Pathology Microscope Capture With ROI Voice Annotations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pathology data capture methods are inefficient and disruptive to the pathologist's workflow, as they often digitize entire samples, including irrelevant areas, leading to excessive data collection and resource waste.
Innovation Solution
A system integrating a microscope with a digital camera and microphone to record magnified pathology images and voice annotations, allowing only relevant areas to be digitized, indexed, and stored with metadata, creating a database that enhances diagnostic information capture.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If entire pathology samples are digitized, then complete sample coverage is achieved, but data collection efficiency deteriorates and resource waste increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the pathology sample examination process into multiple magnification levels (e.g., 5x, 10x, 20x, 40x objectives). The camera captures images at different magnifications, allowing the system to divide the large sample area into manageable sections that can be examined selectively, thereby reducing the need to digitize entire large samples while maintaining diagnostic reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements local quality by capturing high-resolution images only at regions of interest (ROI) identified by the pathologist during examination. Instead of uniformly digitizing the entire sample, the camera focuses on specific areas that require detailed inspection, optimizing resource allocation to where it is most needed for accurate diagnosis.
2Measurement precision
If high-resolution digitization of entire samples is performed, then diagnostic accuracy is improved, but storage requirements and processing time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and captures only the relevant portions of pathology samples that contain diagnostic information. By using the camera to selectively image areas of interest at appropriate magnifications, the system removes unnecessary data (irrelevant sample areas) from the digitization process, thereby reducing storage requirements while preserving diagnostic accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial action by capturing images at multiple magnification levels rather than uniformly high resolution across the entire sample. This allows the camera to provide sufficient diagnostic detail at focused regions while avoiding excessive data generation from low-information areas, optimizing the balance between diagnostic accuracy and data volume.
3Ease of operation
If traditional pathology examination methods are used, then workflow simplicity is maintained, but information capture completeness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the traditional microscopy workflow with digital image capture by integrating the camera with the microscope. The pathologist continues to examine samples using standard microscopy procedures, while the camera simultaneously or subsequently captures images of the same fields of view, combining the tactile familiarity of traditional examination with the information preservation benefits of digital documentation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates digital copies of the pathology sample regions examined under the microscope. The camera captures images that serve as digital replicas of the visual information the pathologist observes, preserving diagnostic information without requiring the pathologist to change their examination workflow or learn new operational procedures.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for pathology data capture includes magnifying a pathology sample with a microscope to form magnified pathology images. The method also includes recording the magnified pathology images with a digital camera optically coupled to the microscope, and recording voice annotations from a user of the microscope with a microphone. The magnified pathology images and the voice annotations are transferred to a processing apparatus electrically coupled to the digital camera and the microphone. The processing apparatus performs operations including recording the magnified pathology images and the voice annotations to a storage medium, indexing the magnified pathology images and the voice annotations with respect to recording time, and tagging the voice annotations of the user to one or more specific locations in the magnified pathology images.