Array microscope image-acquisition system

描述(由申请人提供)： DMetrix正在开发一种创新的阵列显微镜载玻片扫描仪，用于在组织病理学中生成虚拟载玻片。这一创新包括使用微型物镜阵列，每个物镜直径约2 mm，长度约10 mm，在阵列中略有交错，以产生单个无缝扫描的显微镜载玻片。这里提出的阵列显微镜光学系统和图像采集系统的组合将允许非常快速的扫描，在衍射限制采样下，20 mm x 50 mm的全显微镜载玻片只需不到12秒。建议的图像采集系统包括一个以60 MHz工作的优化的高速cmos图像传感器，具有八(8)个并行输出和伴随的高速电子设备。为匹配阵列显微镜光学系统的格式，对CMOS图像传感器进行了优化。拟议的高速电子设备将被设计成控制图像传感器，数字化图像传感器的模拟输出，实时处理图像数据，并在存储在主机个人计算机(PC)之前对图像数据进行压缩。阵列显微镜虚拟载玻片扫描仪将使载玻片数字化的速度比传统的单光轴光学系统快50倍。这种虚拟的载玻片扫描仪在组织病理学、远程病理学、病理学教育和药学研究中都有应用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): DMetrix is developing an innovative array-microscope slide scanner to generate virtual slides in histopathology. The innovation consists of the use of an array of miniaturized objectives, each measuring approximately 2 mm in diameter and 10 mm in length, slightly staggered in the array, to produce a single, seamless sweep of the microscope slide. The combination of the array microscope optics and the image acquisition system proposed here will allow very rapid scanning, requiring less than 12 seconds for a full microscope slide of 20 mm x 50 mm, at diffraction-limited sampling, The proposed image-acquisition system consists of an optimized, high-speed CMOS image sensor operating at 60 MHz with eight (8) parallel outputs and the accompanying high-speed electronics. The CMOS image sensor is optimized to match the format of the array-microscope optics. The proposed highspeed electronics will be designed to control the image sensor, digitize the image sensor's analog outputs, process the image data in real-time, and compress the image data prior to storage on a host personal computer (PC). The array-microscope virtual-slide scanner will allow digitization of slides at rates 50 times faster than conventional single-optical-axis optical systems. Applications of such a virtual slide scanner are to be found in histopathology, telepathology, pathology education, and pharmaceutical research.