Aperio awarded patent for use of TDI arrays in microscope slide scanners

Aperio Technologies, Inc. announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued the company patent No. 7,428,324 entitled "System and Method for Data Management in a Linear-array based Microscope Slide Scanner."

U.S. patent 7,428,324 includes several claims for slide scanning systems based on time delay integration (TDI) arrays, including systems comprising multiple TDI arrays. "A TDI array is a two-dimensional array which is utilized like a line-scan camera," said Dirk Soenksen, CEO of Aperio. "We disclosed the TDI approach in detail in several of our early patents, and are pleased to expand our claim set to encompass this embodiment of line-scanning."

The patent also includes many different claims for managing the large volumes of image data generated from microscope slide scanners, particularly from scanners that utilize line-scan cameras. The high-speed data management techniques associated with assembling and managing whole-slide images are complex, and Aperio has used these innovations to develop instruments which create complete whole-slide images, in parallel with the scanning operation, so they can be viewed immediately after a scan has completed.

Aperio's patent portfolio encompasses all of the elements that comprise a digital pathology system, including digital slide creation, data management, advanced visualization, and image analysis. "Digital pathology is poised to become a very large market and we continue to invest heavily in strengthening our intellectual property position," Soenksen continued.

Aperio holds over 30 issued patents and pending patent applications world-wide and is the digital pathology leader in the global market with an installed base of more than 450 systems in 28 countries.