Data creating, storage and processing system

Claim 2

A data creating, storage and processing system comprising: image pick-up means for imaging one or more features observed in a sample of a disease and for producing pictorial image data representative thereof for display and for storage; display means for displaying pictorial images of one or more features observed in a disease and for displaying case record data; storage means for storing case record data, each case record including a case record identification, feature data selected for that case, value data selected for respective features in that case, and pictorial image data representing pictorial images of features of a disease associated with that case; manually operably input means including: case identifying means for generating case identifying data to identify a case record written into and retrievable from said system, feature selecting means operable by a user to select from a feature bank those feature data which the user observes in one or more diseases represented by a case, and value assigning means operable by said user to select from a value bank value data which the user observes in the selected feature; and processing means for linking feature data, value data and pictorial image data to case records, for retrieving case records, and for displaying pictorial images associated with retrieved case records.

Claim 3

The system of Claim 1, wherein said processing means includes overlay means for generating an overlay selected by said user and for supplying overlay data to said display means to display the selected overlay superimposed over a displayed pictorial image; and means for storing in said storage means overlay data representing said overlay and the position thereof relative to said displayed pictorial image.

Claim 4

The system of Claim 1 or 2 wherein said processing means includes means for supplying to said display means pictorial image data included in a case record having visual feature data selected by user operation of said feature selecting means for displaying a pictorial image of said visual feature data.

Claim 5

The system of Claim 3 wherein said processing means further includes means for causing said display means to display the number of cases stored in said storage means having said selected visual feature data and means for determining the distribution relative to each other of such cases having different respective values for that feature.

Claim 6

The system of Claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said pictorial image data represent plural pictorial images, and wherein said processing means causes all of the pictorial images included in a case record retrieved by the user to be displayed on said display means.

Claim 7

The system of Claim 5 wherein said processing means supplies to said display means pictorial image data for displaying all of the pictorial images in relatively reduced size, and said processing means includes image selecting means responsive to operation by said user for selecting one of the displayed pictorial images to be displayed in relatively magnified size.

Claim 10

The system of Claim 8 wherein said processing means includes means for linking pictorial image data stored in said optical storage means with said case record.

Claim 11

A storage and data processing system, comprising: manually operative input means to write data into and to read data from said system, and to request predetermined processing operations on said data; image data input means including image pick-up means for generating and writing into said system image data derived from and representing preselected visual images; display means for displaying both alphanumeric information of data written into and read from said system and pictorial images of image data written into and read from said system; accessible storage means for storing data written by said manually operative input means and by said image data input means; and programmable processing means in data communication with said manually operative input means, image data input means, display means and storage means and programmed to establish in response to said manually operative input means user-selectable designations of diagnostic features which the user determines are characteristic of respective conditions to be diagnosed and to establish user-selectable values of said features, said processing means also being programmed to store in said storage means image data representing pictorial displays of at least some of said features, said processing means being further programmed to cause said display means to display prompts for guiding said user to select respective ones of the established features and to assign an established value to a selected feature which the user observes in a pictorial image, and said processing means being additionally programmed to link a selected feature having an assigned value with a pictorial image for storage in and retrieval from said storage means.

Claim 12

A storage and data processing system, comprising: manually operative input means to write data into and to read data from said system, and to request predetermined processing operations on said data; image data input means including image pick-up means for generating and writing into said system image data derived from and representing preselected visual images; display means for displaying both alphanumeric information of data written into and read from said system and pictorial images of image data written into and read from said system; accessible storage means for storing data written by said manually operative input means and by said image data input means; and programmable processing means in data communication with said manually operative input means, image data input means, display means and storage means and programmed to establish in response to said manually operative input means user-selectable designations of diagnostic features which the user determines are characteristic of respective conditions to be diagnosed and to establish user-selectable values of said features, said processing means also being programmed to store in said storage means image data representing pictorial displays of at least some of said features, said processing means being further programmed to cause said display means to display prompts for guiding said user to select respective ones of the established features and to assign an established value to a selected feature which the user observes in a pictorial image, and said processing means being additionally programmed to link a selected feature having an assigned value with a pictorial image for storage in and retrieval from said storage means.

Claim 13

The system of Claim 10 wherein each feature is associated with plural predetermined values, wherein said display means displays said associated values when said manually operative input means is operated by a user to select a feature so as to enable one of said values to be selected by the user and assigned to the selected feature, and wherein said manually operative input means is operated by the user to select an already established feature or to create a new feature for storage in said storage means, and to select an already established value or to create a new value for that feature for storage in said storage means.

Claim 14

The system of Claim 10 or 11 wherein said manually operative input means is operative to identify a feature as a "discrete" type or a "continuous" type; and wherein said processing means is further programmed (a) to retrieve and display a set of values associated with said feature, if said feature is identified as a "discrete" type, and to assign a selected one of those displayed values to said feature as determined by the user, and (b) to retrieve and display upper and lower value range limits associated with said feature, if said feature is identified as a "continuous" type, and to assign a selected segment in said range to said feature as determined by the user.

Claim 15

The system of Claim 10, 11 or 12 wherein said manually operative input means is operative to identify a feature as a type having a variable value and said processing means is programmed to measure that value as a function of length, area or density of that feature, said processing means being programmed: (a) to measure length between points displayed in a pictorial image and selected by user-operation of said manually operative input means, (b) to measure the area of a closed curve displayed in a pictorial image and selected by the user-operation of said manually operative input means, and (c) to measure density in response to user-operation of said manually operative input means to define an area on a pictorial display displayed by said display means in which the density of predetermined elements is to be calculated.

Claim 19

The system of Claim 16 wherein said processing means is in data communication with said digitizing means and is further programmed to cause said display means to display simultaneously a pictorial image derived from image data retrieved from said storage means and a pictorial image derived from image data produced by said digitizing means.