Microscope Image Acquisition System with Region Targeting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Acquiring high-resolution images of specific regions in a specimen is time-consuming and generates large amounts of data when the entire specimen image is captured at high resolution, as existing systems do not efficiently differentiate and focus on target areas.
Innovation Solution
An image-acquisition system that captures a low-magnification image of a specimen, allows user specification of target regions using unique identification, calculates spatial positions, and then captures high-resolution images of those regions at a higher magnification, reducing overall image acquisition time and data volume.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the entire specimen image is acquired at high resolution, then the image quality and detail of the target region are improved, but the image acquisition time and data volume increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the specimen imaging into two segments: first acquiring a low-resolution overview image of the entire specimen, then acquiring a high-resolution image only of the specified target region. This segmentation allows the system to obtain both global context and local detail without the time penalty of imaging the entire specimen at high resolution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the necessary high-resolution imaging of the target region from the complete specimen imaging process. By using the low-resolution overview image and reference image to calculate the target region's spatial position, the system extracts and images only the relevant portion at high resolution, eliminating unnecessary high-resolution imaging of non-target areas.
2Measurement precision
If the entire specimen image is acquired at high resolution, then the image quality and detail of the target region are improved, but the volume of image data increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the imaging task to produce two separate image datasets: a small low-resolution overview image and a small high-resolution target region image. This segmentation avoids generating the large data volume that would result from imaging the entire specimen at high resolution, while still providing the needed detailed view of the target region.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the essential high-resolution data of the target region from what would otherwise be a complete high-resolution specimen image. By calculating the target region's position from lower-resolution images and imaging only that specific area at high resolution, the system extracts minimal necessary data while maintaining image quality where needed.
3Productivity
If a low-resolution overview image is acquired first, then the image acquisition time and data volume are reduced, but the ability to locate and specify target regions accurately may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a reference image as an intermediary that bridges the low-resolution overview image and the high-resolution target region image. The reference image contains pre-defined spatial information about study regions, allowing the system to accurately locate target regions by calculating their positions relative to the overview image without requiring the overview image itself to be high resolution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary action by preparing a reference image with known spatial information about study regions before acquiring the overview image. This pre-prepared reference data enables accurate target region localization through coordinate transformation, even though the overview image itself is low resolution. The spatial relationships are established in advance, allowing precise positioning without high-resolution overview imaging.
Data Source
AI summary
An image-acquisition system includes a microscope apparatus that acquires an image of a specimen; a map-image-acquisition portion that controls the microscope apparatus so as to acquire, at a low magnification, a map image including a plurality of anatomical regions in the specimen; an interface portion that allows a user to specify a desired anatomical region as a target region by means of unique IDs assigned to the individual anatomical regions; a processing portion that calculates a spatial position of the target region on the basis of the map image and atlas data having positional information of the individual anatomical regions; and a high-resolution image-acquisition portion that controls, on the basis of the spatial position of the target region, the microscope apparatus so as to acquire a high-resolution image of the target region in the specimen at a magnification that is greater than that of the map image.