ABSTRACT
The process of digital imaging in microscopy can be thought of as a series of operations each of which contributes to the quality of the final image displayed on the computer monitor. The operations include sample preparation and staining by histology, optical image formation by the microscope, digital image sampling by the CCD and camera, postprocessing and compression, transmission on the network, and display on the monitor. Over the years, an extensive literature has developed on digital imaging, and each step of the process is fairly well understood. However, the development of automated, whole slide imaging systems for clinical applications has forced us to re-examine the relative significance of different parts of the digital imaging process. An obvious example is in the importance of compression. In a traditional single frame digital imaging environment, where a typical uncompressed image file may be one to several megabytes, efficient compression is a convenience. On the other hand, in a clinical whole slide imaging system that could generate several hundred, multi-gigabyte images a day,
efficient compression is absolutely required for effective management.
