A method of image information selection in the process of automatic scanning of microscopic specimens

Examination of a large number of microscopic preparations as well as carrying out clinical and screening tests can be done only with the help of acquisition of images in the process of automatic scanning of microscopic preparations. However, the time of precise scanning performed field by field is very long when using big enlargements of the microscope. At the same time, an accurate specimen inspection is necessary when we analyse smears, searching for rear events. An application, developed by the authors, for performing fast and exact scanning is presented. Possibility to combine speed with precision was achieved due to the evaluating contents of the scene by the analysis of a live camera signal and quick microscopic stage movement when empty smear regions were encountered. Many technical problems had to be solved, trying to implement this idea. The application was developed in Borland C++ Builder and Delphi environment and is intended for Windows based systems. The paper presents in details some common problems related to automatic scanning in screening projects.