An Evaluation of Multi-resolution Microscope Slide Scanning Algorithms

In this paper we develop and compare several multi-resolution microscope slide scanning algorithms of increasing complexity. The algorithms utilise a low-resolution image of the whole sample to optimise the high-resolution scan in terms of decreasing the number of field-of-view (FOV) images required. This approach, while commonly applied in microscopy, has never been fully evaluated to quantify expected improvements in scan time when the high-resolution scans are optimised on each sample. In addition, the methods have potential to improve image quality by reducing both image stitching and focus tracking artefacts.