Patent ID: 7346200

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of automatically obtaining an image signal of a rare cell from an image signal of a biological sample found on a substrate surface, the method comprising an automatically implemented sequence of steps of: obtaining an image signal of said biological sample; eliminating from the biological sample image signal, those portions of the image signal algorithmically determined not to relate to a candidate blob in which said rare cell may reside, forming a candidate blob image signal; discretely and automatically contacting said substrate surface at each candidate blob location on said surface with a direct rare cell labeling reagent dispensed from an automatic dispensing device; detecting those candidate blobs directly labeled with said label; eliminating from the candidate blob image signal, those portions of the candidate blob image signal that are not indicative of candidate blobs directly labeled with said label, thereby forming a rare cell image signal; storing the rare cell image signal in a computer memory.