IMPROVED METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MICROSCOPIC SCREENING OF CYTOLOGICAL SAMPLES

摘要

In a microscopic screening apparatus a calibration slide (28) is mounted on a stage (18) of a microscope (36), and a microscope positioning system is calibrated by reading and storing (1008) in memory the location of at least one fiducial marking that is on the calibration slide (28) using a microscope-dependent coordinate system. Next, a sample containing slide is mounted against the stage (18) of the microscope (36). The location of at least one feature on the sample containing slide is then transformed (2006) into a microscope- independent coordinate system, and is stored (2008) in a memory. Using a second microscope (36), a second calibration slide (28) is mounted against the stage (18) of the second microscope (36), and the second (36) microscope is calibrated using (36) a second microscope-dependent coordinate system, based on the second microscope (36). Next, the sample containing slide is mounted against the second stage (18). The stored feature location is read (3004) from the memory, and transformed (3006) from the microscope-independent coordinate system to the second microscope-dependent coordinate system. The transformed feature location in the second microscope-dependent coordinate system is utilized to relocate (3008) the feature on the sample containing slide.