Systems for providing remote and rapid access to scanned image data

Abstract

This invention provides a system, apparatus, and method for providing remote and rapid access to image data. The invention can be employed during surgery to allow healthcare professionals located remotely from the surgical site to view and evaluate tissue removed from the patient during the procedure. Such healthcare professionals can provide feedback to the surgeon to improve surgical outcomes.

Description

[0001] Cross-reference to (one or more) related patent applications

[0002] This document is a U.S. non-provisional utility model patent application claiming priority and benefit from a co-pending U.S. (Utility Model) provisional patent application, filed on June 26, 2020, entitled “SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING REMOTE ANDRAPID ACCESS TO SCANNED IMAGE DATA”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0003] Including one or more patent applications on related topics

[0004] This document includes generally related subject matter to U.S. Patent No. 9,055,867 to Fox et al., which was granted on June 16, 2015, and is entitled “CONFOCAL SCANNING MICROSCOPEHAVING OPTICAL AND SCANNING SYSTEMS WHICH PROVIDE A HANDHELD IMAGING HEAD”.

[0005] This document includes generally related subject matter to U.S. Patent No. 10,908,406 to Hadley et al., granted on February 2, 2021, entitled “RESONANT SCANNER INTEROPERATION WITH MOVABLE STAGE”.

[0006] All of the aforementioned documents (including patents, patent publications, patent applications, and technical papers) are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Background Technology

[0007] Performing medical surgery on a patient typically involves cutting and / or removing tissue from the patient's body. The tissue removed from the patient's body can be evaluated visually, and / or via one or more devices that can reveal characteristics of the tissue that are not necessarily visible to the human eye. Such devices used for evaluation include, for example, confocal laser scanning microscopes, which are designed to produce representations of one or more characteristics of the removed tissue. These representations can be encoded and stored as digitally encoded data.

[0008] The above discussion is provided only for general background information and is not intended to help determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. Summary of the Invention

[0009] This invention provides a system, apparatus, and method for providing remote and rapid access to image data of ex-vivotissue removed from a patient during surgery. This invention can be employed during surgical procedures to enable other remotely located healthcare professionals to view and rapidly assess the tissue removed from the patient during surgery. Such healthcare professionals can provide rapid and timely feedback to the surgeon during surgical procedures to expedite the procedure and improve surgical outcomes.

[0010] The brief description of the invention is intended only to provide a brief overview of the subject matter disclosed herein based on one or more illustrative embodiments, and is not intended as guidance for interpreting the claims or for limiting or restricting the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the appended claims. Attached Figure Description

[0011] To facilitate understanding of the features of the invention, a detailed description of the invention can be obtained by referring to certain embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the drawings illustrate only certain embodiments of the invention and should therefore not be considered as limiting its scope, as the scope of the invention can encompass other equally effective embodiments.

[0012] The accompanying drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. The focus of the drawings is generally on illustrating features of certain embodiments of the invention. In the drawings, similar numbers are used throughout the various views to indicate similar portions. Differences between similar portions may necessitate the use of different numbers to indicate those portions. Dissimilar portions are indicated by different numbers. Therefore, for a further understanding of the invention, reference can be made to the following detailed description, which can be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0013] Figure 1 The illustration shows a simplified view of an embodiment of a system for transmitting image data scanned from tissue removed from a patient during surgery.

[0014] Figure 2A A simplified representation of an embodiment of an image scanning station (ISS) is illustrated.

[0015] Figure 2B The diagram shows... Figure 2A A simplified representation of an embodiment of an image scanner.

[0016] Figure 2C The illustration shows various resolutions of image data that can be used to view the exposed surface of the removed tissue.

[0017] Figure 2D A simplified representation of an image viewing station (IVS) is illustrated.

[0018] Figure 2E The illustration shows a simplified representation of an embodiment of a system that includes a tree-type hierarchical structure of image access components.

[0019] Figure 2F The diagram shows... Figure 2E Operations on the image access component collection.

[0020] Figure 3A The illustration shows a simplified representation of the user interface window of the Image Stream Viewer (ISVC) component, which displays image data.

[0021] Figure 3B The illustration shows the transmission of coordinate directives from a user at an image stream viewing station.

[0022] Figure 3C The diagram illustrates the response to Figure 3C The updated content of the view window for the coordinates (go to) command.

[0023] Figure 3D The illustration shows that Figure 3D The horizontal perspective view of the image data viewed within the viewing window.

[0024] Figure 3E The diagram illustrates the response to Figure 3D The view window updates content using the zoom in (reduction) command.

[0025] Figure 3F The diagram illustrates the response to Figure 3F The view window updates the content of the zoom-in (zoom out) command.

[0026] Figure 4 The illustration provides an expanded overview of the transmission of image data involving multiple healthcare facilities. Detailed Implementation

[0027] Figure 1 The illustration provides a simplified overview of an embodiment of a system for transmitting image data scanned from tissue 162 removed from a patient during surgery. The illustration shows a top-down perspective view of a first healthcare facility 110, where a surgeon 116 is performing surgery on a patient 112. The patient 112 is shown lying on an operating table 114. The surgeon 116 acts as a physician and the primary healthcare specialist within the first healthcare facility.

[0028] During the procedure, a surgeon 116 removes (cuts) an excised tissue sample 162 from the body of the patient 112. The excised tissue sample 162 is transported to an image scanning station (ISS) 120 located within the first healthcare facility 110 and is optically scanned via a confocal scanner 160 to generate a large set of electronically encoded and stored data, in this case, digitally encoded image data and referred herein as image data (or image dataset) 126.

[0029] Another second healthcare professional—a physician licensed as a pathologist—is assigned to evaluate the excised tissue sample 162 for the presence or absence of any unhealthy condition. This second healthcare professional is located in a secondary healthcare facility situated many miles away from the primary healthcare facility. This unhealthy condition could be indicated by the presence of a disease within the excised tissue 162, such as the presence of, for example, a cancerous lesion. The surgery is suspended until the primary healthcare professional, acting as surgeon 116, receives a satisfactory evaluation of the excised tissue sample 162 from the second healthcare professional, who is also a pathologist.

[0030] After scanning of the ex vivo tissue sample 162, the resulting scanned image data 126 undergoes a processing phase, enabling the image data 126 to be viewed more effectively from a remote location by various persons with access to such data, including pathologists. ISS 120 includes an Input Image Access Component (Input IAC) 122 configured to convey the presence and availability of the processed image data stored within the image dataset 126 for access or viewing by one or more persons via Image Viewing Stations (IVS) 150a-150b. The processed image data is also referred to herein as image data or data.

[0031] When processed image data becomes available for access or viewing (i.e., the event referred to herein as the event that processed image data becomes available), the processed image data can be accessed for applications other than viewing. For example, processed image data can be stored in temporary and / or permanent storage devices located away from the surgical location so that copies of such data are quickly available for (parallel) access from a location away from the surgical location, and no further involvement of an image scanning station (ISS) is required when providing such available and parallel access.

[0032] Alternatively, this processed image data can be further processed via hardware and / or software located at a location remote from the surgical site. This further processing may include, for example, employing artificial intelligence to assess the likelihood of the presence of disease or some other type of abnormality within the tissue from which the image data was scanned.

[0033] After the image data processing is complete, input IAC 122 transmits the existence and availability of the processed image data to a person with permission to view such data. Image viewing stations (IVS) 150a-150b are configured to provide each of such persons with access to and viewing of image data 126 from a remote location via the Internet or another type of network.

[0034] like Figure 2E As illustrated, input IAC 122 interoperates with other members of the image access component (IAC) set to transmit the existence and availability of image dataset 126 for viewing. The IAC set includes at least one input IAC 122, one output IAC, and optionally one or more intermediary IACs. The intermediary IAC acts as an intermediary between two other IACs.

[0035] IACs interoperate with each other to transmit image data within image dataset 126 to a viewer of the image data via image viewing station 150 as needed. Image viewing station (IVS) 150 is employed to enable pathologists (viewers) to view image data from a remote location.

[0036] The IVS150 interoperates with an output IAC 142, which operates (and is hosted) on an internet-accessible website, referred herein as Image Access Portal (IAP) 140. The output IAC 142 locates and transmits image data for pathologists to view remotely and quickly as needed and in response to viewing instructions transmitted from a pathologist to the IVS150 as a user of the IVS150. The path between the output IAC 142 and the image dataset 126 to be accessed for viewing (including another image access component (IAC) facilitating such access between the output IAC 142 and the image dataset 126) is referred herein as the image access communication path or access communication path.

[0037] This system enables multiple image viewing stations (IVS) 150a-150b to view image datasets 126 from multiple remote locations. Each image dataset can appear simultaneously overlapping or separately over time among the multiple IVSs 150a-150b during a given time period. Furthermore, a single viewing station (IVS) is configured to view multiple image datasets at once.

[0038] In cases where surgeon 116 receives an unsatisfactory assessment of tissue sample 162 from pathologist, surgeon 116 may be motivated and / or required to remove a second tissue sample from patient 112 for rescanning to generate a second image dataset of the second tissue sample, thereby enabling a second assessment of the second tissue sample from pathologist. Once the assessment of the removed tissue is satisfactory, surgeon is typically free to continue and complete the procedure.

[0039] Figure 2A A simplified representation of an embodiment of an image scanning station (ISS) 120 is illustrated. The ISS 120 is designed for optically scanning excised tissue during surgery. In this embodiment, the ISS 120 is preferably a desktop computer. Thus, the desktop computer includes at least one central processing unit (CPU) 212, a system bus 220, physical memory 214, virtual memory 240, and input / output hardware 216 designed to provide electronic interfaces to one or more peripheral devices, including an electronic interface to a network 290. The ISS 120, as a desktop computer, also includes user interface hardware, including a user interface display (UIDS) 130, a keyboard 132, and a mouse (screen pointer) device 134. The user interface hardware provides a user interface enabling a user of the ISS 120 to interact with and operate the ISS 120.

[0040] The image scanning station 120 also includes peripheral devices, including an attached confocal (optical) scanner device 160 and a data storage device 124. In this embodiment, the scanner 160 includes optics enabling optical scanning of the excised tissue 162 at a resolution of a quarter-micron pixel or less. The data storage device 124 is a terabyte solid-state drive with a read / write data rate equal to 400 megabytes per second. Optionally, and in other embodiments, the ISS 120 may also include additional hardware and software not necessary for performing optical scanning of the excised tissue 162.

[0041] Regarding the software, in this embodiment, the ISS 120 is equipped with Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) software 228a, and preferably Windows 10 operating system software 222. The operating system (OS) includes a device driver 228b for interfacing with peripheral devices attached to the ISS 120. The ISS 120 is equipped with software applications including an image scanning component (ISC) 230, an image processing component (232), and an input image access component (input IAC) 122. Optionally, the ISS 120 includes at least one web browser program, such as, for example, the Google Chrome browser program.

[0042] Figure 2B The diagram shows... Figure 2A A simplified representation of an embodiment of the image scanner 160. In this embodiment, the scanner 160 is a confocal image scanner 160. The operation of the image scanner 160 will be described in conjunction with a first use case.

[0043] In the first use case, a sample of excised tissue 162 is removed (cut) from the surgical patient 112 during surgery. The removed excised tissue 162 is also referred to herein as tissue 162 or simply tissue 162. Prior to completion of the surgery, tissue 162 is transported to scanner 160. In this scenario, scanner 160 is a confocal (optical) scanner 160, and is also referred to herein as scanner 160. Scanner 160 is typically located within walking distance of the surgical site.

[0044] Typically, surgeon 116 cuts tissue 162 from within the patient at a specific location to expose the surface of the tissue for examination. This examination searches for the presence of abnormalities within the tissue 162, which may indicate the presence of an unhealthy condition, such as a type of disease, including a type of cancer. This examination is typically performed by a healthcare professional, such as a pathologist and / or someone with specialized skills in identifying this type of abnormality. The abnormality is evidence of the presence of a specific unhealthy condition visible along the exposed surface of the tissue.

[0045] In cases where unhealthy conditions are identified along the surface of tissue 162, surgeon 116 is typically instructed to proceed with the surgery and remove more tissue from the patient in search of tissue with a healthy surface.

[0046] When it is determined that the removed tissue has a healthy surface, the removed tissue is also referred to as having a healthy tissue margin, or simply a healthy margin. If the surgeon obtains this healthy tissue margin, the event typically indicates that a sufficient amount of unhealthy tissue that was the focus of the surgery has been removed from the patient 112 to allow the surgeon 116 to continue the surgery.

[0047] Alternatively, in cases where the surface of the tissue appears healthy, the surgeon 116 is typically free to proceed with the procedure without being required to cut additional tissue samples from the patient.

[0048] In this embodiment, the scanner includes an upward-facing, transparent substrate, also referred to herein as platen 161. Tissue 162 includes one or more surfaces exposed due to tissue being cut from the patient by surgeon 116. One such exposed surface is selected for image scanning and is placed (face down, as shown) on the upper surface of platen 161, facing the body (base) of scanner 160.

[0049] During operation, the scanner 160 is designed to project light of a specific wavelength upwards from the body of the scanner 160, through the platform 161, and toward the exposed surface of the tissue 162. The upwardly projected light causes reflection and / or fluorescence from the exposed surface of the tissue 162. The reflected and / or fluorescent light is typically guided back to the body of the scanner 160. The reflected and / or fluorescent light is detected and stored within the scanner 160 as image data.

[0050] Scanner 160 is designed to scan the tissue along a two-dimensional plane (also referred to herein as the scanning plane). The position of this scanning plane can be adjusted. As shown, tissue 162 can be scanned along a scanning plane defined by the exposed surface of tissue 162, or tissue 162 can be scanned along a scanning plane positioned at a small distance into the body of tissue 162. This small distance is also referred to herein as the scanning depth. The scanning depth can be set, for example, to a physical distance (depth) of 1 micrometer penetrating the surface of tissue 162 and entering the body of tissue 162, or to a physical distance (depth) from the surface of tissue 162 into the body of tissue 162 equal to a multiple of 5 micrometer increments.

[0051] Image data is stored in data units, referred to herein as image data pixels or data pixels. Each data pixel represents a small portion of the image. Each small portion of the image is detected by light reflected and / or fluoresced from tissue 162. In this embodiment, each data pixel requires two bytes of storage per channel. These two bytes encode the grayscale intensity representing that small portion of the image.

[0052] Each data pixel can be represented in several different ways. These different ways are referred to as channels in this paper. By default, no dye is applied to tissue 162, and optical scanning of tissue 162 collects the projected light reflected (non-fluorescent) from tissue 162.

[0053] Alternatively, one or more fluorescent dyes may be applied to tissue 162 prior to scanning. In this case, when tissue 162 is scanned, light of specific (discrete) wavelengths is directed to tissue 162, causing tissue 162 to fluoresce (optically shine) in response to contact with this discrete wavelength light. This optical shining is fluorescent light within a certain wavelength (color) range. This optical shining provides information that can be used to colorize the representation of the tissue.

[0054] Image data from each viewpoint representing tissue 162 is referred to herein as a channel. If a portion of tissue 162 undergoes a first optical scan without dye, the image data obtained from that first type of optical scan is referred to as a channel of image data or a first channel of image data. This first channel of image data belongs to the type referred to herein as a channel of reflective image data, or as a reflective channel of image data for a scan of tissue 162.

[0055] If, alternatively, the tissue is stained and fluoresced, and undergoes an optical scan while fluorescing, the image data collected from this alternative scan of the tissue is referred to as a fluorescent image data channel, or a fluorescent channel for image data of the tissue.

[0056] If the same tissue undergoes a first reflective optical scan and a second fluorescent optical scan, the combined image data of that tissue portion is referred to herein as having two channels for image data of that tissue portion. The first channel is a reflective channel, and the second channel is a fluorescent channel for the image data. Preferably, the same two channels of image data are obtained when the first reflective optical scan and the second fluorescent scan are performed simultaneously (at the same time). In the use case to be described, the exposed surface of the tissue is square in shape, with a width of 25 mm and a height of 25 mm, and the total area is equal to (25 mm × 25 mm = 625 square millimeters).

[0057] In this use case, the exposed surface of the tissue is optically scanned. Optionally, the exposed surface can be scanned in a matrix-type pattern, where each element of the matrix—which is the intersection of the rows and columns within the matrix—represents a portion of the exposed surface of the tissue. This type of scan is also referred to herein as step mapping or step scan, or as block (mosaic) mapping or block scan. The portion (block) within the matrix is ​​approximately square in shape and is referred to herein as a frame or scan field of view.

[0058] A frame is also referred to herein as a field of view (FOV) because it can be displayed and viewed later after being scanned. Using this type of scanning, the exposed surface is optically scanned in such block portions, each block portion being referred to as one frame at a time, until all frames along the exposed surface of the tissue have been scanned. Alternatively, another type of scanning is referred herein as strip mapping or strip scanning, in which the exposed surface is optically scanned at once over portions (larger parts) that are larger than those scanned via block scanning, and where each larger portion is typically longer in one dimension and typically has a larger overall size in total area than a single scan block.

[0059] In this embodiment, the scanner 160 is configured to scan within a range of scan resolutions. The highest scan resolution within this range is referred to herein as the full scan resolution. When block scanning is employed, at the highest (full) scan resolution, the exposed surface of the tissue is divided into a matrix comprising at least 100 rows and at least 100 columns, defining a matrix with at least 10,000 scan fields of view, including at least 10,000 elements within the matrix, including rows and columns. The language "at least" is used to account for scan frame overlap, which requires that more frames be scanned than are to be displayed and viewed, and will be further described below. Within each frame (scan field of view), there is another matrix, which is an image data pixel matrix. This image data pixel matrix within each frame comprises at least 1024 rows and 1024 columns of image data pixels.

[0060] In this embodiment and application scenario of the invention, the exposed surface of tissue 162 is optically scanned at full (highest) scan resolution while employing block scanning. At full scan resolution, each frame comprises a matrix of data pixels. Each data pixel represents a tissue region of approximately square shape, with a width approximately measured to be 0.24 micrometers and a height approximately measured to be 0.24 micrometers. These data pixels are nominally referred to herein as quarter-micrometer data pixels as an approximately linear measure of their size. Each frame represents a tissue region of approximately square shape, with a width approximately measured to be 240 micrometers and a height approximately measured to be 240 micrometers.

[0061] At full scan resolution, a 25 square millimeter exposed surface area of ​​the tissue requires scan frames arranged in at least 100 rows and 100 columns, with each scan frame slightly overlapping the others. This slight overlap of each scan frame (referred to as frame overlap) better enables software (referred to as image stitching software) to combine adjacent scan frames to form a unified (stitched) image data representation of the entire exposed surface of the tissue.

[0062] Therefore, this overlap requires more than 10,000 separate scan frames (100 rows × 100 columns = 10,000) to generate 10,000 stitched-together displayable and viewable frames, each called a display field of view or viewing field of view. Each scan frame (field of view) includes 1,048,576 (more than one million) data pixels (1024 rows × 1024 columns). With two bytes of storage required for each data pixel, each scan frame (field of view) requires slightly more than two million bytes (2 megabytes) of image data per scan image data channel.

[0063] Therefore, the amount of image data required to scan this surface area, which is approximately 1 square inch (25 mm × 25 mm = 625 square millimeters) in size, would require more than approximately 20 billion bytes of image data per channel, or 20 gigabytes of image data per channel.

[0064] In many cases, the potential viewer (user) of the image data (such as a healthcare professional expected to evaluate the removed tissue) may not be within easy walking distance of the surgery. Instead, the professional may be located on another floor of the same building, in another building within the campus of the healthcare facility, or in another healthcare facility, and / or be located miles away from where the surgery will be performed.

[0065] Software designed to input, process, and output image data for viewing by the image data viewer (user) typically requires high data rate access to the image data; otherwise, the software and the user would spend too much time waiting for the software to input large amounts of image data (more than 20 gigabytes per channel) that the user expects to view.

[0066] Typically, high data rate access to image data requires that the entire image data be accessible to a computer with a directly attached data storage device. A storage device that is physically attached to a computer and located near the computer without an intermediary network is referred to herein as being directly attached to the computer.

[0067] like Figure 2A As shown, the input / output hardware 216 is located between the computer's system bus 220 and the storage device 124. For example... Figure 2A As shown, only the input / output hardware 216 is located between the system bus 220 and the storage device 124. This input / output hardware 216 is local to the system bus 220 of the computer of ISS120 and is physically attached to the system bus 220.

[0068] Typically, directly attached storage devices provide access to data at or near the storage device's maximum speed, typically 50 megabytes per second or higher. However, if, for example, a network or some other type of communication channel lies between the computer's system bus 220 and the storage device 124, the network may span a considerable distance from the computer's system bus 220 to ISS 120, and therefore, the data transfer rate to / from the storage device will typically drop far below 50 megabytes per second. Therefore, storage device 124 is not considered a computer directly attached to ISS 120 herein. For example, a local area network (LAN) can span half a mile and deliver data at approximately 10 megabytes per second. Distances exceeding half a mile are referred to herein as wide area network (WAN) distances.

[0069] Potentially, each viewer of image data can focus their attention on different parts of the image data, and / or view parts of the image data in different orders over time, depending on what features are being searched within such a large amount of image data and who is examining it. Ideally, the entire image data should be available for users (viewers) to access and view interactively and flexibly in a time-efficient manner.

[0070] One option to achieve the above goal would be to upload the entire image data to a wide area network, such as an internet-accessible website. This website would then provide high-data-rate access to the image data. With high-data-rate access to the image data, the internet-accessible website could then be accessed by users (viewers) from various geographical locations. However, this approach has some problems.

[0071] Typical (standard internet) upload speeds from workstations such as image scanning stations to the internet are approximately 2-3 megabytes per second. At a data rate equivalent to 2.5 megabytes per second, if a single-channel image scan is performed on this 625 square millimeter tissue sample, uploading the single-channel image data would take approximately 8000 seconds, which is equivalent to about 133 minutes, or more than 2 hours, before a healthcare professional can view the image data. Alternatively, if a dual-channel image scan is performed on the same tissue sample, uploading the dual-channel image data to the internet would take more than 4 hours before it can be viewed.

[0072] During surgery, it is impractical to pause the procedure and wait for one or more hours for a healthcare professional (such as a pathologist) to examine and evaluate the exposed surface of the removed tissue. While awaiting evaluation of the removed tissue, the surgical patient's surgical wound remains open, and the progress of the surgery is paused (delayed) until the surgeon receives the image data from the healthcare professional for evaluation.

[0073] According to embodiments of the present invention, the present invention provides a method for accessing and viewing a large amount of image data from various viewing locations by each of one or more viewers (healthcare professionals), regardless of whether those viewing locations are located near or far from the image scanning and surgical locations.

[0074] refer to Figure 2A The image scanning station (ISS) 120 includes an image scanning component (ISC) 230, which is software that controls the scanner 160 to perform scanning of the surface of the tissue sample 162 and to store the scanned image data 126. The ISC 230 stores the image data in the image dataset 126.

[0075] Under the guidance of the user (operator) of the image scanning station (ISS), a scan of the exposed surface of tissue 162 is performed at a predictable amount of scan resolution equal to or exceeding that required by a healthcare professional to examine the tissue. In some cases, and in this use case, this scan resolution is the full (maximum) scan resolution that this embodiment of the scanning station is designed to perform.

[0076] In this use case, the ISC 230 scans at a resolution of one-quarter micrometers per data pixel and generates more than 20 gigabytes of image data for a single reflective channel. Using currently available scanning technologies, a scan at one-quarter micrometer data pixel resolution would take approximately 25 minutes to complete. At half-micrometer data pixel resolution, a scan would take approximately 6.5 minutes. At one-micrometer data pixel resolution, a scan would take only approximately 1.6 minutes. During scanning at organization 162, the scanned image data is stored on data storage device 124. The image scanning station 120 is attached to the high-data-rate access (50+ megabytes per second) data storage device 124.

[0077] In this configuration, the high-capacity storage device 124 is a locally accessible solid-state data storage device with an extremely high data rate of approximately 400 megabytes per second. The time required to scan the exposed surface of tissue 162 depends on the resolution of each data pixel being scanned. For example, in this configuration, an optical scan of one micrometer data pixel would take approximately 1.6 minutes, for half a micrometer data pixel approximately 6.5 minutes, and for a quarter-micrometer pixel approximately 25 minutes. With this high-rate data storage, the storage of 20 gigabytes of scanned imaging data can be completed in just about 40 seconds—less than a minute.

[0078] The scanned image data is stored in an image dataset via an operating system 222 running on the image scanning station 120. An image dataset file 126 (also referred to herein as dataset file 126 or dataset 126) resides in at least one file stored in a file system associated with the operating system 222. In general, for a half-micron pixel scan sufficient to display tissue at human cell resolution, scanning of the exposed surface of a 625 square millimeter tissue sample and storage of the resulting image data requires less than 8 minutes of elapsed time.

[0079] Dataset 126 includes the scanned image data itself, as well as information associated with that image data (referred to herein as metadata). The metadata includes a unique identifier for the dataset, a set of parameters associated with the scan, and the date and time the scan was performed. Scan parameters include, for example, the scan resolution and the physical dimensions of the exposed surface of the tissue.

[0080] Optionally, other related information (such as a description of the surgical environment, the main location of the tissue, the identification of the scanning station and scanner operator, and / or the patient's identification, and / or the surgeon's identification) may also be stored as metadata within the dataset.

[0081] The 20 gigabytes of image scan data of the exposed surface of an organization is far more information that can be displayed on a user interface display (UIDS) at any given time. However, if the image data is processed to create supplementary image data with one or more resolutions that are all reduced from the original full scan resolution, such that this supplementary image data can represent a larger portion of the exposed surface of the organization on the UIDS130 at a given point in time, then the entire exposed surface of the organization can be displayed at once within the UIDS130's user interface display window (UIDW).

[0082] Therefore, the Image Scanning Station (ISS) 120 also includes an Image Processing Component (IPC) that provides supplementary image data to enhance the dataset, thereby preparing it for viewing. The IPC is configured to process the scanned image data to calculate and create supplementary image data, which is divided into separate portions of image data with various resolutions. These various resolutions are all different from the full resolution of the original scanned image data and are all calculated and reduced from the full resolution of the original scanned image data generated from the original scan of tissue 162.

[0083] Figure 2C The illustration shows various resolutions of image data that can be used to view optical scan images of the removed tissue 162. In the embodiment shown here, four different resolutions of the image data are present.

[0084] The first (highest) image resolution 288 is the highest image resolution 288 of the image data represented in this embodiment and the figure, and is the same resolution as that captured from the original scan of tissue 162, and is represented as a first horizontal line 288, which is drawn substantially near the lower edge of the figure.

[0085] For this image data resolution, each data pixel is measured to be 0.24 micrometers wide and 0.24 micrometers high, and is referred to herein as a quarter-micrometer pixel. One million of these quarter-micrometer data pixels are packed into each of 10,000+ fields of view (frames), which can be combined to represent an image of the entire exposed and scanned surface of tissue 162. Each display frame or field of view has a width of approximately 240 micrometers and a height of approximately 240 micrometers.

[0086] Because there is overlap between the scans of each (frame) field of view, and these overlaps are stitched together by software to generate a complete image dataset, approximately 11,100 fields of view (frames) were actually scanned to be stitched together, generating approximately 10,000 visible (frame) fields of view of the stitched image data. Using current confocal optical scanning technology, it would take approximately 25 minutes to completely scan the 625 square millimeter exposed surface of the tissue.

[0087] However, when scanning at a half-micron data pixel resolution, approximately 2,800 fields of view (frames) are actually scanned to be stitched together, resulting in approximately 2,500 fields of view (frames) of stitched-together image data. Using current confocal optical scanning technology, it would take approximately 6.5 minutes to completely scan the 625 square millimeter exposed surface of the tissue.

[0088] Furthermore, when scanning at a resolution of one micrometer data pixels, approximately 700 fields of view (frames) are actually scanned to be stitched together, resulting in approximately 625 fields of view (frames) of stitched image data. Using current confocal optical scanning technology, it would take approximately 1.6 minutes to completely scan 625 square millimeters of exposed tissue surface.

[0089] At a quarter-micron image data resolution, approximately 10,000 fields of view × one million data pixels per field of view = 10 billion quarter-micron data pixels are needed to represent a stitched image of the entire exposed and scanned surface of tissue 162. This requires more than 20 gigabytes of image data (2 bytes of image data per data pixel) to represent an image of the exposed and scanned surface of tissue that is 625 square millimeters, or one square inch in area.

[0090] It is important to note that user interface screens typically include 2-3 million display pixels, which is far fewer than the 10 billion quarter-micron data pixels required to view an entire image dataset at once.

[0091] A second resolution 286, calculated by an algorithm based on the higher resolution 288 of the image data, is represented as a second horizontal line drawn above the first resolution 288. For this image data resolution, each data pixel is measured to be approximately 0.96 micrometers wide and approximately 0.96 micrometers high, and is referred to herein as a one-micrometer pixel. One million of these one-micrometer data pixels are packed into each of (625 = 25 × 25) fields of view, each field of view having a width of approximately 960 micrometers (approximately 1 millimeter) and a height of approximately 960 micrometers (approximately 1 millimeter).

[0092] At this image data resolution, 625 million one-micrometer data pixels are needed to represent the entire exposed surface of the tissue sample, which requires 1.25 gigabytes of image data (2 bytes per data pixel) to represent an image of the exposed surface of a 625 square millimeter tissue, which is approximately one square inch in area.

[0093] The third resolution 284 of the image data, calculated by an algorithm based on either of the higher resolutions 286 or 288 of the image data, is represented as a third horizontal line drawn above the second horizontal line representing the second resolution 286 of the image data.

[0094] Preferably, the third resolution 284 of the image data is calculated by an algorithm based on the higher resolution 286 of the image data, and is represented as a third horizontal line drawn above the second resolution 286 of the image data. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the third resolution 284 of the image data can be calculated based on the image data of the higher resolution 288.

[0095] At this image data resolution, each data pixel represents a tissue region measured to be approximately 4.8 micrometers wide and approximately 4.8 micrometers high, and is referred to herein as a five (5) micrometer data pixel. One million of these five-micrometer data pixels are packed into each of 25 UIDS fields of view, also referred herein to as a viewing field of view comprising a five (5) row by five (5) column matrix of (25) viewing fields of view. Each viewing field of view within this matrix represents a tissue region having a physical width of approximately 4800 micrometers (approximately 5 millimeters) and a tissue height of approximately 5000 micrometers (approximately 5 millimeters).

[0096] At this image data resolution, 25 million one-micrometer data pixels are needed to represent the entire exposed surface of the tissue sample, which requires 50 megabytes of image data (2 bytes of image data per data pixel) to represent an image of the exposed surface of a 625 square millimeter tissue, which is approximately one square inch in size.

[0097] Preferably, the fourth resolution 282 of the image data is calculated by an algorithm based on the higher resolution 284 of the image data and is represented as a fourth horizontal line, which is shown as being drawn above the third horizontal line representing the third resolution 284 of the image data. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the fourth resolution 282 of the image data can be calculated based on image data of a higher resolution 286 or a higher resolution 288.

[0098] At this image data resolution, each data pixel is measured to be approximately 24 micrometers wide and approximately 24 micrometers high, and is referred to herein as a twenty-five (25) micrometer data pixel. One million of these twenty-five micrometer data pixels are packed into a single UIDS field of view, which is a viewing (viewable) field of view within a matrix having only one row and only one column. This single UIDS viewing field of view represents the tissue area as the entire exposed surface of the excised tissue. This single viewing field of view represents tissue having a width of approximately 25,000 micrometers (25 millimeters) and a height of approximately 5,000 micrometers (5 millimeters).

[0099] At this image data resolution, one million one-micron data pixels are needed to represent the entire exposed surface of the tissue sample, which requires 2 megabytes of image data (2 bytes of image data per data pixel) to represent an image of the exposed surface of a 625 square millimeter tissue, which is approximately one square inch in size.

[0100] The algorithmic computation for each calculated image resolution is performed via a down-resolution sampling process, also referred to herein as "downsampling," in which information from multiple higher-resolution pixels is merged into and represented by a single representative data pixel at a lower resolution.

[0101] The aforementioned set of cascaded resolutions provides viewers with additional options for viewing image data. These additional options allow viewers to more flexibly choose the viewing path through the image data, enabling efficient inspection and evaluation. Figures 3A-3F This feature of the invention is further described in the text.

[0102] Figure 2D A simplified representation of an embodiment of an image viewing station (IVS) 150 is illustrated. In this embodiment, the image viewing station (IVS) 150 includes a number of hardware components of the same type as that of an image scanning station (ISS) 190. The IVS 150 has hardware including a keyboard, a mouse (screen pointer) device, and a user interface display (UIDS) 292. The UIDS 292 is configured to display at least one user interface display window (UIDW).

[0103] As for the software, the IVS150 is equipped with Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) software, preferably Windows 10 operating system software. The operating system (OS) includes a device driver for interfacing with hardware peripherals attached to the IVS150. The IVS150 is equipped with software applications, including an image viewing component (IVC) 152, and includes at least one web browser program, preferably Google Chrome.

[0104] Unlike image scanning station 190, image viewing station (IVS) 150 does not necessarily have an attached scanner device, nor does it necessarily have an attached high-capacity and / or high-data-rate high-capacity storage device. However, IVS 150 may have some of these additional hardware components, and furthermore, it may be designed as both image scanning station 190 and image viewing station 150.

[0105] In this embodiment, the web browser program executes in the virtual memory of the IVS150 and interoperates with the operating system installed on the IVS150. Users of the IVS150 interact with the web browser to obtain online access to an internet web server, referred to as the Image Access Portal (IAP) 140, which hosts the Output Image Access Component (Output IAC) 142.

[0106] After the IVS150 gains online access to the output IAC 142, the output IAC 142 lists one or more image datasets 126 currently available for viewing by the user of the IVS150. These one or more image datasets 126 may all be located in separate, non-proximity locations. When a user selects a dataset for viewing, the Image Viewing Component (IVC) 152 is downloaded as software from the output IAC 142 to a web browser program running on the IVS150. The IVC 152 is designed to provide an interactive user interface for viewing image data, where the user of the IVS150 sends viewing instructions to the IVC 152, and in response, the IVC 152 typically receives and responds to those viewing instructions via communication with the output IAC 142. Further description of the IVC 152 is provided below. Figures 3A-3F As shown in the image.

[0107] Preferably, and in this embodiment, IVC 152 includes a modified version of the publicly available Open Sea Dragon (OSD) software (OSDS). The OSD software is implemented as open source and is written in Java script and HTML. Instead of being compiled into executable machine instructions before runtime, the OSD software is interpreted during runtime.

[0108] The publicly accessible, unmodified version of the OSD software is designed to access image data stored in a local file system associated with the operating system on which the OSD software runs. This arrangement typically results in higher data rate access to the image data compared to accessing it via a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). This high data rate access to the image data allows the OSD software to respond to users more quickly when they interact with it.

[0109] However, according to the design of the present invention, and in the environment designed to operate therein, there is no single image dataset that is accessed and viewed over time. Instead, multiple individual image datasets 126 are physically stored at various different and remote locations relative to the location of the computer on which the OSD software is executed. Through embodiments of the present invention, each image dataset is typically created during surgery and becomes typically available for access and viewing within a limited time period and typically during the duration of surgery.

[0110] After the surgery, the image dataset can be transferred to an alternative data storage device, physically separated from and located remotely from data storage device 124, which initially stored the image dataset and is directly accessible to image scanning station (ISS) 120. This alternative data storage device can serve as long-term data storage for the post-operative image dataset. This alternative data storage device will not necessarily need to be accessible to the image scanning station (ISS) 120 that initially stored the image dataset.

[0111] However, as Figure 2E and 2F As shown, this long-term data storage device can be accessed from the Image Transfer Station (ITS) 170 via a local area network or via more direct and higher-speed data access. The ITS 170 will include hardware such as an Image Scanning Station (ISS) 120, except that it will not need to be attached to the image scanning hardware and will not need to execute image scanning or processing software 232. The ITS 170 will execute intermediate image access component software (intermediate IAC) 172 and will not necessarily require local and / or high-speed access to the mass storage device. Optionally, the ITS 170 can access large amounts of image data via a local area network. Optionally, the ITS 170 may have input image access component (IAC) functionality within the intermediate IAC 172 to detect the access availability and unavailability of the stored image data over time.

[0112] It is important to note that an alternative image access communication path can be established between the output IAC and the alternative data storage device. In some cases, the intermediary IAC 172, which operates on the image transfer station (ITS) 170, is configured to directly access the alternative data storage device and is configured to operate within a set of IACs that are configured to form the alternative image access communication path.

[0113] Due to the data storage limitations of the Image Scanning Station (ISS) 120, each initially stored image dataset is eventually removed from the data storage device 124 of the ISS 120. If the initially stored image dataset is removed, the original image access communication path between the output IAC and the initially stored image data is terminated. Furthermore, the system can be configured to terminate the original image access communication path with or without removing the initially stored image data from the data storage device 124 of the ISS 120.

[0114] During normal operation, each image dataset suddenly becomes available for viewing at a first location and at a first time (typically during surgical execution), and then suddenly becomes unavailable for viewing, at least at that first location, or at any location. The timing of these events—the image dataset becoming available and then unavailable, and possibly becoming available again when stored at a second location—often occurs in a manner not scheduled by time. Therefore, the location and / or timing of such events are generally not predetermined over time.

[0115] It is important to note that the image access communication path is referred to as being activated in this document when the image dataset becomes available. The image access communication path is referred to as being terminated in this document when the image dataset becomes unavailable.

[0116] In typical cases, the output IAC 142 is remotely located where the image data 126 is stored, and therefore, the output IAC 142 does not have high data rate access to the stored image data. To access the remotely located image data, regardless of its possible residing location, the output IAC 142 communicates with other members of the image access component set to locate and access the image data 126. The image access component set is linked to a network of interoperable image access components, where each image access component has a parent and / or child relationship with at least one other image access component within the image access component set. Figure 2E It describes in more detail how image data is relayed between IACs.

[0117] According to some embodiments of the invention, the Open Sea Dragon (OSD) software is modified to access image data that is not located within a file system, which is local (directly accessible) to the computer on which the OSD software is executed, but not local (directly accessible) to the computer from which the OSD software has been downloaded. Instead, the OSD software is modified to access the image data by employing a set of Image Access Components (IACs), including output IAC 142 and other types of IACs.

[0118] The OSD software uses an IAC collection via communication with an output IAC 142, which is accessible to the OSD software via a wide area network (such as the Internet). Preferably, the output IAC 142 is executed on a computer, referred herein as Image Access Portal (IAP) 140, which is designed to be located remotely from where image data can be stored and from where the IVS can be located.

[0119] According to an embodiment of the invention, the OSD software is modified and downloaded from the output IAC 142 executed on the Image Access Portal (IAP) 140, and embedded in the Image Viewing Component (IVC) 152. IVC 152 is a collection of software comprising one or more processes. The OSD software is modified not to access data from a file system local to the computer on which the OSD software executes, and instead is designed to send HTTP GET request function calls to the URL of the software, which is the output IAC 142 executed on IAP 140, to access various sets (parts) of image data stored on one or more computers typically residing remotely from IVC 152.

[0120] The HTTP GET request is implemented as a function call that enables IVC 152 and the downloaded, modified OSD software embedded in IVC 152 to access image data via output IAC 142. Output IAC 142 interoperates with a set of Image Access Components (IACs) to access various sets (parts) of the image data from any location where such image data might reside at that particular time. In other words, the image data to be accessed is subject to being moved and / or copied to new locations over time, especially after the surgery that initially generated the image data has been completed.

[0121] In some embodiments, the output IAC 142 generates a separate Web Tile Server (WTS) process. Like any other IAC software, the output IAC 142 software is implemented as a collection of one or more processes and / or portions of processes that execute on a computer, preferably within an operating system environment on that computer. The WTS is a process designed to transmit requests for a portion of an image dataset to a first other IAC that has previously registered with the output IAC 142 as a child IAC of the output IAC 142 and has previously registered with the output IAC 142 as having access to the requested portion of the image dataset.

[0122] The WTS process software acts as part of the output IAC 142 software. The aforementioned “first other IAC” is referred to herein as a child IAC of output IAC 142. This child IAC can be configured as either an intermediate IAC 172 or an input IAC 122 within an IAC chain. The IAC chain includes at least one output IAC 142 at a first end of the chain and an input IAC 122 at a second end of the chain. This “first other IAC” as a child IAC of output IAC 142 is referred herein as a “first child” IAC of the IAC chain.

[0123] If the first child IAC is not the input IAC 122 and it does not have access to the requested image data, it is designed to retransmit the request for the image dataset (partial) to a second other IAC that has previously registered as a child IAC of the first child IAC and has previously registered to have access to the requested image dataset (partial). This first other IAC will be referred to herein as the "second child" IAC.

[0124] A request for a portion of an image dataset along the IAC chain is relayed (relayed) along the IAC chain until input IAC 122 receives the request for the portion of the image dataset. Input IAC 122 has previously been registered to have access to the requested portion of the image dataset and is registered as a child IAC of another IAC in the IAC chain between output IAC 142 and input IAC 122. In other words, this particular IAC chain—which can form a subset of IACs with a larger IAC network—has been pre-configured via prior registration to provide access to the requested specific image dataset.

[0125] Upon receiving a request for a portion of the image dataset, input IAC 122 transmits the requested image data as image data tiles through the IAC chain back to output IAC 142, which then delivers the requested image data to the OSD software operating within the image viewing station (IVS) 152.

[0126] Referring back to the unmodified version of the OSD software, it was designed to be downloaded from the OSD web server to a web browser, and further designed to access image data via function calls to access files from a file system linked to the computer on which the OSD web server software runs (locally to that computer). In other words, unlike embodiments of the present invention, the file system is linked to an instance of the operating system running on which the unmodified version of the OSD web server software runs.

[0127] Conversely, embodiments of the present invention employ a modified version of OSD software and are designed to access files from a file system linked to a computer (local to which a specific IAC runs) within the IAC chain. This specific IAC has access to, and has direct access to, the requested image data associated with other IACs within the IAC chain.

[0128] An IAC that is capable of (being configured to) access (reach) the requested image data without needing to be transmitted through another IAC is referred to herein as an IAC authorized to directly access the requested image data. An IAC that requires transmission through another IAC to access the requested image data is referred to herein as having authorized indirect access to the image data. In some cases, in contrast to input IAC 122, intermediary IAC 172 is a specific IAC within the IAC chain authorized to directly access the requested image data.

[0129] Figure 2E The illustration shows a simplified representation of an embodiment of a system including a tree-type hierarchical structure among image access components. The set of image access components is collectively configured to provide remote access to an image dataset from an image scanning station (ISS) 120a to one or more image viewing stations (IVS) 150a-150c.

[0130] As shown, multiple image scanning stations (ISS) 120a-120n are located within the second healthcare facility 210. Each ISS 120a-120n includes a locally accessible mass storage device (not shown) on which the scanned image data is stored. Image data obtained from each scan of the excised tissue, together with associated supplemental (calculated) image data and metadata, are stored in an image dataset file 126a on the mass storage device 124a, which is directly attached to the image scanning station 120a.

[0131] Input Image Access Components (IACs) 122a-122n each reside within and operate within Image Scanning Stations (ISS) 120a-120n within the healthcare facility 210. Each input IAC 122a-122n is configured to periodically detect the presence of one or more datasets created and / or currently stored within the mass storage device 124 of the Image Scanning Stations (ISS) 120a-120n. Essentially, each input IAC 122a-122n provides a "make-up list" of the presence of any image dataset files accessible to and appearing ready for viewing by the IAC 122a-122n. When ready for viewing, these image dataset files include a certain amount of scanned image data, associated supplementary image data, and metadata information that the input IAC 122a determines to be complete and ready for viewing.

[0132] Each input IAC 122a-122n is configured to operate as a child image access component (IAC) within a linked hierarchy of image access components. Each input IAC 122a-122n is configured to link to a parent IAC, which in this case is an intermediary IAC 172, which is shown residing on and executing on a separate computer, also referred to herein as an image transfer station (ITS) 170 within the same healthcare facility 210.

[0133] Intermediate IAC 172 is configured to operate as both a child IAC and a parent IAC. Intermediate IAC 172 is configured to operate as a parent to each of the plurality of input IACs 122a-122n within the healthcare facility 210, and is also configured to operate as a child IAC associated with output IAC 142, which resides on and executes on a computer referred herein as Image Access Portal (IAP) 140, which is internet-accessible and located outside the healthcare facility 210.

[0134] Image viewing stations (IVS) 150a-150b—which are internet-accessible computers, such as desktop computers, for example—are located within the first healthcare facility 210. Similarly, one or more other image viewing stations (including, for example, IVS 150x) are located outside the first healthcare facility 210 and instead within another third healthcare facility 280, located several miles away from the first healthcare facility. All these image viewing stations (IVS) 150a-150x can access image data from one or more image scanning stations via online internet access to the output IAC 142 of the Image Access Portal (IAP) 140.

[0135] In one use case, users of the system (such as pathologists) receive notifications that image data is available for viewing, for example via communication (such as mobile phone text messages) and / or via email. This communication includes a website address and a unique identifier for the recently made available image dataset 126a. This method of communication is referred to herein as the notification communication path. Image dataset 126a includes scanned and associated supplementary image data, and includes metadata information associated with the image dataset, such as, for example, the name of the healthcare facility, the type of surgery, the surgeon 116, and the patient's name / identifier.

[0136] In response, the user accesses the Internet website of the Image Access Portal (IAP) 140 associated with the Output Image Access Component (IAC) 142 and logs in to the website of the Image Access Portal (IAP) 140 by authenticating himself or her by transmitting at least a username and password.

[0137] In response, Output IAC 142 displays a list of accessible image datasets that have previously been transferred from other IACs linked as children of Output IAC 142. Output IAC 142 searches this list and displays to the user one or more image datasets along with a list of their unique identifiers.

[0138] In response to displaying a list of image datasets, the user selects the image dataset 126a associated with a unique identifier for viewing. This image dataset 126a is listed within the mobile phone text message and also on the IAP 140 after successful login.

[0139] In response to the user's selection, output IAC 142 transmits the Image Viewing Component (IVC) 152 software to a browser program executing on the Image Viewing Station (IVS) 150x. In this embodiment, the IVC 152 software is implemented using a Java script downloaded from an IAP website.

[0140] Similarly, in response to the user's selection, the output IAC 142 transmits a request to receive the first part of the content of the selected image dataset 126a (referred to as the image dataset of interest) to the child IAC, which in this case is the intermediary IAC 172, which has previously transmitted the availability of access to the image dataset of interest 126a to the output IAC 142.

[0141] The intermediary IAC 172 searches its list of accessible (available) image datasets, the identifiers of which have previously been transmitted from other IACs linked as direct or indirect offspring of the intermediary IAC 172. Upon finding the image dataset 126 of interest 126a selected by the user, the intermediary IAC 172 transmits a request to transmit the first portion of the contents of the image dataset 126 of interest to the offspring IAC, in this case, the input IAC 122a, which has previously reported the availability of access to the image dataset 126a of interest.

[0142] In response to a request received by input IAC 122a from an intermediary IAC, input IAC 122a transmits a first portion of the contents of the image dataset 126 of interest to intermediary IAC 172. Next, intermediary IAC 172 relays (transmits) the first portion of the contents of the image dataset 126 of interest to output IAC 142. Then, output IAC relays (transmits) the first portion of the contents of the image dataset 126 of interest to image viewing components (IVCs) 152x of image viewing station (IVS) 150x.

[0143] In this use case, the input IAC 122 has possessed the image dataset of interest since its creation. After completing the scanning, processing, and storage of the image dataset of interest 126a into its locally accessible mass storage device 124a, the input IAC 122a previously reported the existence and accessibility of the image dataset 126a to the intermediary IAC 172. In response to receiving communication regarding the availability of the image dataset 126a, the intermediary IAC 172 relays the communication regarding the image dataset of interest 126a to its parent IAC, namely the output IAC 142.

[0144] At some future time, the image dataset of interest will be removed from the mass storage device of the image scanning station that created it. This image dataset removal event will be reported by input IAC 122a to intermediate IAC 172, and this image data removal event will be relayed by intermediate IAC 172 and reported to output IAC 142. Upon receiving the report of the removal event, each of intermediate IAC 172 and output IAC 142 will remove information about the removed (unavailable) image dataset 126a from its list of accessible (available) image datasets 126.

[0145] Figure 2F Further illustrations Figure 2E The operation of the set of image access components shown is illustrated. These access components are collectively configured to provide remote and fast access to image datasets from the image scanning station (ISS) 120a to the image viewing station (IVS) 150x.

[0146] When a user enters a viewing command into the Image Viewing Component (IVC) 152x, the IVC 152x optionally transmits an image access request 250 via communication to the output IAC 142. This image access request 250 includes a set of image access parameters. The image access parameters define the image data based on its location and resolution attributes within the entire storage of the image data in the specific image dataset of interest. Typically, the image access parameters identify image data that is typically stored as a portion of the entire image data stored within the specific image dataset of interest.

[0147] In response to receiving image access request 250, output IAC 142 checks whether it has cached some or all of the image data that satisfies image access request 250. If the cached image data is insufficient to satisfy the entire image access request 250, output IAC 142 forwards image access request 252 to a child IAC, which is an intermediary IAC 172, which has previously reported the availability of access to the image dataset 126a of interest to output IAC 142.

[0148] Image access request 252 includes image access parameters that define the remainder, which is the difference between the image data defined by image access request 250 and the image data currently cached in output IAC 142.

[0149] Alternatively, if the output IAC 142 can fully satisfy the image access request, it, i.e., the output IAC 142, responds by sending an image delivery transaction 264 to the image viewing component (IVC) 152x, which includes image data that fully satisfies the image access request 250.

[0150] According to the present invention, when a child IAC reports to its parent IAC 142 the access availability of a particular image dataset of interest, such reporting action also indicates to the parent IAC 142 that the child IAC 172 has the right to access and can deliver image data from the image dataset of interest in response to receiving a request for access to its parent IAC 142.

[0151] In response to receiving image access request 252, the intermediary IAC 172 checks whether it is currently caching some or all of the image data that fully satisfies the image access request.

[0152] If the currently cached image data is insufficient to satisfy the entire image access request 250, then the intermediary IAC 172 transmits the image access request 254 to the child IAC, namely the input IAC 122a, which has previously reported the availability of access to the image dataset 126a of interest to the intermediary IAC 172.

[0153] Image access request 254 includes image access parameters that define the remainder, which is the difference between the image data defined by image access request 252 and the image data currently cached in intermediary IAC 172.

[0154] Alternatively, if the intermediary IAC 172 can fully satisfy the image access request, it, i.e., the intermediary IAC 172, responds by sending an image transfer transaction 262 to the output IAC 142, which includes image data that fully satisfies the image access request 252.

[0155] In response to receiving image access request 254, input IAC 122a to check if it is currently caching image data that fully satisfies the image access request.

[0156] If the currently cached image data is insufficient to satisfy the entire image access request 254, input IAC 122a retrieves sufficient image data from image dataset file 126a stored on mass storage device 124a and accessible to input IAC 122a to fully satisfy image access request 254. Input IAC 122a then responds by sending an image transfer transaction 260 to intermediary IAC 172, which includes the image data that fully satisfies image access request 254.

[0157] In response to receiving image transfer transaction 260 from input IAC 122a, intermediary IAC 172 transmits image transfer transaction 262 to output IAC 142, the image transfer transaction 262 including image data that fully satisfies image access request 252.

[0158] In response to receiving image transfer transaction 262, output IAC 172 transmits image transfer transaction 264 to image viewing component (IVC) 152x, image transfer transaction 264 including image data that fully satisfies image access request 250.

[0159] In response to receiving image transfer transaction 264, image viewing component (IVC) 152x executes viewing instruction received from the user and initially prompts the transmission of original image access request 250 from IVC 152x to output IAC 142.

[0160] It is important to note that, as described above Figure 2E and 2F In the tree hierarchy, output IAC 142 communicates indirectly with input IAC 122a via intermediate IAC 172. Alternatively, if intermediate IAC 172 is not assumed to be provided between output IAC 142 and input IAC 122a, then output IAC 142 will communicate directly with input IAC 122a.

[0161] According to the present invention, the hierarchical structure of the image access component does not need to include an intermediary IAC 172. Furthermore, regarding embodiments employing an intermediary IAC 172, the present invention does not limit such embodiments to including only one intermediary IAC disposed between the output IAC 142 and any one of the input IACs. In some embodiments, a series of multiple (more than one) intermediary IACs may be disposed between the output IAC and any one of the input IACs.

[0162] For example, regarding an IAC tree hierarchy with 10 input IACs, each of these input IACs can be directly or indirectly linked to an output IAC 142, which acts as the root node of the tree hierarchy. The series of IACs along the path between the output IAC and each input IAC is variable and can include zero or one or more intermediary IACs 172. In other words, it is not required that any number of intermediary IACs 172 residing between the output IAC 142 and any particular input IAC 122 be the same between that output IAC and any other particular input IAC.

[0163] It should also be noted that if the set of Image Access Components (IACs) includes output IACs and optionally one or more intermediate IACs, each intermediate IAC having one and only one child IAC, then this arrangement is referred to herein as a chain-type IAC hierarchy and will include one and only one input IAC 122. Furthermore, if the set of IACs includes one and only one input IAC 122 and no intermediate IAC 172, then the hierarchy will be referred to as a chain-type hierarchy with only two nodes, which is the smallest and simplest type of hierarchy for IAC sets.

[0164] Figure 3AThe illustration shows a simplified representation of image data displayed within the User Interface Display Window (UIDW) 310 of the Image Viewing Station (IVS) 150. As shown in this embodiment, the User Interface Display Window 310 is square in shape and displays image data representing the exposed surface of an ex vivo tissue sample that was recently removed (cut) from the patient during surgery and then optically scanned to create the image data shown here.

[0165] In this example use case, the surgery on the patient is currently paused while the patient waits on the operating table, and simultaneously, surgeon 116 awaits evaluation of the optically scanned tissue by another healthcare professional. IVS150 is located approximately 20 miles from the location where the surgery is currently being performed.

[0166] In this example, the exposed surface of the excised tissue sample is square in shape and measures 25 mm by 25 mm. This exposed surface, representing a cross-section of the tissue sample, is oriented substantially parallel to the surface on which the figure is drawn and substantially parallel to the two-dimensional plane defined by the X-axis 312a and Y-axis 312b shown here. The Z-axis 312c is oriented perpendicular to the X-axis 312a and Y-axis 312b and also perpendicular to the plane on which the figure is drawn.

[0167] In this embodiment, the UIDW 310 has physical dimensions measured as 10 inches and 1000 display pixels along the X-axis 312a and 10 inches and 1000 display pixels along the Y-axis 312b. Therefore, the User Interface Display (UIDS) pixel density—also referred to herein as the linear pixel density of the UIDW screen—is 100 pixels per inch in the direction parallel to the X-axis 312a and 100 pixels per inch in the direction parallel to the Y-axis 312b.

[0168] The fourth resolution 282 of the image data shown is referred to herein as the initial view or “macro view” of the image data. The magnification / resolution of this view of the image data is the lowest of the four pre-configured resolutions provided by this embodiment of the invention. The macro view displays the entire exposed surface of the excised tissue within the UIDW 310. The image data viewed here comprises twenty-five (25) micrometers of image data pixels, which are image data pixels according to the lowest image data resolution calculated based on the image data obtained from the initial scan of the exposed surface of the tissue sample, as combined with… Figure 2C As described.

[0169] The initial macroscopic view shown here is somewhat similar to what the human eye would see with the aid of a magnifying glass. As shown here, this resolution includes UIDW display pixels, each representing a physical area of ​​tissue that is square in shape and measures 25 micrometers wide and 25 micrometers high. The macroscopic view shown here is presented in grayscale without utilizing color enhancement. However, depending on how the tissue sample was initially scanned, this initial macroscopic view may alternatively be presented in grayscale and / or optionally with some additional color enhancement.

[0170] A set of user interface controls 320 is positioned on UIDS 130 and slightly below UIDW 310. These controls include a resolution reset button 322, a zoom down button 324, a zoom up button 326, and an image resolution status indicator 328. Pressing the zoom down button 324 reduces the resolution of the image data view to the next lowest pre-calculated resolution. Pressing the resolution reset button 322 restores the image data view to the lowest pre-calculated image resolution, i.e., the initial view or macro view.

[0171] Because the physical size of the UIDW 310 is 10 inches by 10 inches, and the exposed surface of the removed tissue is 1 inch by 1 inch, this macro view is actually a 10:1 linear magnification of what the unassisted human eye can see when inspecting the exposed surface of the removed tissue. The row of user interface controls 320 is located below the bottom edge of the UIDW 310. The functionality of these viewing command controls will be explained in the following text.

[0172] In this use case, a portion of the displayed image data appears to be a lesion 330, also referred to herein as the lesion of interest. Users of the IVS150, acting as pathologists and viewers of the image data, would expect a closer view of this portion of the exposed surface of the tissue sample, i.e., lesion 330.

[0173] Figure 3B The illustration shows the transmission of a first viewing command from a user at an Image Viewing Station (IVS). As shown, the position within UIDW 310, represented by UIDW position 332, is associated with the first viewing command and is also indicated by the intersection of crosshairs 332a-332b.

[0174] To transmit viewing instructions, the user aims the mouse pointer of the IVS150's mouse device at the first UIDW position 332 within UIDW 310, i.e., the lesion of interest, and presses and holds the left-hand button on the mouse device while dragging the image in the northeast direction 334. If the IVS150 includes a touchscreen, viewing instructions can be executed via touchscreen input, such as by using a finger to pinch / drag the image in the northeast direction 334.

[0175] The image was dragged and repositioned so that the lesion of interest was repositioned to a second location, namely the center point 338 within UIDW 310. A first UIDW location 332 was located approximately 60 pixels east of the left-hand side of UIDW 310 and approximately 50 pixels north of the bottom edge of UIDW 310. This specific first UIDW location 332 is also represented as UIDW location coordinates (60, 50).

[0176] In response to the transmission of a viewing instruction, the image viewing component (IVC) software executing within the image viewing station (IVS) 150 inputs and processes the viewing instruction. In response, it assesses whether additional image data is needed to process the viewing instruction, and if necessary, requests and receives additional image data via the output IAC. Furthermore, if necessary, it modifies the image data content within the UIDW 310 according to the viewing instruction, such as... Figure 3C As shown.

[0177] Figure 3B and 3C The illustration shows the processing of the first viewing command transmitted from the user. In response to processing the first viewing command, the image data content of UIDW 310 is shifted (translated) in the northeast direction, so that the data pixel position 332 within the image data is now repositioned to the center display pixel position 338 within UIDW 310, at UIDW coordinate position (500, 500).

[0178] Located more than 60 pixels west and / or more than 50 pixels south of UIDW 310 display pixel position 338. Figure 3C The display pixels now define a region (partial) 336 of the UIDW 310 that does not display image data. Pixels residing in this region 336 are displayed as a uniform color. In this embodiment, the uniform color is black. Figure 3C The image data displayed is Figures 3A-3B The cropped subset of image data displayed. In response to Figure 3B The viewing command does not require any additional steps besides... Figures 3A-3B Additional image data in addition to the image data displayed internally is used to display. Figure 3C Image data.

[0179] Essentially, this first viewing instruction modifies the position within the image data that will be viewed at the center of the UIDW 310. This viewing instruction is a position-type viewing instruction, as opposed to zoom-in type viewing instructions, in which the display of specific image data is shifted relative to its position within the UIDW 310.

[0180] Figure 3D The illustration shows the processing of a second viewing instruction transmitted from a user at an Image Viewing Station (IVS). In this use case, relative to... Figure 3C The view of image data displayed within the UIDW 310 now allows users to expect a higher magnification (higher resolution) view of the image data. For example... Figure 3C As shown, lesion 330 is repositioned to the central position 338 within UIDW 310.

[0181] To increase the magnification of image data viewed within the UIDW 310, the user presses the button 326 marked "+", also known as the "Up" zoom button. In response, the content of the UIDW 310 is modified to show the magnified portion of the image data being viewed, with this portion of the image data to be magnified located around the center point 338 of the UIDW 310. The first press of the Up zoom button 326 increases the linear magnification factor of the displayed image data from (1:1) to (5:1), which corresponds to... Figure 2C The image data has the third highest resolution of 284.

[0182] In other words, pressing the "up" zoom button 326 does not change the position of the portion of image data to be zoomed in, and the center of the portion of image data to be zoomed in remains at the center of the UIDW 310. In this embodiment, the amount of magnification of the image data to be viewed (represented as a zoom factor) is configured into the system for each press of the up zoom button 326. In some embodiments, the zoom factor is configured into the system as a configuration variable within the Open Sea Dragon (OSD) JavaScript code.

[0183] Pressing the zoom-up button 326 in sequence transforms the magnification factor (represented as a linear magnification factor) of the UIDW 310 from the minimum magnification factor (macro view magnification) to the maximum (highest) magnification factor. Prior to any press of the zoom-up button 326, the magnification factor is indicated to be equal to one-to-one (1:1), that is, the lowest magnification factor and resolution provided by the system in this embodiment.

[0184] The first press of the up zoom button 326 increases the magnification factor to equal (5 to 1), which corresponds to the second lowest (third highest) magnification factor 284 and resolution 284 among the (4) pre-configured magnification factors / resolutions 282-288 provided in this embodiment of the system of the present invention.

[0185] A linear magnification factor of 5 to 1 means that a portion of a tissue cross section is magnified by a factor of 5 along each of its width and height dimensions, while being displayed within the UIDW 310.

[0186] The linear magnification factor of (5 to 1) is equivalent to the area magnification factor of (5 × 5 = 25) twenty-five, that is, the magnification factor for the two-dimensional area of ​​the tissue cross-section displayed inside the UIDW 310.

[0187] In other words, the area of ​​tissue viewed through the entire UIDW 310 at this magnification level—also referred to in this document as the User Interface Display (UIDS) field of view or display field of view—represents an area that is at most 1 / 25 of the total size of the scanned 25mm square tissue cross-section.

[0188] At this magnification level, each pixel within the UIDW 310 represents a square tissue region approximately (4.8) "five" micrometers high by (0.48) "five" micrometers wide, instead of... Figures 3A-3C The area shown is (24.0) "twenty-five" micrometers multiplied by (24.0) "twenty-five" micrometers. At this magnification level, compared to... Figures 3A-3C Compared to the lower resolution view, the user receives a higher resolution view of the tissue surrounding the lesion 330 and the lesion itself.

[0189] It is important to note that in some embodiments, the amount of image data transmitted to the IVC 152 in response to a viewing instruction received from a user of the IVS 150 is limited to a window that fills all display pixels. In this case, a window that fills all display pixels is equivalent to a display pixel matrix of approximately 1000 × 1000, which is equivalent to approximately one million display pixels. In other embodiments, the IVC 152 can "look ahead" and request access to the entire window plus additional display pixels to anticipate future viewing instructions from the user of the IVS 150.

[0190] Figure 3E The illustration depicts the processing of a third viewing instruction transmitted from the user to the IVS150. In response to processing the third viewing instruction, a modification is caused to the view of the image data displayed within the UIDW 310. In this scenario, the user now expects a different view of the image data displayed within the UIDW 310. Figure 3D The internal image data view offers higher image data magnification (higher resolution).

[0191] To further increase the magnification of the image data viewed within the UIDW 310, the user presses the button 326 marked "+", also known as the "Up" zoom button. In response, the content of the UIDW 310 is modified to show the magnified portion of the image data being viewed, with this portion of the image data to be magnified located around the center point 338 of the UIDW 310.

[0192] The second press of the zoom-in button 326 increases the linear magnification factor of the displayed image data from (5:1) to (25:1), which corresponds to... Figure 2C The image data has the second highest resolution of 286.

[0193] A linear magnification factor of (25 to 1) means that, relative to an initial macroscopic view resolution of 1 to 1, portions of the tissue cross-section are magnified by a factor of 25 along each of its width and height dimensions, while being displayed within the UIDW 310.

[0194] The linear magnification factor of (25 to 1) is equivalent to the area magnification factor of (25 × 25 = 625), that is, the two-dimensional magnification factor for the area of ​​the tissue cross-section displayed inside the UIDW 310.

[0195] In other words, the area of ​​tissue viewed through the entire UIDW 310 at this magnification level—also referred to herein as the display field of view—represents an area that is at most 1 / 625 of the total size of the scanned 25mm square tissue cross-section. At this magnification level, each pixel within the UIDW 310 represents a square tissue area approximately (0.96) "one micrometer" high by (0.96) "one micrometer" wide.

[0196] At this zoom level, the user can receive a higher resolution view of the tissue within the lesion 330 itself. As shown here, almost the entire UIDW 310 is now viewing the tissue inside the lesion 330. However, the southeast corner of the UIDW 310 spans the edge of the lesion 330 and displays some tissue outside the lesion 330.

[0197] This resolution is referred to as the "cell resolution" or "cell magnification" of the image's tissue view because it falls within the range of resolutions that can be viewed via the UIDW 310. The average size of a human cell is approximately 100 micrometers in diameter. At this resolution, a human cell with a diameter of 100 micrometers—which would be represented by approximately 100 consecutive pixels in length on the UIDW—can occupy about one consecutive inch within a 10-inch by 10-inch UIDW 310.

[0198] Figure 3F The illustration depicts the processing of a fourth viewing instruction transmitted from the user to the IVS150. In response to processing this fourth viewing instruction, a modification is caused to the view of the image data displayed within the UIDW 310. In this scenario, the user now expects a different image from the 3E in the UIDW 310. Figure 1 The internal image data view offers higher image data magnification (higher resolution).

[0199] To further increase the magnification of the image data viewed within the UIDW 310, the user presses the button 326 marked "+", also known as the "Up" zoom button 326. In response, the content of the UIDW 310 is modified to show a magnified portion of the image data being viewed, with a center point corresponding to the center point 338 of the image data currently displayed within the UIDW 310.

[0200] The third press of the zoom-in button 326 increases the linear magnification factor of the displayed image data from (25:1) to (100:1), which corresponds to... Figure 2C The highest magnification factor and resolution of the image data is 288. This highest resolution of the image data is equal to the original scan resolution.

[0201] A linear magnification factor equal to (100 to 1) means that a portion of a tissue cross-section is magnified by a factor of 100 along each of its width and height dimensions, while being displayed within the UIDW 310.

[0202] The linear magnification factor equal to (100 to 1) is equivalent to the area magnification factor of (100 × 100 = 10,000), that is, the two-dimensional magnification factor for the area of ​​the tissue cross-section displayed inside the UIDW 310.

[0203] In other words, the area of ​​tissue viewed through the entire UIDW 310 at this magnification level—also referred to herein as the display field of view—represents an area that is at most 1 / 10,000 of the total size of the scanned 25mm square tissue cross-section. At this magnification level, each pixel within the UIDW 310 represents a square tissue area approximately (0.24) "quarter-micrometers" high by (0.24) "quarter-micrometers" wide.

[0204] At this magnification level, the user receives the highest resolution provided by the system, which is equal to the resolution of the original scan. The entire UIDW 310 is now displaying the tissue within lesion 330, and displaying the tissue at cellular resolution.

[0205] At this resolution, a human cell with a diameter of 100 micrometers—which would be represented by approximately 400 pixels—occupies about 40% of the width and height of the UIDW 310.

[0206] implement

[0207] In this example use case, the surgery on the patient is paused while the patient waits on the operating table, and simultaneously, surgeon 116 awaits evaluation of an optically scanned tissue by another healthcare professional. In this scenario, the IVS150 is located approximately 20 miles from the location where the surgery is currently being performed.

[0208] Users of the system (such as pathologists) receive notifications via mobile devices that the image data can be used for evaluation, such as mobile phone text messages, which include the website (URL) address and unique identifier of the image dataset 126, as well as information associated with the image data, such as the name of the healthcare facility where the image data was scanned, the type of surgery, the patient's name, and the name of the surgeon 116 associated with the surgery.

[0209] In some embodiments, portions of the information displayed within the text message can be selected (clicked) as a URL link and viewed directly on a mobile device, which then functions as an IVS150. In some embodiments, the notification can also be delivered via email in the same manner described above for mobile devices and viewed directly from the device receiving the email.

[0210] In response, the user accesses the website via image viewing station 150 and logs in to the website hosting the output image access component by authenticating with a username and password, and selects an image dataset associated with a unique identifier listed on the website for viewing. This unique identifier is also provided via mobile phone text message.

[0211] In response to the selection of image dataset 126 for viewing, image viewing station (IVS) 150 (e.g., a desktop computer) displays a macroscopic image of image dataset 126, such as... Figure 3A The macroscopic image shown. The elapsed time between the time the user selects the image dataset 126 to view and the time IVS displays the image data on the screen depends on the amount of current internet activity, which varies over time. However, under typical internet activity conditions, this elapsed time typically falls within 8 seconds.

[0212] For example, unless the internet is exceptionally slow, it should be able to transmit image data at a rate of at least 2.5 megabytes per second. The initial display of the macroscopic view contains approximately 2 megabytes of image data, plus less than 10 kilobytes of information associated with the image dataset 126. Therefore, at typical internet speeds, the transmission of the initial macroscopic image data should take approximately 1 second.

[0213] However, the round-trip time for sending a request to access image dataset 126 (which will first be received by the Output Image Access Component (OIAC) executed on the Internet website and then relayed to the Input Image Access Component (Input IAC) executed on the Image Scanning Station (ISS)) plus the time for the Input IAC to retrieve image data from a high-data-rate, high-capacity storage device typically local to the Image Scanning Station, and then the time required to relay the image data from the Input IAC over the Internet through the Output IAC, which is several miles away from the Image Scanning Station (20), to the Image Viewing Station (IVS) could take 3-4 seconds.

[0214] The image data is then displayed in the UIDW 310 along with the associated user interface controls on the image viewing station, which takes an additional 1-2 seconds, such as... Figure 3A As described in [the document / reference], the total elapsed time will therefore be 5-7 seconds. However, if the internet is exceptionally slow, the system may require several more seconds to transmit the image data to the IVS.

[0215] According to the present invention, the system is designed to limit the user to waiting only a small fraction of a minute, and typically no more than 8 seconds, to initially view the image data. Unlike other methods of delivering image data, this system is not designed to require the user to wait one or more hours or even minutes to view the image data.

[0216] Refer again Figure 3B-3D The IVS150 allows users to drag the position within the displayed image data to the center position within the UIDW 310 in about one second or less, and press the "up" zoom button 326.

[0217] refer to Figure 3E Pressing the "Zoom Up" button 326 typically causes the viewed image data to be displayed (zoomed) at a new and higher resolution, appearing almost immediately within the UIDW 310. The same typically happens when the viewed image data is displayed (zoomed) to a new and lower resolution. At typical internet speeds, panning an image in the amount required to fill an additional user interface display window (UIDW) of new and unbuffered image data in this use case will typically require less than 2.5 megabytes of image data to be transferred, and will typically require no more than approximately 5-7 seconds of elapsed time to access and display the panned image data.

[0218] According to the system's design, users can interact with the IVS150 and the image access system, and select a viewing path through a large amount of image data to assess the removed tissue from a distance of 1 yard or more than 100 miles from the surgical site. The communication path between the IVC 152 and the output IAC 142, combined with a specific image access communication path for the currently viewed image data, is referred to herein as the viewing communication path between the IVC 152 and the currently viewed image dataset 126.

[0219] Figure 4 The illustration provides an extended overview of the transmission of image data involving multiple healthcare facilities 410a-410z. As shown, the multiple healthcare facilities 410a-410z generate scanned image data from the surgical procedure and optionally present at least some of the scanned image data that can be viewed remotely.

[0220] Each healthcare facility has one or more image scanning stations and its own specific configuration (hierarchy) of image access components. Small healthcare facilities may have only one image scanning station, while larger healthcare facilities may have a dozen or more healthcare scanning stations, where one or more image transfer stations 170 perform the intermediate image access component 172 along the image access communication path between the output IAC 142 and a number of input IACs 122.

[0221] Multiple image viewing components 152a-152z each operate independently within image viewing stations 150a-150z and access scanned image data from various locations. The image viewing stations can be located either inside or outside the healthcare facility 210a-210z. This scanned image data can be viewed from thousands of miles away from where it was scanned.

[0222] The topics concerning image data described herein can be applied to any type of data other than image data, including data that can be partially or fully encoded, provided that such data can be stored at one location and transmitted to another location via a technology capable of storing and transmitting large amounts of data (such as at least one megabyte of data) in a minute or less. For example, such technology may include the use of electronic and / or optical technologies.

[0223] This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also enables any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any device or system, and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, but may include other examples that would occur to a person skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that are not different from the literal language of the claims, or if such other examples include equivalent structural elements that are not substantially different from the literal language of the claims.

[0224] Partial list

[0225] 110 First Health Care Facility

[0226] 112 patients

[0227] 114 Control Panel

[0228] 116 Surgeons

[0229] 120 Image Scanning Station (ISS)

[0230] 122 Input Image Access Component (Input IAC)

[0231] 124 Data storage devices

[0232] 126 Image Dataset

[0233] 130 User Interface Display Screen (UIDS)

[0234] 132 Keyboard devices

[0235] 134 Mouse (screen pointer) device

[0236] 140 Image Access Portal (IAP)

[0237] 142 Output Image Access Component (Output IAC)

[0238] 150 Image Viewing Stations (IVS)

[0239] 152 Image Viewer Component (IVC)

[0240] 160 Confocal (Optical) Scanner Equipment

[0241] 161 platen

[0242] 162 Ex vivo tissues

[0243] 170 Image Transfer Station (ITS)

[0244] 172. Mediated Image Access Component (Mediated IAC)

[0245] 210 Second Health Care Facility

[0246] 212 Central Processing Unit (CPU)

[0247] 214 Physical Memory

[0248] 216 Input / Output Hardware

[0249] 220 System Bus

[0250] 222 Operating System

[0251] 228a operating system

[0252] 228b Device Driver

[0253] 230 Image Scanning Component (ISC)

[0254] 232 Image Processing Component (IPC)

[0255] 240 Virtual Memory

[0256] 250 Image Access Requests

[0257] 252 Image Access Request

[0258] 254 Image Access Request

[0259] 260 Image Transmission Transactions

[0260] 262 Image Transmission Transaction

[0261] 264 Image Transmission Transaction

[0262] 280 Third Health Care Facility

[0263] The fourth (fourth highest) resolution of the 282 image data

[0264] The third (third highest) resolution of the 284 image data

[0265] The second (second highest) resolution of the 286 image data

[0266] The highest resolution of the 288 image data

[0267] 290 Network

[0268] 292 User Interface Display (UIDS)

[0269] 310 User Interface Display Window (UIDW)

[0270] 312a-c X, Y and Z axes

[0271] 320 User Interface Control

[0272] 322 resolution reset button

[0273] 324 Zoom Down Button

[0274] 326 Zoom Up Button

[0275] 328 Image Resolution Status Indicator

[0276] 330 lesions

[0277] 332UIDW position

[0278] 332a-332b Crosshairs indicating the location of the UIDW

[0279] 334 Northeast direction

[0280] 336. Areas in the UIDW that do not display image data.

[0281] 338 center point location

[0282] 410 Healthcare facilities.

Claims

1. A system for providing remote and rapid access to scanned image data of ex vivo tissue removed from a patient during surgery, comprising: a set of image access components including one output image access component and at least one input image access component; the set of image access components configured to establish a first access communication path between the output image access component and a stored first image data set, wherein the first access communication path is established in response to the first image data set being processed to create and include supplemental image data having one or more resolutions each reduced from an original full scan resolution and the first image data set becoming available for access at a first location and at a first point in time; and wherein the output image access component is configured to acquire at least a portion of the first image data set via the first access communication path and configured to transfer the image data to a first image viewing component; and wherein the first image viewing component is configured to request access to the at least a portion of the first image data set and receive the at least a portion of the first image data set from the output image access component; and configured to display the at least a portion of the first image data set to a user of the first image viewing component in response to receiving one or more viewing instructions from the user of the first image viewing component.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein notification that the first image data set has become available for access is transferred to the user of the first image viewing component.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of image access components is configured to form a hierarchy, and wherein the at least one input access component acts as a child with respect to one other image access component, and wherein the output image access component acts as a parent to at least one other image access component within the hierarchy.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of image access components includes at least one intermediary image access component, and wherein the intermediary image access component acts as a child with respect to one other image access component and as a parent to at least one other image access component.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of image access components is configured to form a tree-type hierarchy, and wherein the output image access component is a root node of the tree-type hierarchy.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first image data set becomes unavailable for access at a second point in time, and in response the first access communication path between the output image access component and the first image data set is terminated.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first image data set becomes available at a second location and at a third point in time, and in response a second access communication path is established between the first image data set and the output image access component.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second image viewing components each access the first image data set simultaneously over a period of time.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first image viewing component accesses the first and second image data sets simultaneously over time.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the event at which the first image data set becomes available is not predetermined with respect to time of the event.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the event at which the first image data set becomes available is not predetermined with respect to location of the event.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the first image data set includes supplemental image data including image data having a resolution different from an original scan resolution of the first image data set.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the first image viewing component is configured to display image data having one of a plurality of different resolutions in response to receiving at least one of the viewing instructions.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein the first image data set is stored to and accessed from a data storage device directly connected to a computer, and wherein the computer is directly connected to a confocal scanning device.

15. A system for viewing image data of ex vivo tissue excised from a patient during surgery, comprising: a first image viewing component configured for requesting access to and receiving and displaying at least a portion of a first image data set to a user at a first point in time in response to receiving one or more viewing instructions from the user, and wherein the requesting access to and receiving is performed via communication with an output image access component, and wherein the output image access component is configured to communicate with a first input image access component directly or indirectly via a first access communication path, and wherein the first input image access component is configured to detect availability of the first image data set and configured for establishing the first access communication path prior to the first image viewing component requesting access to the at least a portion of the image data; and wherein the first image viewing component receives the at least a portion of the first image data set from the output image access component via a first viewing communication path, wherein the receiving is in response to the first image data set being processed to create and include supplemental image data having one or more resolutions each reduced from an original full scan resolution, and wherein a combination of the first access communication path and the first viewing communication path is configured to extend over at least a wide area network distance.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the input image access component is configured such that a notification of the availability of the first image data set is communicated to the user of the first image viewing component.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least a portion of the first image data set is limited to a portion of an entirety of the first image data set.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein a second input image access component is configured to detect availability of a second image data set and is configured for establishing a second access communication path prior to the first image viewing component requesting access to the second image data set.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein a second image viewing component concurrently requests access to the first image data set with the first image viewing component.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the first image data set includes supplemental image data including image data having a resolution different from an original scan resolution of the first image data set.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the first image viewing component is configured to display image data having one of a plurality of different resolutions in response to receiving at least one of the viewing instructions.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein an amount of image data communicated to the first image viewing component in response to receiving one or more viewing instructions from a user of the first image viewing component is limited to a window of filled display pixels.

23. A method for providing remote and rapid access to scanned image data of ex vivo tissue excised from a patient during surgery, comprising the steps of: providing a set of image access components including an output image access component and at least one input image access component; the set of image access components configured to establish a first access communication path between the output image access component and a stored first image data set, wherein the first access communication path is established in response to the first image data set being processed to create and include supplemental image data having one or more resolutions each reduced from an original full scan resolution and the first image data set becoming available for access at a first location and a first point in time; and wherein the output image access component is configured for acquiring at least a portion of the first image data set via the first access communication path and is configured for communicating the image data to a first image viewing component; and providing a first image viewing component configured for requesting access to the at least a portion of the first image data set and receiving the at least a portion of the first image data set from the output image access component; and configured for displaying the at least a portion of the first image data set to a user of the first image viewing component in response to receiving one or more viewing instructions from the user.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first image data set represents human tissue scanned at a human cell resolution during performance of a surgery.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein a notification that the first image data set is available is communicated to a user of the first image viewing component.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the first image data set includes supplemental image data including image data having a resolution different from an original scan resolution of the first image data set.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the first image viewing component is configured to display image data having one of a plurality of different resolutions in response to receiving at least one of the viewing instructions.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the at least a portion of the first image data set is limited to a portion of an entirety of the first image data set.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein an amount of image data communicated to the first image viewing component in response to receiving one or more viewing instructions from a user of the first image viewing component is limited to a window of filled display pixels.

Images