System and method for controlling microscope
AssigneeOlympus Optical Co., Ltd.
InventorShuji Nakagawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A CPU determines an optical-axis direction moving interval of a focal point of a microscope based on a wavelength of light used for sample observation by the microscope and a numerical aperture of an object lens mounted on the microscope, and controls the microscope so as to sequentially move a position of the focal point of the microscope with respect to a sample position in the optical-axis direction at determined moving intervals. Every time the control moves the position, with respect to the sample position, of the focal point at the moving interval, the microscope is so controlled as to sequentially obtain a microscopic image produced when the position of the focal point is at a position after the moving.
Claims16
A microscope control system which obtains a microscope image of an observation target sample by controlling a microscope having at least two object lenses, comprising:
- an object lens information record unit recording object lens information associating the object lenses with numerical aperture of the object lenses;
- an object lens selection information obtaining unit obtaining selection information about the object lenses selected to obtain the microscope image;
- an object lens numerical aperture obtaining unit obtaining the numerical aperture of the selected object lens from the object lens information record unit according to the selection information;
- a focal point moving interval determination unit determining a moving interval per moving operation of optical-axis-direction moving of a position of a focal point of the microscope based on the numerical aperture of the object lens obtained by the object lens numerical aperture obtaining unit and a wavelength of light for observation of the sample;
- a focal point moving range determination unit determining a range of motion when optical-axis-direction moving of the position of the focal point is made on the sample based on an estimated value of a thickness of the sample;
- a focal point moving control unit controlling the microscope such that the position of the focal point relative to z sample position can be sequentially moved in an optical axis direction depending on the moving interval and the range of motion;
- and
- a microscope image obtaining control unit controlling the microscope such that the microscope image can be sequentially obtained each time and after the position of the focal point relative to the sample position is moved by the focal point moving control unit at the moving intervals.
A microscope control apparatus which controls a microscope for obtaining a microscope image of a sample which is a target to be observed, comprising:
- a focal point moving interval determination unit determining an optical-axis-direction moving interval of a focal point of the microscope based on a numerical aperture of an object lens used in the microscope for obtaining a microscope image and a wavelength of light used in observing the sample by the microscope;
- and
- a focal point moving control unit controlling the microscope such that a position of a focal point of the microscope can be sequentially moved in an optical axis direction relative to the sample position at a moving interval determined by the focal point moving interval determination unit.
A method for controlling a microscope for obtaining a microscope image of a sample which is a target to be observed, comprising:
- determining an optical-axis-direction moving interval of a focal point of the microscope based on a numerical aperture of an object lens used in the microscope for obtaining the microscope image and a wavelength of light used in observing the sample by the microscope;
- and
- controlling the microscope such that a position of the focal point of the microscope can be sequentially moved in an optical axis direction relative to the sample position at the determine moving interval.
A computer-readable storage medium recording a program used to direct a computer to control a microscope for obtaining a microscope image of a sample which is a target to be observed, wherein the program comprising
- determining an optical-axis-direction moving interval of a focal point of the microscope based on a numerical aperture of an object lens used in the microscope for obtaining the microscope image and a wavelength of light used in observing the sample by the microscope;
- and
- controlling the microscope such that a position of the focal point of the microscope can be sequentially moved in an optical axis direction relative to the sample position at the determine moving interval.
A microscope control apparatus which controls a microscope for obtaining a microscope image of a sample which is a target to be observed, comprising:
- focal point moving interval determination means for determining an optical-axis-direction moving interval of a focal point of the microscope based on a numerical aperture of an object lens used in the microscope for obtaining a microscope image and a wavelength of light used in observing the sample by the microscope;
- and
- focal point moving control means for controlling the microscope such that a position of a focal point of the microscope can be sequentially moved in an optical axis direction relative to the sample position at a moving interval determined by the focal point moving interval determination means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.