JPH0843738A - Microscope system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and satisfactorily prevent noise from occurring and to realize efficient measurement at high level by starting the action of a microcomputer based on operation to an operation means and stopping it at the time of finishing the control of the microcomputer corresponding to the operation means. CONSTITUTION:The action is started by depressing the switch 8 of an operation part and inputting a pulse 10 in the INT terminal of the microcomputer 1. When the pulse 10 is inputted in the INT terminal, a clock oscillation circuit 3 starts the action, and when the oscillation is stabilized, interruption processing is started. The input state of the switch is read in first so as to judge which of switchs is depressed. For example, in the case the input of the switch is a transmission/vertical illumination changeover switch, transmission/vertical illumination changeover action is executed. The instant the action is finished, stopping processing for the microcomputer 1 is executed. Since the microcomputer 1 is stopped when the action is executed, clock noise is prevented and the noise caused by a power source current becomes very low.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to microscope systems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in order to improve the usability of a microscope, the microcomputer is being controlled by a microcomputer. The automation of microscopes has advanced remarkably, and microscope systems equipped with multiple microcomputers are no longer uncommon.
As a result, the noise generated by the microcomputer and its peripheral circuits is large in level.

On the other hand, as an application of the microscope system, there are cases where a minute current or a minute voltage of several P to nA is handled. An example of this is the measurement of an ionic current flowing through an ion channel of a cell by a patch clamp method in the field of electrophysiology. Generally, when measuring the picoampere level ionic current flowing through the ion channel of a cell sample using the patch clamp method,
The sample is placed on the stage of the microscope while being immersed in the electrolytic solution in the glass petri dish. Then, while observing the sample with a microscope, the tip of the glass electrode filled with the electrolytic solution is brought into contact with the open end of the ion channel of the sample. In this state, the electric current flowing through the glass electrode, that is, the ionic current flowing through the ion channel is measured using the electrode immersed in the electrolytic solution in the glass dish as a reference potential. During such measurement, the tip of the objective lens of the microscope is immersed in the electrolytic solution in the glass petri dish.

Usually, a power source and a control circuit are built in the base of the microscope, and the base is electrically connected to the objective lens through the arm and the revolver. Therefore, switching noise generated at the time of switching the control circuit and the power supply and induced noise due to the commercial AC current are transmitted to the objective lens via the arm and the revolver. Since the tip portion of the objective lens is immersed in the electrolytic solution, the noise is transmitted through the electrolytic solution and reaches the measurement part of the ion current of the sample. Therefore, noise is mixed into the ion current measured at the picoampere level, making it difficult to measure the ion current accurately.

Although various methods have been conventionally used to solve such a problem, the most general method is the shield technique. In other words, the idea was to shield the noise generating part electrically and magnetically. In addition, a method such as turning off the power supply on the microscope side at the time of actual measurement is also taken.

[0006]

The conventional treatment of shields and the like requires a great deal of know-how, and it has been very difficult to perform the optimum treatment. Also, when the system configuration changes, the optimal treatment often changes.

Even if the optimum treatment is performed, it may not be sufficient depending on the measurement content. The present invention
An object of the present invention is to provide a microscope system capable of easily and sufficiently suppressing noise generation and enabling more efficient and high-level measurement.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention corresponding to claim 1 has at least one function capable of controlling the state of a microscope by at least one microcomputer, and for operating the same. A microscope system having operating means, comprising means for starting the operation of the microcomputer by an operation on the operating means and stopping when the control of the microcomputer corresponding to the operating means ends. It is a characteristic microscope system.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention corresponding to claim 2 provides the microscope system according to claim 1,
The microcomputer includes a clock oscillation circuit for generating a system clock for operating the microcomputer, and means for stopping the clock oscillation circuit when stopping the microcomputer. It is a microscope system.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 3 is the microscope system according to claim 1 or 2, which includes a circuit that generates a large amount of noise such as an oscillation circuit and a circuit that operates with a high-speed clock. The microscope system is provided with means for stopping the operation of at least the circuit in which noise is large when the operation of the microcomputer is stopped.

[0011]

According to the inventions according to claims 1 and 2, there is provided means for starting the operation of the microcomputer by operating the operating means and stopping it when the control of the microcomputer corresponding to the operating means is completed. Since it can measure the minute voltage and current with higher accuracy, the usability can maintain the merit of conventional automation, and the noise is very low when not in operation. Mostly done when not doing so, it is very convenient.

According to the invention corresponding to claim 2, since the means for stopping the lock oscillation circuit when stopping the microcomputer is provided, it is possible to measure the minute voltage and current with higher accuracy, and Usability can maintain the merit of conventional automation.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the operation of the microcomputer is stopped, at least means for stopping the operation of the circuit in which a large amount of noise is generated is provided. Since the normal state is set to no noise, it is possible to further reduce noise generation.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, a schematic structure of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows an example of a microscope system in which the switching of the magnification of an objective lens and the switching of transmitted / epi-illumination are electrically controlled by one microcomputer. This includes a control unit 101 including a microcomputer for controlling the system,
A revolver 104 controlled by the control unit 101 for switching the magnification of the objective lens, an actuator 102 and a sensor 103 for controlling the revolver 104, a mechanism 107 for switching the transmitted incident illumination controlled by the control unit 101, and a transmitted incident illumination. It is composed of an actuator 105 and a sensor 106 for controlling switching, and an operation unit 108, and performs a predetermined operation according to the operation content.

Next, a control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The microcomputer 1 uses a one-chip microcomputer including a ROM containing a program and a RAM used for storing data, but is not limited to the one-chip microcomputer.

The oscillator and capacitor 2 are coupled to the clock oscillator circuit 3 incorporated in the microcomputer 1 shown in FIG. The clock oscillating circuit 5 outputs the clock output 4 to the frequency dividing circuit 5, and the frequency dividing circuit 5 generates a system clock 6 for operating the microcomputer 1. The clock oscillator circuit 3 can be controlled by a program of a microcomputer, and can output or stop the clock output 4 by a control input 7. That is, the program enables the microcomputer 1 to operate and stop. When the contact of the switch 8 constituting the operation portion is closed, the pulse generation circuit 9 outputs a pulse 10, and the pulse 10 causes the latch circuit 11 to latch the input state of the switch 8. The pulse 10 is input to the hardware interrupt input terminal INT of the microcomputer 1, so that the microcomputer 1 can know the input at the same time as the input to the operation unit, and the input terminals P01 to P08 of the microcomputer 1 are latched. It is possible to read the output of the circuit 11 and to know which switch 8 has been pressed. The pulse generation circuit 9 also has an input filter function of outputting the pulse 10 after the contact bounce of the switch 8 is completed.

The step motor driver 12 is controlled by the output terminals P10 to P13 of the microcomputer 1. The step motor 13 is driven by the output of the step motor driver 12. The step motor 13 switches between transmission / epi-illumination. Further, the sensors 14 and 15 are sensors for detecting the switching state of transmission / emission, and the output thereof is the terminal P2 of the microcomputer 1.
1, P21, and the microcomputer 1 controls the step motor 13 according to the input state. The DC motor driver 16 is controlled by the output terminals P30 and P31 of the microcomputer 1.
The DC motor 17 is driven by the output of the DC motor driver 16. The DC motor 17 switches the magnification of the objective lens. Further, the sensors 18 and 19 detect the magnification switching state of the objective lens, and the outputs thereof are input to the input terminals P40 and P41 of the microcomputer 1, and the microcomputer 1 detects D by the input state.
The C motor 17 is controlled.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. 4 and 5 show the schematic flow of the program of the microcomputer 1.
When the system is powered on, the program starts from the start of S20, the system is initialized in S21, and the microcomputer 1 stops its operation as shown in S22. The operation can be stopped by controlling the control input 7 in FIG. 3 by a program. The method of stopping the operation is slightly different depending on the microcomputer 1 used, but it can be stopped by performing a method suitable for each microcomputer 1. The operation starts when the switch 8 of the operation unit is pressed and the pulse 10 of FIG. 2 is input to the INT terminal of the microcomputer 1. When the pulse 10 is input to the INT terminal, the clock oscillation circuit 3 in FIG. 3 starts operating, and when the oscillation stabilizes,
The interrupt process S23 of FIG. 5 is started. First S
The switch input state of 24 is read, and what switch is pressed is determined in S25. If the switch input is an objective lens changeover switch, S26
If the switch is a transmission / epi-illumination switch, the transmission / epi-illumination switching operation of S27 is performed. When the operation is completed, the RET in S28 causes the operation shown in FIG.
Returning to the program, the microcomputer stop processing of S22 is immediately performed.

As described above, since the microcomputer operating at the very high system clock 6 is stopped when the operation is not performed, there is no generated clock noise and the power supply current is very small. The noise caused by the power supply current is also very small.

Since the operation is almost stopped at the time of measuring the minute current and voltage, extremely high precision measurement can be expected in this embodiment. Moreover, since the operation can be performed immediately by pressing the switch 8, the operability is extremely good.

Further, the operation unit can be operated electrically and spatially separated by transmitting signals by emitting and receiving infrared rays or the like without electrically connecting the microcomputer 1 to the operation unit. The problems such as vibration of the microscope can be reduced.

Further, if the separated operation section is instructed to operate by a communication input from a personal computer or the like instead of a switch, a new problem of noise generated when the personal computer or the like is connected to the system will occur. It is possible to prevent it, and a personal computer enables automatic measurement over a long period of time, including the operation in the middle, and the effect is very large.

Although the step motor and the DC motor 17 are used as the actuator in this embodiment, it is naturally possible to use other actuators such as an AC motor, an ultrasonic motor and a solenoid. Further, the parts to be automated are not limited to the objective lens magnification switching and transmission / epi-illumination switching of this embodiment, and various other optical path switching, automatic focusing processing, automatic photography, filter switching, intermediate magnification switching,
The concept of the present invention can be applied to the adjustment of the field diaphragm, the adjustment of the aperture diaphragm, the switching of the condenser lens, and the like, and the same can be implemented.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. Second
In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the microscope system is controlled by a plurality of controllers. This is a master controller 29, a slave controller (1) 30, a slave controller (2) 31, a communication bus 32, and an operating unit 3.
3, an electric bus 34, an operation unit 35, and an electric bus 36.

The master controller 29, the slave controller 31, and the slave microscope 30 are connected by a communication bus 32 so that they can communicate with each other. The master controller 29 controls the entire microscope system as a whole, and has an operation unit 33 connected by an electric bus 34. The slave controller 31 controls the same function as that of the first embodiment, that is, switching of the magnification of the objective lens and switching of transmission / epi-illumination.
It can be operated by the operation unit 35 connected by the electric bus 36 or the operation unit 33 of the master controller 29. The slave controller 30 controls switching of filters and change of aperture amount. Then, those operations are performed by the operation unit 33 of the master controller 29.

Next, detailed configurations of the respective controllers and operation units will be described. FIG. 7 shows the configurations of the master controller 29 and the operation unit 33, and the description of the same components as those in the first embodiment will be omitted. The communication controller 37 is connected to the communication bus 32. The communication controller 37 also generates an interrupt signal 46 when receiving data from the communication bus 32. Interrupt signal 46
The pulse output 10 is input to the OR circuit 38, and the output of the OR circuit 38 is input to the INT terminal of the microcomputer 1. That is, when the switch 8 is pressed or receives, a pulse is input to the INT terminal. Since the communication controller 37 can confirm the presence or absence of reception from the microcomputer 1 via the address / data bus 45, if a pulse is input to the INT terminal, it can be confirmed whether or not the pulse is due to reception. Then, in the case of a pulse by reception, the microcomputer 1 can read the data received via the address / data bus 45. The image memory 39 stores the data displayed on the display 43. The data in the image memory 39 written by the microcomputer 1 is converted from a parallel signal to a serial signal by the image data conversion unit 40. The converted data is input to the display 43 together with the scanning signal from the sync signal generator 41, and an image is displayed on the display 43. On the display 43, it is possible to display information necessary for the operation of the system state, for example, the current magnification of the objective lens, the state of illumination, the filter position diaphragm amount, and the like. The display power supply 44 can be controlled by the microcomputer 1 as to whether or not power is supplied to the display 43. Further, the clock generation circuit 42 is the synchronization signal generation unit 4
1, which is a clock generation circuit for supplying the signal to the control circuit 1, and the microcomputer 1 can control whether the clock is output or not.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the slave controller 31 and the operation unit 35. The description of the same components as those of the first embodiment and the master controller will be omitted. The high side switch 47 can turn on / off the power supply of the step motor driver 12, and the on / off can be controlled by the microcomputer 1. The high side switch 48 turns on / off the power supply of the DC motor driver 16.
It can be turned off, and on / off can be controlled by the microcomputer 1.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the slave controller 30. Although all the constituent elements are described above, the step motor 13 and the sensors 14 and 15 control the diaphragm, and the DC
The motor 17 and the sensors 18 and 19 control the switching of filters. Also, slave controller 3
Since 0 has no operation unit, only the interrupt signal 46 from the communication controller 37 is connected to the INT terminal of the microcomputer 1.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. When all the microcomputers 1 are turned on, they are shown in FIG.
The system is initialized and the operation is stopped according to the flow. The method of stopping the operation is the same as in the first embodiment. After that,
The microcomputer 1 of the master controller 29 operates in accordance with the slave controller 31 of FIG. 10, the microcomputer 1 operates in accordance with the flowchart of FIG. 11, and the microcomputer 1 of the slave controller 30 operates in accordance with the general flow of FIG. First, in the master controller 29, when the interrupt processing S49 is started, the interrupt factor of S50 is checked first. If it is a switch input, the switch input state is read in as in S51. The process is branched by the controller in charge of the function corresponding to the switch pressed in S52 by the switch input. If the switch is related to the master controller, the display-on process of S53 is performed. In the second embodiment, the master controller itself controls only the display, and as one example, the display-on process of S53 is performed. The display-on process is a function of causing the display to display nothing (2-3 SEC) by pressing a switch when necessary so that the display normally does not display anything.

In order to make the display easier to understand, a large-sized display is often used in recent years, but since scanning or the like is performed, there is a problem such as generation of noise. Therefore, the problem of noise can be remarkably solved by displaying only when it is desired to display it and turning off the light normally.

The display is turned on / off by turning on / off the power supply 44 from the microcomputer 1 and turning on / off the clock generating circuit 42 input to the synchronizing signal generating section 41, as described with reference to FIG.

The display that is always required can be displayed with low noise by statically lighting an LED or the like. In the case of the switch related to the slave controller 31, the slave switch 31 is instructed by communication as indicated by S55 and S56 by the pressed switch. In the case of a switch relating to the slave controller 30, the pressed switch instructs the slave controller 30 by communication as shown in S58 and S59.

The slave controller 30, which has received the instruction,
11, the interrupt processing shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 is started. In this case, since the interrupt factor is reception, S65,
The reception process of S76 is performed. First, the case where a command is sent to the slave controller 30 will be described. As shown in FIG. 11, the input command is checked as shown in S66, and if it is the objective lens switching command, the power source of the DC motor driver is set to the high side switch 4
It is turned on by turning on 8, and the objective lens switching S6
After step 8, the high side switch 48 is turned off again to turn off the power as shown in S69. Command is transparent /
Also in the case of the epi-illumination switching command, the power of the step motor driver is turned on only when the same processing is performed.
When the processing ends with any of the commands, the operation completion of the master controller shown in S70 is notified. In the master controller, the system status is updated by the processing of S60 in FIG. 10, and when the system status is displayed, the updated status is displayed. Since the slave controller 31 has the operation unit 35 by itself, the operation may be started by the operation of the operation unit 35. In this case, the master controller is notified in step S74 at the end of the process.

Like the slave controller 31, the slave controller 30 also turns on the power supply only during processing. The operation is the same as that of the slave controller 31 except that it does not have an operation unit itself, and therefore its explanation is omitted.

As described above, even in the system having a plurality of controllers / microcomputers 1, the microcomputer 1 is operated only when the operation is required, and therefore the noise problem occurs during the non-operation as in the first embodiment. Remarkably reduced. Furthermore, the effect is greater than that of the first embodiment because it is a plurality of microcomputers. Further, in the present embodiment, the display that generates a lot of noise and the power system circuit are turned on only when necessary.
It is possible to reduce noise much more than the embodiment. The effects described at the end of the first embodiment and various variations are naturally possible.

[0036]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a microscope system which can easily and sufficiently suppress the generation of noise and enable more efficient and high-level measurement.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a microscope system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a control device of a first embodiment of the microscope system of FIG.

3 is a diagram showing the oscillator and the capacitor of FIG. 2. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a control device of a second embodiment of the first microscope system.

7 is a diagram showing a master controller and an operation unit of the control device of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the master controller and the operation unit of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the slave controller of FIG. 6;

10 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the control device in FIG.

11 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the control device in FIG.

12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the control device in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Microcomputer, 2 ... Oscillator / capacitor,
8 ... Operation unit switch, 9 ... Pulse generation circuit, 10 ... Pulse, 11 ... Latch circuit, 12 ... Step motor driver, 13 ... Step motor, 14, 15 ... Sensor, 1
6 ... DC motor driver, 17 ... DC motor, 18,
19 ... Objective lens.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A microscope system having at least one function capable of controlling the state of a microscope by at least one microcomputer and an operating means for operating the function, wherein the operation of the microcomputer is performed by the operating means. And a means for stopping the control when the control of the microcomputer corresponding to the operating means is completed. 2. The microscope system according to claim 1, wherein the microcomputer has a clock oscillation circuit for generating a system clock for operating the microcomputer, and the clock oscillation circuit is provided when the microcomputer is stopped. A microscope system comprising means for stopping a clock oscillation circuit. 3. The microscope system according to claim 1, further comprising a circuit that generates a large amount of noise, such as an oscillation circuit and a circuit that operates with a high-speed clock, and at least when the operation of the microcomputer is stopped. A microscope system comprising means for stopping the operation of a circuit that generates a large amount of noise.