JPH05313071A - Still image transmitting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To observe simultaneously an image over the whole large range by transmitting thinned-out image data formed of still image data per small ranges from which images are picked up, and displaying a still image consisting of contracted image data formed by contracting these. CONSTITUTION:In a transmission port 100, an observation area is divided into NXM pieces of small observation areas observable at one time by means of a microscope 1, and images are picked up with these respective small observation areas, and partial sample still image data are prepared, and are stored in a frame memory 8. Still image data are extracted from these partial still image data per widthwise N pieces as well as per lengthwise M pieces, and thinned-out still image data are prepared, and are transmitted from a digital data transmitter 11 through a telephone line per small observation areas. In a reception port 100, the transmitted thinned-out still image data are displayed on a display unit by making them correspond positionally to the respective ones in the small observation areas formed by dividing a display area into NXM pieces.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a still image transmission device, and more particularly, it transfers an entire image of a specimen larger than a range that can be observed with a microscope at one time to a partner connected by a communication line,
The present invention relates to a still image transmission device suitable for displaying on the display device of the other party.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of still image transmission apparatus, a TV apparatus is used to capture an image of a sample placed on a stage of a microscope on a transmission apparatus side through an objective lens and digitally capture the captured still image. The data was converted into data, transmitted to the receiving device side through a telephone line, and the digital data received by the receiving device side was converted into a still image and displayed on a monitor for observation.

In this case, the range that can be observed with a microscope at one time is limited to a very small part of the sample, and the size of the observation range is mainly determined by the magnification of the objective lens. Therefore, when trying to transmit the whole image showing the whole sample,
An image of the sample was taken using an objective lens having a magnification as low as possible, and a still image obtained thereby was transmitted.

[0004]

However, depending on the size of the sample, it is difficult to observe the entire sample at once even with a low-magnification objective lens. For this reason, on the transmitter side, while moving the stage in each range observable by the low-magnification objective lens, a plurality of still images are created by capturing images of the sample in each range. Had to be transmitted in order. Since the receiving device side cannot display multiple still images transmitted at one time, while assembling the images in the head while sequentially viewing the still images of each part of the sample, the whole image of the sample is prepared. Was observing.

In such an observation method, it is difficult to image the whole image of the sample from a plurality of partial images, and the image transmitted for each part indicates which part of the whole sample is the image. Due to the lack of information, it was not easy to assemble the image, and there was a high possibility of overlooking a part that should be observed in detail or observing it in duplicate.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to display a whole image of a sample having a size larger than the observation field of view of a microscope on a display device on the receiving device side. To provide a still image transmission device according to the above.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a still image transmission apparatus of the present invention comprises a microscope (1) and an image pickup means (5, 6) for picking up an image of a sample from the microscope as a still image. And a transmission port (100) having a first transmission device (11) for transmitting the still image using a communication line.
And a reception port (200) having a display (24) and a second transmission device (21) for receiving a still image from the transmission port and displaying the received still image on the display, In a still image transmission device that transmits the still image between the transmission and reception ports connected by a line (300), the transmission port may transmit the sample to N × M small observation regions (a1, b1 ,. Still image data creating means (7, 8) for operating the microscope and the imaging means so as to divide the image into y1) and imaging, and creating N × M still image data each having pixel data for one screen. ) And for each of the N × M still image data, thinned-out image data is created by thinning out N × M-third pixel data from the one-screen pixel data,
A thinned-out image data output means (12) for outputting the thinned-out image data for each small range through a transmission device,
The reception port is the N × M input to the second transmission device.
While N × M pieces of reduced image data obtained by reducing the thinned-out image data are positionally associated with the small observation area in each of the small display areas obtained by dividing the display area of the display into the N × M pieces. A display control means (22, 23, 25) for displaying on the display is provided.

[0008]

According to the present invention, first, at the transmission port, the observation region is divided into N × M small observation regions that can be observed at a time with a microscope, and images are taken for each of these small observation regions to make the sample stand still. Image data is created, and from this partial still image data, horizontal N
The thinned still image data is created by extracting still image data for each vertical M pieces, and this thinned still image data is transmitted for each small observation region, and the transmitted thinned still image data is reduced at the receiving port. The reduced image data is displayed on the display device while being positionalally associated with each of the small observation areas in each of the small display areas obtained by dividing the display area into N × M pieces.

[0009]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a transmission port 100 of a still image transmission apparatus embodying the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the reception port 200 of the still image transmission apparatus embodying the present invention. The transmission port 100 and the reception port 200 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are connected by a telephone line 300.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transmission port 100 is
It is composed of a part 110 for generating a still image and a part 120 for controlling the still image transmission. The part 110 for generating a still image includes a microscope 1, imaging devices 5, 6,
The microscope 1 includes a light source and a transillumination system that illuminates the sample H with light from the light source.
An observation optical system for observing a stage 2 for holding the sample H, a motor 3 for moving the stage in a horizontal direction, and an image of the sample H through an objective lens T by an eyepiece S or an image pickup device described below. 4 and.

The image pickup device has a CCD camera 5, a camera control unit (CCU) 6 and an analog / digital converter (A / D) 7. The CCD camera 5 has a CCD as an image pickup element and the observation optical system. The image pickup optical system for forming an image of the sample H formed by the system 4 on the CCD. The CCU 6 controls the CCD camera 5 and transfers the still image data from the CCD camera 5 to the A / D converter 7. The A / D converter 7 digitizes the analog still image data captured by the CCD camera 5 and transfers the digitized digital still image data to the portion 120 which controls the still image transmission.

The control section 120 includes a microcomputer 12 having a program for system operation, a frame memory 8 capable of storing at least one frame of digital still image data, and a digital / analog converter (D / A) 9. , The image monitor 10, the digital data transmitter 11 for outputting the digital data output from the frame memory 8 to the telephone line 300, the operation unit 14, and the motor 3 according to the operation amount of the operation unit 14 and the instruction of the microcomputer 12. A communication device 13 for instructing the amount of movement of the stage is provided.

The operation unit 14 is a "standard transmission mode" in which each pixel data on the scanning line of the frame memory 8 is sequentially transmitted one line at a time from the left and from the top.
Of the pixel data on the scanning line, from the left for each pixel thinned according to a predetermined number of divisions, and
From the top, select from the "entire image transmission mode" in which the thin image is transmitted for each thinned scanning line and the whole image of the sample composed of a still image obtained by reducing the thinned image data is displayed on the display unit on the receiving port 200 side. A mode selection unit for transmitting a mode corresponding to 12 and a movement instruction unit for instructing a movement amount of the stage for determining the division number are provided.

Further, as shown in FIG.
0 is a digital data transmitter 21 for receiving digital data transmitted through the telephone line 300, a frame memory 22 for storing the received digital data, and a D / A for converting the digital data data stored in the frame memory 22 into analog data. It includes a converter 23, an image monitor 24, and a microcomputer 25 having a program for system operation.

Here, the whole image transmission mode in this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. Incidentally, FIG.
In (b) and (c), the symbols AMN and BM that indicate the circles
N, ..., (M, N is a positive integer) represent the storage unit of the frame memory 8 corresponding to the pixels of the image pickup element of the CCD camera 5. In the whole image transmission mode, the transmission port 100 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the small range a1, b1, c of the size of the range a1 in which the designated range Z can be observed with a microscope at one time.
1, ..., Still image data a1 (b1 ,,,) for each small range as shown in FIG.
Is taken, and the still image data is thinned out by extracting only pixel data of every few (every five) storage units on every several lines (every five lines) determined by the number of divisions. The thinned image data is transmitted. The reception port 200 compresses and stores the thinned-out image data in a small range a2 obtained by dividing the storage area of the frame memory 22 by a predetermined number of divisions, and stores the entire image on the image monitor 24 as a set of compressed reduced images. Is displayed. The compression means, as shown in FIG. 5B, still image data A1.1, A1.6, A1.11, B1. 1 ,,,
Is stored in a small range a2, b2, ... Of a predetermined position corresponding to the imaged positions a1, b1 ,.

In such a case, assuming that it takes 1 minute to transmit one frame of digital still image data on the frame memory, and comparing only the transmission time, the "standard transmission mode" is 1 minute for each of the small ranges. It takes about 25 minutes from the above, whereas in the “whole image transmission mode”, only one frame of digital still image data that is actually combined is transmitted, and therefore only one minute is required. Therefore, if the moving time of the stage and the data storing time in the frame memory 8 are the same, it is possible to reduce the transmission time of the whole image by 24 minutes. Moreover, the image of the range Z is displayed on the image monitor 24 at one time, and the whole image is easy to observe.

In the case of the present embodiment, the number of divisions is the size of the range Z determined by the designation of the points A and B and the size of the range a1 which can be observed at one time of the microscope and which is substantially determined by the magnification of the objective lens. Depends on However, when observing the sample on the slide as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the size of the slide is generally determined, so that the range Z may be fixed from the beginning.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG.
When the "entire image transmission mode" is selected, the operator instructs the operator to input the range (step S1). In order to specify this range, the stage is moved by operating the operation unit 14 while watching the partial image of the sample displayed on the image monitor 10, and the upper left (point A) and lower right (point B) on the slide are appropriately selected. This is done by designating when a certain position comes to the center of the image monitor (steps S2 and S3).

By these steps S2 and S3, points A and B
When the points are determined, division calculation is performed to divide the range Z determined by the points A and B into each range that can be imaged by the microscope at one time (step S4). Furthermore, the number of divisions, 25 divisions of horizontal 5 vertical 5 and transmission order a1, b of the small observation area
An instruction signal indicating 1, c1, ... Is transmitted to the receiving port 200 through the digital data transmitter 11 (step 5). At this time, the microcomputer 25 of the reception port 200 starts reception when the instruction signal is transmitted (step 11), and performs calculation for dividing the storage range of the frame memory 22 according to the received instruction signal. , And waits until the reduced image is transmitted (step S12).

When the number of divisions is obtained, a drive signal from the communication device 13 to the motor 3 is output based on an instruction from the microcomputer 12, and the stage 2 is stepped to the initial small range a1 by this drive signal signal ( Step 7). When the stage 2 is moved so that the small range a1 is below the objective lens T of the microscope, the microcomputer 12 controls the small range a on the sample H under the control of the CCU 6.
The still image of No. 1 is captured (step S8).

The captured still image is converted into digital data and temporarily stored in the frame memory 8. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5B, the frame memory 8 stores the still image of the small range a1 in its full storage area. Therefore, the image monitor 10 also stores the still image of the small range in full. The image is displayed. Next, the microcomputer 12
Extracts thinned-out image data consisting of only pixel data at predetermined intervals according to the number of divisions from the digital data thus stored in the frame memory 8 and sequentially outputs it through the digital data transmitter 11 (step S
9). When the transmission of the thinned-out image data is completed in this way, the process returns to step S6, and steps S6 to S10 are repeated until 25 pieces of thinned-out image data are transmitted.

Next, when digital data indicating a thinned image starts to be transmitted from the transmission port 100, the reception port 2
The microcomputer 25 of 00 receives the transmitted digital data by the digital transmitter 21 (step S14), and collects the received digital data into small ranges on the frame memory 22 divided according to the number of divisions (step S14). 15) and temporarily stores (step S16).

The stored still image data is as shown in FIG.
In the storage area of the frame memory 22 shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1, a display area a at a position corresponding to the divided small range a1
2 is a reduced image obtained by compressing the thinned image data. The microcomputer 25 displays the digital data stored in the frame memory 22 on the monitor 24 via the D / A converter 23 (step S17).

After displaying the reduced images of the small range a2, the microcomputer 25 determines whether or not the display of all the reduced images is completed (step S12). If it has not been completed, it waits for the next thinned image data to be transmitted, and when it is transmitted, steps S13 to S16 are repeated until all the thinned images are compressed and displayed. And a
After displaying all the reduced images from 2 to y2, it waits until the instruction signal for instructing the number of divisions and the transmission order for the reduced image in the range Z on the next slide is received (step 10).

In this way, the entire image of a large range of specimens that cannot be observed at a time due to the limitation of the objective lens can be observed on the monitor 24 of the receiving port 200. Further, since the still images reduced in size by thinning are transmitted, the time required to transmit each reduced image can be shortened. In the above description of the present embodiment, the number of divisions is 25 in the horizontal direction and 5 in the vertical direction, but the number of divisions is not limited to this. The objective lens may have any magnification. Further, in this embodiment, from the transmission port 100,
Although the thinned image was transmitted and the thinned image was compressed at the receiving port 200, after step 9, a frame memory for compressing and storing the still image is provided, and the whole image of the compressed reduced image data is completed. After that, it may be transmitted.

In this embodiment, the one-way transmission from the transmission port 100 to the reception port 200 is performed, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, the transmitters 11 and 21 can be bidirectionally transmitted, and , The same unit as the operation unit 14 is connected to the receiving port 200 side as well.
To the range Z, or the position and magnification of a still image to be transmitted to another, or the receiving port 200 side may have the same system configuration as the transmitting port side. ..

[0027]

According to the present invention, the transmission port takes the whole image of the specimen in a large range that cannot be observed at one time with a microscope by dividing the range into a large number of small ranges and picks up an image of each small range. The thinned image data is formed and transmitted from the still image data, and the reception port stores the reduced image obtained by compressing the transmitted thinned image, and displays the still image composed of the set of reduced images, thereby the large range The whole still image can be observed simultaneously.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a transmission port according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a receiving port of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart diagram showing a whole image transmission procedure of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining range designation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining thinning and reduction for whole image transmission.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Microscope 2 ... Stage 5 ... CCD camera 6 ... CCU 7 ... A / D converter 8, 22 ... Frame memory 11, 21 ... Digital data transmitter 12, 25 ... Microcomputer 23 ... D / A converter 24 ... Display vessel

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transmission port having a microscope, an image pickup means for picking up an image of a sample from the microscope as a still image, and a first transmitting device for transmitting the still image using a communication line, a display and the transmission. Second to receive still image from port
In a still image transmission device having a transmission device, comprising: a reception port for displaying the received still image on the display, and transmitting the still image between the transmission and reception ports connected by a communication line, The transmission port operates the microscope and the image pickup means so as to divide the sample into N × M small observation regions and pick up an image, each of which is set to 1
For each of the N × M still image data, a still image data creating unit that creates N × M still image data having pixel data for the screen;
Thinned-out image data output means for creating thinned-out image data extracted by thinning out N × M 1 / pixel data from pixel data for a screen, and outputting the thinned-out image data for each small range through the first transmission device. And the reception port reduces the N × M reduced image data obtained by reducing the N × M thinned-out image data input to the second transmission device to the display region of the display unit by the N × M number. A still image transmission device, comprising: display control means for causing the display device to display each of the divided small display areas in correspondence with the small observation area.