Systems and methods for transferring markings
The technologies disclosed herein relate to a system and method for transferring markings. The system can include an imaging device for imaging a stained slide and an unstained slide, a display for displaying one or more images of the stained slide and the unstained slide. In various embodiments, the system can include a mechanical stage, such as a scaffold, for positioning or orienting the stained slide with respect to the unstained slide. In various embodiments, the system can be coupled with a first application for aligning the images to enable digital marking of the unstained slide and a second application for digitally marking one or more features and transferring the digital markings into coordinates to be used for further processing, such as for dissection.
1 . A system for transferring pathologist markings, comprising:
an imaging device for imaging a stained slide and an unstained slide;
a display for displaying one or more images of the stained slide and the unstained slide;
a first application used in aligning the one or more images of the stained slide or the unstained slide, wherein said aligning comprises positioning and/or orienting the one or more images of the stained slide or the unstained slide, and wherein said aligning the one or more images is performed manually by an operator based on visual cues in the one or more images, without using image registration algorithms; and
a second application used in transferring a digital marking of one or more features.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second application is used in transferring the digital marking of the one or more features from an image of the stained slide to an image of the unstained slide.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second application is used in transferring the digital marking of the one or more features into coordinates for use in further processing.
4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein further processing comprises one or more downstream processes that include at least a dissection or separation of a portion of a biological specimen.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first application is a metrology software program used for inspection of physical properties of the stained slide or the unstained slide, and/or wherein the second application is a marking software program used in digitally marking the one or more features.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the orienting of the one or more images of the stained slide or the unstained slide comprises one or more operations of a pan, a rotate, a zoom, or a mirror image of the one or more images of the stained slide or the unstained slide, or wherein the one or more images of the stained slide or the unstained slide are overlaid on one another to obtain an alignment of the one or more images of the stained slide or the unstained slide.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more features comprises one or more dots, straight or curve lines, or a polyline, and wherein the second application is used in recognizing the one or more dots or lines, or the polyline, and converting the one or more dots or lines, or the polyline into the digital marking of the one or more features.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more features are drawn manually by an operator.
9 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more images of the stained slide comprises a low-resolution image of the stained slide.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein one or more boundary edges or corners of the low-resolution image is used in the recognizing and in the converting of the one or more dots or lines, or the polyline into the digital marking of the one or more features.
11 . A method for digitally transferring markings, comprising:
obtaining an image of a stained slide under an imager;
displaying the image of the stained slide onto a display;
aligning the image of the stained slide with an unstained slide, wherein the aligning is performed manually based on visual cues in the image of the stained slide and/or in the unstained slide, without using image registration algorithms; and
transferring one or more markings from the image of the stained slide to the unstained slide.
12 . The method of claim 11 , comprising marking the image of the stained slide prior to transferring the one or more markings, wherein marking the image of the stained slide comprises drawing one or more features on the display.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein marking the image of the stained slide comprises:
drawing one or more dots, straight or curve lines, or a polyline on the display;
recognizing, via an application, the one or more drawn dots or lines, or the drawn polyline; and
converting the one or more recognized dots or lines, or the recognized polyline into one or more digital markings.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the image of the stained slide is a low-resolution image of the stained slide and wherein one or more boundary edges or corners of the low-resolution image is used in the recognizing and in the converting of the one or more dots or lines, or the polyline into the one or more digital markings.
15 . The method of claim 11 , comprising:
overlaying the unstained slide on top of the image of the stained slide with the one or more digital markings;
re-orienting the unstained slide to align and superimpose the one or more digital markings onto the unstained slide; and
marking the unstained slide,
wherein overlaying the unstained slide on top of the image of the stained slide and/or re-orienting the unstained slide is performed manually by an operator based on visual cues in the image of the stained slide and/or in the unstained slide without using image registration algorithms.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the re-orienting comprises placing the unstained slide on a scaffold that lies on top of the display and aligning the unstained slide with the image of the stained slide by positioning the scaffold, wherein the scaffold is operated manually by the operator.
17 . A system for transferring pathologist markings, comprising:
an imaging device for imaging a stained slide or an unstained slide;
a display for displaying one or more images of the stained slide or the unstained slide;
a mechanical stage/scaffold for positioning or orienting the stained slide with respect to the unstained slide to enable physical marking of the unstained slide, wherein the mechanical stage/scaffold is operated manually to position or orient the stained slide with respect to the unstained slide based on visual cues in the stained slide and/or in the unstained slide, without using image registration algorithms; and
an application used to digitally draw one or more features based on the physical marking and transfer the features into coordinates to be used for further processing.
18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the application is a metrology software program used for inspection of physical properties of the stained slide or the unstained slide.
19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein further processing comprises one or more downstream processes that include at least a dissection or separation of a portion of a biological specimen.