JPH1195125A - System and method for photographing microscopic digital image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a microscopic image with high definition, a high viewing angle and natural gradation by a simple operation without specially correcting the gradation by photographing by using the image input gain for a first small- section photographing or a whole image photographing time for deciding the viewing angle as the image input gain of subsequent small-section photographing. SOLUTION: A camera head 8 is provided with a solid image pickup element and an image forming optical system forming the image of light transmitted through a sample S under observation. A camera control unit 9 is provided with an AGC automatically adjusting the gain of a voltage outputted against an incident light quantity. Besides, the unit 9 is constituted so that the analog image data of the head 8 is transferred to an A/D converter 10, digitized and transferred to a frame memory 11. Then, the digital image data is converted into the analog data and displayed on an image monitor 13. The divided number of small-sections corresponding to the combination of a low-magnification objective lens used for deciding the viewing angle and a high-magnification objective lens used for the devided photographing of the small sections is recorded in the memory of a microcomputer 14 as table information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a microscope apparatus which inputs microscope image information and processes the image information to form a high-resolution and wide-angle image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Normally, when observing a specimen using a microscope, the range that can be observed at a time is mainly determined by the magnification of the objective lens. However, when the objective lens has a high magnification, the observation range is extremely small. It is limited to a part.

However, when the microscope is used for pathological diagnosis such as cytodiagnosis and histological diagnosis, it is necessary to grasp the whole image of the specimen in order to prevent oversight of the diagnosis site. Also, with the development of information processing technology in recent years, there has been a demand for realizing a high-resolution image similar to that of a conventional silver halide film in a microscope observation image used for pathological diagnosis.

Various techniques have been developed to form a high-resolution or wide-angle image. As one of the techniques, there is a technique of reconstructing an entire specimen image by image synthesis.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 5-313071 discloses that a desired observation range is divided into a plurality of small sections, and the input images of the respective small sections are aligned and arranged in accordance with the input positions, so that the entire image of the specimen is obtained. Is disclosed.

There is another technique for forming a high-resolution image using a plurality of image sensors. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 141246, an image pickup area of a plurality of image pickup devices is arranged so as to partially overlap each other, and an overlapping area of image data input from the image pickup device is used.
An imaging device that obtains a high-resolution image by adjoining adjacent images and restoring them into one image is disclosed.

[0007]

The above-mentioned prior art has the following problems. First, usually CCD or C
2. Description of the Related Art A photographing apparatus using a semiconductor imaging device such as an MD employs an automatic gain control (hereinafter, AGC) for automatically adjusting a gain of an incident light amount versus an output voltage in order to optimize a gradation of an image.
).

For this reason, every time a divided small section is photographed, AG
C is working, and the gradation is different depending on the distribution of the sample in the small section. When forming an image with a high resolution and a wide angle of view by pasting the images of these small sections, if the small sections with different gradations are pasted together, an unnatural jointed whole image is obtained. In order to prevent this, when forming an entire image, it is necessary to separately perform tone correction over the entire image.

[0009] Further, when photographing the whole image of another portion, it is necessary to operate the lock / unlock of the AGC each time before photographing the small section. Therefore, the present invention uses a normal optical microscope, does not require special tone correction, and can easily and easily form a high-definition, wide-field-of-view, natural-level microscope image photographing microscope. It is an object to provide a system and an imaging method thereof.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image input means for inputting an optical microscope image of an observation sample loaded in a microscope as a digital image signal, and photographing the microscope image. Magnification control means for changing the magnification to the desired magnification, and from the angle of view of the entire image of the microscope image of the observation sample, based on the desired imaging magnification,
Image dividing means for dividing the whole image into a plurality of small sections,
Input image gain detection means for detecting and setting an appropriate input image gain when capturing the entire image or small section of the microscope image by the image input means, and image information of the small section taken by the image input means. Image storage means for storing, image information of a small section read out from the image storage means, image bonding means for bonding, and monitor means for displaying images and information on the observation specimen,
At the time of the first small section photographing or photographing using the image input gain of the image input means at the time of photographing the whole image for determining the angle of view as the image input gain of the subsequent small section photographing, the high resolution whole image is taken. The present invention provides a microscope digital image capturing system.

In a method of photographing a microscope digital image for observing a high-resolution microscope image of an observation sample using a microscope, an angle of view of an entire image with respect to the observation sample is determined, and an appropriate image input gain is determined. Detecting and setting the gain of the subsequent input image, and setting the desired photographing magnification for the observation sample, setting the number of divisions of the image, and bonding the small sections photographed with the number of divisions, Forming a whole image of the observation sample.

Further, in the microscope digital image photographing method, a step of determining an angle of view of the whole image with respect to the observation sample, and a step of setting the number of divisions of the whole image by setting a desired photographing magnification for the observation sample. Capturing the small number of partitions on the observation sample and fixing an appropriate image input gain of the first captured small partition as an input image gain of a small partition subsequently captured; Laminating small sections photographed by different numbers to form an overall image of the observation sample, and providing a digital image photographing method for a microscope.

In the microscope digital image photographing system and the photographing method having the above-described structure, the angle of view of the entire image is determined at a low magnification, the same angle of view is divided into a plurality of small sections, and the height of the first small section is increased. At the time of magnification photographing, the gain of the image input means is fixed, and a high-resolution photographed image of a plurality of divided small sections is attached to form a high-resolution whole image.

Further, when determining the angle of view of the whole image at a low magnification, the gain of the image input means is fixed, the same angle of view is divided into a plurality of small sections, and the high-magnification photographed image of the divided small sections is divided. By bonding, a high-resolution whole image is formed.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows and describes the overall configuration of a microscope digital image photographing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This system is roughly divided into a microscope section for optically extracting an entire image or an observation sample image (microscope image) of a small section from the observation sample S at a desired magnification, and a camera section for converting the observation sample image into an image signal. , An image processing unit that forms a high-magnification image from these image signals, and an image monitor that displays the formed image.

The microscope section has a sample stage 2 on which an observation sample S to be observed is placed. Below the sample stage 2, a transmission filter unit 20 and a transmission field stop 2
1, transmission aperture stop 22, condenser optical element unit 2
3. The condenser top lens unit 24 and the transmitted illumination light source 1 composed of, for example, a halogen lamp are arranged.
The observation sample S on the sample stage 2 is illuminated from below.

A revolver 4, an AF beam splitter 25, an AF beam splitter 25, and a plurality of interchangeable objective lenses 3a to 3f are arranged above the sample stage 2 on the optical axis in the observation optical path. A light receiving element 26 for detection, a zoom lens 5, an observation beam splitter 6 for splitting an observation sample image, and an eyepiece 7 are arranged. A camera unit is provided above the eyepiece 7. The microscope unit includes a microscope control unit 1 that controls the entire components.
9 is provided.

In the above-structured microscope section, the illumination light generated by the transmission illumination light source 1 is condensed by a collector lens, enters the transmission filter unit 20, and is adjusted by the transmission filter unit 20. I do. The adjusted illumination light is transmitted to the transmission field stop 21 and the transmission aperture stop 2.
2. The observation sample S is illuminated from below the illumination opening of the sample stage 2 through the condenser optical element unit 23 and the condenser top lens unit 24. In the specimen stage 2, two-dimensional movement in a plane orthogonal to the optical axis and movement in the optical axis direction for focusing are performed by the microscope control unit 19 to change the observation site of the observation sample S.

The light (observation sample image) transmitted through the observation sample S and condensed by the objective lens passes through the AF beam splitter 25, the zoom lens 5 for arbitrarily adjusting the observation magnification, and the observation beam splitter 6. To the camera head 8.

The AF beam splitter 25 is detachable from the optical path.
One of the lights branched by the above is guided to the focus detection light receiving element 26 via the imaging lens, and is used for the photometric calculation for AF control. The observation beam splitter 6 is also detachable from the optical path, and guides the light transmitted through the observation sample S to the eyepiece 7 or the camera unit.

The camera section comprises a camera head 8 and a camera control unit 9. The camera head 8 forms a solid-state image pickup device composed of, for example, a CMD (Charge Modulation Device), and forms light transmitted through the observation sample S on the CMD. And an imaging optical system for causing The camera control unit 9 has an AGC for automatically adjusting the gain of the incident light amount versus the output voltage.
Is provided.

The camera control unit 9 for controlling the camera head 8 transfers the analog image data from the camera head 8 to the A / D converter 10. A /
The D converter 10 digitizes the image data captured by the camera head 8 and transfers it to the frame memory 11. The digital image data stored in the frame memory 11 is converted into analog data by a D / A converter 12 and displayed on an image monitor 13.

The image processing section 18 includes a memory for storing programs and control information for performing various system operations and processes, and the microcomputer 14 for performing image processing.
An image information memory 15 capable of storing a plurality of digital image data from the frame memory 11, an operation panel 16 described later, a revolver rotation instruction, a zoom magnification instruction, and an AF control instruction for the microscope. , And a communication device 17 for transmitting a stage movement instruction and the like. The microscope control unit 19 described above receives the various instructions from the communication device 17 of the image processing unit 18 and controls the corresponding components in the microscope.

FIG. 2 shows a specific configuration example of the operation panel 16. The operation panel 16 is provided with various switches and a display unit. A release switch 31 for starting shooting of the whole image of the observation sample, an angle of view objective lens magnification setting switch 32, a division number display unit 33, and an observation unit Objective lens changeover switches 34a to 34f for setting an objective lens to be inserted into the optical path are provided.

The angle-of-view determining objective lens magnification setting switch 32 is, for example, an illuminated switch. The switch illuminating portion illuminates, and it can be specified that the angle-of-view determining objective lens magnification is set.

The memory of the microcomputer 14 corresponds to a combination of a low-magnification objective lens used for determining an angle of view and a high-magnification objective lens used for divided photographing of a series of small sections. The number of subdivisions is
It is recorded as table information as shown in Table 1.

[0028]

[Table 1] Here, for example, when the low magnification for determining the angle of view is set to 4 × and the high magnification for divided shooting is set to 20 ×, the number of divisions is 5 × 5 = 2.
There are five sections. The memory of the microcomputer 14 has a sample stage 2 corresponding to a combination of a low-magnification objective lens used for determining the angle of view in advance and a high-magnification objective lens used for divided photographing of a series of small sections. Is recorded as table information as shown in Table 2 below.

[0029]

[Table 2] Here, for example, the movement sequence information s8 when the low magnification for determining the angle of view is set to 4 × and the high magnification for divided shooting is set to 10 ×
Are nine two-dimensional vectors for moving the sample stage 2 by the number of divisions, that is, nine times.

S8: {(x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3), (x4, y
4), (x5, y5), (x6, y6), (x7, y7), (x8, y8), (x9, y9)} FIG. This shows the relationship between the vectors.

Next, the operation of the thus configured microscope digital image photographing system will be described. First, shooting of the entire image will be described.

The revolver 4 is equipped with, for example, a total of six objective lenses having a magnification of 1.25, 2, 4, 10, 20, and 40 times. When photographing the entire image of the observation sample, the operator operates the operation panel 16 shown in FIG.
, First, the objective lens changeover switches 34a to 34a
After setting the objective lens of the desired magnification by operating 4f,
The angle of view of the whole image of the observation sample is determined.

Next, the angle-of-view determining objective lens magnification setting switch 32 is depressed. At this time, the switch illuminating part is illuminated, and it is clearly indicated that the objective angle magnification for determining the angle of view has been set.
When any one of the objective lens changeover switches 34a to 34f is pressed, a high-magnification objective lens for divided photographing is set, and the set objective angle magnification objective lens magnification and the divided photographing objective lens magnification are determined as described above. The determined number of divisions is displayed on the division number display section 33, and the release switch 31 is displayed.
Waits for the button to be pressed.

In this description, the low magnification for determining the angle of view is 4
It is assumed that 10 × has been set as the high magnification for the multiplication and divisional photography. This means that the number of divisions of the small section is set to 9 and the movement sequence information of the sample stage 2 is set to s8.

Next, a first example of an image capturing operation of a small section by the microscope digital image capturing system will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. First, a series of photographing is started by pressing the release switch 31 (step S1). Then, the revolver 4 is rotated to change the objective lens from 4 × to 10 × (Step S2).

Next, the optical axis of the microscope is located at the center (x5, y5) of the small section divided into nine as shown in FIG. 3, and the AGC provided in the camera control unit 9 is moved to the vicinity of the center of the whole image. Locking (setting of image input gain) is performed with the gain calculated from the high magnification image (step S3).

Then, "9" is set as the number of times of repetitive shooting in the counter of the subsequent repetition loop (step S).
4), it is determined whether or not the count number of this repetition loop has become "0" (step S5).

If the count value does not become "0" (No), the movement information of the sample stage 2 in s8 is sequentially followed, and (x5, y5) to (x5) in the first time.
(1, y1) (Step S)
6). Thereafter, according to the path of the arrow shown in FIG.
It moves sequentially to y9).

After moving to the predetermined position, the small section within the visual field range is photographed by the camera head 7 (step S7). After this photographing, the camera unit 9 processes this image signal with the gain locked in step S3, and outputs it to the A / D converter 10. Image data from the A / D converter 10 is transferred to the frame memory 11.
Then, the image data of each of the small sections stored in the frame memory 11 is sequentially stored in the image information memory as shown in FIG. 3, and is pasted together to form a high-resolution whole image.

Next, after decrementing the counter of the repetition loop (step S8), the process returns to step S5, and a determination is made with a new count number. Steps S6 to S8 are repeated until the count number becomes "0". When the count reaches “0” (Yes), a series of processes is terminated.

Next, a second example different from the small-section image forming operation of the first example described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, a series of photographing is started by pressing the release switch 31 (step S11). At this time, the optical axis of the microscope is located at the center (x5, y5) of the small section divided into nine as shown in FIG. 3, and the AGC provided in the camera control unit 9 is a low-magnification image near the center of the whole image. Lock (setting of image input gain) with the detected gain (step S12).

Next, the revolver 4 is rotated to change the objective lens from 4 × to 10 × (step S13). Then, "9" is set as the number of times of repetitive shooting in the counter of the subsequent repetition loop (step S14), and it is determined whether or not the count of this repetition loop has become "0" (step S15).

If the count does not become "0" (No) in this determination (No), the movement information of the sample stage 2 in s8 is sequentially followed, and (x5, y5) to (x5)
(1, y1) (Step S)
16). Thereafter, according to the path of the arrow shown in FIG.
9, y9).

After moving to the predetermined position, the small section within the visual field range is photographed by the camera head 7 (step S17). After this photographing, the camera unit 9 processes this image signal with the gain locked in step S12, and outputs it to the A / D converter 10. A / D converter 1
The image data from 0 is transferred to the frame memory 11. Then, the image data of each of the small sections stored in the frame memory 11 is sequentially stored in the image information memory as shown in FIG. 3, and is pasted together to form a high-resolution whole image.

Next, after decrementing the counter of the repetition loop (step S18), step S15 is performed.
And the determination is performed using the new count number. Steps S16 to S1 are performed until the count number becomes “0”.
The processing up to 8 is repeated, and the count number becomes “0”.
If (Yes), a series of processing ends.

In the present embodiment, the gain of the image input is detected from the center of the whole image of the observation sample or the center of the small section, and is used as a reference. However, the present invention is not limited to this. May be used as a reference. For example, if the part to be observed most is a dark part in the whole image, an appropriate gain may be set to the observed part.

In the present embodiment, (x1,
The images were taken sequentially from (y1) to (x9, y9), but the order of taking the images is not limited to this, and may be any order.

As described above in detail, according to the microscope digital image photographing system of the present embodiment, an image having a high resolution, a wide angle of view, and a natural gradation can be formed by a simple operation. In particular, the present embodiment is effective for an image in which the distribution of observation specimens is sparse, and is also effective for an image in which the distribution of observation specimens is uniform.

While the above embodiments have been described, the present invention includes the following inventions. (1) image input means for inputting a microscope image;
Image storage means for storing image information, image display means for displaying image information, image bonding means for bonding a plurality of images, and scaling control means for changing the observation magnification of the microscope And, stage control means for moving the stage holding the observation sample in the vertical plane direction with respect to the optical axis, and determine the angle of view of the whole image at low magnification,
In a microscope digital image capturing system that divides the same angle of view into a plurality of small sections and pastes a series of high-magnification captured images of the plurality of small sections to form a high-resolution whole image,
A microscope digital image photographing system, wherein the gain of an image input means is fixed at the time of first high magnification photographing of a small section.

(Effects) According to the present invention, the angle of view of the entire image is determined at low magnification, the same number of images is divided into a plurality of small sections, and the gain of the image input means is set at the time of high magnification photographing of the first small section. Is fixed, and a high-resolution whole image is formed by bonding a series of high-magnification photographed images of a plurality of small sections.

(2) Image input means for inputting a microscope image, image storage means for storing image information, image display means for displaying image information, and for pasting a plurality of images together Image bonding means, a magnification control means for changing the observation magnification of the microscope, and a stage control means for moving the stage holding the observation sample in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis, and at a low magnification Determine the angle of view of the whole image, divide the same angle of view into multiple small sections, and paste a series of high-magnification shot images of multiple small sections,
A microscope digital image photographing system for forming a high-resolution whole image, wherein a gain of an image input means is fixed when an angle of view of the whole image is determined at a low magnification.

(Function and Effect) According to the present invention, the gain of the image input means is fixed when the angle of view of the whole image is determined at a low magnification.
The same angle of view is divided into a plurality of small sections, and a high-resolution photographed image of a series of the plurality of small sections is attached to form a high-resolution whole image.

(3) Image input means for inputting an optical microscope image of the observation sample loaded in the microscope as a digital image signal, magnification changing control means for changing the photographing magnification of the microscope image to a desired magnification, An image dividing unit that divides the entire image of the microscope image of the observation sample into a plurality of small sections based on the desired photographing magnification, and is suitable for photographing the entire image or the small section of the microscope image by the image input unit. Input image gain detecting means for detecting and setting an appropriate input image gain, image storing means for storing image information of the small section photographed by the image input means, and reading out the image information of the small section from the image storing means, An image pasting means for pasting, and a monitor means for displaying an image and information on the observation sample, comprising: A digital image photographing system for microscopes, wherein an image input gain of an image input means at the time of photographing an entire image for determining an angle of view is used as an image input gain for photographing a small section thereafter.

(Effects) According to the present invention, when the observation magnification of the observation sample, ie, the photographing magnification, is determined, the number of small sections (division number) for dividing the whole image of the observation sample into a plurality is set, and the low magnification is set. Either the image input gain at the time of photographing the whole image or the image input gain at the time of photographing the first small section at a high magnification is used for photographing the subsequent small section. Then, a series of high-magnification photographed images of a plurality of small sections are pasted together to form a high-resolution whole image. (4) The image dividing means has a low-magnification angle of view of 10 times or less for determining the angle of view for photographing the whole image, and a high-magnification of not less than the angle of view for photographing the small section. The microscope digital image photographing system according to the above item (3), further comprising a table of the number (the number of small sections) for dividing the whole image determined in advance by the high magnification for divided photographing.

(Effects) According to the present invention, after the user has photographed the entire image at a low magnification for determining the angle of view, and then sets a high magnification for divisional photography for photographing a small section, the table is set accordingly. , A predetermined number of divisions is automatically set.

[0056]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, there is no need for special gradation correction using a normal optical microscope, and a simple operation allows high definition, a wide angle of view, and a natural image. It is possible to provide a microscope digital image photographing system and a photographing method for forming a gradation microscope image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration example as an embodiment of a microscope digital image photographing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an appearance of an operation panel in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a divided small section in the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an example of an operation of photographing a small section in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining another example of the operation for photographing a small section in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Transmission illumination light source 2 ... Sample stage 3 ... Objective lens 4 ... Revolver 5 ... Zoom lens 6 ... Beam splitter 7 ... Eyepiece 8 ... Camera head 9 ... Camera control unit 10 ... A / D converter 11 ... Frame memory 12 ... D / A converter 13 ... Image monitor 14 ... Microcomputer 15 ... Image information memory 16 ... Operation panel 17 ... Communication device 18 ... Image processing unit 19 ... Microscope control unit 20 ... Transmission filter unit 21 ... Transmission field stop 22 ... Transmission Aperture stop 23 ... condenser optical element unit 24 ... condenser top lens unit 25 ... beam splitter 26 ... focus detection light receiving element 31 ... release switch 32 ... field angle determination objective lens magnification setting switch 33 ... divided number display section 34a-34f ... object Lens changeover switch S: Observation This

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image input unit for inputting an optical microscope image of an observation sample loaded in a microscope as a digital image signal, a magnification control unit for changing a photographing magnification of the microscope image to a desired magnification, An image dividing unit that divides the whole image into a plurality of small sections based on the desired imaging magnification based on the angle of view of the whole image of the microscope image of the observation sample; and the whole image or small image of the microscope image by the image input unit. Input image gain detecting means for detecting and setting an appropriate input image gain at the time of photographing a section; image storing means for storing image information of a small section photographed by the image input means; An image attaching means for reading out and attaching the image information of the section, and a monitor means for displaying an image and information relating to the observation specimen; When compartment shooting or microscopic digital imaging system an image input gain of the image input means when the whole image photographing, characterized by using as an image input gain subsequent cubicle shooting for angle determined. 2. A method of photographing a microscope digital image for observing a high-resolution microscope image of an observation sample using a microscope, wherein an angle of view of an entire image with respect to the observation sample is determined, and an appropriate image input gain is determined. Detecting, setting as a gain of the subsequent input image; setting a desired number of photographing magnifications for the observation sample; setting a number of divisions of the image; and bonding small sections photographed with the number of divisions, Forming a whole image of the observation sample. 3. A microscope digital image photographing method for observing a high-resolution microscope image of an observation sample using a microscope, comprising: determining an angle of view of an entire image of the observation sample; Setting the number of divisions of the whole image by setting the appropriate photographing magnification, and photographing the small number of divisions with respect to the observation sample, and setting an appropriate image input gain of the firstly photographed small division in the subsequent steps. A digital microscope comprising: a step of fixing an input image gain of a small section to be photographed; and a step of bonding the small sections photographed by the above-mentioned division number to form an entire image of the observation sample. Image shooting method.