DIODA: delineation and feature extraction of microscopical objects.

A computer program is described for delineation and measurement of microscopical objects, such as cells and chromosomes, which may have been scanned using absorbance, fluorescence or reflectance microscopy. The quality of the object delineation is optimized through the controur ratio, which is simply computed from the object contour. Geometrical features, like the perimeter and area are computed. A new definition is introduced for the background region, especially suited for the analysis of closely packed objects. This definition is based upon a comparison between total staining material content values resulting from a variety of methods and circumstances. The program is principally intended for use in the on-line real-time environment of a small laboratory computer, but may be used off-line as well. It has facilities for displaying the results and the process by which they are produced. A program module is described for displaying scan data on a bilevel display using an adaptation of the sigma-delta method.