Patent ID: 7282723

Claim:
A method of processing spectral data obtained from a plurality of regions of a tissue sample for use in a tissue classification scheme, the method comprising the steps of: (a) automatically identifying a subset of spectral data obtained from said plurality of regions of said tissue sample, said subset of data affected by one or more obstructions selected from the group consisting of glare, shadow, mucus, a smoke tube, and a speculum, and identifying one or more regions of said tissue sample from which said subset was obtained; (b) processing spectral data obtained from said plurality of regions in said tissue classification scheme, wherein said subset of spectral data identified in step (a) is accounted for in said tissue classification scheme by at least one of (i), (ii), (iii) as follows: (i) disqualifying said subset of spectral data from use in said tissue classification scheme; (ii) classifying said one or more identified regions from which said subset of spectral data was obtained as indeterminate; and (iii) weighting at least a portion of said subset of spectral data in said tissue classification scheme to penalize said data in favor of other spectral data determined to be unaffected by said one or more obstructions; and (c) classifying said plurality of regions of said tissue sample according to said tissue classification scheme.