Patent Document ID: 9489562
Application ID: 14371273
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An image processing method for categorizing elements in an image of a body fluid sample, the method comprising: detecting visual information in the image; generating a probability map for each of a plurality of categories of elements based on the detected visual information in the image, each probability map showing a probability distribution for the presence of an element of the corresponding category; and determining, for each element in the plurality of categories, whether or not the element is present based on the corresponding probability map, wherein the determining comprises: examining the generated probability map for each category to determine whether there are presumably present elements in the image, positioning an examination area for each presumably present element on the probability map associated with the corresponding category of the element, and determining the presence of each presumably present element by evaluating an examination area of the probability map associated with a given category and evaluating an identical examination area of at least one further probability map, and determining whether a contiguous group of probability values corresponds to the presumably present element based on the size of the group and/or of the magnitude of the probability values in the group, wherein the contiguous group of probability values is determined to be above a threshold level in the probability map associated with the given category.