Aperture stop device

• US 20050168809A1
• Filed: 01/11/2005
• Published: 08/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Carl Zeiss Surgical GmbH (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: CARL Zeiss SMT AG (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Inventors: Reimer, Peter, Andrews, Peter, Moller, Gerhard
• Granted Patent: US 7,777,971 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 359/368
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/22 Stereoscopic arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/005 Diaphragms for cameras G03B9/02

Abstract

An aperture stop device is provided for use in a microscope with at least one adjustable observation parameter. The aperture stop device includes at least one aperture stop (50a, 50b) with an adjustable aperture, that is to say with an adjustable stop opening. The aperture stop (50a, 50b) is adapted to receive an aperture signal representative of an aperture to be adjusted. In addition the aperture stop device includes a control unit (52) for output of the aperture signal to the aperture stop (50a, 50b) in dependence at least on the respectively set value of the observation parameter of the microscope.

Claims

1. An aperture stop device for use in a microscope with at least one adjustable observation parameter, comprising

at least one aperture stop (50a, 50b) with an adjustable aperture, which is adapted to receive an aperture signal representative of an aperture to be adjusted, and

a control unit (52) for outputting the aperture signal to the aperture stop (50a, 50b) in dependence at least on the respectively adjusted value of the observation parameter.

2. The aperture stop device of claim 1, wherein output of the aperture signal to the aperture stop (50a, 50b) is effected in dependence on the value of the magnification factor and/or the working distance of the microscope from the object being observed and/or the brightness or the intensity of the illumination as an observation parameter to be adjusted.

3. The aperture stop device of claim 1, further comprising a detector (54) connected to the control unit (52) for detecting the adjusted value of the observation parameter and for outputting to the control unit (52) a parameter signal representative of the detected value of the observation parameter.

4. The aperture stop device of claim 1, wherein the aperture stop (50a, 50b) is an iris stop.

5. The aperture stop device of claim 1, with a transmission display to be varied as the aperture stop (50a, 50b).

6. The aperture stop device of claim 5 with an LCD shutter as the transmission display to be varied.

7. The aperture stop device of claim 1, further comprising a memory (56) which is to be read out by the control unit (52), for storing at least one relationship which associates a number of aperture signals with a number of values of the observation parameter.

8. The aperture stop device of claim 7, further comprising an input device (58) which is connected to at least one of the memory (56) and the control unit (52) for inputting a relationship which is to be stored and which associates a number of aperture signals with a number of values of the observation parameter.

9. The aperture stop device of claim 8, wherein the memory (56) is adapted to store a plurality of relationships which respectively associate a number of aperture signals with a number of values of the observation parameter, and which also includes a selector device (58) for selecting one of the relationships.

10. The aperture stop device of claim 1, wherein the at least one aperture stop (50a, 50b) includes two aperture stops (50a, 50b) with an adjustable aperture, which are respectively adapted to receive the aperture signal.

11. The aperture stop device of claim 1, further comprising a switch for switching adjustment of the aperture on and off in dependence on the respectively set value of the observation parameter.

12. A microscope including a device (14) for adjusting the value of an observation parameter and an aperture stop device (50a, 50b, 52) according to claim 1.

13. The microscope of claim 12 wherein the device for adjusting the value of an observation parameter is a zoom system (14) for adjusting the magnification factor as the observation parameter to be adjusted.

14. The microscope of claim 12, wherein the microscope is a stereomicroscope with two observation beam paths (A, B) and wherein the aperture stop device (50a, 50b, 52) comprises two aperture stops (50a, 50b) arranged respectively in each of the two observation beam paths (A, B).

15. A method of adjusting an optical property of a microscope with an adjustable observation parameter, comprising the steps:

ascertaining the value of the observation parameter set in the microscope, and

adjusting the aperture of the microscope in dependence on the ascertained value of the observation parameter.