JPH07199072A - Microscopic system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and rapidly realize a microscopic operation desired by an observer without interrupting observation. CONSTITUTION:This system is equipped with a motor-driven inserting/pulling-out means 35 for inserting/pulling out an optical member 3, a detection means 43 detecting the inserted/pulled-out state of the optical member 3, an input means for inputting inserting/-pulling-out control designation, a control means 30 outputting a control designating instruction to the means 35, a control designation storage means 56 storing the control designating instruction in accordance with inserting/pulling-out control designation and input order, a display means displaying the stored content of the means 56, and a control instruction restoring means 30 outputting the control designating instruction stored in the means 56 to the means 35 according to the input order.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microscope system in which various optical members can be electrically inserted into and removed from an optical path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a microscope, the optical performance of the objective lens itself is a major factor in determining the optical performance of the microscope. However, unless the illumination light incident on the objective lens is appropriate, the performance of the objective lens cannot be fully utilized. Therefore, it is necessary to set the optical member so that the illumination light is favorably incident on the objective lens. Similarly, when realizing a desired microscopic method, good microscopic observation cannot be performed unless various optical members are properly combined.

Further, in the case of epifluorescence observation, when the specimen is irradiated with extra illumination light, the specimen is discolored. for that reason,
A microscope having excellent operability is desired because it is necessary to prevent the specimen from being irradiated with extra illumination light by a quick operation.

In a predetermined routine work performed by a microscope screener, a clinical technologist, etc., a microscope is operated without interrupting specimen observation, or the number of operations is reduced and examination efficiency is improved in order to reduce the burden on the observer. Is desired.

In response to the above demands, various automated microscopes have been developed for setting optical members for performing appropriate microscopic observation, preventing discoloration of specimens, reducing the burden on the observer, and improving inspection efficiency. Has been done. This kind of automated microscope has a ROM that stores a series of control contents according to the microscope operation contents.
Etc., and executes the control content corresponding to the operation input of the observer.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned automated microscope, in order to control the state of the microscope to various states desired by the observer, it is necessary to realize the above series of control contents by combining a plurality of times. In many cases, different pointing devices had to be operated depending on the desired state, and the observation had to be interrupted each time.

[0007] A microscope is conceivable in which a host device such as a personal computer is connected to the main body of the microscope, and a control instruction command of an optical member can be combined and executed from the host device, but an observer has some software programming knowledge. Without it, it is difficult to control the state of the microscope to the state desired by the observer, and the microscope cannot be fully used.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a microscope system which enables anyone to easily and quickly realize a microscope operation desired by an observer without interrupting the observation. The purpose is to do.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following means.

According to the present invention corresponding to claim 1, an electric insertion / removal means for inserting / removing various optical members into / from the optical path, a detecting means for detecting an insertion / removal state of the optical member in / from the optical path, and an optical member of the optical member. Input means for inputting an insertion / removal control instruction for instructing insertion / removal, and the electric insertion / removal means for inserting / removing the corresponding optical member corresponding to the insertion / removal control instruction input from the input means. Control means for outputting a control instruction command,
A control instruction storage unit that stores a control instruction command and an input order thereof according to an insertion / removal control instruction input from the input unit, a display unit that displays the storage content of the control instruction storage unit, and the control instruction storage unit And a control instruction restoring means for outputting the control instruction instruction stored in 1 to the electric insertion / removal means according to the input order.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above configuration, an editing means for editing the contents stored in the control instruction storage means is provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the control instruction command after the editing is provided with a temporary stop state provided by the editing by the editing means among the continuous control instruction commands stored in the control instruction storage means. When the control command restoring means is executed, the input means inserts and removes the optical member into and from the optical path in the temporarily stopped state.

[0013]

In the present invention corresponding to claim 1, when the insertion / removal control instruction is input from the input means, the control means responds to the insertion / removal control instruction from the control means to the electric insertion / removal means. A control instruction command is output to insert and remove.
On the other hand, the control instruction command corresponding to the insertion / removal control instruction input from the input means and the input order thereof are stored in the control instruction storage means. The control instruction command stored in the control instruction storage device in this way is output to the electric insertion / removal device by the control command restoring device in the input order.

In the present invention corresponding to claim 2, a series of control instruction commands stored in the control instruction storage means are subjected to arbitrary editing processing such as copying, moving, and deleting from the editing means.

In the present invention corresponding to claim 3, a series of operations are stopped in a pause state in the process of executing the control instruction command by the control command restoring means. In the temporarily stopped state, the control instruction for instructing the insertion / removal of the optical member to / from the optical path from the input unit can be accepted.

[0016]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows the entire structure of a microscope apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the structure of an optical system of the microscope.

The optical system in the microscope apparatus of this embodiment is
For example, the light from the transillumination light source 1 including a halogen lamp is condensed by the collector lens 2 and is incident on the transmissive filter unit 3.

The transmissive filter unit 3 is composed of a plurality of ND filters for adjusting the brightness without changing the color temperature of the transillumination light source 1, and a plurality of correction filters for performing color correction. An arbitrary filter can be selectively inserted into and removed from the optical path of the illumination optical system.

The illumination light transmitted through the transmission filter unit 3 is observed from below the sample stage 8 through the transmission field stop 4, the transmission aperture stop 5, the condenser optical element unit 6, and the condenser top lens unit 7 on the stage. Illuminate the sample S.

The condenser optical element unit 6 is composed of a plurality of units 6a to 6c which are selectively inserted in the optical path, and the condenser top lens unit 7 is a plurality of units 7a and 7b which are selectively inserted in the optical path. Consists of. Further, the sample stage 8 can move the observation sample S two-dimensionally in a plane orthogonal to the optical axis and can move in the optical axis direction for focusing.

A plurality of objective lenses 9a to 9c composed of a plurality of units are held by a revolver 10 above the sample stage. The revolver 10 is constructed so that the objective lens to be inserted on the optical axis in the observation optical path can be exchanged by its rotation. The revolver 10 is rotatably attached to, for example, the tip of an arm of a microscope, and a cube unit 11 is arranged on the observation optical path of the tip of the arm. The cube unit 11 is composed of a plurality of units 11a to 11c which are selectively inserted by various spectroscopic methods. Light that has passed through the cube unit 11 is beam splitter 12
With the beam splitter 13
It leads to the eyepiece lens 14 via. The beam splitters 12 and 13 can be inserted into and removed from the optical path.

Further, the light from the epi-illumination light source 15 such as a mercury lamp is used for epi-illumination filter unit 16, epi-illumination shutter 17, epi-illumination field stop 18, epi-illumination aperture stop 1.
The light enters the unit inserted into the optical path of the cube unit 11 via 9 and is reflected to the observation sample S side to perform epi-illumination.

The epi-illumination filter unit 16 is composed of a plurality of ND filters for adjusting brightness without changing the color temperature of the epi-illumination light source 15 and a plurality of correction filters for color correction. Composed.

On the other hand, the other light split by the beam splitter 12 inserted on the observation optical path is guided to the optical path for photography. A beam splitter 20 is provided so as to be freely inserted into and removed from an optical path for photography, and one of the beams branched by the beam splitter 20 inserted in the optical path is incident on a light receiving element 21 for focus detection through an imaging lens. are doing. The focus detection light receiving element 21 is for measuring the amount of light for focus detection.

The other light split by the beam splitter 20 in the optical path for photography is incident on the beam splitter 23 inserted in the optical path through the zoom lens 22 for arbitrarily adjusting the magnification for photography. The beam splitter 23 is insertable into and removable from the optical path, and the light reflected by the beam splitter 23 inserted in the optical path is further incident on another beam splitter 24 and branched in two directions. The beam splitter 24 can also be inserted into and removed from the optical path. The light reflected by the beam splitter 24 inserted in the optical path is incident on the photographic light-receiving element 25. The photographic light-receiving element 25 is an element for measuring the exposure time of photography. Then, with the beam splitter 24 removed from the optical path, the beam splitter 2
The light reflected by 3 is incident on a camera 27 containing a film for photography through a photography shutter 26.

Next, the structure of the control system in the microscope apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

A photography control section 32 and an AF control section 3 are provided to a main control section 30 which manages the operation of the entire apparatus through a dedicated serial bus 31.
3, the frame control unit 34, the transmission filter control unit 35, the transmission field stop control unit 36, the condenser control unit 37, the epi-illumination field control unit 38, and the epi-illumination filter control unit 39 are connected to each other.

The photography control unit 32 drives and controls the beam splitters 12, 20, and 24 to be inserted into and removed from the optical path, and drives and controls the zoom lens 22.
The arithmetic processing for calculating the photo-taking time from the photometric value of the photo-receiving element 25, the opening / closing drive control of the photo-taking shutter, and the film winding and rewinding control of the camera 27 are performed.

The AF control unit 33 performs a predetermined focus calculation based on the data from the focus detection light receiving element 21, and drives the sample stage 8 according to the calculation result to perform automatic focus detection.

The frame controller 34 drives and controls the transillumination light source 1, the epi-illumination light source 15, the revolver 10, the cube unit 11, and the epi-illumination shutter 17.

The transmission filter control unit 35 drives and controls the transmission filter unit 3, and the transmission field stop control unit 36 drives and controls the transmission field stop 4. The condenser control unit 37 drives and controls the condenser optical element unit 6, the condenser top lens unit 7, and the transmission aperture stop 5. The epi-illumination field stop control unit 38 controls the epi-field stop 1
8. Drive and control the incident aperture stop 19. The epi-illumination filter controller 39 drives and controls the epi-illumination filter unit 16.

Each of the control units 32 to 39 has the circuit configuration shown in FIG. That is, each control unit includes the CPU circuit 41 and the CPU circuit 4
A drive circuit 42 that drives an optical unit to be controlled by a command from the CPU 1, a position detection circuit 43 that detects the position of the optical unit to be controlled and notifies the CPU circuit 41, and a CPU
A dedicated serial communication I / F circuit 44 for connecting the circuit 41 and the dedicated serial bus 31 and other peripheral circuits (not shown) are incorporated. In the CPU circuit 41, a CPU 45 is connected to a ROM 46 and a RAM 47 via a CPU bus 48, a program describing each control content is stored in the ROM 46, and data for control calculation is stored in the RAM 47. Then, a control instruction is sent from the main control unit 30 to each of the control units 32 to 39 via the dedicated serial bus 31, and the CPU 45 operates according to the program of the ROM 46 to control the respective optical units and the like.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the construction of the main control section 30 and the operation panel device.

The main control unit 30 includes the CPU 10
0 through the internal bus 120 to ROM 101, RAM
102, font data ROM 103, auxiliary storage device 1
04, the display memory 105, etc. are connected. ROM
A program describing various control contents is stored in 101. In particular, a memory management program describing a procedure for configuring and managing a control instruction storage memory, which will be described later, and an edit describing a procedure for editing the stored content of the control instruction storage memory. A program and an instruction reproduction program for reproducing the stored contents are stored. The RAM 102 stores various data for control calculation, and in particular, the control instruction storage memory is constructed. The font data ROM 103 stores font data such as English, Japanese, special figures and special characters. The auxiliary storage device 104 is configured to be able to write information in an information storage medium such as an IC card. The display memory 105 stores a guidance screen such as an operation guide.

The CPU 100 is connected to the dedicated serial bus 31 via the dedicated serial communication interface circuit 106, and is also connected to the remote control host device 108 such as a personal computer via the interface circuit 107.

On the other hand, the guidance screen stored in the display memory 105 is output to the display device 109 to provide the observer with a screen for operation input. Instructions are input to the screen displayed on the display device 109 from an operation instruction member 110 including a touch panel, a jog dial, a dedicated switch and the like. Information input from the operation instruction member 110 is detected by the detection circuit 111 and is detected by the CPU.
Input to 100. A sound source 112 that outputs a buzzer sound is connected to the CPU 100.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as above will be described.

First, a memory configuration for automatically storing control instruction contents and a management method thereof will be described.

The control instruction storage memory 56 is configured in a ring buffer format as shown in FIG. 5, and has one input management pointer 56a, an address storage buffer 56b for storing an address where a control instruction command is stored, It is composed of an instruction storage buffer 56c for storing each control instruction instruction.

The initial value of the input management pointer 56a points to the start address of the address storage buffer 56b, and the initial value of the address storage buffer 56b stores an address value = 0 indicating that nothing is stored. Has been done.

When an observer uses the operation instruction member 110 to instruct desired operation contents, the operation contents are detected.
1 is detected and input to the main control unit 30.
The CPU 100 of the main control unit 30 issues a control instruction command in accordance with an operation input from the operation instruction member 110 to RA.
It is stored in the control instruction storage memory 56 formed on the M102.

Specifically, the instruction storage buffer 56c which is not currently used is acquired, and the instruction storage buffer 56c is acquired.
The control instruction content is replaced in c and the coded instruction is stored. Then, the head address of the instruction storage buffer 56c is stored in the address storage position of the address storage buffer 56b designated by the input management pointer 56a. Further, the input management pointer 56a is updated and the next address storage buffer 56b is designated as the input position. The instruction storage buffer 56c pointed to by the address storage buffer 56b designated by the updated input management pointer 56a is released.

On the other hand, the CPU 100 stores the control instruction contents, and at the same time stores the coded control instruction command stored in the command storage buffer 56c from the main control unit 30 to the control units 32 to 39 of various optical units.
Send to. In each of the control units 32 to 39 that have received a control instruction command from the main control unit 30, each R
The optical member insertion / removal control according to the control command is executed according to various control programs stored in the OM 46. Hereinafter, the case of fluorescent photography will be described as an example.

FIG. 6 shows an operation flow for taking a fluorescence photograph of a double-stained specimen. This operation is given an operation input using the operation screen on which the operation instruction member 110 is arranged as shown in FIG. The case will be described.

Here, it is assumed that the sample is set on the stage and the operation screen shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the display device 109. It is assumed that the display device 109 is integrally formed with an operation instruction member 110 including a touch panel.

In the process of step S1a, the observer pushes down the switch 57a, so that the switch 57a
The CPU 100 that has determined the type of the AF control unit 3
Then, the AF control unit 33 performs focus control by vertically moving the stage. Next, in the process of step S1b, the switches 58a to 58h are pushed down to change the type of each switch to the CPU.
100 makes a judgment and instructs the photography control section 32 to switch the observation optical path and the photography camera. Step S
In the processing of 1c, when an observer pushes down a switch (not shown) and inputs a photographing condition setting operation such as automatic photometry and prohibition of automatic film winding, the CPU 100 recognizes the type of those switches and the photographing control section 32.
The shooting conditions are notified to. In the process of step S1d, the switch that is suitable for the purpose of speculum is pushed down from among the switches 59a to 59k, and the CP that recognized the switch
U100 instructs each control unit concerned to control the optical members so that the optical arrangement state of the transmission phase contrast microscope is realized.

That is, an instruction to insert the epi-illumination shutter 17 into the optical path to block the epi-illumination and an instruction to insert the objective lens capable of observing the phase difference into the optical path are output to the frame control section 34, and the condenser control section is output. 37, an instruction to insert a condenser unit necessary for phase difference observation into the optical path and a control instruction to set the aperture diaphragm to an appropriate value (70 to 80%) with respect to the pupil diameter of the objective lens are output and transmitted. A control instruction for making the field stop circumscribed diameter is output to the field stop control unit 36, and a control instruction for appropriately combining the ND filters so as to keep the brightness constant is output to the transmission filter control unit 35.

The control commands output from the main control unit 30 to the respective control units in accordance with the processing of step S1 described above, that is, AF operation control, observation and photographing optical path switching control, photographing condition setting, and speculum switching (transmission position) The phase difference) control commands are stored in the control instruction storage memory 56 in the order of event occurrence.

Next, in the processing of step S2a, the observer selects an objective lens with a low magnification of about 10 times from the operation screen of FIG. 7 in order to determine the observation site of the sample. When the switch of the desired low-magnification objective lens is pushed down from among the switches 60a to 60f, the selection switch is set to CP.
Recognized by U100, the CPU 100 sends to the frame control unit 34 an instruction to rotate the revolver 10 and insert the objective lens into the optical path. If the low-magnification phase difference objective lens is inserted in the optical path in step S1d immediately before that, the observer does not need to perform this operation. Then, in step S2b, the objective lens is switched and the same focusing process as in step S1a is performed. If the subject is in focus, the observer performs an operation depending on the state of the sample such as framing operation, contrast correction, and brightness correction in the process of step S2c.

In the above-described processing of step S2, the objective lens switching control command, the AF operation control command, and the temporary stop command output from the main control unit 30 to each control unit are stored in the control instruction storage memory 56 in the order of event occurrence.
Memorized in. Note that the suspension instruction is step S2c.
At the time when the observer performs an operation that depends on the state of the sample at.

When the observation region of the sample is roughly determined by the process of step S2, the observation region is magnified and observed by the process of step S3 to extract the target region. Since the processing content of step S3 is almost the same as the processing content of step S2 described above, description thereof will be omitted.

After the photographed region is confirmed by the processing of step S3, the epifluorescence observation is switched by the processing of step S4. Specifically, by the process in step S4a, the epifluorescence observation switch (5
9i to 59k) to select the above step S1.
Similar to the process of d, a control command is issued to the corresponding control units, and a predetermined speculum switching process is performed in each of the control units. The epi-fluorescence observation switches 59i to 59k correspond to the cubes 11a to 11c, and the cubes 11a to 11c have different excitations,
An optical member such as an absorption filter is mounted. In the process of step S4b, the above steps S2b and S3
Focusing control similar to that in b is performed, and in the processing in step S4c, the observer performs the same correction operation depending on the sample state as in steps S3c and S4c.

In the process of step S4,
When the preparation for epi-illumination fluorescence imaging is completed, the exposure start switch 61 is pushed down in step S5. Recognizing the selection of the switch 61, the CPU 100 gives an exposure operation instruction to the photography control unit 32. Upon receipt of this instruction, the photography control unit 32 performs the above step S1c.
A series of exposure operation control is executed based on the shooting conditions set in. At this time, the above-mentioned exposure operation control command is stored in the control instruction storage memory 56.

When the exposure operation is completed, the cube 11 is replaced by the processing in step S6, and fluorescence observation using different excitation wavelengths is performed. First, in step S6a, when a switch (not shown) for preventing discoloration is depressed, the CPU 100 which recognizes the depression switch issues a control command to the frame controller 34 to insert the epi-illumination shutter 17 into the optical path. Be done. Then in step S6b
In step S4a, when the switches 59i to 59k for selecting the cube 11 different from those in step S4a are pushed down, the frame control unit 34 receives an instruction from the CPU 100 that recognizes the push-down switch and causes the epi-illumination shutter 17 to separate from the optical path. The optical arrangement is such that the illumination light is emitted. Then, in step S6d, the observer performs a correction operation depending on the state of the sample by the same processing as in step 4c.

Here, in step S6, the control instruction storage memory 56 stores the control commands of the incident-light shutter control (IN), the speculum switching (incident fluorescence) control, the incident-light shutter control (OUT), and the pause command. It

In the process of step S7, the above step S
The same exposure control as the process of 5 is performed. In step S8, as a post-process of the series of epi-fluorescence photography procedures, the same epi-illumination light as in step S6a is blocked in step S8a, and in step S8b, a film is wound by pressing a switch (not shown). The control is performed by the photography control unit 32.

In step S8, the control instruction storage memory 56 stores the incident shutter control (OUT),
Film winding control and stage control (lowermost) commands are stored.

The operation for taking a fluorescence photograph of the double-stained specimen is completed as described above. Then, the operation for editing the stored contents stored in the control instruction storage memory 56 is started.

FIG. 8 shows an example of an edit / reproduction execution screen of the stored control instruction.

On the edit / reproduction execution screen shown in FIG.
Command display unit 6 capable of scrolling display of control instruction storage contents
It is displayed in 2. The display section 62 includes a number section 62a added in the order of event of the control instruction and a control instruction content display section 62b.
And a line cursor 62 for designating control instruction contents
c and a position display bar 62d indicating how much the line cursor 62c is positioned on the entire scroll screen.

The vertical movement of the line cursor 62c and the scroll display of the screen are controlled by a jog dial which is an operation instruction member 110 (not shown).

First, the control display memory contents are displayed on the command display section 62, but the other control command storage contents stored in the RAM 102 or the auxiliary storage device 104 are displayed by pressing the switch 63a. You can also

The contents of the control instructions stored this time are stored in the RAM 10.
2 or in the auxiliary storage device 104, a registration operation (not shown) is performed by pressing the switch 63b. In addition, when the user wants to display the stored control instruction contents again on the command display unit 62, it can be displayed by pressing the switch 63c.

The switch 63d is used for editing operations such as copying, deleting and moving of each control instruction command displayed on the command display section 62.
This can be done by pressing the switch of ~ 63f. Explaining the outline by taking the function of the copying machine as an example, pressing the switch 63d switches the display to the copy editing screen shown in FIG.

The message "Please specify the copy range" is displayed on the display section 64c, and the line cursor 62c is moved by rotating the jog dial (not shown), and the copy is made by pressing the switch 64b at that position. Confirm the range. In the copy range, a → mark is displayed at the left position of the number portion 62a to clearly indicate the selected range. next,
The message “Please specify the copy destination” appears on the display 64.
It is displayed in c. Similarly to the above, the line cursor 62c is moved by rotating the jog dial and the switch 64b is pressed at the corresponding position to copy the command to the copy destination upper position and switch to the screen display shown in FIG. If you want to cancel the copy operation, switch 64
The screen display of FIG. 8 is switched by pressing a.

Next, when a fluorescence photograph of a double-stained specimen is taken, by reproducing the control instruction storage command,
The desired observation operation can be performed easily and quickly. This reproducing operation will be described.

In FIG. 8, a dedicated switch in the form of a mouse or the like which an observer can handle without interrupting the observation in order to execute the control instruction storage command is provided, and the control instruction storage command can be stored by depressing the dedicated switch. Reproduction is started.

First, the process of step S1a for controlling the elevation of the sample stage 8, the process of step S1b for controlling the observation and photographing optical paths, the process of step S1c for setting the photographing conditions, and the process of step S1d for controlling the transmission phase difference observation. ,
The processing of step S2a for the low magnification objective lens switching control and the processing of step S2b for the focusing control are successively executed in order. After the reproduction processing in step S2d, the pause state is entered, and the observer performs operations such as framing and contrast correction depending on the sample.
It should be noted that the sound source 112 is controlled to generate an electronic sound in order to notify the observer that the suspension state has been entered.

Next, the temporary stop state is released by pressing the dedicated switch again, and the reproduction process is started. The processing of step S3a for switching control of the high-magnification objective lens,
Then, the process of step S3b of the focusing control is successively executed. After the reproduction processing in step S3b, the observer makes a temporary stop state and makes an adjustment depending on the sample similar to the above.

Then, by depressing the dedicated switch again, the process of step S4a for epi-illumination fluorescence switching control and the process of step S4b for focusing control are continuously executed, and after the temporary stop state, the exposure operation is performed at step S5a. After the processing is started and the exposure operation is completed, the processing of blocking the epi-illumination (S6a), switching the cube (S6b), and irradiating the epi-illumination light (S6c) is continuously executed. afterwards,
The observer makes the adjustment depending on the predetermined sample in the suspended state.

Then, by depressing the dedicated switch, the process of step S7a for controlling the exposure operation, the process of step S8a for blocking the incident illumination light, and the process of step S8c for the stage lowering control for sample exchange are continuously performed. Then, the fluorescence photography of the double-stained specimen is completed.

For operations such as framing and contrast correction depending on the sample performed in the temporary stop state, the stage feed handle and the aperture stop ring, which are the operation members, are arranged at a position where they can be operated while observing. The person can perform the above-mentioned series of operations without taking his eyes off the observation section.

In the process of reproducing the series of control instruction storage commands, when the optical member is already in the control state, it is natural to reduce the control time by not performing the control process. Is.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the control instruction and the condition setting of the optical member inputted by the microscope observer are stored in the control instruction storage memory, and the control instruction command stored in the control instruction storage memory is stored. Since the reproduction is performed in order, the microscope operation desired by the observer can be executed easily and quickly.

Although the present embodiment has been described by taking the fluorescence photography of the double-stained specimen belonging to the complicated category as an example, it is basically applicable to the automated microscope in which the insertion / removal control of various optical members is automated. . It can also be applied to a system that combines peripheral devices such as a scanning stage centered on a microscope, an image processing device, a photometric device, and a micromanipulator, and can provide automation and operability that are truly suited to the user's application. Is.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0078]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a microscope system which allows anyone to easily and quickly realize a microscope operation desired by an observer without interrupting the observation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a microscope system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an optical system in the microscope system shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram common to each control unit in the microscope system shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a main control unit in the microscope system.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a control instruction storage memory.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of fluorescent photography.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation screen for fluorescent photography.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an edit screen.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another editing screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

9 ... Objective lens, 10 ... Revolver, 30 ... Main control section, 33 ... AF control section, 34 ... Frame control section, 45, 100 ... CPU, 46, 101
... ROM, 47, 102 ... RAM, 110 operation instruction member, 109 ... Display device.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazuhiko Tsubota 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An electric insertion / removal means for inserting / removing various optical members into / from an optical path, a detection means for detecting an insertion / removal state of the optical member with respect to the optical path, and an insertion / removal control for instructing insertion / removal of the optical member. Input means for inputting an instruction, and control means for outputting a control instruction command to the electric insertion / removal means for inserting / removing the corresponding optical member corresponding to the insertion / removal control instruction input from the input means. A control instruction storage means for storing a control instruction command and an input order thereof according to an insertion / removal control instruction input from the input means; a display means for displaying the stored contents of the control instruction storage means; A microscope system comprising: a control instruction restoring unit that outputs a control instruction command stored in a storage unit to the electric insertion / removal unit according to the input order. 2. The microscope system according to claim 1, further comprising editing means for editing the contents stored in the control instruction storage means. 3. The control instruction storing means sets a temporary stop state among the continuous control instruction instructions stored in the control instruction storing means, and the edited control instruction instruction is executed by the control instruction restoring means. 3. The microscope system according to claim 2, wherein the input means inserts and removes the optical member into and from the optical path in the paused state.