Patent ID: 7372984

Claim:
A method for synchronizing nongated confocal data slice sequences to generate dynamic three dimensional volumes comprising: sequentially acquiring confocal slice-sequences at different depths; and reassembling the confocal slice-sequences at different depths in synchronization with each other without the use of a gating signal to recover a dynamic three dimensional volume where reassembling the slice-sequences at different depths in synchronization with each other without the use of a gating signal to recover a dynamic three dimensional volume comprises registering slice-sequence pairs with respect to time for a given time shift in a manner to maximize similarity in a predetermined metric between two temporally adjacent slices, where registering slice-sequence pairs with respect to time for a given time shift in a manner to maximize similarity in a predetermined metric between two temporally adjacent slices comprises measuring data intensity, I m , at each point, x, z, I m ( x,z k ,t )=∫∫∫ I ( x′,z,t−s k ) PSF ( x−x′,z−z k ) dx′dz where t is time, the s k are the unknown time shifts, defined modulo a predetermined period, at each measured depth z k =kh, k=0, . . . ,N z , with h the axial slice spacing, PSF is a point spread function (PSF) expressed by the Dirac delta function PSF ( x, z )=δ( x )δ( z ) and where the axial slice spacing h, the vertical distance between two adjacent slides, is smaller than the PSF extent in z, or where the imaged object undergoes sufficiently smooth and homogeneous deformations to provide statistically significant similarity between adjacent slides.