Trestle receives Notice of Allowance for US patent on ROI detection for digital slide scanning

SEPTEMBER 26--Trestle Holdings Inc. (Irvine, CA; www.trestlecorp.com), a supplier of digital imaging systems for pathology and telemedicine applications, has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its patent application entitled System and Method for Finding Regions of Interest for Microscopic Digital Montage Imaging. This application has been examined and allowed for issuance as a US patent. This technology is an integral part of Trestle's digital microscopy and whole-slide scanning product offerings.

The patent describes a methodology for dramatically reduced scan times by intelligent, selective scanning. Rather than scan blindly, thereby including blank space absent of tissue sample, the system automatically determines a tissue area and directs scanning to that area or ROI. Since more than 50% of the area of most slides is blank, this process results in a significant reduction in scan time. As it is automated, Trestle's technology further facilitates scanning of a large number of slides to promote the digitization of pathology. "Utilized in combination with Trestle's patent-pending Volume Scan technology, extremely high-quality digital pathology slides can be generated in rapid fashion," stated Jack Zeineh, MD and CSO of Trestle.

Maurizio Vecchione, CEO of Trestle Holdings, stated, "Filed a number of years ago by InterScope Technologies (which was acquired by Trestle in March 2005), we believe the technology contained in this newest allowed patent to be a critical component of an optimized scanning system, as scan times will remain prohibitive and costly without reduction of scan area to only that of the tissue sample displayed." This latest US-allowed patent complements Trestle's existing portfolio of patents in digital pathology.