Applicant Cytyc Corporation (2 pages).Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS9041791Feb 1, 2011May 26, 2015Roche Diagnostics Hematology, Inc.Fast auto-focus in imagingClassifications U.S. Classification359/383, 250/201.3, 359/368International ClassificationG02B21/32, G01N15/14, G01N1/30, G02B21/00, G01N21/31, G01N15/10, G06T7/00Cooperative ClassificationG01N2015/1472, G01N15/1463, G02B21/34, G01N1/30, G01N15/1468, G02B21/0016, G02B21/32, G06T2207/30024, G06T7/0042, G01N2015/1488, G01N15/1012, G01N2015/1006, G06K9/00134, G06T7/0012, G01N15/1475, G01N15/147, G01N21/3151European ClassificationG06T7/00P1, G01N21/31D4, G02B21/32, G01N15/14H3, G02B21/34, G06T7/00B2, G01N1/30, G06K9/00B1, G02B21/00M3Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionOct 26, 2007ASAssignmentOwner name: GOLDMAN SACHS CREDIT PARTNERS L.P.,CALIFORNIAFree format text: PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT;ASSIGNOR:CYTYC CORPORATION;REEL/FRAME:020018/0529Effective date: 20071022Jul 29, 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