Method and system for compensating intensity fluctuations of an illumination system in a confocal microscope
First Claim
1. A method for compensating intensity fluctuations of an illumination system in a confocal microscope having a scanning device and capable of generating a three-dimensional image of a specimen, the method comprising:
- providing a first electrical signal corresponding to light reflected from the specimen, providing a second electrical signal corresponding to an illumination reference, and providing a third electrical signal corresponding to a position signal, the position signal being generated by the scanning device;
converting the first electrical signal into a first digitized signal, converting the second electrical signal into a second digitized signal, and converting the third electrical signal into a third digitized signal;
compensating intensity fluctuations by processing the first and the second digitized signals in a fluctuation compensation unit to obtain a quotient of the second digitized signal over the first digitized signal; and
sending the quotient and the third digitized signal to a computer capable of utilizing the quotient and the third digitized signal for displaying the three-dimensional image of the specimen.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for compensating intensity fluctuations of an illumination system in a confocal microscope comprise a first and a second analog-to-digital converters for digitizing a first electrical signal corresponding to the light reflected from a specimen, and for digitizing a second electrical signal corresponding to an illumination reference, respectively. The digitized signals are sent to a first and a second look up tables carrying out a log conversion of the first and second electrical signals, respectively. Also provided is a calculator for correcting the first electrical signal for intensity fluctuations of the second electrical signal. The corrected electrical signal is sent to a third look up table for converting the corrected electric signal. The conversion is done by exponentiation of the corrected electrical signal.
29 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for compensating intensity fluctuations of an illumination system in a confocal microscope having a scanning device and capable of generating a three-dimensional image of a specimen, the method comprising:
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providing a first electrical signal corresponding to light reflected from the specimen, providing a second electrical signal corresponding to an illumination reference, and providing a third electrical signal corresponding to a position signal, the position signal being generated by the scanning device;
converting the first electrical signal into a first digitized signal, converting the second electrical signal into a second digitized signal, and converting the third electrical signal into a third digitized signal;
compensating intensity fluctuations by processing the first and the second digitized signals in a fluctuation compensation unit to obtain a quotient of the second digitized signal over the first digitized signal; and
sending the quotient and the third digitized signal to a computer capable of utilizing the quotient and the third digitized signal for displaying the three-dimensional image of the specimen. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for compensating intensity fluctuations in a confocal microscope, the system comprising:
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a first detector for detecting light reflected from a specimen and converting it into a first electrical signal;
a second detector for detecting light serving as an illumination reference and converting it into a second electrical signal;
a scanning device for scanning a specimen and generating a third electrical signal corresponding to a position signal of the specimen;
a control and processing unit for receiving and digitizing the first, the second and the third electrical signals and for outputting a quotient of the second digitized signal over the first digitized signal and the third digitized signal; and
a fluctuation compensation unit for processing the first and the second digitized signals to obtain the quotient of the second digitized signal over the first digitized signal. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification