Fully automatic rapid microscope slide scanner

摘要

Apparatus for and method of fully automatic rapid scanning and digitizing of an entire microscope sample, or a substantially large portion of a microscope sample, using a linear array detector synchronized with a positioning stage that is part of a computer controlled microscope slide scanner. The invention provides a method for composing the image strips obtained from successive scans of the sample into a single contiguous digital image. The invention also provides a method for statically displaying sub-regions of this large digital image at different magnifications, together with a reduced magnification macro-image of the entire sample. The invention further provides a method for dynamically displaying, with or without operator interaction, portions of the contiguous digital image. In one preferred embodiment of the invention, all elements of the scanner are part of a single-enclosure that has a primary connection to the Internet or to a local intranet. In this embodiment, the preferred sample type is a microscope slide and the illumination and imaging optics are consistent with transmission mode optics optimized for diffraction-limited digital imaging.

主权项

1. A microscope slide scanner for creating a contiguous digital image of an entire microscope sample, comprising:
a motorized stage configured to support a microscope sample and move the microscope sample at a substantially constant velocity; at least one objective lens positioned for viewing at least a portion of the microscope sample; at least one line scan camera optically coupled to the at least one objective lens, the line scan camera comprising a plurality of pixel elements arranged in at least one linear array that defines a linear field of view; at least one focusing optics whereby an optical signal from the objective lens is focused onto the plurality of pixel elements of the at least one line scan camera; at least one data processor configured to
synchronize a velocity of a motion of the motorized stage with a line rate of the at least one line scan camera to digitize a plurality of contiguous linear fields of view of a microscope sample supported on the motorized stage, while adjusting a focus height of the at least one objective lens in parallel with the motion of the motorized stage,store, in a memory, said plurality of contiguous linear fields of view as a digital image strip,assemble a plurality of digital image strips into a contiguous digital image of the entire microscope sample, andstore the contiguous digital image.