JPH0580255A - Optical microscopic system device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the optical microscopic device which allows observation in automatic follow up to the movement of an object to be observed with a light weight, small size and high magnification at the time of observing the object which is to be observed and is hardly fixable. CONSTITUTION:This system device has a lens moving mechanism (b) which moves an objective lens 1 in an optical axis direction and an electron moving mechanism (a) which moves an electronic image pickup element 5 disposed in the same position of an imaging plane 11 with respect to an objective lens 1 in the same optical axis direction, and consists of a control mechanism (c) which one-dimensionally controls the lens moving mechanism (b) and the element moving mechanism (a), and an image processor 15 which subjects the electric signal S2 from the electronic image pickup element 5 to image processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical microscope, and more particularly to an optical microscope system device for automatically capturing and tracking an object to be observed which moves during measurement.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional optical microscope of this kind, in order to obtain a clear object image at high magnification, the objective lens and the eyepiece lens facing the object to be observed are separated by a predetermined distance in advance,
The object to be observed is fixed to a lens barrel that is set accurately, and the object to be observed placed on a moving table with the lens barrel as a reference is moved in three axial directions and adjusted to an appropriate position for use. Sometimes a photographic device, a video camera or the like is installed on the image forming surface to obtain image information, but it was necessary to fix the lens barrel firmly so that it would not shake.

For this reason, high-power optical microscopes are usually
Compared to the lens, which is the main component, the mainstream is a large and heavy lens barrel and a support, which is heavy and not compact. Even in the so-called optical microscope in which the support base is simplified, the lens barrel still occupies the main structural weight.

[0004]

However, in the conventional optical microscope as described above, it is very difficult to fix the optical microscope such as the tip of an optical fiber or in situ observation of a living body. Measuring and observing objects is extremely difficult and usually relies on clever fixation methods. I also needed an ambient environment without subtle external vibrations. In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention aims to provide an optical microscope system device capable of automatically capturing and tracking the movement of an observation target that is difficult to fix and performing stable measurement and observation. Is.

[0005]

The solution to the above-mentioned problems can be achieved by adopting the novel characteristic construction means enumerated below by the present invention. That is, the first feature of the present invention is that a lens moving mechanism for moving at least the objective lens in the optical axis direction and an element for moving the electronic image pickup device arranged at the position of the image forming surface with respect to the objective lens in the optical axis direction. An optical microscope system apparatus having a moving mechanism and including a control mechanism that centrally controls the lens moving mechanism and the element moving mechanism, and an image processing device that performs image processing of electric signals from the electronic image pickup device.

A second feature of the present invention is that the image processing device according to the first feature is configured such that a storage element for sequentially inputting image information converted into an electric signal by an electronic image pickup element and a new storage element are added to the storage element. An optical microscope system apparatus comprising: an arithmetic processing unit that applies the image information to an image position that minimizes a positional deviation between the input image information and the previously input image information.

A third feature of the present invention is that the electronic image pickup device according to the first feature, when the image information is converted into an electric signal, the positions of the objective lens and the image plane are set to predetermined distances. The optical microscope system device is provided with a switch or a gate element which receives an identification signal from the control mechanism at the time when the image signal becomes low and inputs the image information at that time to a storage element arranged in the image processing apparatus.

[0008]

Since the present invention has taken the above-mentioned means, the objective lens which moves in the direction of the optical axis in accordance with the vertical movement of the object to be observed is provided with the electronic image pickup device arranged at the position of the image plane of the objective lens. Since they are moved in the same direction along the optical axis and at the same distance, a predetermined distance between the objective lens and the electronic image pickup device is kept constant regardless of the vertical movement of the object to be measured.

Further, with respect to the movement of the object under observation in the plane direction, the image information converted into an electric signal by the electronic image pickup device is sequentially input to the storage device arranged in the image processing apparatus and newly input. Since the image information is applied to the image position that minimizes the positional deviation of the comparison between the image information and the previously input image information, the resulting image is moved up and down and in the plane direction. However, you can observe it as if you were observing a fixed object.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Figure 1
Is a configuration diagram of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a graph showing temporal operations of the objective lens and the image plane. In FIG. 1, A is an optical microscope system apparatus of the present embodiment, 1 is an objective lens, 2 is a fixed lens barrel, 3 is an imaging unit lens barrel, and 4 is an illumination unit.

Reference numeral 5 is an electronic image pickup device, 6 and 7 are light-shielding bellows, 8 is an object to be observed, 9 is an objective actuator, 10 is an image forming actuator, 11 is an image forming surface, 12 and 13 are drive amplifiers, and 14 is a focal point. A detection control circuit, 15 is an image processing device, 16 is a display, 17 is an arithmetic processing unit, 18 is a storage element group, 19 is a switch or gate element, 20 is an imaging lens, a is an objective actuator 9 and a drive amplifier 12. A lens moving mechanism, b is an element moving mechanism including the imaging actuator 10 and the drive amplifier 13, and c is a control mechanism.

Since the specifications of the present embodiment are such a concrete embodiment, the optical microscope system apparatus A according to the present embodiment, before use, has objective and imaging actuators 9 and 10.
Is not driven, and has the same configuration as a normal optical microscope. In the measurement, first, the object to be observed 8 is brought close to the objective lens 1 and set to the approximate focus position, and then the focus control is applied by the focus detection control circuit 14.

For example, when the object 8 to be observed is positioned away from the objective lens 1 with respect to the in-focus position, the objective actuator 9 is driven to move the objective lens 1 to the object 8 to be observed.
Approach. At this time, since the distance between the objective lens 1 and the image forming surface 11 is opened by moving the objective lens 1 to the object to be observed 8, the image forming actuator 10 is also driven, and as a result, the lens barrels 2 and 3 are entirely covered by the object. A clear object image can be obtained by approaching.

Regarding the focus position detection control method,
A variety of methods have already been used in the autofocus camera, which is a known technique. For example, the point where the spatial frequency distribution of the image information obtained from the electronic image pickup device 5 is maximum may be detected and controlled. An element for focus position detection control may be incorporated separately.

In the present invention, the objective lens 1 and the image plane 11 are driven by separate actuators 9 and 10. Since the magnification is high, the electronic image pickup device 5 inevitably becomes larger and heavier than the objective lens 1. However, the conventional electronic image pickup device 5 is integrally fixed to the lens barrel to control the entire position. In contrast to the need for an actuator, in the present invention, only the objective lens 1 and the image forming surface 11 are driven, so a small actuator may be used. Nevertheless, since the imaging surface 11 is heavier than the objective lens 1, the tracking frequency band is lower on the imaging surface 11 than on the objective lens 1.

When the wideband objective lens 1 follows the movement of the object 8 to be observed, the objective lens 1 and the image plane 11
As shown in FIG. 2, the positional relationship of (1) always comes before and after the set positional relationship. At the moment when the preset positional relationship between the objective lens 1 and the image forming surface 11 is established, the switch or gate element 19 is operated by receiving the identification signal S1 issued from the focus detection control circuit 14 to activate the electronic image pickup element 5. When the image information is converted into an electric signal S2 and output, and the electronic signal S2 relating to the image information is accumulated in the image processing device 15 and displayed on the display 16, the object to be observed 8 fixed at all times is displayed.
Is no different from observing with a conventional optical microscope.

The electronic image pickup device 5 has a CC with an electronic shutter.
It is known that D can be used to capture an image of several thousandths. Further, when the movement of the observed object 8 is within the band of the servo of the imaging plane 11 or is stationary, all the positional relationships are always normal, so that the image information is sent to the image processing device 15 at an appropriate cycle. It should be accumulated, and there is no inconvenience.

The above is the case where the object to be observed 8 is displaced in the optical axis direction (Z direction) of the objective lens 1, but naturally the object to be observed 8 is observed.
It is conceivable that is also vibrated and moved in the plane (XY directions). In this case, since the observed object 8 is in focus by the focus detection control circuit 14, a clear image is moving in the image plane 11. When the images of the image information previously input and the image information newly input to the storage element 18 arranged in the image processing device 15 are compared with each other, the movement amount of the image can be calculated and identified by the arithmetic processing unit 17. Device 1
The display 1 after correcting the amount of movement in the XY directions at 5
When an image is displayed on 6, a still image can be observed on the display 16.

The calculation and identification in the arithmetic processing unit 17 of the image movement amount is carried out, for example, by inverting the brightness (brightness) of the previous image and superimposing it on a new image to relief the difference, or the two-dimensional Fourier transform of the image. A method of comparing spectra and matching low-frequency components is known, but it is also known that the relief method is usually small in calculation amount and can be easily used.
Further, in order to move a new image to a target image position, it is possible to easily realize it by giving a DC offset to the image movement amount. This is a function that is not possible with a conventional microscope even when observing an object 8 that can be fixed, and an image like the present embodiment for observing the object 8 that vibrates is observed. This is a function that becomes possible only by performing processing.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to follow and observe an object that is difficult to fix with a lightweight and small device at a high magnification. Therefore, it is possible to observe microscopic organisms outdoors and fine fibers at work sites. It has excellent effects such as a wide range of in-situ observations that were impossible in the past such as connection.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing temporal movements of the objective lens and the image plane according to the same as above.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A ... Optical microscope system device 1 ... Objective lens 2 ... Fixed lens barrel 3 ... Image forming lens barrel 4 ... Illumination unit 5 ... Electronic imaging device 6, 7 ... Light-shielding bellows 8 ... Observed object 9 ... Objective actuator 10 ... Imaging Actuator 11 ... Imaging plane 12, 13 ... Drive amplifier 14 ... Focus detection control circuit 15 ... Image processing device 16 ... Display 17 ... Arithmetic processing unit 18 ... Storage element 19 ... Switch or gate element 20 ... Imaging lens a ... Lens Moving mechanism b ... Element moving mechanism c ... Control mechanism S1 ... Identification signal S2 ... Electric signal

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A lens moving mechanism for moving at least an objective lens in an optical axis direction, and an element moving mechanism for moving an electronic image pickup device arranged at a position of an image plane with respect to the objective lens in the optical axis direction. However, an optical microscope system device comprising: a control mechanism for centrally controlling the lens moving mechanism and the element moving mechanism; and an image processing device for image-processing an electric signal from the electronic image pickup device. 2. An image processing apparatus comprising: a storage element for sequentially inputting image information converted into an electrical signal by an electronic image pickup element; image information newly input to the storage element; and image information previously input. The optical microscope system apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an arithmetic processing unit that applies the image information to an image position that minimizes a positional deviation. 3. The electronic image pickup device receives an identification signal from a control mechanism at the time when the positions of the objective lens and the image forming surface reach a preset distance when converting the image information into an electric signal.
3. The optical microscope system apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a switch or a gate element for inputting image information at that time into a storage element arranged in the image processing apparatus.