A control method, device and system of a pathological section scanner

Abstract

The application discloses a pathological section scanning instrument control method, device and system, and the method comprises the following steps: receiving a control instruction sent by diagnostic software; after analyzing the control instruction, controlling the pathological section scanning instrument to execute an operation matched with the control instruction; and sending an execution result of the pathological section scanning instrument to the diagnostic software. The diagnostic software sends a control instruction to the scanning software, thereby indirectly controlling the operation of the scanning instrument, and the function of the scanning instrument can be effectively utilized, and the workload and technical difficulty of developing a scanning function by the diagnostic software are greatly simplified.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of medical image processing technology, and in particular to a control method, apparatus, and system for a pathological slide scanner. Background Technology

[0002] In existing technologies, under the control of scanning software, the scanner automatically scans and digitizes pathological slides, saving them as medical images on a computer for doctors to manually review and diagnose diseases.

[0003] In recent years, with the rapid development of AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology, AI pathology diagnostic technology has also emerged. AI pathology diagnostic software automatically reads scanned medical images, performs intelligent analysis, and automatically generates diagnostic reports to assist doctors in making diagnoses. Generally, companies developing AI pathology diagnostic software do not have the capability to develop their own scanners and scanning software and must purchase them externally. This means the diagnostic software and scanner are independently developed by different companies, which creates a problem: the two cannot interact directly. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a control method, apparatus and device for a pathological slide scanner, which aims to solve the above problems.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a control method for a pathological slide scanner, the method comprising:

[0006] Receive control commands sent by diagnostic software;

[0007] After analyzing the control commands, the pathology slide scanner is controlled to perform operations that match the control commands.

[0008] The results of the pathological slide scanner are sent to the diagnostic software.

[0009] Preferably, before receiving control commands sent by the diagnostic software, the process includes:

[0010] Establish data communication connections between the scanning software and the diagnostic software, and between the scanning software and the pathological slide scanner.

[0011] Preferably, the data communication connection includes any one of the following: socket, pipe, message queue, and shared memory.

[0012] Preferably, establishing data communication connections between the scanning software and the diagnostic software, and between the scanning software and the pathological slide scanner, includes:

[0013] The scanning software is launched to connect to the pathology slide scanner and listens on a fixed socket port;

[0014] By launching the diagnostic software, a connection signal is sent to the socket port to notify the scanning software to establish a communication connection after verification.

[0015] Preferably, the control commands include scanning commands, operating platform commands, parameter adjustment commands, status information acquisition commands, and software control commands.

[0016] Preferably, after analyzing the control command, controlling the pathology slide scanner to perform an operation matching the control command includes:

[0017] The pathological slides are identified according to the scanning instructions, the slide information of the pathological slides is obtained, and the slide information is sent to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format; wherein, the slide information includes the slide number and the scanning area;

[0018] After receiving confirmation information from the diagnostic software regarding the slide information, the system controls the pathology slide scanner to scan the pathology slide and obtain the scan results.

[0019] Preferably, after analyzing the control command, controlling the pathology slide scanner to perform an operation matching the control command includes:

[0020] The pathological slide scanner is configured with parameters adjusted or modified according to the adjustment parameter instructions to obtain the adjusted parameter information; and the adjusted parameter information is sent to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format.

[0021] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also provides a control device for a pathological slide scanner, the device comprising:

[0022] The instruction receiving unit is used to receive control instructions sent by the diagnostic software;

[0023] The control unit is used to analyze the control commands and then control the pathology slide scanner to perform operations that match the control commands.

[0024] The result sending unit is used to send the execution results of the pathological slide scanner to the diagnostic software.

[0025] Preferably, the device further includes:

[0026] A connection establishment unit is used to establish data communication connections between the scanning software and the diagnostic software, as well as between the scanning software and the pathological slide scanner.

[0027] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention also proposes a system including a pathological slide scanner and a diagnostic device, wherein the pathological slide scanner stores scanning software and the diagnostic device stores diagnostic software; the system is used to implement the steps of a control method for a pathological slide scanner as described in the above embodiments.

[0028] Beneficial effects:

[0029] The above solution indirectly controls the scanner's operation and adjusts its configuration parameters by sending control commands from the diagnostic software to the scanning software. This effectively utilizes the scanner's functions, and the scanning software acts as a scanning service intermediary between the diagnostic software and the scanner, greatly simplifying the workload and technical difficulty of developing scanning functions independently for the diagnostic software.

[0030] The above solution allows the diagnostic software to send simple control commands to the scanning software, while the scanning software handles the complex scanning and other operational control details. The scanning software controls the scanner to complete image scanning and other operations, greatly simplifying the development process.

[0031] The above solution establishes a communication connection using sockets, making it suitable for real-time information exchange between clients and servers. It also offers advantages such as short transmission time, high performance, and high data security. Attached Figure Description

[0032] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0033] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating a control method for a pathological slide scanner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0034] Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating a control method for a pathological slide scanner, provided as another embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the control device for a pathological slide scanner provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0036] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the control device for a pathological slide scanner, provided in another embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a system provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0038] The realization of the invention's objective, its functional characteristics, and advantages will be further explained in conjunction with the embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Detailed Implementation

[0039] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention, but merely to represent selected embodiments of the invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0040] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments.

[0041] In the current diagnostic software, the medical images input are provided by the scanner, but the two are independently developed by different companies. The scanner can only be controlled by the scanning software provided by the scanner manufacturer, and the diagnostic software cannot control the scanner to perform slice scanning.

[0042] The scanner manufacturer provides the software development kit (SDK), and the pathology diagnostic software develops the scanning function itself. However, it is clear that developing scanning functions is a technically challenging and time-consuming task, and pathology diagnostic companies are unwilling to invest the necessary effort. Therefore, the method proposed in this application allows the pathology diagnostic software to send simple control commands to the scanning software, while the scanning software handles the complex scanning control details, controlling the scanner to complete the image scanning, greatly simplifying the development process.

[0043] Reference Figure 1 The diagram shown is a flowchart illustrating a control method for a pathological slide scanner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0044] In this embodiment, the method includes:

[0045] S11 receives control commands sent by the diagnostic software;

[0046] S12, After analyzing the control command, control the pathology slide scanner to perform an operation that matches the control command;

[0047] S13, the execution results of the pathological slide scanner are sent to the diagnostic software.

[0048] In another embodiment, such as Figure 2 As shown. Before receiving the control command sent by the diagnostic software in step S11, the process includes:

[0049] S10, establish data communication connections between the scanning software and the diagnostic software, and between the scanning software and the pathological slide scanner.

[0050] Furthermore, the data communication connection includes any one of the following: socket, pipe, message queue, and shared memory.

[0051] The establishment of data communication connections between the scanning software and the diagnostic software, and between the scanning software and the pathological slide scanner, includes:

[0052] S10-1, Connect to the pathology slide scanner by starting the scanning software and listen on a fixed socket port;

[0053] S10-2, The diagnostic software is activated to send a connection signal to the socket port to notify the scanning software to establish a communication connection after verification.

[0054] In this embodiment, establishing a socket communication connection is used as an example. A socket communication interface is established between the diagnostic software and the scanning software. The diagnostic software sends commands to the scanning software in a preset communication format (such as JSON) to perform actions such as scanning, focusing, and platform movement. The diagnostic software and the scanning software agree on relevant commands through a preset interface file, thereby enabling their interaction. Furthermore, through this socket communication interface, the scanning software can return the execution results corresponding to the commands to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format (such as JSON). For example, the diagnostic software sends a "start scanning" command to the scanning software. Upon receiving the command, the scanning software controls the scanner to start scanning, achieving the same effect as starting scanning directly on the scanning software. During the scanning process, the image path saved by the scanning software is transmitted to the diagnostic software in real time via the socket, and the diagnostic software reads the image for diagnostic analysis.

[0055] Furthermore, the control commands include scan commands and terminate scan commands.

[0056] Step S12, which involves analyzing the control command and then controlling the pathological slide scanner to perform an operation matching the control command, includes:

[0057] S12-1, The pathological slide is identified according to the scanning command, the slide information of the pathological slide is obtained, and the slide information is sent to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format; wherein, the slide information includes the slide number and the scanning area;

[0058] S12-2, After receiving confirmation information from the diagnostic software regarding the slide information, the system controls the pathological slide scanner to scan the pathological slide and obtain the scanning results.

[0059] Furthermore, the preset communication format includes any one of the following communication formats: JSON, CSON, XML, TOML, and YAML.

[0060] In this embodiment, the specific scanning operation process includes:

[0061] (1) Start the scanning software, connect the scanner, and establish a listening port on a fixed TCP port to wait for the Socket connection signal from the diagnostic software;

[0062] (2) By starting the diagnostic software, a connection signal is sent to the fixed TCP port. The scanning software receives the connection and verifies it. The Socket communication is then established.

[0063] (3) The diagnostic software sends a “New Scan” command to the scanning software, and the scanning software controls the scanner to complete the preview and automatic recognition of the slides;

[0064] (4) The scanning software returns the preview image path of the slice and the identified slice number to the diagnostic software in JSON format;

[0065] (5) After the diagnostic software determines the slice number, scanning area and focus point, it sends a "start scanning" signal to the scanning software;

[0066] (6) The scanning software controls the scanner to focus the slice and returns the focusing result to the diagnostic software in JSON format;

[0067] (7) The scanning software controls the scanner to start the slice scanning and returns the storage path of the scanning results to the diagnostic software;

[0068] (8) The scanning software controls the scanner to perform slice scanning and returns the image path of the scanning result to the diagnostic software;

[0069] (9) The scanning software controls the scanner to complete the slice scanning and sends a "scan stopped" message to the diagnostic software to indicate the end of the scan.

[0070] Furthermore, if the scanner malfunctions during the scanning process, the scanning software sends an "error message" to the diagnostic software to notify the diagnostic software that an error has occurred, thus prompting the user to check.

[0071] In another embodiment, if the diagnostic software sends a "stop scanning" command to the scanning software, requesting the scanning software to stop scanning, the scanning software controls the scanner to stop according to the corresponding command.

[0072] Furthermore, in another embodiment, the control command further includes operating platform commands, wherein the operating platform commands include commands for mobile platforms, control platforms, etc.

[0073] For example, diagnostic software sends a "move platform" command to scanning software, which then controls the scanner platform to move to the precise target location based on the command.

[0074] The diagnostic software sends "control platform" instructions to the scanning software, and the scanning software controls the scanner to move the film in and out or move up, down, left, and right according to the instructions.

[0075] Furthermore, in another embodiment, the control command further includes a status information acquisition command, wherein the status information acquisition command includes commands such as acquiring platform information and acquiring device information.

[0076] For example, the diagnostic software sends a "platform information" command to the scanning software, and the scanning software obtains the relevant information based on the command and then replies to the diagnostic software with precise platform coordinate information.

[0077] The diagnostic software sends a "device information" command to the scanning software. After obtaining the relevant information based on the command, the scanning software replies to the diagnostic software with the device's operating status and fault code information.

[0078] Furthermore, in another embodiment, the control command further includes adjustment parameter commands, which include commands such as switching objective lenses, focusing objective lenses, setting the camera, and setting fluorescence.

[0079] In step S12, after analyzing the control command, controlling the pathological slide scanner to perform an operation matching the control command includes:

[0080] The pathological slide scanner is configured with parameters adjusted or modified according to the adjustment parameter instructions to obtain the adjusted parameter information; and the adjusted parameter information is sent to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format.

[0081] For example, the diagnostic software sends a "switch objective" command to the scanning software, and the scanning software switches to the corresponding objective and automatically moves the platform to focus according to the command.

[0082] The diagnostic software sends a "focus objective" command to the scanning software. The scanning software then performs automatic focusing based on the command and returns the result to the diagnostic software.

[0083] The diagnostic software sends a "set camera" command to the scanning software, and the scanning software modifies the corresponding camera configuration parameters, such as exposure parameters, according to the command.

[0084] The diagnostic software sends a "set fluorescence" command to the scanning software, which then switches to the corresponding fluorescence channel and adjusts the exposure parameters accordingly.

[0085] Furthermore, in another embodiment, the control instructions also include software control instructions and other instructions. Software control instructions include instructions to hide the software, display the software, restart the software, and close the software. Other instructions include instructions to capture images and display real-time images.

[0086] For example, the diagnostic software sends a "capture image" command to the scanning software, and the scanning software captures a camera image according to the command and returns the image path to the diagnostic software.

[0087] The diagnostic software sends a "real-time image" command to the scanning software, and the scanning software returns the real-time image from the camera to the diagnostic software using shared memory based on the command.

[0088] The diagnostic software sends a "software location" command to the scanning software, and the scanning software returns its location path to the diagnostic software based on this command.

[0089] The diagnostic software sends a "hide software" command to the scanning software, and the scanning software then hides itself and works in the background.

[0090] The diagnostic software sends a "display software" command to the scanning software, and the scanning software then restores itself to the foreground display.

[0091] The diagnostic software sends a "restart software" command to the scanning software, which then restarts itself to make the modified configuration parameters take effect.

[0092] The diagnostic software sends a "close software" command to the scanning software, and the scanning software exits according to the command, shutting down along with the diagnostic software.

[0093] Based on this, after receiving control commands from the scanning software, the diagnostic software can indirectly control the scanner's operation, modify the configuration parameters of both the scanning software and the scanner, read the status information of both the scanning software and the scanner, control the hiding or showing of the scanning software, and shut down or restart the scanning software or scanner. Therefore, by acting as a scanning service proxy between the diagnostic software and the scanner, the scanning software greatly simplifies the workload and technical difficulty of developing scanning functions independently for the diagnostic software. Furthermore, the scanning software can run invisibly, providing scanning services to the diagnostic software in the form of a background service.

[0094] Reference Figure 3 The diagram shown is a schematic diagram of the control device for a pathological slide scanner according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0095] In this embodiment, the device 30 includes:

[0096] Instruction receiving unit 31 is used to receive control instructions sent by diagnostic software;

[0097] The control unit 32 is used to analyze the control command and then control the pathology slide scanner to perform an operation that matches the control command.

[0098] The result sending unit 33 is used to send the execution results of the pathological slide scanner to the diagnostic software.

[0099] Furthermore, the control commands include scanning commands, operating platform commands, parameter adjustment commands, status information acquisition commands, and software control commands.

[0100] Furthermore, the control unit 32 is used for:

[0101] The pathological slides are identified according to the scanning instructions, the slide information of the pathological slides is obtained, and the slide information is sent to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format; wherein, the slide information includes the slide number and the scanning area;

[0102] After receiving confirmation information from the diagnostic software regarding the slide information, the system controls the pathology slide scanner to scan the pathology slide and obtain the scan results.

[0103] Furthermore, the control unit 32 is also used for:

[0104] The pathological slide scanner is configured with parameters adjusted or modified according to the adjustment parameter instructions to obtain the adjusted parameter information; and the adjusted parameter information is sent to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format.

[0105] like Figure 4 As shown, in another embodiment, the device 40 further includes:

[0106] The connection establishment unit 41 is used to establish data communication connections between the scanning software and the diagnostic software, as well as between the scanning software and the pathological slide scanner.

[0107] Furthermore, the data communication connection includes any one of the following: socket, pipe, message queue, and shared memory.

[0108] Furthermore, the connection establishment unit 41 is used for:

[0109] The scanning software is launched to connect to the pathology slide scanner and listens on a fixed socket port;

[0110] By launching the diagnostic software, a connection signal is sent to the socket port to notify the scanning software to establish a communication connection after verification.

[0111] Each unit module of the device 30 / 40 can execute the corresponding steps in the above method embodiment, so the details of each unit module will not be elaborated here. Please refer to the description of the corresponding steps above for details.

[0112] like Figure 5 As shown, this embodiment of the invention also provides a system including a pathological slide scanner and a diagnostic device. The pathological slide scanner stores scanning software, and the diagnostic device stores diagnostic software; correspondingly, it can execute... Figure 1 The technical solutions of the method embodiments shown are similar in implementation principle and technical effect. For details, please refer to the relevant records in the above embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0113] The pathology slide scanner and the diagnostic device may include components such as a memory and a processor. The memory stores software programs and modules, and the processor executes various functional applications and data processing by running the software programs and modules stored in the memory. The memory may primarily include a program storage area and a data storage area. The program storage area may store the operating system, at least one application program required for a given function, etc.; the data storage area may store data created based on the use of the device, etc. Furthermore, the memory may include high-speed random access memory and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, flash memory device, or other volatile solid-state storage device. Accordingly, the memory may also include a memory controller to provide access to the memory for the processor and input units.

[0114] It should be noted that the various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner, with each embodiment focusing on the differences from other embodiments. Similar or identical parts between embodiments can be referred to interchangeably. For the device embodiments, equipment embodiments, and storage medium embodiments, since they are basically similar to the method embodiments, the descriptions are relatively simple, and relevant parts can be referred to the descriptions in the method embodiments.

[0115] Furthermore, in this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

[0116] The foregoing description illustrates and describes preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the forms disclosed herein and should not be construed as excluding other embodiments. It can be used in various other combinations, modifications, and environments, and can be altered within the scope of the inventive concept by means of the foregoing teachings or techniques or knowledge in related fields. Any modifications and variations made by those skilled in the art that do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention should be within the protection scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A control method of a pathology slide scanner, characterized in that, The method comprises: establishing data communication connection between the scanning software and the diagnostic software, and between the scanning software and the pathological section scanner; wherein the data communication connection comprises any one of socket, pipe, message queue and shared memory communication connection; wherein the establishment of the data communication connection between the scanning software and the diagnostic software, and between the scanning software and the pathological section scanner comprises: connecting the pathological section scanner by starting the scanning software and listening at a fixed socket port; sending a connection signal to the socket port by starting the diagnostic software to inform the scanning software to establish communication connection after verification; wherein the scanning software acts as a scanning service agent between the diagnostic software and the pathological section scanner to provide scanning service for the diagnostic software in the form of background service; receiving a control instruction sent by the diagnostic software; wherein the control instruction comprises a scanning instruction, an operation platform instruction, an adjustment parameter instruction, an acquisition state information instruction and a software control instruction; after analyzing the control instruction, controlling the pathological section scanner to perform an operation matched with the control instruction; comprising: identifying a pathological section according to the scanning instruction, acquiring section information of the pathological section, and sending the section information to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format; wherein the section information comprises section number and scanning area; after receiving confirmation information of the section information from the diagnostic software, controlling the pathological section scanner to scan the pathological section to obtain a scanning result; further comprising: adjusting or modifying configuration parameters of the pathological section scanner according to the adjustment parameter instruction to obtain adjusted parameter information; and sending the adjusted parameter information to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format; further, the acquisition state information instruction comprises acquisition of platform information and acquisition of device information; wherein the diagnostic software sends an instruction for acquisition of platform information to the scanning software, and the scanning software returns accurate platform coordinate information to the diagnostic software after acquiring the information; the diagnostic software sends an instruction for acquisition of device information to the scanning software, and the scanning software returns device working state and fault code information to the diagnostic software after acquiring the information; sending an execution result of the pathological section scanner to the diagnostic software.

2. A control device for a pathology slide scanner, characterized in that, The device comprises: a connection establishment unit configured to establish data communication connection between the scanning software and the diagnostic software, and between the scanning software and the pathological section scanner; wherein the data communication connection comprises any one of socket, pipe, message queue and shared memory communication connection; wherein the connection establishment unit is configured to: connect the pathological section scanner by starting the scanning software and listen at a fixed socket port; send a connection signal to the socket port by starting the diagnostic software to inform the scanning software to establish communication connection after verification; The scanning software serves as a scanning service agent between the diagnostic software and the pathological section scanner, and provides scanning services for the diagnostic software in the form of a background service. An instruction receiving unit is configured to receive a control instruction sent by the diagnostic software, wherein the control instruction comprises a scanning instruction, an operation platform instruction, an adjustment parameter instruction, an acquisition state information instruction, and a software control instruction. A control unit is configured to control the pathological section scanner to perform an operation matched with the control instruction after analyzing the control instruction. According to the scanning instruction, the pathological section is identified, the section information of the pathological section is acquired, and the section information is sent to the diagnostic software in a preset communication format, wherein the section information comprises a section number and a scanning area. After receiving confirmation information of the section information sent by the diagnostic software, the pathological section scanner is controlled to scan the pathological section to obtain a scanning result. Further, the acquisition state information instruction comprises acquisition of platform information and acquisition of equipment information. The diagnostic software sends an instruction for acquisition of platform information to the scanning software, and the scanning software returns accurate platform coordinate information to the diagnostic software after acquiring the information. The diagnostic software sends an instruction for acquisition of equipment information to the scanning software, and the scanning software returns equipment working state and fault code information to the diagnostic software after acquiring the information. A result sending unit is configured to send an execution result of the pathological section scanner to the diagnostic software. The system comprises a pathological section scanner and a diagnostic device, the pathological section scanner stores scanning software, and the diagnostic device stores diagnostic software.

3. A system, characterized by The system is used to implement the steps of the pathological section scanner control method according to claim 1.

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