Methods and systems for image data processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9286504-B2
Application number	US-201414257630-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2014
Priority date	Sep 21, 2005
Publication date	Mar 15, 2016
Grant date	Mar 15, 2016

Abstract

Methods, storage mediums, and systems for image data processing are provided. Embodiments for the methods, storage mediums, and systems include configurations to perform one or more of the following steps: background signal measurement, particle identification using classification dye emission and cluster rejection, inter-image alignment, inter-image particle correlation, fluorescence integration of reporter emission, and image plane normalization.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
a computing system receiving a first normalization set of one or more images of an imaging region containing first particles having a first known concentration of fluorescence material associated therewith;
the computing system receiving a second normalization set of one or more images of the imaging region containing second particles having a second known concentration of fluorescence material associated therewith;
the computing system determining, based on the received first and second normalization sets, normalization parameters for selected portions of the imaging region;
the computing system receiving a data set of one or more images of the imaging region containing particles having an unknown concentration of fluorescence material associated therewith; and
the computing system normalizing the data set based on the normalization parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first normalization set includes a plurality of images based on different wavelength bands corresponding to respective different types of fluorescence material.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the data set includes a plurality of images based on the different wavelength bands.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the normalization parameters are indicative of brightness levels of the selected portions of the imaging region.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second known concentration is the same as the first known concentration.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein normalizing the data set based on the normalization parameters includes dividing an optical parameter for the selected portions of the imaging region in the data set by corresponding ones of the normalization parameters.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
the computing system determining a calibrator value based on the normalization parameters; and
the computing system calibrating the data set based on the calibrator value.

8. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor; and
an imaging subsystem configured to accept a plurality of particles in an imaging region of the apparatus, supply light to the imaging region, and capture images of the plurality of particles;
wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
receive, from the imaging subsystem, a first normalization set of one or more images of particles having a first known concentration of fluorescence material associated therewith;
receive, from the imaging subsystem, a second normalization set of one or more images of particles having a second known concentration of fluorescence material associated therewith;
determine, based on the received first and second normalization sets, normalization parameters for selected portions of the imaging region;
receive, from the imaging subsystem, a data set of one or more images of particles having an unknown concentration of fluorescence material associated therewith; and
normalize the data set based on the normalization parameters.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the normalization parameters are based on statistical values for an optical parameter in the selected portions of the imaging region.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the optical parameter corresponds to brightness.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the optical parameter corresponds to brightness within a selected wavelength band.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the imaging subsystem is further configured to supply light within a plurality of selected wavelength bands.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the selected portions of the imaging region correspond to a grid of portions of one or more of the images in the first normalization set.

14. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having instructions coded thereon that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to carry out operations comprising:
receiving a normalization set of one or more images of an imaging region containing particles having a known concentration of fluorescence material associated therewith;
determining, based on the received normalization set of one or more images, normalization parameters for selected portions of the imaging region;
storing the normalization parameters as a matrix having entries corresponding to the selected portions of the imaging region;
receiving a data set of one or more images of the imaging region containing particles having an unknown concentration of fluorescence material associated therewith; and
normalizing the data set based on the normalization parameters.

15. The medium of claim 14 , wherein the matrix is stored on the non-transitory, computer-readable medium.

16. The medium of claim 14 , wherein the normalization set includes a plurality of images based on different wavelength bands corresponding to respective different types of fluorescence material.

17. The medium of claim 16 , wherein the data set includes a plurality of images based on the different wavelength bands.

18. The medium of claim 14 , wherein the normalizing the data set includes normalizing every pixel in the data set.

19. The medium of claim 14 , wherein the normalizing the data set includes normalizing only those pixels in the data set that correspond to the particles having the unknown concentration of fluorescence material associated therewith.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the normalization parameters for the selected portions of the imaging region includes determining, for each selected portion, a mean of a first parameter that is based on the first normalization set with a second parameter that is based on the second normalization set.

Assignees

• Luminex Corp

Inventors

• Roth Wayne D

Classifications

• G06F18/00

  Pattern recognition · CPC title

• G06T2207/10064

  Fluorescence image · CPC title

• G01N15/1463

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T7/0081

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T2207/20021

  Dividing image into blocks, subimages or windows · CPC title