Methods and systems for image data processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9292938-B2
Application number	US-201514743927-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2015
Priority date	Oct 18, 2011
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the computer-implemented methods, storage mediums, and systems may be configured to determine locations of particles within a first image of the particles. The particles may have fluorescence-material associated therewith. The embodiments may include calculating a transform parameter, and the transform parameter may define an estimated movement in the locations of the particles between the first image of the particles and a second image of the particles. The embodiments may further including applying the transform parameter to the locations of the particles within the first image to determine movement locations of the particles within the second image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor; and
an imaging subsystem configured to accept a sample that includes a plurality of discrete components, and capture images of the plurality of discrete components, wherein the plurality of discrete components have fluorescence material associated therewith;
wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
determine locations of selected ones of the plurality of discrete components within a first image of the captured images;
calculate a transform that includes a radial component and a constant component, the radial component being proportional to a distance between the locations of the selected ones within the first image and a center of the first image; and
determine estimated locations of the selected ones within a second image of the captured images by applying the transform to the locations of the selected ones within the first image.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of discrete components includes at least one of the following types of component: a microparticle, a nanoparticle, a quantum dot, or a cell.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the microparticle is a polystyrene bead or a latex bead.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fluorescence material is a fluorescent dye.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine potential locations of the selected ones within the second image by measuring maximal integral locations within the second image; and
calculate the transform based on the determined potential locations.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the determined potential locations are based on locations within the second image that correspond to the locations of the selected ones within the first image.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine an error vector based on proximities between individual pairs of the selected ones.

8. A method, comprising:
a computing system analyzing a first image of particles having fluorescence material associated therewith to determine locations of the particles within the first image; and
the computing system estimating locations of the particles within a second image, wherein the estimating includes:
applying a transform to the locations of the particles within the first image to determine estimated locations of the particles within the second image, wherein the transform includes a radial component and a constant component, the radial component being based on a distance between the locations of the particles within the first image and a center of the first image.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the transform is determined based on a plurality of potential transforms, each potential transform being based on a subset of the particles.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the transform is determined via a Hough transform based on the plurality of potential transforms.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the particles have at least a first fluorescence material and a second, different fluorescence material associated therewith.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first fluorescence material is a classification material operable to indicate the particles.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the second fluorescence material is a reporter material operable to indicate an analyte associated with the particles.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the transform is further based at least in part on measured maximal integral locations of particles in the second image.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the transform is further based at least in part on a selected subset of particles within a determined radius of the center of the first image.

16. The method of claim 8 , wherein the particles include at least one of the following types of particles: a microparticle, a nanoparticle, a quantum dot, or a cell.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the microparticle is a polystyrene bead or a latex bead.

18. The method of claim 8 , wherein the fluorescence material is a fluorescent dye.

19. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computing system, cause the computing system to carry out operations comprising:
receiving data indicative of locations of particles within a first image, wherein the particles have fluorescence material associated therewith; and
determining estimated locations of the particles within a second image by applying a transform to the locations of the particles within the first image, wherein the transform includes a radial component and a constant component, the radial component being proportional to a distance between the locations of the particles within the first image and a center of the first image.

20. The medium of claim 19 , wherein the radial component corresponds to optical distortion caused by chromatic aberration.

21. The medium of claim 19 , wherein the constant component corresponds to optical distortion caused by an optical filter wheel.

22. The medium of claim 19 , wherein the fluorescence material is attached to the particles.

23. The medium of claim 19 , wherein the particles are microbeads.

24. The medium of claim 19 , wherein the transform is selected as an optimal transform based on a plurality of potential transforms.

Assignees

• Luminex Corp

Inventors

• Fisher Matthew S

Classifications

• G06T7/0002 Primary

  Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection · CPC title

• G01N15/00

  Investigating characteristics of particles; Investigating permeability, pore-volume or surface-area of porous materials · CPC title

• G06T2207/10064

  Fluorescence image · CPC title

• G01N21/64

  Fluorescence; Phosphorescence · CPC title

• G06T7/0012

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title