Stage apparatus, method of controlling stage apparatus, and microscope system

A method of controlling a stage apparatus,

• the stage apparatus comprising:
• an incremental scale fixed to a movable unit and having a predetermined length shorter than a distance the movable unit can move in a first direction as a movable range;
• first and a second sensors which read the scale and that are arranged in the first direction with an interval therebetween shorter than the predetermined length, wherein the first and second sensors obtain information on movement of the movable unit in the first direction;
• and
• a detection unit configured to detect that the movable unit has reached an origin point position set in the movable range of the movable unit,
• the method comprising:
• in an origin return that moves the movable unit to the origin point position, performing a first movement, if the movable unit is at a position at which both the first sensor and the second sensor can read the scale, in which the movable unit is caused to move a predetermined distance toward the origin point position;
• and
• performing a second movement, after the first movement, when the first sensor reads the scale and the second sensor does not read the scale, in which the movable unit is caused to move at a lower speed than in the first movement until the detection unit detects that the movable unit has reached the origin point position.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer for controlling a stage apparatus, the stage apparatus comprising:

• an incremental scale fixed to a movable unit and having a predetermined length shorter than a distance the movable unit can move in a first direction as a movable range;
• first and a second sensors which read the scale that are arranged in the first direction with an interval therebetween shorter than the predetermined length, wherein the first and second sensors obtain information on movement of the movable unit in the first direction;
• and
• a detection unit configured to detect that the movable unit has reached an origin point position set in the movable range of the movable unit,
• the program comprising computer executable code to execute:
• in an origin return that moves the movable unit to the origin point position, performing a first movement, if the movable unit is at a position at which both the first sensor and the second sensor can read the scale, in which the movable unit is caused to move a predetermined distance toward the origin point position;
• and
• performing a second movement, after the first movement, when the first sensor reads the scale and the second sensor does not read the scale, in which the movable unit is caused to move at a lower speed than in the first movement until the detection unit detects that the movable unit has reached the origin point position.

A microscope system comprising a stage apparatus as a stage for placing a slide, wherein the stage apparatus comprises:

• an incremental scale fixed to a movable unit and having a predetermined length shorter than a distance the movable unit can move in a first direction as a movable range;
• first and second sensors which read the scale and that are arranged in the first direction with an interval therebetween shorter than the predetermined length, wherein the first and second sensors obtain information on movement of the movable unit in the first direction;
• a detection unit configured to detect that the movable unit has reached an origin point position set in the movable range;
• and
• a movement control unit configured to perform an origin return that moves the movable unit to the origin point position,
• wherein, if the movable unit is at a position at which both the first sensor and the second sensor can read the scale, the movement control unit executes, in the origin return, a first movement that causes the movable unit to move a predetermined distance toward the origin point position, and, after the first movement, when the first sensor reads the scale and the second sensor does not read the scale, a second movement that causes the movable unit to move at a lower speed than the first movement until the detection unit detects that the movable unit has reached the origin point position.

A microscope system, comprising:

• a microscope body;
• a stage that places a slide which is an observation target, and that is mounted on the microscope body, and that has an XY-stage that moves in an X direction and a Y direction that are orthogonal to each other;
• an XY scale plate that is fixed to the XY-stage and that has an incremental scale having a predetermined length shorter than a distance the XY-stage can move in each of the X direction and the Y direction as a movable range;
• and
• for each of the X direction and the Y direction, the microscope system comprises:
• first and second sensors which read for reading the scale and that are arranged with an interval therebetween shorter than the predetermined length, wherein the first and second sensors obtain information on movement of the XY-stage in the first direction;
• a detection unit configured to detect that the XY-stage has reached an origin point position set in the movable range of the XY-stage;
• and
• a movement control unit configured to, if the XY-stage is at a position at which both the first sensor and the second sensor can read the scale, execute, in an origin return that moves the XY-stage to the origin point position, a first movement that causes the XY-stage to move a predetermined distance toward the origin point position, and, after the first movement, when the first sensor reads the scale and the second sensor does not read the scale, a second movement that causes the XY-stage to move at a lower speed than the first movement until the detection unit detects that the XY-stage has reached the origin point position.