BIOLOGICAL SAMPLE IMAGE ACQUIRING APPARATUS, BIOLOGICAL SAMPLE IMAGE ACQUIRING METHOD, AND BIOLOGICAL SAMPLE IMAGE ACQUIRING PROGRAM

• US 20100321484A1
• Filed: 06/10/2010
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kishima, Koichiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,235,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/79
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/6458 Fluorescence microscopy fluorescence microscopes per se G02B21/0076 and G02B21/16
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/26 Stages; Adjusting means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/365 Control or image processing arrangements for digital or video microscopes G02B21/361, G02B21/362 take precedence

Abstract

A biological sample image acquiring apparatus includes: an objective lens magnifying a region of a biological sample; an imaging device imaging the region magnified by the objective lens; a movement controller moving the focus of the objective lens in the thickness direction of the target region of the biological sample and moving the image of the region, which magnified by the objective lens to be imaged onto an imaging device, in an in-plane direction; and a biological sample image acquiring unit acquiring a biological sample image of the region by exposing the imaging device to light while the movement controller is moving the image of the region.

Claims

1. A biological sample image acquiring apparatus comprising:

an objective lens magnifying a region of a biological sample;

an imaging device imaging the region magnified by the objective lens;

a movement controller moving the focus of the objective lens in the thickness direction of the target region of the biological sample and moving the image of the region, which is magnified by the objective lens to be imaged onto the imaging device, in an in-plane direction; and

a biological sample image acquiring unit acquiring a biological sample image of the region by exposing the imaging device to light while the movement controller is moving the image of the region.

2. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the movement controller moves the focus of the objective lens in the thickness direction of the target region of the biological sample and moves the relative position of the biological sample and the imaging device in the in-plane direction.

3. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an extractor extracting the image of the biological sample obtained by removing noise, which results from the existence of wobble based on the movement by the movement controller, from the image acquired by the biological sample image acquiring unit.

4. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the movement controller moves the relative position of the biological sample and the imaging device in the in-plane direction so as to change the moving speed while moving the focus of the objective lens in the thickness direction of the target region of the biological sample.

5. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the movement controller moves the relative position of the biological sample and the imaging device in the in-plane direction so as to change the moving direction while moving the focus of the objective lens in the thickness direction of the target region of the biological sample.

6. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the movement controller circularly moves the relative position of the biological sample and the imaging device in the in-plane direction while moving the focus of the objective lens in the thickness direction of the target region of the biological sample.

7. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an imaging position moving unit disposed between the objective lens and the imaging device so as to circularly move the image of the region imaged by the imaging device without changing its direction under the control of the movement controller.

8. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the imaging position moving unit includes a shaft disposed to be parallel to an optical axis between the objective lens and the imaging device, a driver rotating the shaft, and a parallel plate fixed to be inclined at a predetermined angle in relation to the shaft, partially disposed between the objective lens and the imaging device, and transmitting the image of the region magnified by the objective lens.

9. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising an emission filter disposed between the objective lens and the imaging device so as to transmit the image of the region magnified by the objective lens and block light other than the image of the region,

wherein the imaging position moving unit circularly moves the image of the region magnified by the objective lens without changing the direction thereof by moving the emission filter.

10. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising:

a light source applying light for exciting a fluorescent marker as a target label to the biological sample which is stained with the fluorescent marker; and

a calculator extracting a fluorescent image emitted from the fluorescent marker as the target label in the biological sample as a bright point, calculating the slope of the extracted bright point, and calculating the position of the fluorescent marker corresponding to the bright point in the thickness direction on the basis of the calculated slope of the bright point.

11. The biological sample image acquiring apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the movement controller moves the focus of the objective lens only in the thickness direction of the target region of the biological sample and circularly moves the relative position of the biological sample and the imaging device in the in-plane direction about the position of the focus of the objective lens moved only in the thickness direction while moving the focus of the objective lens in the thickness direction of the target region of the biological sample, and

wherein the calculator calculates the slope of the bright point on the basis of the biological sample image acquired when the movement controller moves the focus of the objective lens only in the thickness direction and the biological sample image acquired when the movement controller circularly moves the relative position while moving the focus of the objective lens in the thickness direction.

12. A biological sample image acquiring method comprising:

moving the focus of an objective lens in the thickness direction of a target region of a biological sample magnified by the objective lens and moving the image of the region, which is magnified by the objective lens to be imaged onto an imaging device, in an in-plane direction; and

acquiring a biological sample image of the region by exposing the imaging device to light during the movement.

13. A biological sample image acquiring program causing a computer to perform the steps of:

moving the focus of an objective lens in the thickness direction of a target region of a biological sample magnified by the objective lens and moving the image of the region, which is magnified by the objective lens to be imaged onto an imaging device, in an in-plane direction; and

acquiring a biological sample image of the region by exposing the imaging device to light during the movement.