US 11,727,586 B2
Image processing and segmentation of sets of Z-stacked images of three-dimensional biological samples
Timothy Jackson, Ann Arbor, MI (US); and Nevine Holtz, Ann Arbor, MI (US)
Assigned to Sartorius BioAnalytical Instruments, Inc., Bohemia, NY (US)
Filed by Sartorius BioAnalytical Instruments, Inc., Bohemia, NY (US)
Filed on Apr. 21, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/854,710.
Prior Publication US 2021/0327080 A1, Oct. 21, 2021
Int. Cl. G06T 7/529 (2017.01); G06T 7/11 (2017.01)
CPC G06T 7/529 (2017.01) [G06T 7/11 (2017.01); G06T 2207/10056 (2013.01); G06T 2207/10064 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20021 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30024 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30096 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for generating a projection image of a three-dimensional sample, the method comprising:
obtaining a set of images of the sample, wherein each image of the set of images corresponds to a respective focal plane within the sample;
applying a filter to each image of the set of images to determine a respective depth value for each pixel of a depth map, wherein the depth value represents a depth, within the sample, at which contents of the sample can be imaged in-focus, and wherein applying the filter to each image of the set of images comprises, for a particular pixel of the image, determining a weighted measure of texture of a set of pixels in a neighborhood of the particular pixel for determining which pixels within the set of images are in focus to thereby generate the projection image of the three-dimensional sample; and
determining an image value for each pixel of an output image based on the depth value of a corresponding pixel of the depth map.