The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 12, 2011
Filed:
Aug. 28, 2009
James V. Bacus, Downers Grove, IL (US);
James W. Bacus, Oakbrook, IL (US);
James V. Bacus, Downers Grove, IL (US);
James W. Bacus, Oakbrook, IL (US);
Olympus America Inc., Center Valley, PA (US);
Abstract
A virtual microscope slide includes images of a specimen for a given level of optical magnification which are associated and stored in a data structure. The forming of the data structure having the multiple Z-plane images preferably includes automatically focusing at a principal reference focal plane and capturing and digitizing an optically magnified reference Z-image and then shifting the specimen relative to the lens system by a predetermined increment to capture and digitize another Z-plane image. Preferably, a multiple sequence of Z-plane images above and below the reference image and captured and digitized. For ease of retrieval and use, each reference image has its associated Z-plane images are formed in a stack that is sent over the Internet, or Intranet to a local computer storage for quick retrieval when a viewer wants to mimic a focusing up or down to better view a detail in an image. Thus, the resultant images are retrieved and displayed such that a virtual focusing capability is available to the user. The images can be formed with overlapping fields of depth, adjacent fields of depth, or wholly separated fields of depth.