| US 7,468,836 B2 | ||
| Cytological imaging systems and methods | ||
| Garrick L. Maenle, Columbus, Ohio (US); William J. Knox, West Jefferson, Ohio (US); and David Zahniser, Wellesley, Mass. (US) | ||
| Assigned to CYTYC Corporation, Marlborough, Mass. (US) | ||
| Filed on Sep. 25, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/861,234. | ||
| Application 11/861234 is a continuation of application No. 10/008379, filed on Nov. 05, 2001, granted, now 7,369,304. | ||
| Application 10/008379 is a continuation in part of application No. 09/430198, filed on Oct. 29, 1999, granted, now 7,006,674. | ||
| Application 09/430198 is a continuation in part of application No. 09/430116, filed on Oct. 29, 1999, granted, now 6,348,325. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/245971, filed on Nov. 03, 2000. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2008/0018994 A1, Jan. 24, 2008 | ||
| Int. Cl. G02B 21/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 359—383 [359/368; 250/201.3; 382/128] | 23 Claims |
| 1. An automatic focusing method for an optical system, comprising:
performing an initial coarse focus action along a focal axis at a scan position corresponding to a point on a surface of a
slide;
respectively performing a plurality of subsequent fine focus actions along a plurality of focal axes at a plurality of scan
positions corresponding to different points on the slide surface, wherein the performance of each of the fine focus actions
comprises determining a fine in-focus coordinate along the respective focal axis, determining an area of fine focus jurisdiction
surrounding the respective point, and correlating the fine in-focus coordinate to the respective fine focus jurisdiction area;
and
determining if another scan position corresponds to a point within at least one previously determined fine focus jurisdiction
area.
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