Polartechnics SolarScan, Toshiba's Toshiba IK-TU51, and Microsoft Windows 2000 are components of a dermoscopic image-analysis system that screens patients for possibly dangerous skin lesions. A handheld scanner and software can discover melanoma, which is a difficult to diagnose disease. Epiluminescent microscopy (ELM, or dermoscopy) is the most promising modality. ELM illuminates the pigmented layer of the skin with white light and eliminates reflections from the epidermis by trapping a layer of clear oil between the skin and a glass plate. A team of researchers at Polartechnics and The Sydney Melanoma Unit (SMU) of the Royal Prince Albert Hospital has devised a dermoscope with a machine vision system running software that can distinguish between benign spots and an early-stage melanoma with a great deal of accuracy. A handheld scanner unit focuses light onto an IK-TU61 three-CCD (charge-coupled device) color mini-camera with output built into the scanning head. Four color swatches are used as calibration targets, and software includes components for an image analysis pipeline and a diagnosis model. The image analysis pipeline sets the lesion apart from extraneous parts of the image and culls features that provide diagnostic information. The lesion is then separated from the surrounding unaffected skin. The process of finding seeds to start is described. The researchers obtained a list of 100 characteristics that could distinguish melanomas from benign lesions with a false-negative rate below 8% and a false positive rate below 38%. Over 92% of melanomas were caught, and over 62% of benign lesions were correctly identified.