| abstract |
A system for automatically detecting the presence of contaminants in samples. The system includes a microscope, controllable stage positioner for holding slides under the microscope, a computer for controlling the stage positioner and a digital camera to capture images through the microscope. The system scans microscope views of regions of a slide sample and provides the digital images to the computer. Image processing routines stored in the computer analyze the digital images and determine whether these images may contain certain contaminants by comparing the characteristics of the objects in the image with the known characteristics of the contaminants. The system also contemplates a method for automatically determining the presence of contaminants in samples including the steps of providing a microscope slide containing a sample, obtaining a plurality of digital microscope images of the sample, storing the digital images in a computer, automatically comparing characteristics of each digital image to characteristics of known contaminants and storing the results of the comparison. |