US 12,222,485 B2
Whole slide imaging method for a microscope
Martin Philip Gouch, Hertfordshire (GB)
Assigned to VENTANA MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC., Tuscon, AZ (US)
Appl. No. 18/013,991
Filed by FFEI Limited, Hertfordshire (GB)
PCT Filed Jul. 6, 2021, PCT No. PCT/GB2021/051712
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 30, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/018398, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 27, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2011475 (GB), filed on Jul. 24, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0288688 A1, Sep. 14, 2023
Int. Cl. G02B 21/36 (2006.01); G02B 21/00 (2006.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01)
CPC G02B 21/0036 (2013.01) [G02B 21/0072 (2013.01); G02B 21/008 (2013.01); G06T 7/0012 (2013.01); G06T 2207/10061 (2013.01); G06T 2207/10148 (2013.01); G06T 2207/20212 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30004 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for operating a microscope scanner comprising a line scanner, the method comprising:
generating pre-scan data for a target comprising a sample, wherein generating the pre-scan data comprises:
obtaining a pre-scan image of the target from a pre-scan; and
identifying one or more sample-containing regions and one or more sample-free regions of the target from the pre-scan image, wherein the one or more sample-containing regions correspond to locations on the target in which the sample is expected to be present and wherein the one or more sample-free regions correspond to locations on the target where the sample is expected to be absent; and
performing an imaging scan of a scanning region of the target, the scanning region including the one or more sample-containing regions and the one or more sample-free regions, wherein performing the imaging scan comprises:
moving the line scanner relative to the target along an image scan path and acquiring an image of the target at each of a plurality of locations along the image scan path using the line scanner;
adjusting the scanning speed of the line scanner along the image scan path based on the pre-scan data so that the target is imaged at a higher scanning speed within the one or more sample-free regions than in the one or more sample-containing regions;
monitoring one or more image parameters from the images of the target acquired along the image scan path; and
further adjusting the scanning speed of the line scanner within the one or more sample-free regions in response to a change in said one or more image parameters.