The encoding of Confocal Microscopy Tiled Pyramidal Images replicates the method used for whole slide microscopy imaging.

As shown in Figure BBBBB.7-1, the whole slide microscopy image consists of multiple images at different resolutions (the "altitude" of the pyramid corresponds to the "zoom level"). The base of the pyramid is the highest resolution image data as captured by the instrument. A thumbnail image may be created that is a low-resolution version of the image to facilitate viewing the entire image at once. One or more intermediate levels of the pyramid may be created, at intermediate resolutions, to facilitate retrieval of image data at arbitrary resolution.

Each image in the pyramid may be stored as a set of tiles, to facilitate rapid retrieval or arbitrary subregions of the image.

Figure BBBBB.7-1 shows a retrieved image region at an arbitrary resolution level, between the base level and the first intermediate level. The base image and the intermediate level image are "tiled". The shaded areas indicate the image data which must be retrieved from the images to synthesize the desired subregion at the desired resolution.