Patent ID: 7248282

Claim:
A method for acquiring digital images of a microscope specimen using an automated microscopy image scanning system comprising the steps of: determining whether an area of the specimen contained within a microscope field of view has a thickness such that a focused image can be achieved by capturing images in more than one optical plane perpendicular to an optical axis of the image scanning system; capturing digital images of the area of the specimen contained within the microscope field of view using a single digital camera at a plurality of focusing positions if the area has said thickness; capturing at least one digital images of the area of the specimen contained within the microscope field of view using the single digital camera at a single focusing position if the area does not have said thickness; and moving to a different area of the specimen by scanning the microscope field of view in an optical plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the image scanning system; and repeating the determining and capturing steps.