Patent ID: 7978894

Claim:
A method of automatically digitizing with a scanner at least a portion of a microscope sample, the scanner comprising at least one line scan camera and an area scan camera connected to a data processor and a motorized stage for moving the sample, the method comprising the steps of: accelerating a microscope sample supported on a motorized stage along a first path to a substantially constant velocity relative to at least one line scan camera; illuminating a portion of the microscope sample; acquiring first image data from the at least one line scan camera; storing the first image data as a first strip of contiguous image data; accelerating the microscope sample along a second path to the substantially constant velocity relative to the at least one line scan camera, wherein the second path is substantially parallel to the first path; illuminating a portion of the microscope sample; acquiring second image data from the at least one line scan camera; storing the second image data as a second strip of contiguous image data; composing the first strip of contiguous image data and the second strip of contiguous image data into a contiguous digital image of a portion of the microscope sample; storing the contiguous digital image; and providing real time imagery data of the microscope sample using the area scan camera.