Patent ID: 7853089

Claim:
A method for processing a high-resolution image, the method comprising the steps of: (a) creating a high-resolution source image of a sample; (b) dividing the source image into a plurality of partitions, wherein the size of each of the plurality of partitions is equal to or less than the size of a computer memory space; (c) transferring a partition of the source image into the computer memory space; (d) creating a partial cluster image from the partition; (e) repeating the transferring of one of the plurality of partitions and the creating a partial cluster image steps for each of the plurality of partitions; and (f) compiling the partial cluster images to produce an assembled cluster image; (e) stacking each of the resulting cluster images to produce a three-dimensional cluster image corresponding to the sample; (f) displaying the resulting three-dimensional image on a display.