Silhouette image acquisition

Abstract

Systems and techniques to acquire image data. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes: acquiring image data for a plurality of areas of a scan region. The technique may further include processing the image data to determine whether an area includes one or more desired features. The technique may further include designating an area as “interesting” if it includes a desired feature, and designating an area as non-interesting if it does not include the desired feature. The areas may be sub-divided one or more times, and subdivisions may be analyzed to determine if they include a desired feature.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method, comprising: 
 obtaining an image of at least a portion of a scan region;    analyzing the image to determine the presence or absence of a first desired feature, wherein the presence of the first desired feature is indicated for the image;    if the image includes the first desired feature, electronically dividing the image into a plurality of subimages at the same magnification and determining the presence or absence of a second desired feature in each subimage.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first desired feature and the second desired feature are the same.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the image is acquired at a first magnification comprising a field of view smaller than the scan region.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of subimages each comprise an area that is substantially equal to the field of view of a higher magnification.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising obtaining a plurality of images of the scan region.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of images are obtained using a first magnification of a microscope.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising acquiring an image of an area of the scan region including the second desired feature at a higher magnification.  
     
     
         8 . A method of generating a silhouette of a sample on a microscope slide, comprising: 
 obtaining a plurality of images of a microscope slide at a first magnification;    processing each image to determine the presence or absence of a first desired feature, wherein the presence of the first desired feature is indicated for the image; and    storing the images comprising the first desired feature, thereby generating a silhouette comprising images containing the first desired feature.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the sample is a biological sample.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first desired feature is the presence of at least a portion of the sample.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising electronically dividing the image to obtain a plurality of subimages at the same magnification.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising processing each subimage to determine the presence or absence of a second desired feature, wherein the presence of the second desired feature in the subimage is indicated for the subimage.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising storing each subimage comprising the second desired feature, thereby generating a silhouette comprising a plurality of subimages containing the desired feature.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein each subimage comprises an area that is substantially equal to the field of view of a higher magnification objective of a microscope.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising obtaining an image at a higher magnification of each location corresponding to a subimage comprising the desired feature.  
     
     
         16 . A system, comprising: 
 an image acquisition system to obtain an image of a scan region and to output image data;    a data processor coupled with the image acquisition system, the data processor to receive the image data and to determine the presence or absence of a desired feature in the image and to indicate the presence of the first desired for the image, the data processor further to electronically divide the image data into a plurality of subimage portions if the desired feature is present in the image and to determine the presence or absence of at least one of the desired feature and another desired feature in the plurality of subimage portions.    
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising a display coupled with the image acquisition system.  
     
     
         18 . A focusing method, comprising: 
 obtaining a first focal length at a first position comprising a sample;    obtaining a second focal length at a second position comprising a sample furthest from the first position;    obtaining a third focal length at a third position comprising a sample at a position furthest from the first and second position; and    generating a focal plane comprising the focal length of the first, second and third positions.    
     
     
         19 . An image compression method comprising: 
 obtaining a plurality of images of a microscope slide at a first magnification;    processing each image to determine the presence or absence of a first desired feature, wherein the presence of the first desired feature is indicated for the image;    storing the image only if the presence of the first desired feature is determined.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the first desired feature is a presence of at least a portion of a sample.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the sample is a biological sample.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising electronically dividing the image to obtain a plurality of subimages at the same magnification.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising processing each subimage to determine the presence or absence of a second desired feature, wherein the presence of the second desired feature in the subimage is indicated for the subimage.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising obtaining an image at a higher magnification including a subimage comprising the second desired feature.  
     
     
         25 . An article comprising a machine-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising: 
 obtaining an image of at least a portion of a scan region;    analyzing the image to determine the presence or absence of a first desired feature, wherein the presence of the first desired feature is indicated for the image;    if the image includes the first desired feature, electronically dividing the image into a plurality of subimages at the same magnification and determining the presence or absence of a second desired feature in each subimage.    
     
     
         26 . The article of  claim 25 , wherein the presence of the first desired feature is indicated by associating the image with a logical 1.  
     
     
         27 . The article of  claim 25 , further comprising indicating the absence of the first desired feature by associating the image with a logical 0.