Image-related record format

Image processing record (IPR)

Image processing record (IPR) file is designed to record the whole-life information of a microscope image from photo-taking to processing. Each staining image (ssDNA/DAPI, IF, H&E) includes six basic groups, "ImageInfo", "QCInfo", "Stitch", "TissueSeg", "CellSeg", and "Register", which are used to store microscopy photo-taking information, image quality control information, image stitching records, tissue segmentation records, cell segmentation records (optional), and registration records.

Item
Description

Attribute

Description

IPRVersion

IPR file format version.

Dateset

Description

Preview

A 2D matrix merges stitched image, tissue segmentation boundary and cell segmentation boundary.

/<stainType>/ImageInfo: Group records basic image information.

Attributes

Description

AppFileVer

Microscope software version.

BackgroundBalance

Background balance.

BitDepth

The bit-depth of a camera sensor describes its ability to transform the analog signal coming from the pixel array into a digital signal.

Brightness

Relative intensity affecting a person or sensor.

ChannelCount

Number of RGB channels.

ColorEnhancement

Whether enhanced image color display or not.

Contrast

The difference in color and intensity of the depicted object from its background.

DeviceSN

Microscope device serial number.

DistortionCorrection

Whether fixed distortion or not.

ExposureTime

Exposure time in ms.

FOVHeight

Height of an individual FOV in pixel.

FOVWidth

Width of an individual FOV in pixel.

Gain

Amplification applied to the signal by the image sensor.

Gamma

The coefficient links between the human eye and the digital camera.

GammaShift

Whether adapt the digital image taken with the help of a linearly recording camera to the nonlinear perception of the human eye or not.

Illuminance

Intensity of light.

Manufacturer

Microscope manufacturer.

Model

Microscope model.

Overlap

Overlapping pixels between single tiles.

PixelSizeX

Size of pixel in x direction.

PixelSizeY

Size of pixel in y direction.

QCResultFile

Prefix of ImageQC/ImageStudio result file, the unique identifier of the image.

ScanChannel

Fluorescence channel.

ScanCols

Number of columns scanned.

ScanObjective

Magnification power of the scan objective lens.

ScanRows

Number of rows scanned.

ScanTime

Scan date and time.

Sharpness

Degree of clarity of the edge(s) of the image.

RegisterVersion

Image auto-processing & matrix registration software version.

StitchedImage

Whether the corresponding image is a panorama image (true) or a set of tiled images (false).

STOmicsChipSN

Stereo-seq Chip serial number.

WhiteBalance

An adjustment in electronic and film imaging that corrects the color balance of the lighting.

DatasetDataType: 1D array

Description

RGBScale

RGB color.

/<stainType>/QCInfo: Group records the QC information of the image.

Attributes

Description

ClarityScore

Reference score for evaluating the clearness of cell boundaries.

Experimenter

Email of the experimenter who did QC for the image.

GoodFOVCount

Number of FOVs that have identified more than 3 track cross points.

ImageQCVersion

Image QC version.

QCPassFlag

Whether the corresponding image passed QC.

RemarkInfo

Any remarks, notes, comments on the image.

StainType

Stain type of microscopy image.

TotalFOVCount

Total number of FOVs.

TrackLineScore

Reference score for evaluating whether the detected track lines can be used as references for image stitching and registering with gene expression matrix. (This score only evaluate whether the program detected track lines on the image, it does not infer the clarity of the lines or the images).

TrackLineChannel

Shooting channel of track lines.

TrackCrossQCPassFlag

Whether the QC of the track-cross point is passed.

ScopeStitchQCScore

Score to assess the stability of microscope overlap (DAPI & mIF only).

ScopeStitchQCPassFlag

Whether the QC of microscope stitch is passed (DAPI & mIF only).

TemplateValidArea

Proportion of encircled area by the detected points that match the global track line template (within the error range of 5 pixels), to the entire image area.

TemplateRecall

Proportion of detected points, which match the global track line template (within the error range of 5 pixels), to the points derived from the chip track line rules.

ClarityCutSize

Size of cut images (based on FOV) for clarity evaluation.

ClarityCounts

Counts of cut images in different categories.

ClarityOverlap

Overlap of cut images for clarity evaluation.

DatasetDataType: 2D array

Description

ScopeStitchQCMatrix

Matrix of overlap deviation of each microscope FOV (DAPI & mIF only).

CrossPoints/row_col*n

Group of datasets for each FOV that records the track cross point coordinates. (Row and col stand for the FOV row and column index number, and n stands for number of FOVs). Each dataset is a 2D array record, (x, y) coordinates of track cross points in each FOV.

/<stainType>/Calibration: Group records the calibration information (<protein>_IF only).

Attributes

Description

CalibrationQCPassFlag

Whether the calibration QC of IF image is passed.

/<stainType>/Calibration/Scope:

Attributes

Description

Confidence

Calibration confidence of microscope-stitched tiled image vs. IF.

OffsetX

Horizontal offset.

OffsetY

vertical offset.

[optional]/<stainType>/Calibration/Stereo:

Attributes

Description

Confidence

Calibration confidence of Stereo-stitched image vs. IF.

OffsetX

Horizontal offset.

OffsetY

Vertical offset.

/<stainType>/Stitch: Group records the stitching information.

Attributes

Description

StitchingScore

Reference score for stitching.

TemplateSource

The reference FOV for deriving the template used for rotating and scaling the microscopic images.

WhichStitch

Stitching method for image, including microscope, template and ripple stitching. The default for stitched image is microscope.

DatasetDataType: 2D array

Description

TemplatePoint

Center coordinates for deriving template lines.

TransformTemplate

Coordinates of template points registered with expression matrix.

/<stainType>/Stitch/StereoStitch: Group records the image stitching information processed by Stereo program.

Attributes

Description

StitchedGlobalHeight

Height of stitched tiled images using Stereo stitching algorithm. Tiled image only.

StitchedGlobalWidth

Width of stitched tiled images using Stereo stitching algorithm. Tiled image only.

DatasetDataType: 2D array

Description

StitchedGlobalLoc

Coordinates for the Stereo stitched tiled image. Tiled image only.

/<stainType>/Stitch/ScopeStitch: Group records the image stitching information processed by microscope imaging software.

Attributes

Description

GlobalHeight

Height of panorama image.

GlobalWidth

Width of panorama image.

DatasetDataType: 2D array

Description

GlobalLoc

Coordinates for the stitched tiled image (either program stitched or microscope stitched).

ScopeJitterDiff

Jitter offset of microscope stitching.

ScopeHorizontalJitter

Horizontal jitter offset of microscope stitching. Tiled image only.

ScopeVerticalJitter

Vertical jitter offset of microscope stitching. Tiled image only.

/<stainType>/Stitch/StitchEval: Group records the evaluation result of stitching.

Attribute

Description

MaxDeviation

Maximum stitching deviation.

DatasetDataType: 2D array

Description

GlobalDeviation

Global stitching deviation matrix. Tiled image only.

StitchEvalH

Stitching deviation matrix for the horizontal axes.

StitchEvalV

Stitching deviation matrix for the vertical axes.

/<stainType>/Register: Group records the information that aligns images with gene expression matrix.

Attributes

Description

CounterRot90

Count of counter-clockwise rotation of 90 degrees.

Flip

Whether horizontally flipped or not.

MatrixShape

Height and width of the gene expression matrix.

OffsetX

Offset between microscope image and gene expression matrix in x-axis.

OffsetY

Offset between microscope image and gene expression matrix in y-axis.

RegisterScore

Reference score for registration.

Rotation

Rotation degree between raw image and deviation template.

ScaleX

Scale between raw image and deviation template in horizontal direction.

ScaleY

Scale between raw image and deviation template in vertical direction.

XStart

Gene expression matrix offset x (GEF geneExp/binN/expression attribute minX).

YStart

Gene expression matrix offset y (GEF geneExp/binN/expression attribute minY).

ManualRotation

Manual rotation degree of the raw image around the center point.

ManualScaleX

Manual scale of the raw image in horizontal direction based on center point.

ManualScaleY

Manual scale of the raw image in vertical direction based on center point.

DatasetDataType: 2D array

Description

MatrixTemplate

List of track cross points derived from gene expression matrix.

/<stainType>/TissueSeg: Group records the tissue segmentation information.

Attributes

Description

TissueSegScore

Reference score for tissue segmentation.

TissueSegShape

Image shape for tissue segmentation mask image.

Threshold

The threshold for tissue segmentation in IF images is divided into maximum and minimum values (IF only).

DatasetDataType: 2D array

Description

TissueMask

Encoded tissue segmentation mask file (after registration with gene expression matrix).

/<stainType>/CellSeg: Group records the cell segmentation information.

Attributes

Description

CellSegShape

Image shape for cell segmentation mask image.

DatasetDataType: 2D array

Description

CellMask

Encoded cell segmentation mask file (after registration with gene expression matrix).

CellSegTrace

Cell contour attributes, including height, width and area.

/StereoResepSwitch: Group stores the state of each module that whether the module needs to be performed.

Attributes

Description

stitch

Switch for performing stitching.

tissueseg

Switch for performing tissue segmentation.

cellseg

Switch for performing cell segmentation.

register

Switch for performing registration.

/ManualState: Group stores the state of each module that whether the module has been manually processed.

Attributes

Description

stitch

Whether manually stitched the tiled images.

tissueseg

Whether manually delineated the tissue coverage region.

cellseg

Whether manually delineated the cell coverage regions.

register

Whether manually aligned microscope image and gene expression matrix.

calibration

Whether manually calibrated two images. For example, manually match IF image with DAPI image.

Recorded image processing (RPI)

The image pyramid model is a multi-resolution hierarchical model that is used to store and display images in different resolutions. For the same field of view, the layer of the image pyramid that is closest to the bottom includes the most detailed information and has the largest scale. register pipeline performs the down-sampling step on the registered image, and the result images are layered to construct a pyramid with the suffix ".rpi". For each resolution layer, the intact registered image is split into 256 pixels x 256 pixels tiles. If the size of a layer is smaller than 256 x 256, the image will then remain intact. The outer layer group of RPI file is defined according to its stain type, generally including ssDNA, DAPI, IF (immunofluorescence image especially for protein, group name as <protein_IF>), and H&E. In each group of stain types, multiple image results, including an image subgroup (registered microscopy image), a TissueMask subgroup (registered mask boundary for the tissue coverage area), and a CellMask subgroup (registered mask boundaries for the cell coverage area, optional), could be saved respectively.

Schematic diagram of the image pyramid:

Image pyramid displaying
Item
Description

Attributes

Description

imgSize

Size of the image.

sizex

Max of x.

sizey

Max of y.

version

RPI file version.

x_start

Offset x of the matrix.

y_start

Offset y of the matrix.

/<stainType>/<imageLayer>: Group records the specific layer information, mainly including "Image", "TissueMask", "CellMask" and "CellMask_adjusted".

Attributes

Description

MaxGrayLevel

Maximum gray value.

MinGrayLevel

Minimum gray value.

GrayLevelElbow

Elbow point of gray value.

TrackLayer

Whether track layer.

Color

Layer color.

Groups

Description

binN

Detailled downsampling metadata for each bin size.

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