Method; microscope system and software program for the observation of dynamic processes
AssigneeLeica Microsystems CMS GmbH
InventorsFrank Olschewski, Jochen Nickel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A microscope system (4) for the observation of dynamic processes comprises a microscope (50) having at least one detector (19), and a computer (34). A buffer memory (54) precedes a comparator (58) that compares image contents of at least two successive image frames (56k and 56k+1). Depending on the result obtained from the comparator (58), the image frames are stored in different segments of a data structure (66) that is provided.
Claims13
A method for the observation of dynamic processes, comprises the steps of:
- providing a microscope system with a processing unit associated with a detector;
- controlling image capture of said dynamic processes in the microscope system with a computer;
- acquiring and generating a plurality of image frames from a scene periodically;
- processing image frames from a scene generated by the microscope with the computer;
- storing the plurality of acquired image frames of the scene in a buffer memory;
- conveying at least two successive subregions of successive image frames of the scene to a comparator;
- and
- segmenting of the image frames of the scene into sequences of sub-image frames in accordance with their image content;
- wherein the scene is comprised of a group of image frames acquired repeatedly from the same individual points;
- and,
- wherein in the case of successive image frames in which almost no change in the image content occurs, a greater compression, by way of coding and blanking of data, is performed prior to transfer to the computer than in successive image frames in which more change occurs.
A microscope system for the observation of dynamic processes, comprising:
- a microscope having at least one detector, a computer wherein said computer performs a grouping of a plurality of acquired image frames of said dynamic processes into scenes, a buffer memory which precedes a comparator that compares the image contents of at least two successive image frames from said plurality of acquired image frames;
- and a data structure provided in the buffer memory wherein according to the result obtained from the comparator the image frames are stored in different segments of the buffer memory, wherein each of said scenes comprises a group of image frames acquired over time that include the same individual points;
- and,
- wherein in the case of successive image frames in which almost no change in the image content occurs, a greater compression, by way of coding and blanking of data, is performed prior to transfer to the computer than in successive image frames in which more change occurs.
A software program is provided on a computer of a microscope system for the observation of dynamic processes, the software program comprises the steps of:
- controlling image capture of dynamic processes in the microscope system;
- processing a plurality of image frames from a scene;
- storing the plurality of acquired image frames from the scene in a buffer memory;
- comparing at least two successive subregions of successive image frames of the scene;
- and,
- forming segments of the image frames of the scene into sequences of sub-image frames in accordance with their image content;
- wherein said scene is comprised of a group of image frames acquired repeatedly from the same individual points;
- and,
- wherein in the case of successive image frames in which almost no change in the image content occurs, a greater compression, by way of coding and blanking of data, is performed prior to transfer to the computer than in successive image frames in which more change occurs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.