Patent ID: 7940998

Claim:
A method of re-locating an object of interest in a sample on a slide as viewed through a microscope objective, comprising: scanning the slide so as to determine objects of interest in the sample, associating corresponding coordinates with each object of interest, and storing an image and corresponding coordinates of each object of interest; mapping the objects of interest relative to each other via the coordinates; positioning the slide on a microscope stage; displaying the stored images of the objects of interest on a visual display; selecting a single first target object of interest from the displayed stored images of the objects of interest; moving the slide, via the microscope stage, to a first estimated coordinate position on the slide corresponding to the stored coordinates of the single first target object of interest; capturing a field-of-view image of the sample at the first estimated coordinate position through the microscope objective, the field-of-view image being displayed separately from the displayed stored images; comparing the field-of-view image to the stored image of the single first target object of interest while the field-of-view image and the stored image are not in superposition with one another and, if the single first target object of interest is located in the field-of-view image, determining a first offset between actual coordinates of the located single first target object of interest and the stored coordinates of the object of interest corresponding to the single first target object of interest; and moving the slide, via the microscope stage, from the first estimated coordinate position and according to the first offset so as to center the single first target object of interest in the field-of-view image.