Methods and systems for background subtraction in an image

Abstract

A method for improving image quality is provided. The method includes receiving image data of a substrate, wherein the image data is generated by imaging the substrate, and an image is generated from the image data. The method further includes generating a background representation from a background noise portion of the image, wherein the background portion includes signal information undesired for further processing and generating a background subtracted image by subtracting the background representation from the image. In this way, a separate background image is not needed to subtract the background from the image including the regions-of-interest to improve image quality.

1 . A method for improving image quality, the method comprising:
 receiving image data of a substrate, wherein the image data is generated by imaging the substrate, and an image is generated from the image data;   generating a background representation from a background noise portion of the image, wherein the background portion includes signal information undesired for further processing;   generating a background subtracted image by subtracting the background representation from the image.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate includes a plurality of regions-of-interest. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the plurality of regions-of-interest is a plurality of reaction sites. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the background portion comprises a first background portion and a second background portion. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the first background portion is determined from a first area in an image. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the second background portion is interpolated from a second area in the image based on the first background portion, wherein the second area does not include regions-of-interest; 
     
     
         7 - 14 . (canceled) 
     
     
         15 . A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions, executable by a processor, the instructions comprising instructions for:
 receiving image data of a substrate, wherein the image data is generated by imaging the substrate;   generating projection data based on the image data;   evaluating the projection data for a known landmark pattern of the substrate, wherein the known landmark pattern is stored in a memory; and   determining positions of the known landmark pattern of the substrate in the image data based on the evaluating.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions further include instructions for:
 determining, by the processor, a center of the substrate based on the determined positions of the known landmark pattern of the substrate.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions further include instructions for:
 determining a pedestal based on the projection data, wherein the pedestal includes signal information undesired for further processing; and   processing image data to remove the pedestal.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein generating the projection data includes computing a path integral. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein generating the projection data includes computing a path integral over columns and rows of the image data based on gray level measures. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the known landmark pattern includes septa between reaction site areas of the substrate. 
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions further include instructions for:
 determining, by the processor, at least one identifier on the substrate based on the determined positions.   
     
     
         22 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 21 , wherein determining the identifier includes analyzing the image data based on the determined positions and expected position of the identifier on the substrate, wherein the expected position is stored in the memory. 
     
     
         23 . A system for visualizing a plurality of data plots, the system comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory encoded with instructions for:
 receiving image data of a substrate, wherein the image data is generated by imaging the substrate; 
 generating projection data based on the image data; 
 evaluating the projection data for a known landmark pattern of the substrate, wherein the known landmark pattern is stored in the memory; and 
 determining positions of the known landmark pattern of the substrate in the image data based on the evaluating. 
   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the memory is encoded with instructions for:
 determining, by the processor, a center of the substrate based on the determined positions of the known landmark pattern of the substrate.   
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the memory is encoded with instructions for:
 determining a pedestal based on the projection data, wherein the pedestal includes signal information undesired for further processing; and   processing image data to remove the pedestal.   
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the memory is encoded with instructions for:
 determining, by the processor, at least one identifier on the substrate based on the determined positions.   
     
     
         27 - 29 . (canceled)