Method and system for user guidance in scanning microscopy
OwnerJohann Engelhardtinventor
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Abstract
The invention discloses a system utilized in a scanning microscope and a method for providing user guidance. The system for providing user guidance comprises an illumination source for producing a light beam and optical means for shaping and guiding the light beam. A scanning device scans the light beam across a sample. At least one detector is used to detect the fluorescent or reflected light from the sample. The position signal of the light beam on the sample is also detected. A control and processing unit with digitizing means processes the intensity data received from a sample and generates an online representation of various image quality parameters to be observed by the user on a display of a computer.
Claims29
A system for guiding a user of a scanning microscope, the system comprising:
- a scanning device for scanning a specimen with a light beam in a pixel-by-pixel fashion and generating a position signal of a pixel;
- a first electrical signal proportional to the light received from the specimen and corresponding to the position signal;
- a control and processing unit for receiving and digitizing the position signal and the first electrical signal, and for processing the position signal and the first electrical signal to obtain pixel intensities corresponding to at least two sequentially captured images of the specimen;
- a computer for processing the pixel intensities corresponding to at least two images of the specimen and calculating one or more image quality parameters;
- and
- a display unit for providing one or more image quality parameters to the user.
A scanning microscopy system comprising:
- a illumination source for generating a light beam;
- optical means for directing the light beam to a specimen;
- a scanning device for scanning a specimen with the light beam in a pixel-by-pixel fashion and generating a position signal of a pixel;
- at least one detector for detecting the light corresponding to the position signal received from the specimen and converting the light into a first signal;
- means for receiving, digitizing and processing the position signal and the first signal to obtain pixel intensities corresponding to at least two sequentially captured images of the specimen and to process the pixel intensities to calculate one or more image quality parameters;
- and
- a display unit for visualizing one or more image quality parameters.
A method of providing one or more image quality parameters to a user of a scanning microscope having a scanning device, the method comprising:
- using a scanning device to generate a position signal of a pixel by scanning the specimen with a light beam in a pixel-by-pixel fashion;
- generating a first electrical signal corresponding to the pixel and proportional to the light received from the specimen;
- providing at least a first and a second images corresponding to the first electrical signal and the position signal;
- converting the first electrical signal and the position signal into digital signals;
- using the digital signals to obtain pixel intensities corresponding to at least the first and the second sequentially captured images of the specimen;
- and
- processing the pixel intensities corresponding to at least the first and the second images of the specimen to calculate one or more image quality parameters and provide one or more image quality parameters to the user.
A method of providing one or more image quality parameters to a user of a scanning microscope having a scanning device, the method comprising:
- providing at least a first and a second images by providing a first electrical signal corresponding to light reflected from a specimen and providing a position signal generated by the scanning device;
- converting the first electrical signal and the position signal into digital signals;
- using the digital signals to obtain pixel intensities corresponding to at least the first and the second images of the specimen;
- and
- processing the pixel intensities corresponding to at least the first and the second images of the specimen to calculate one or more image quality parameters and provide one or more image quality parameters to the user, wherein processing the pixel intensities comprises plotting a first intensity histogram corresponding to the first image and a second intensity histogram corresponding to the second image, using the first intensity histogram and the second intensity histogram to obtain one or more image quality parameter, and wherein one or more image quality parameters is a bleaching rate of the specimen.
A method of providing one or more image quality parameters to a user of a scanning microscope having a scanning device, the method comprising:
- providing at least a first and a second images by providing a first electrical signal corresponding to light reflected from a specimen and providing a position signal generated by the scanning device;
- converting the first electrical signal and the position signal into digital signals;
- using the digital signals to obtain pixel intensities corresponding to at least the first and the second images of the specimen;
- and
- processing the pixel intensities corresponding to at least the first and the second images of the specimen to calculate one or more image quality parameters and provide one or more image quality parameters to the user, wherein processing the pixel intensities further comprises providing intensity pairs, I1, I2, corresponding to the same pixel of the first image and the second image and using the intensity pairs, I1, I2, to obtain one or more image quality parameters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.