JP2000155265A - Method and system for remotely observing microscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for remotely observing microscope capable of shortening a time from a monitoring device's instructing a requirement for obtaining an image till the monitoring device can observe a still picture by attaining the high speed of the transfer of the still picture between a microscope photographing device and the monitoring device. SOLUTION: As to this remote microscope observation method for a remote microscope observation system in which the microscope photographing device 1 is connected with the monitoring device 2 through a network 3, and the still picture of an inspection sample photographed by the device 1 is observed by the remote monitoring device 2, an external storing device 11 is connected to a switch 10 inside the network connecting the device 1 with the device 2, the device 1 stores the still picture of the photographed inspection sample in the device 11 through the switch, and the device 2 reads out and observes the still picture stored in the device 11 through the switch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote microscope observation method and a remote microscope observation system, and more particularly, to a remote microscope observation method capable of observing a microscope sample at high speed and with high accuracy by using a remote monitoring device via a network. And a remote microscope observation system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an example of a conventional remote microscope observation system.
1 is a microscope photographing device, 102 is a monitor device, 103 is L
It is a network such as AN / WAN. The microscope imaging apparatus 101 includes an optical microscope 104, a digital camera 105 mounted on the optical microscope 104 to capture a still image of a microscope sample, a sample mounting unit 106 having a movable stage for mounting a microscope sample, and a local terminal 107. It consists of. The local terminal 107 is connected to the optical microscope 10
4. A local terminal having a function of controlling the driving of the digital camera 105 or the specimen mounting unit 106, capturing a still image captured by the digital camera 105 into a memory, or transmitting the still image captured in the memory to the monitor device 102. , Usually consisting of a personal computer or workstation. The monitor device 102 is a remote terminal 1
08 and an image monitor 109. The remote terminal 108 is a remote terminal connected to the local terminal 107 of the microscope imaging apparatus 101 via the network 103, and controls image acquisition request of a still image captured by the digital camera 105, Reception of image information, image monitor 1 of received still image
It has a processing function such as output to the terminal 09 and is usually constituted by a personal computer or a workstation like the local terminal 107. The image monitor 109 is a remote terminal 108
1 is an image monitor for observing a still image output from a computer. When a still image from the digital camera 105 attached to the optical microscope 104 is acquired on the remote monitor device 102 side, the moving image from the digital camera 105 is observed on the image monitor 109 while the remote terminal
In general, the position of the specimen mounted on the stage of the specimen mounting unit 106 is arbitrarily moved by the local terminal 107 in accordance with the control signal from the control unit to determine a predetermined position, and thereafter, a desired high-definition still image is acquired. However, details thereof are not directly related to the present invention, and thus are omitted.

FIG. 5 shows a microscope photographing apparatus 101 and a monitor apparatus 102 in the remote microscope observation system shown in FIG.
In order to perform still image transfer between the
7 is a diagram showing a software and hardware configuration implemented in the remote terminal 7 or the remote terminal 108 in a hierarchical structure. FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 121 denotes an Ethernet or ATM-
This is a network interface card having a communication processing function of layer 2 or lower of an OSI reference model such as a LAN. Reference numeral 122 denotes an IP driver for performing IP protocol processing corresponding to layer 3 of the OSI reference model. Reference numeral 123 denotes a TCP driver for performing a TCP protocol process corresponding to layer 4 of the OSI reference model. Reference numeral 124 denotes a socket interface for bridging between a video transfer application 125 described later and the TCP driver 123. In addition, 12
Reference numeral 5 denotes a process of capturing a still image from the digital camera 105, writing the still image in the terminal memory, transmitting / receiving a still image between the local terminal 107 and the remote terminal 108 via the network 103, or an image of the received still image. This is a video transfer application that performs processing such as output to the monitor 109. Between personal computers such as between the local terminal 107 and the remote terminal 108, application software 125 installed on both terminals is used.
Is TCP / IP via socket interface 124
It is common to communicate with each other by using drivers (123, 122) such as these, and still images are also transferred as digital data by this method.

[0006] FIG. 6 shows a processing procedure from a request for obtaining an image of a still image at the remote terminal 108 to a display of the still image on the image monitor 109 in the remote microscope observation system shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a side 101 and a side of a monitor device 102 separately. As shown in FIG. 6, first, while observing the moving image sent from the microscope photographing apparatus 101 side on the image monitor 109, the remote terminal 108 issues a command for a required still image acquisition request.
To the local terminal 107 (step 13
1). Upon receiving the image acquisition request command (step 132), the local terminal 107 sends the local terminal 10 from the digital camera 105 based on the image acquisition request command.
7 is processed (step 13).
3) A desired still image is captured in the terminal memory (step 134). Thereafter, the local terminal 107 performs a process of transmitting the captured still image to the remote terminal 108 (Step 135). After transmitting the image acquisition request command in step 131, the remote terminal 108 in the waiting state receives the still image transmitted from the local terminal 107 (step 136). Further, the remote terminal 108 outputs and displays the received still image on the image monitor 109 (step 137). Thus, a desired still image of the microscope specimen can be observed via the network 103 on the remote image monitor 109.
Here, the TCP / IP protocol is used as a protocol for performing an image acquisition request command and a still image transfer process between the local terminal 107 and the remote terminal 108.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned conventional remote microscope observation system has the following problems. (1) The still image transfer from the local terminal 107 to the remote terminal 108 is performed by the socket interface 1 of the personal computer.
24, the TCP / IP protocol (123, 12
Since the communication is performed by the communication according to 2), the transfer throughput between the terminals is low, and when a high-definition still image such as a microscope image is required, the still image captured by the digital camera 105 from the local terminal 107 side is used. Remote terminal 10
It takes a long time to transfer the data to the image monitor 8 and display it on the image monitor 109. Therefore, the waiting time from when the remote terminal 108 issues a still image acquisition request to when the still image can be observed on the image monitor 109 becomes long, and the operability is extremely poor. (2) The time required from when the remote terminal 108 issues a still image acquisition request to when the still image can be observed on the image monitor 109 is the same on the local terminal 107 (still image observation). Is different from when
The balance of the entire system as a remote microscope observation system is extremely poor. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a remote microscope observation method and a remote microscope observation system, wherein It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique capable of speeding up image transfer and shortening the time from when a monitor device issues an image acquisition request command to when a still image can be observed on the monitor device. Another object of the present invention is to provide a remote microscope observation method and a remote microscope observation system, in which the time difference between issuing an image acquisition request and observing a still image between a microscope imaging device and a monitor device is extremely small. It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique capable of improving the balance of the entire system as a microscope observation system at a minimum. The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of a representative one will be briefly described.
It is as follows. That is, the present invention relates to a remote microscope observation method of a remote microscope observation system in which a microscope imaging device and a monitor device are connected via a network, and a still image of a sample captured by the microscope imaging device is observed by a remote monitor device. An external storage device is connected to a switch in a network that connects the microscope imaging device and the monitor device, and the microscope imaging device transfers a captured still image of the sample to the external storage device via a switch. The stored monitor image is read out via a switch for observation by the monitor device and stored in the external storage device. Further, the present invention is a microscope imaging device, a monitor device installed at a distance from the microscope imaging device, a monitor device for observing a still image of a sample captured by the microscope imaging device, and the microscope imaging device A remote microscope observation system having a network connecting a monitor device, comprising: an external storage device connected to a switch in the network connecting the microscope imaging device and the monitor device, wherein the microscope imaging device includes: Means for storing a captured still image of the specimen in the external storage device via a switch, and the monitor device reads out and observes the still image stored in the external storage device via a switch It is characterized by having means. Further, the present invention is characterized in that the microscope imaging device has means for directly informing the monitor device that the still image of the sampled image has been stored in the external storage device. Further, the present invention, between the microscope imaging device and the external storage device,
Further, a SCSI protocol is used for transferring a still image between the external storage device and the monitor device. Further, the present invention is characterized in that a network connecting the microscope imaging device and the monitor device is a fiber channel supporting a SCSI protocol.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

In all the drawings for describing the embodiments, those having the same functions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and their repeated description will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a remote microscope observation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a microscope photographing device, 2 is a monitor device, 3 is a LAN
A network 10 such as a / WAN or the like, 10 is a switch provided in the network 3, and 11 is an external storage device such as a hard disk device connected to the switch 3. The microscope photographing apparatus 1 includes an optical microscope 4, a digital camera 5 for photographing a microscope specimen image, a specimen mounting section 6 having a movable stage for mounting a microscope specimen, and a local terminal 7. The local terminal 7 controls the driving of the optical microscope 4, the digital camera 5, or the specimen mounting unit 6,
A still image taken by the digital camera 5 is taken into the memory, and the still image taken into the memory is stored as an image file in the external storage device 11 connected to the network 3.
Or a local terminal having a function of performing communication with the remote terminal 8 or the like, and is usually constituted by a personal computer or a workstation.
The monitor device 2 includes a remote terminal 8 and an image monitor 9. The remote terminal 8 reads an image file from the external storage device 11 connected to the network 3 and displays the image file on the image monitor 9 or outputs the image file to the local terminal 7.
A remote terminal having a function of performing communication with the remote terminal, and is usually configured by a personal computer or a workstation. The image monitor 9 is an image monitor for observing a still image output from the local terminal 7.

FIG. 2 is a diagram hierarchically showing a software configuration and a hardware configuration mounted on the local terminal 7 or the remote terminal 8 in the remote microscope observation system according to the present embodiment. Acquisition, writing / reading of image files to / from the external storage device 11 on the network 3, control of devices such as the digital camera 5 or the optical microscope 4 or the specimen mounting unit 6,
It has processing functions such as communication between the local terminal 7 and the remote terminal 8 and image output to the image monitor 9. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a network for performing network processing between the microscope imaging device 1 and the monitor device 2, between the microscope imaging device 1 and the external storage device 11, or between the monitor device 2 and the external storage device 11. SCSI (small computer system interface) protocol, which is an interface between a personal computer or a workstation and peripheral devices, which will be described later, and TC, which is a communication protocol between the personal computer or the workstation,
This is a network interface card such as a fiber channel that supports both the P / IP protocol. Reference numeral 22 denotes an IP (Int) of the layer 3 function of the OSI reference model between a personal computer or a workstation.
(Ethernet Protocol) protocol processing. Reference numeral 23 corresponds to a layer 4 function of the OSI reference model, and is a TCP (Transmission Cooperation) between end-to-end between personal computers or workstations connected via the network 3.
Control Protocol (TCP) driver that performs protocol processing. A socket interface 24 provides an interface between the TCP protocol and a device control / communication application 25 described later. Reference numeral 25 denotes switching control of the objective lens of the optical microscope 4, drive control of the stage of the sample mounting unit 6, control of photographing a still image with the digital camera 5, or communication control between the local terminal 7 and the remote terminal 8. This is a device control and communication application for performing

Reference numeral 26 denotes a SCSI for performing a SCSI protocol process when a video processing application 27 described later writes or reads an image file to or from the external storage device 11 connected to the network 3. Driver. In addition, 2
The local terminal 7 has a function of capturing a still image captured by the digital camera 5 into a memory in the local terminal 7 and writing the captured still image as an image file to the external storage device 11 on the network. Reference numeral 8 denotes a video processing application having a function of reading an image file from the external storage device 11 connected to the network 3 and outputting the image information to the image monitor 9. It should be noted that the network interface card 21 may be configured to use two cards each of which separately supports the SCSI protocol and the TCP / IP protocol as the upper layer protocol. In FIG.
When a still image captured by the digital camera 5 and taken into the memory of the local terminal 7 is written as an image file from the local terminal 7 to the external storage device 11 via the network 3, or an image stored in the external storage device 11 Transfer the file to the remote terminal 8 via the network 3
In the case of reading from the network interface card 21, the video processing application 27 accesses the network interface card 21 via the SCSI driver 26. On the other hand, control of the digital camera 5 or the optical microscope 4, a command of an image acquisition request from the remote terminal 8 to the local terminal 7, or
Communication between the terminals, such as a notification that an image file has been written from the local terminal 7 to the remote terminal 8 in the external storage device 11, is transmitted from the device control / communication application 25 to the socket interface 24, the TCP driver 23,
The user accesses the network interface card 21 via the driver 22.

FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure from issuing a still image acquisition request at the remote terminal 8 to displaying the still image on the image monitor 9 in the remote microscope observation system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a terminal 7, a remote terminal 8, and an external storage device 11 separately. As shown in the figure, first, while observing a moving image sent from the microscope photographing apparatus 1 on the image monitor 9, a command of a required still image acquisition request is transferred from the remote terminal 8 to the local terminal 7. (Step 31). When receiving the image acquisition request command, the local terminal 7 (step 3).
2) Based on the instruction of the image acquisition request, the image capturing processing from the digital camera 5 to the local terminal 7 is performed (step 33), and the still image from the digital camera 5 is captured in the memory (step 34). Thereafter, the captured still image is written as an image file to the external storage device 11 connected to the network 3 (step 3).
5). The external storage device 11 receives the image file transferred via the network 3 (Step 36),
It is stored in the intended storage area (step 37).

On the other hand, the local terminal 7 immediately notifies the remote terminal 8 that the image file has been written to the external storage device 11 after the image file writing process (step 35) (step 38). Remote terminal 8
Receives the still image writing notification from the local terminal 7 (step 39), and transmits a read command of the image file to the external storage device 11 based on the information (step 40). Upon receiving the image file read request from the remote terminal 8 (step 41), the external storage device 11 transmits the stored image file to the remote terminal 8 (step 42). The remote terminal 8 receives the desired image file (step 4).
3) The contents are output to the image monitor 9 (step 4).
4). With the series of processes, the process of the image acquisition request ends.

As described above, in the remote microscope observation system according to the present embodiment, the local terminal 7 on the microscope photographing apparatus 1 side is used.
An external storage device 11 is connected to the network 3 connecting the remote terminal 8 on the monitor device 2 side, and a still image taken by the digital camera 5 is fetched into the memory of the local terminal 7 and then temporarily stored as an image file. , And writes and accumulates them in the external storage device 11 connected to the network 3. In parallel, the local terminal 7 becomes the remote terminal 8
To the external storage device 11. The remote terminal 8 reads out the image file stored in the external storage device 11 based on the notification from the local terminal 7 and displays it on the image monitor 9. According to such a configuration, normal data file writing / reading processing is performed between the local terminal 7 and the external storage device 11 or between the external storage device 11 and the remote terminal 8. Since a high-speed SCSI protocol used as a peripheral device interface can be used, and writing and reading of image files to and from the external storage device 11 are performed via the network 3 that supports the SCSI protocol as a higher-level protocol. In addition, writing and reading of a large-capacity still image of the microscope photographing apparatus 1 can be performed in a short time. In addition, the write notification from the local terminal 7 to the remote terminal 8 can be transferred in a short time because the amount of information can be extremely reduced, and the large-capacity still image acquired by the local terminal 7 can be transferred to the remote terminal 8 in a short time. Thus, a remote microscope observation system having excellent operability and responsiveness can be provided.

Incidentally, a fiber channel (FC) having a bandwidth of 100 megabytes / second as the network 3
To transfer a color still image (capacity of 15 megabytes per image) with 2500 × 2000 dots and 3 bytes sampling per dot by using, the FC-TCP / IP protocol of the conventional remote microscope observation system is used. When used, since the throughput in the FC-TCP / IP protocol is about 2.5 megabytes / second as a measured value, a transfer time of about 6 seconds is required. For this reason,
In the conventional remote microscope observation system, an image is not displayed on the image monitor 9 until at least 6 seconds have passed after issuing an image acquisition request from the remote terminal 8 on the monitor device 2 side. On the other hand, in the remote microscope observation system according to the present embodiment using the SCSI protocol on the fiber channel for image transfer, the effective throughput of the FC-SCSI protocol is about 80 megabytes / second as a measured value. Still image transfer from the local terminal 7 to the remote terminal 8 is possible in less than 0.4 seconds even if writing and reading processes to and from the remote terminal 8 are performed. A still image can be observed on the remote image monitor 9 in a very short time.

Still images are stored in one external storage device 11 connected to the network 3,
As compared with the conventional remote microscope observation system, images must be stored in the local terminal 7 and the remote terminal 8, respectively, and the efficiency of image storage as a whole system is improved. And management becomes extremely easy. Further, even when remote monitor devices 2 are provided at a plurality of locations via the network 3, the same image file can be obtained from each monitor device 2 by accessing one external storage device 11, so that the system scale is reduced. Extremely high flexibility for expansion is obtained. that's all,
Although the invention made by the inventor has been specifically described based on the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof. Of course.

[0017]

The effects obtained by typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

(1) According to the present invention, a still image can be transferred from a microscope photographing device to a monitor device at a very high speed via an external storage device within a short time. It is possible to reduce the time from issuing the image acquisition request command to observing the still image on the monitor device. (2) According to the present invention, a large-capacity still image captured by a microscope imaging device can be acquired in a short time by a monitor device. Therefore, an image acquisition request is issued between the microscope imaging device and the monitor device. It is possible to extremely reduce the time difference required from when the still image is observed until the still image is observed, thereby improving the balance of the entire system as the remote microscope observation system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a remote microscope observation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows software and hardware configurations implemented on a local terminal or a remote terminal in order to transfer a still image between a microscope imaging device and a monitor device in the remote microscope observation system according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure shown in a hierarchical structure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a processing procedure from issuing a request for obtaining a still image on a remote terminal to displaying the still image on an image monitor in the remote microscope observation system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an example of a conventional remote microscope observation system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a remote microscope observation system shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hierarchical structure of software and hardware configurations implemented on a local terminal or a remote terminal for transferring a still image between a microscope imaging device and a monitor device.

FIG. 6 shows a remote microscope observation system shown in FIG.
After issuing a still image acquisition request on the remote terminal,
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a processing procedure until the still image is displayed on an image monitor.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numerals 1,101: Microscope photographing device, 2,102: Monitor device, 3,103: Network, 4,104: Optical microscope, 5,105: Digital camera, 6,106: Sample mounting part, 7, 107: Local terminal, 8, 108 remote terminal, 9, 109 image monitor, 10 switch, 1
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... External storage device, 21, 121 ... Network interface card, 22, 122 ... IP driver, 23,
123: TCP driver, 24, 124: Socket interface, 25, 27, 125: Application,
26 SCSI driver.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A remote microscope observation method of a remote microscope observation system in which a microscope imaging device and a monitor device are connected via a network, and a still image of a sample captured by the microscope imaging device is observed by a remote monitor device. Connecting an external storage device to a switch in a network connecting the microscope imaging device and the monitor device, wherein the microscope imaging device accumulates a captured still image of the sample in the external storage device via a switch A remote microscope observation method, wherein the monitor device reads out and observes a still image stored in the external storage device via a switch. 2. A microscope photographing device, a monitor device installed at a distance from the microscope photographing device, wherein the monitor device observes a still image of a sample photographed by the microscope photographing device, and the microscope photographing device and the monitor. A remote microscope observation system having a network connecting the device, comprising: an external storage device connected to a switch in a network connecting the microscope imaging device and the monitor device; Means for storing a still image of the sample in the external storage device via a switch, and means for reading and observing the still image stored in the external storage device via the switch via a switch A remote microscope observation system, comprising: 3. The remote microscope according to claim 2, wherein the microscope imaging device has a unit for directly notifying the monitor device that the captured still image of the sample is stored in the external storage device. Observation system. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a SCSI protocol is used to transfer a still image between the microscope imaging device and the external storage device, and between the external storage device and the monitor device. The remote microscope observation system according to claim 2 or 3. 5. The remote controller according to claim 2, wherein a network connecting the microscope imaging device and the monitor device is a fiber channel supporting a SCSI protocol. Microscope observation system.