JP2007034050A - Observation apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To fully observe a desired observation position on a sample with high magnification by performing a simple operation. <P>SOLUTION: A variable magnifying power optical system is incorporated in a lens barrel 4. The sample image observed through the optical system is imaged by a camera 7. The sample and the camera 7 are relatively moved by a motor-driven X-Y stage 6 along an X-Y plane vertical to the optical axis of the optical system. Instructions showing the position on the image related to the sample image imaged by the camera 7 is obtained by a computer 13, and when the instructions are obtained, the motor-driven X-Y stage 6 and the optical system are controlled by the computer 13 so that they may be relatively moved corresponding to the moving quantity calculated based on the instructions and the magnifying power of the optical system, and also, the magnifying power is varied. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a microscope technique, and more particularly to a technique for displaying a magnified observation image of a sample on a monitor device.

  As a microscope apparatus for displaying a magnified observation image of a sample on a monitor such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), a general optical microscope attached with an imaging device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), a scanning type There is a laser microscope that scans a sample surface with a laser beam, receives reflected light from the sample, forms a video signal, and generates an image of the sample surface.

  These microscope devices are generally configured so that the optical magnification can be changed. The observer first searches for the observation position of the sample under a low magnification setting, and then the high magnification. The observation position is observed in more detail, and the defect and foreign matter in that part are inspected.

  Examples of the optical magnification changing means include the following. That is, in an optical microscope, a plurality of objective lenses having different magnifications are attached to a revolver in advance, and the objective lens inserted into the optical axis is exchanged by rotating the revolver, or the objective lens is fixed. There is a method in which the intermediate optical system is a turret type or zoom type so that zooming can be performed. In the scanning laser microscope, there is a method of realizing zoom by changing the swing angle (scanning range) of the laser while exchanging the objective lens by rotating the revolver as in the optical microscope.

  However, in any of the systems described above, the observation position of the sample found by observation at a low magnification is not always near the center of the observation image. If the enlargement magnification is changed to a high magnification in such a state, the field of view is narrowed, and the desired observation position may be out of the field of view and lost sight. If the observation position is lost in this way, the observer must return to the low magnification and search for the observation position again. Especially when a high-resolution CCD camera is used in an optical microscope or when a scanning laser microscope is used, the frame rate of image display is slow, so it takes a long time to re-find an observation position once lost. May be spent.

  In order to avoid such a situation in advance, the observer moves the desired observation position to near the center of the screen when observing at a low magnification by operating the XY stage on which the sample is placed. Then, an operation of switching the enlargement magnification to a high magnification is performed. Here, in order to perform observation in more detail, the operation of moving the desired observation position to the vicinity of the center of the screen by operating the XY stage and the operation of switching the enlargement magnification to the high magnification are finally performed. It becomes possible.

As a technique for eliminating such a troublesome operation, there is a technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. In this technique, the sample is placed so that the position selected on the image of the sample moves to the center position on the display screen or to the position selected on the display screen. The operation control of the XY stage is performed, and the operation of the XY stage, which is necessary when observing a desired observation position in more detail, is not necessary.
JP-A-9-197287

However, with the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 listed above, the operation for changing the enlargement magnification and the operation for specifying the enlargement magnification are still not resolved.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and a problem to be solved is to enable a detailed observation at a high magnification of a desired observation position on a sample by a simple operation. .

  An observation apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes an optical system capable of changing an enlargement magnification, an imaging unit that captures an observation image of a sample by the optical system, the sample and the imaging unit, Moving means for relatively moving along an XY plane perpendicular to the optical axis, control means for controlling the moving means and the optical system, and display means for displaying an image of the sample imaged by the imaging means And an instruction acquisition unit that acquires an instruction of a position on the image, and the control unit controls the moving unit and the optical system when the instruction is acquired, and the instruction and the optical system The relative movement corresponding to the movement amount calculated on the basis of the enlargement magnification is changed, and the enlargement magnification is changed. This feature solves the above-described problem.

  In the observation apparatus according to the present invention described above, the control unit is configured to control the moving unit so that the position on the image related to the instruction is located at the center of the display screen of the display unit. May be.

  Further, in the observation apparatus according to the present invention described above, the instruction is either the first instruction or the second instruction, and the control unit is configured to execute the instruction when the instruction is the first instruction. May be configured to perform control to increase the enlargement magnification, and to perform control to decrease the enlargement magnification when the instruction is the second instruction.

  Further, in the observation apparatus according to the present invention described above, the instruction is performed by surrounding a region on the image with a rectangle, and the control means includes a relative position of the region surrounded by the rectangle with respect to the image, and Based on the range, the movement amount may be set and the magnification amount change amount may be determined.

  An observation apparatus control method according to another aspect of the present invention includes: an optical system capable of changing an enlargement magnification; an imaging unit that captures an observation image of a sample by the optical system; and the sample and the imaging unit. And a moving mechanism that moves relatively along an XY plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system, the method for controlling the observation apparatus, wherein the image on the image with respect to the image of the sample imaged by the imaging unit Relative position corresponding to the amount of movement calculated based on the instruction and the magnification of the optical system, when the instruction is acquired, and when the instruction is acquired, the moving mechanism and the optical system are controlled. The above-mentioned movement is performed and the enlargement magnification is changed. This feature solves the above-described problem.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to perform detailed observation at a high magnification of a desired observation position on the sample by a simple operation by doing as described above.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first example of an observation apparatus for carrying out the present invention.
In the figure, the microscope main body 1 includes a base 2, a column 3, a mirror 4, an objective lens 5, and an electric XY stage 6.

  The lens barrel 4 is driven to drive an optical system that forms an image of reflected light (or transmitted light) from the sample obtained through the objective lens 5 on the camera 7 and an electric zoom mechanism that is a part of the optical system. The motor 8 and a zoom control unit 9 for controlling the motor 8 are incorporated, and the magnification of the optical system can be changed by rotating the motor 8. The zoom control unit 9 is configured to be able to read the current setting state of the optical magnification based on its own control value or by using known position reading means such as an encoder.

  The electric XY stage 6 incorporates driving motors 10 and 11 on the X axis and the Y axis, respectively, and images a sample placed on the electric XY stage 6 and an observation image of the sample. It functions as a moving means for relatively moving the camera 7 which is an imaging means for moving along the XY plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system. The motors 10 and 11 are respectively controlled by the stage control unit 12. The stage control unit 12 includes known position reading means such as an encoder assembled on the basis of its own control values for the drive axes of the X axis and the Y axis, or for each drive axis of the X axis and the Y axis. By using it, the current position of the electric XY stage 6 can be read.

  The computer 13 which is a control means captures an image signal from the connected camera 7. On the other hand, it is connected to the zoom control unit 9 and the stage control unit 12, and is configured to be capable of bidirectional communication with them. Therefore, the optical system and the electric XY stage 6 can be controlled by issuing and transmitting commands (commands) to the zoom control unit 9 and the stage control unit 12. Further, the current magnification can be read from the zoom control unit 9, and the current positions of the drive axes of the X axis and the Y axis can be read from the stage control unit 12, respectively.

  The computer 13 is connected to a display 14 such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display device, which is a display means, and a mouse 15 and a keyboard 16 which are operation devices for acquiring various instructions from an observer. Further, application software is installed in a storage device (not shown) provided in the computer 13, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) provided in the computer 13 reads the application software. The control over the entire observation apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is performed.

  The application program can be read out by inserting a control program recorded by inserting the application program into, for example, a storage device external to the computer 13 or a medium driving device provided in the computer 13. The observation apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is stored in a portable recording medium such as a magnetic disk, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM, and the application program is read from the recording medium and executed by the computer 13. You may make it make the computer 13 perform control over the whole.

  The recording medium described above may be a storage device provided in a computer system functioning as a program server connected to the computer 13 via a communication line. In this case, a transmission signal obtained by modulating a carrier wave with a data signal representing an application program is transmitted from the program server to the computer 13 through a communication line as a transmission medium, and the computer 13 receives the received transmission signal. This control program can be executed by the CPU of the computer 13 by demodulating and reproducing the application program.

Next, the operation of the observation apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described.
First, the computer 13 performs a process of displaying an image of the sample surface acquired on the display 14 with the magnification of the optical system set to a low magnification. FIG. 2A shows an image display example on the display 14 at this time.

  When a desired observation position is found from this image, the observer operates the mouse 15 to move the pointer to the desired observation position on the screen and performs a left click operation. Then, the computer 13 detecting this operation performs a control process for moving the electric XY stage 6 so that the position of the sample image designated by the pointer is at the center of the screen. Further, at this time, a control process for controlling the zoom of the optical system to increase the enlargement magnification by one step is also performed. As a result, the display image on the display 14 changes from the one shown in FIG. 2A to the one shown in FIG. 2B.

  The above operation will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the control processing of the observation apparatus shown in FIG. 1 performed by the computer 13, which is realized by the CPU of the computer 13 executing the above-described application program.

  In FIG. 3, first, in S <b> 101, processing for displaying an image of the sample currently acquired by the camera 7 on the display 14 is performed. At this time, a pointer is also displayed on the display 14.

  In S102, processing for monitoring an operation on the mouse 15 is performed, and in subsequent S103, processing for determining whether or not an operation on the mouse 15 is detected is performed. If it is determined that the operation has been detected (when the determination result is Yes), the process proceeds to S104. On the other hand, when it is determined that the operation is not detected (when the determination result is No), the process returns to S102 and the operation monitoring process for the mouse 15 is repeated.

  In S104, the detected operation content is determined. If a pointer movement operation has been detected, a process of moving the pointer being displayed on the display 14 in accordance with the detected operation is performed in S105, and then the process returns to S102. The operation monitoring process for the mouse 15 is repeated. On the other hand, if a click operation on the mouse is detected in S104, the process proceeds to S106.

  In S106, a process of acquiring the current position of the pointer on the display screen of the display 14 as an instruction of the position from the observer is performed. In the subsequent S107, the acquired current position of the pointer and the center position of the display screen of the display 14 are obtained. Is calculated in units of the number of pixels.

In S <b> 108, processing for acquiring the current magnification of the optical system from the zoom control unit 9 is performed.
In S109, based on the distance calculated in S107 and the magnification obtained in S108, the electric power necessary for moving the sample image so that the position indicated by the pointer is positioned at the center of the screen of the display 14 is performed. Processing for obtaining the amount of movement of the XY stage 6 is performed. In this process, first, a distance on the electric XY stage 6 corresponding to one pixel on the screen is obtained from the magnification obtained in S108, and this distance and a pixel corresponding to the distance calculated in S107 are obtained. It can be calculated by multiplying the number.

  In S110, a process for issuing an instruction to move the electric XY stage 6 by the movement amount calculated by the process in the previous step is performed to the stage control unit 12, the electric XY stage 6 is moved, and the sample is moved. The sample image is moved so that the position indicated by the pointer in the image is positioned at the center of the screen of the display 14.

  In S111, processing for determining the direction of the click operation on the mouse 15 determined to be detected by the processing in S103 is performed. Here, when the left click is detected, it is considered that the first instruction is given from the observer, and in S112, the magnification of the optical system acquired by the process of S108 is increased by one step. Processing for issuing a command to the zoom control unit 9 is performed, and the magnification of the optical system is increased by one step. On the other hand, when the right click is detected in the processing of S111, it is considered that the observer has given a second instruction, and in S113, the magnification of the optical system acquired by the processing of S108 is determined. A process of issuing a command for lowering by one level to the zoom control unit 9 is performed, and the magnification of the optical system is decreased by one level.

After the process of S112 or S113 is completed, the process returns to S102 and the operation monitoring process for the mouse 15 is repeated.
It should be noted that the setting of the enlargement magnification level is made in advance, and this setting can be changed, for example, by an observer performing a predetermined operation on the keyboard 16 or by an operation using a setting application program. And

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, by indicating the position on the screen on which the low-magnification enlarged image of the sample is displayed, the sample moves so that the indicated position is located at the center of the screen, The magnification of the optical system is switched. Therefore, for example, when observing the sample widely at a low magnification and searching for a place to be observed in detail, and then gradually increasing the magnification to observe the observation point in more detail, the sample image being displayed is displayed. On the other hand, simply pointing the observation point on the screen allows the sample to move so that the location becomes the center on the screen, and the enlargement magnification is increased to enable enlargement observation. As a result, the observer can perform magnified observation of the observation point without performing troublesome operations and without losing sight of the observation position.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the observer simply moves the sample so that the designated position becomes the center of the screen only by designating the desired observation position on the screen being observed. The observation position can be further magnified or switched to a lower magnification.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second example of an observation apparatus for carrying out the present invention. In the figure, the same components as those shown in FIG.
In FIG. 4, the microscope main body 21 includes a base 2, a column 3, a lens barrel 24, an objective lens 5, and a manual XY stage 26.

  The lens barrel 24 drives an optical system that forms an image of reflected light (or transmitted light) from the sample obtained through the objective lens 5 on the camera 27 and an electric zoom mechanism that is a part of the optical system. The motor 8 and a zoom control unit 9 for controlling the motor 8 are incorporated, and the magnification of the optical system can be changed by rotating the motor 8. The zoom control unit 9 is configured to be able to read the current setting state of the optical magnification based on its own control value or by using known position reading means such as an encoder.

  The camera 27 is an imaging unit that captures a sample observation image placed on the XY stage 26, and is attached to the camera XY stage 29. The camera XY stage 29 incorporates motors 30 and 31 for driving on the X axis and the Y axis, respectively, and the sample placed on the XY stage 26 and the camera 7 are connected to each other in the optical system. It functions as a moving means for relatively moving along the XY plane perpendicular to the optical axis. The motors 30 and 31 are controlled by the camera position controller 28. The camera position control unit 28 is a well-known position reading unit such as an encoder assembled on the basis of its own control value for each drive axis of the X axis and the Y axis, or for each drive axis of the X axis and the Y axis. By using this, the current position of the camera XY stage 29 can be read.

  The computer 33 takes in an image signal from the connected camera 27. On the other hand, the zoom control unit 9 and the camera position control unit 28 are connected to each other, and commands (commands) are issued to the zoom control unit 9 and the camera position control unit 28 by bidirectional communication therewith. So that the current magnification can be read from the zoom control unit 9, and the current positions of the drive axes of the X and Y axes can be read from the camera position control unit 28, respectively. It is configured.

  The computer 33 is connected to a display 14 such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display device as a display device, and a mouse 15 and a keyboard 16 as operation devices. Further, application software is installed in a storage device (not shown) provided in the computer 33, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) provided in the computer 33 reads the application software. The control over the entire observation apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is performed.

  In the present embodiment configured as described above, as in the first embodiment described above, the required moving distance for the position of the sample image indicated on the screen of the display 14 to be the center position of the screen is set as the indicated position. The computer 33 calculates the distance from the screen center and the current optical magnification of the optical system. However, the moving distance calculated in the present embodiment is not the distance to move the sample but the distance to move the camera 7.

  Here, FIG. 5 will be described. This figure shows a part of the processing contents of the control processing of the observation apparatus shown in FIG. 4 by the computer 33, which is realized when the CPU of the computer 33 executes the above-described application program. . By replacing the process shown in FIG. 4 with the process of S109 and S110 in the control process shown in FIG. 3, the observation apparatus shown in FIG. 4 can be controlled by the control process of FIG.

  In S201 following S108 in FIG. 3, in order to move the sample image so that the position indicated by the pointer is located at the center of the screen based on the distance calculated in S107 and the magnification obtained in S108. Processing for obtaining the necessary movement amount of the camera XY stage 29 is performed. In this process, first, the distance on the camera XY stage 29 corresponding to one pixel on the screen is obtained from the magnification obtained in S108, and this distance and the pixel corresponding to the distance calculated in S107 are obtained. It can be calculated by multiplying the number.

  In S <b> 201, a process for issuing a command for moving the camera XY stage 29 to the camera position control unit 28 by the movement amount calculated by the process in the previous step is performed, and the camera XY stage 29 is moved. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S111 in FIG.

  When the computer 33 performs the above control processing, in this embodiment as well, as in the first embodiment, the point is arbitrarily indicated on the screen so that the indicated position is positioned at the center of the screen. As the lens moves, the magnification of the optical system is switched.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, instead of realizing the XY movement mechanism by the electric XY stage on which the sample is placed as in the first embodiment, it is realized by the camera XY stage 29 that moves the camera 27. Thus, there is an advantage that the XY moving mechanism becomes small and inexpensive.

  As described above, also in Example 2, as in Example 1, the observer simply designates a desired observation position on the screen being observed, and the sample is placed so that the designated position becomes the center of the screen. In addition to the movement, the observation position can be further enlarged, enlarged, or observed by switching to a low magnification. Furthermore, according to the second embodiment, a cheaper system than the first embodiment can be realized.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to each embodiment mentioned above, A various improvement and change are possible within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.
For example, the optical zoom mechanism is not limited to the zoom method, and may be a revolver method in which a plurality of objective lenses are attached. In this case, zooming at a stage determined according to the magnification of the objective lens provided is performed. The microscope is not limited to a normal optical microscope, and may be a scanning laser microscope, for example.

  Also, when determining the amount of movement from the magnification of the optical system and the number of pixels on the screen, instead of using the design value as it is as the magnification of the optical system, a value that has been calibrated in advance is used. In this case, the calculation accuracy of the movement amount can be improved by doing so.

  In addition, the instruction to change the enlargement magnification to the high magnification or the low magnification is performed by the left click operation and the right click operation on the mouse 15, for example, only the left click operation on the mouse 15 or the keyboard 16 It may be performed by a combination of a left click operation while pressing a specific key.

  In addition, the zooming step by zooming may be set by the observer instead of only being fixed in advance, so that a zooming operation that suits the observer's preference is possible. It becomes. Further, for example, the zoom level may be designated according to the number of clicks, such as changing the magnification in two levels by a double click operation. Alternatively, a change in magnification can be selected in two steps, three steps, etc. by performing a click operation while pressing a specific key on the keyboard 16, so that the observer can be selected in a shorter time. A desired observation magnification can be obtained, which is convenient. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6A, when a rectangle surrounding an arbitrary region on the sample image is designated on the screen of the display 14 by operating the mouse 15, the computers 13 and 33 are connected to the region surrounded by the rectangle. Based on the relative position and range with respect to the sample image, the above-described setting of the movement amount and the above-described change amount of the enlargement magnification are performed. As shown in FIG. 6B, the portion surrounded by the rectangle of the sample image The optical magnification may be changed so as to be the size of the entire screen, and at the same time, the sample (or camera 27) may be moved so that the center portion of the designated rectangle becomes the center of the display screen of the display 14. .

  In addition, the screen of the display 14 may be a touch panel. By doing so, the observer can perform an enlarged observation of the sample image by performing an operation of directly touching the observation location, thereby further improving the operational feeling. it can.

  In addition, other functions of the microscope, such as the brightness of the epi-illumination and the angle of the oblique illumination, may be set in advance, and these functions may be controlled in conjunction with zoom magnification. Thus, the observer can be freed from troublesome operations.

It is a figure which shows the 1st example of the observation apparatus which implements this invention. It is a figure which shows the example (the 1) of the image display on a display. It is a figure which shows the example (the 2) of the image display on a display. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of the control processing of the observation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the 2nd example of the observation apparatus which implements this invention. FIG. 5 is a part of a flowchart showing processing contents of control processing of the observation apparatus shown in FIG. 4. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example (the 3) of the image display on a display. It is a figure which shows the example (the 4) of the image display on a display.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,21 Microscope main body 2 Base 3 Column 4, 24 Lens barrel 5 Objective lens 6 Electric XY stage 7, 27 Camera 8, 10, 11, 30, 31 Motor 9 Zoom control part 12 Stage control part 13, 33 Computer 14 Display 15 Mouse 16 Keyboard 26 XY stage 28 Camera position control unit 29 Camera XY stage 29

Claims (5)

An optical system capable of changing the magnification, and
Imaging means for imaging an observation image of the sample by the optical system;
Moving means for relatively moving the sample and the imaging means along an XY plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system;
Control means for controlling the moving means and the optical system;
Display means for displaying an image of the sample imaged by the imaging means;
Instruction acquisition means for acquiring an instruction of a position on the image;
Have
The control unit controls the moving unit and the optical system when the instruction is acquired, and performs the relative movement corresponding to the movement amount calculated based on the instruction and the magnification of the optical system. And change the magnification factor,
An observation apparatus characterized by that.   The observation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the moving unit so that a position on the image related to the instruction is positioned at a center of a display screen of the display unit. The instruction is either a first instruction or a second instruction;
The control means performs control to increase the magnification when the instruction is the first instruction, and performs control to decrease the magnification when the instruction is the second instruction. ,
The observation apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The instruction is performed by surrounding a region on the image with a rectangle,
The control means performs setting of the movement amount and determination of the change amount of the enlargement magnification based on a relative position and a range with respect to the image with respect to an area surrounded by the rectangle.
The observation apparatus according to claim 1. An optical system capable of changing the magnification, an imaging unit that captures an observation image of the sample by the optical system, and the sample and the imaging unit relative to each other along an XY plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system. A moving mechanism for moving the observation device, and a method for controlling the observation device,
Obtaining an indication of the position on the image relative to the image of the sample imaged by the imaging unit;
When the instruction is acquired, the moving mechanism and the optical system are controlled, and the relative movement corresponding to the movement amount calculated based on the instruction and the magnification of the optical system is performed. Change the magnification,
A method for controlling an observation apparatus.

Images