Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
359382000 | Entire microscope adjustable along optical axis | 35 |
20090174937 | OBJECTIVE-COUPLED SELECTIVE PLANE ILLUMINATION MICROSCOPY - A microscope assembly ( | 07-09-2009 |
20090268282 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING THE PULLING-MEANS TENSION IN A PULLING MEANS DRIVE, AND MICROSCOPE HAVING A PULLING-MEANS DRIVE - An apparatus for adjusting a tension of a pulling device in a pulling-device drive includes a body and a lever arm. The pulling-device drive includes first and second shafts and the pulling device loops around the first and second shafts. The body includes a receptacle adapted to interact with the first shaft and a support point adapted to rotatably dispose the body about an axis of rotation. The lever arm extends from the body so that a spacing between the first and second shafts is modifiable by action of a force on the lever arm. | 10-29-2009 |
20100085635 | Reflected dark field method and apparatus - A reflected dark field structure includes a bottom plate, a support tube, a light unit, a diffuser structure, and a reflector unit that provides reflected dark field illumination, such that a gem held by the support tube and surrounded by the diffuser structure is illuminated and viewable through an aperture in the reflector unit. A method for imaging and analyzing a gem includes placing the gem onto a support tube where it is illuminated with dark field and reflected dark field illumination, and viewing the gem via an aperture located on a top reflector unit, which provides a top cover for the gem. Furthermore, a method and apparatus for obtaining images of a gem includes a dark field stage, a reflector unit, and an image-acquiring device, such that a gem placed in the dark field stage is illuminated, and such that the reflector unit covers the dark field stage and provides reflected dark field illumination, and such that the image-acquiring device is directed towards an aperture in the reflector unit. | 04-08-2010 |
20100309547 | OBJECTIVE-OPTICAL-SYSTEM POSITIONING APPARATUS AND EXAMINATION APPARATUS - An objective-optical-system positioning apparatus includes a positioning unit interposed between an objective optical system having a small-diameter end section and an examination optical system for examining light collected by the objective optical system; and a substantially cylindrical support unit, one end of which is secured to an organism, and which internally supports the small-diameter end section in a detachable manner. The positioning unit includes a holding part for holding the objective optical system and a moving mechanism supporting the holding part such that the holding part is freely movable in a direction intersecting with a direction of an optical axis of the objective optical system, and the other end of the support unit has a tapered inner surface whose diameter gradually increases toward the tip. | 12-09-2010 |
20130188249 | OPTICAL MODULE AND MICROSCOPE - An optical module includes at least a carrying stage, at least an actuator unit and at least an optical assembly. The carrying stage has a first aperture. The actuator unit is disposed at one side of the carrying stage and has a second aperture. The optical assembly is connected with the actuator unit, and the actuator unit adjusts the position of the optical assembly. A radiated wave enters from one side of the optical module and passes through the first aperture, the second aperture and the optical assembly. A microscope with the optical module has compact size and is easily assembled and carried. The optical module and microscope can efficiently reduce the effect of ambient temperature variations so as to improve the measuring stability thereof. | 07-25-2013 |
20130242384 | MANIPULATION OF TOPOGRAPHY OF LARGE-FORMAT GLASS SLIDES - System and method for correcting a topography of an object being imaged by a multi-array microscope system. The object is forced to conform to a surface of the substrate supporting the object with a suction force and the topography of the chosen object surface is determined. The supporting substrate is bent with the use of force applied to the substrate with at least one actuator such as to reduce the deviations of the determined topography of the object's surface from a pre-determined reference surface by transferring the changes in the curvature of the supporting substrate to the object. In particular, the chosen surface of the object can be substantially flattened for ease of simultaneous imaging of this surface with multiple objective of the multi-array microscope. | 09-19-2013 |
359383000 | Focus adjustment | 29 |
20080212172 | Image Processing Method for a Microscope System - An embodiment is disclosed for performing the image processing for analyzing the results of a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) microscopic automated sample analysis to determine specific chromosomal characteristics. | 09-04-2008 |
20080291532 | 3-D OPTICAL MICROSCOPE - A 3-D optical microscope, a method of turning a conventional optical microscope into a 3-D optical microscope, and a method of creating a 3-D image on an optical microscope are described. The 3-D optical microscope includes a processor, at least one objective lens, an optical sensor capable of acquiring an image of a sample, a mechanism for adjusting focus position of the sample relative to the objective lens, and a mechanism for illuminating the sample and for projecting a pattern onto and removing the pattern from the focal plane of the objective lens. The 3-D image creation method includes taking two sets of images, one with and another without the presence of the projected pattern, and using a software algorithm to analyze the two image sets to generating a 3-D image of the sample. The 3-D image creation method enables reliable and accurate 3-D imaging on almost any sample regardless of its image contrast. | 11-27-2008 |
20080304145 | INVERTED MICROSCOPE - An inverted microscope includes a lens holding mechanism which holds an objective lens arranged under a sample and used to form an observation image of the sample; a focusing mechanism which holds the lens holding mechanism on its upper part and moves the objective lens up and down together with the lens holding mechanism; and a microscope main body which serves as a casing including the focusing mechanism therein, and includes an opening allowing an attachment of the focusing mechanism and the lens holding mechanism in its upper wall surface. A size of the lens holding mechanism in a horizontal plane is larger than a size of an image projected onto the horizontal plane of the opening. | 12-11-2008 |
20080310016 | Optical apparatus and imaging method - This is an optical apparatus provided with an objective with a correction collar for correcting aberration due to an error in the optical thickness of a piece of cover glass comprising a focusing mechanism for changing a distance between the objective and the sample, an optical thickness detecting unit for detecting the optical thickness of the cover glass, an operating unit for calculating the amount of aberration correction, based on the optical thickness of the cover glass detected by the optical thickness detecting unit, a driver unit for driving a correction collar, based on the amount of aberration correction calculated by the operating unit and an imaging sensor for forming the image of the sample that passes through the objective. | 12-18-2008 |
20090002811 | Microscopic Image Capturing Device - The present invention relates to a microscopic image capturing apparatus having a structure that, in scanning an imageable area of an imaging unit in a predetermined direction in an imaging object area, in which a sample is present, can reliably set a focal point of the imaging unit on each imaging position set inside the imaging object area regardless of the type of focusing actuator. The microscopic image capturing apparatus has a sample setting stage having a sample setting surface that is inclined with respect to a scan plane orthogonal to an optical axis of an objective lens. By moving the sample setting stage, which has such a sample setting surface, along the scan plane in a manner such that the distance in the optical axis direction between the imaging unit and the sample setting surface varies monotonously, the focal point position of the imaging unit is adjusted in only one direction along the optical axis of the objective lens. In this case, even when a stepping motor is applied as the focusing actuator, the occurrence of lost motion in a driving system based on the stepping motor is prevented reliably and the focal point of the imaging unit can be set reliably on each imaging position set inside the imaging object area. | 01-01-2009 |
20090046359 | Microscope - A microscope, in the microscope for observing a sample cultured with a culture vessel, can automatically obtain information about growing conditions of the sample. For this purpose, the microscope is a microscope for observing a sample cultured with a culture vessel, and includes a focusing unit focusing on at least two faces including a first face where the sample exists in the culture vessel and a second face differing from the first face based on predetermined conditions, and an imaging unit imaging for the first face and the second face to create images. | 02-19-2009 |
20090073553 | FOCUS ADJUSTMENT UNIT AND OPTICAL SCANNING MICROSCOPE - An optical scanning microscope is provided in which the observation magnification does not greatly change even when the working distance of an objective lens is changed. The optical scanning microscope includes an objective optical system that converts the light from a specimen into a substantially collimated light beam, an imaging optical system that forms an image from the substantially collimated light beam from the objective optical system at a predetermined position, a pupil projection optical system that substantially collimates the light formed into an image by the imaging optical system at the predetermined position, a lateral scanner that angularly deflects the substantially collimated light beam from the pupil projection optical system to laterally scan the area of the specimen to be observed, and a lens driver that drives the imaging optical system or the pupil projection optical system or both in the optical axis direction. Defining the front side be the side where the specimen is located, the imaging optical system is disposed so that the front focal point thereof is positioned in the vicinity of the back focal point of the objective optical system. | 03-19-2009 |
20090086314 | BIOLOGICAL SPECIMEN IMAGING METHOD AND BIOLOGICAL SPECIMEN IMAGING APPARATUS - In a biological specimen imaging method, a biological specimen which is stored in a storing section of a substrate having plural storing sections and emitting a feeble light is imaged through an objective lens. The biological specimen imaging method includes moving any one of the substrate and the objective lens or both until the desired storing section falls within the field of view of the objective lens, measuring any one of a focal position at a near point and the focal position at a far point of the objective lens or both, determining the focal position of the objective lens focused on an observed target region in the biological specimen stored in the desired storing section based on the measured focal position, and adjusting the focal position of the objective lens to the determined focal position so as to image the biological specimen through the objective lens. | 04-02-2009 |
20090231691 | OBSERVATION SYSTEM AND OBSERVATION APPARATUS - When application software running on a PC is in the state of being terminated, a switch unit is turned OFF with the control of a CPU and individual motors, and in this state, a light source is not supplied with a motor/lamp-use power source. In this state, however, the CPU and individual I/Fs are supplied with a logic-use power source. Therefore, the switch unit is turned ON when the application software is started, and an initialization process for an individual electrically driven unit is no longer required. | 09-17-2009 |
20100033812 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING THE SPHERICAL ABERRATION OF OBJECTIVE LENSES - A spherical aberration adjustment system is disclosed, which includes a plurality of objective lenses, where at least one of the plurality of objective lenses has a spherical aberration collar. The plurality of objective lenses are mounted onto an objective holder, where the objective holder is configured to place the at least one of the plurality of objective lenses in an imaging position. A driving mechanism is coupled by a mechanical link to the at least one of the plurality of objective lenses, where the mechanical link is configured to transmit motion from the driving mechanism to the spherical aberration collar. A control system is configured to manipulate the driving mechanism to move the spherical aberration collar of the at least one of the plurality of objective lenses in the imaging position to a specific spherical aberration adjustment setting. | 02-11-2010 |
20100321771 | Method and Apparatus for Focusing a Microscope - A microscope includes a member supported for movement relative to a base along a path of travel, and optics on the member for imaging a region that includes a location for a specimen. The method and apparatus involve: effecting relative movement of a cam operatively coupled to one of the member and the base with respect to a cam follower operatively coupled to the other of the member and the base in a manner so that the cam follower slides along a cam surface on the cam; and responding to the sliding movement of the cam follower along the cam surface by effecting relative movement of the cam and cam follower in a manner that in turn effects movement of the member along the path of travel relative to the base. | 12-23-2010 |
20110038041 | OPERATING DEVICE FOR THE FOCUSING OPERATION OF A MICROSCOPE - The focusing operation of a microscope, control rotary knobs which receive the motion of fingers or hand of an operator to change the focus position relative to a sample under observation. Two of the control rotary knobs are on a common shaft and coaxial with one another and rotationally fixed with respect to one another, and are connected to a position encoder. A toggle switch which is connected to the control circuit and can be actuated by touching or moving one or both rotary control knobs. Whereby the drive circuit is configured such that it generates, as a function of the rotation of the two rotary knobs and as a function of the actuation or position of the toggle switch, a rough or fine adjustment of the focus position relative to the sample under observation. | 02-17-2011 |
20110043905 | MICROSCOPE HAVING FOCUS-HOLDING UNIT - The invention relates to a microscope having a stage for supporting a sample to be examined, a recording sensor, an imaging optic for imaging the sample onto the recording sensor, a moving unit by means of which the distance between the stage and the imaging optic can be changed, a control unit for controlling an image recording of the sample and a focus-holding unit for maintaining a prescribed focal position for image recording of the sample at temporal intervals, wherein the focus-holding device comprises at least one hardware element and one software module, wherein the focus-holding unit is fully integrated in the control unit, on both the hardware and software sides. | 02-24-2011 |
20110051232 | MICROSCOPE WITH RETAIN FOCUS CONTROL - A microscope including an imaging optical unit, a sample stage for supporting a sample to be examined, a movement unit, by which the distance between sample stage and imaging optical unit can be altered, a focus measuring unit, which measures the present focus position and outputs a focus measurement signal, a control unit for maintaining a predetermined focus position for examinations of the sample that are separated from one another in time. The control unit receives the focus measurement signal and derives a deviation of the present focus position from the predetermined focus position. Dependent on the deviation derived the movement unit, changes the distance between sample stage and imaging optical unit so that the predetermined focus position is maintained. The control unit drives the movement unit ( | 03-03-2011 |
20110157691 | Microscope Control Unit - A microscope control unit which is composed of a bracket-shaped support frame having a support area, a pillar standing vertically erect on the support area, and a support arm, which emanates from the upper end of the pillar and is aligned parallel to the support area. | 06-30-2011 |
20110176206 | Microscope Having an Adjustment Device for the Focus Range - A microscope with means for adjusting the focal range, comprising a first objective lens for transmitting the object light of an illuminated object in the direction of a detector, with a second objective lens being disposed in the direction of the light upstream of the detector, which second objective lens is followed by a first mirror that can be adjusted in the direction of the optical axis, with at least one second mirror for transmitting light from the first objective lens in the direction of the second objective lens and from the second objective lens to the detector being disposed in the optical path, which second mirror is a fully reflective mirror, or a microscope with means for adjusting the focal range, comprising a first objective lens for transmitting the object light of an illuminated object in the direction of a detector, with a second objective lens being disposed in the direction of light upstream of the detector, which second objective lens is followed by a first mirror that can be adjusted in the direction of the optical axis, with a polarizing beam splitter for splitting the object light into two components that are oriented perpendicular to each other being disposed between the first and the second objective lens for light transmission. | 07-21-2011 |
20110317259 | MICROSCOPE AND FOCUSING METHOD - Disclosed herein is a microscope, including: an illumination optical system; a first image creation optical system; a second image creation optical system; an illumination-field-diaphragm focus adjustment section; and a characteristic-quantity computation block, wherein the illumination-field-diaphragm focus adjustment section adjusts the image creation position for the illumination field diaphragm on the basis of the characteristic quantity computed by the characteristic-quantity computation block. | 12-29-2011 |
20110317260 | Autofocusing Device for Microscopes and Suitable Autofocus Aperture Stops - The present invention relates to an autofocus aperture stop ( | 12-29-2011 |
20120038979 | AUTOFOCUS METHOD AND AUTOFOCUS DEVICE - The invention is based on an autofocus method in which light from a light source ( | 02-16-2012 |
20120127568 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SCANNING MICROSCOPY USING ONE OR MORE FRESNEL ZONE PLATES - Microscopy methods and apparatus in which one or more microfabricated optical elements (e.g., one or more Fresnel zone plates) operate as one or an array of objective lenses. A single object or a plurality of objects may be scanned in parallel. A single, low-numerical-aperture relay optic can be used with the one or more optical elements eliminating the need for one or more confocal pinhole apertures. When an array of optical elements is used, hundreds to thousands of objects can be imaged or inspected simultaneously onto a two-dimensional imaging device, such as a CCD array. The microfabricated optical elements can be readily configured for imaging with a solid immersion medium. Imaging resolutions on the order of one wavelength of the illumination source, and less, can be achieved. | 05-24-2012 |
20120134017 | DEVICE FOR FOCUSING A MICROSCOPE OBJECTIVE ON A SAMPLE - A device for focusing a microscope objective on a sample accurately with a high spatial resolution. The device has a positioning unit having a main body, an objective holder movably supported on the main body and adapted to hold the microscope objective, and an actuator for moving the objective holder along the optical axis of the microscope objective. The objective holder holds the microscope objective only at a front portion of the microscope objective facing the sample. The positioning unit includes one or more lever arms, each of which coupled at its one end via a first flexure bearing to the main body and at its other end via a second flexure bearing to the objective holder. The main body of the positioning unit is attached to a stage that carries the sample. | 05-31-2012 |
20130176617 | MICROSCOPE SYSTEM AND AUTOFOCUS METHOD - A microscope system and an autofocus method capture a subject at a specified time interval through an optical image forming system while relatively moving a stage loaded with the subject and the optical image forming system of the microscope; calculate a contrast value indicating a high and low contrast of a captured observation image; detect a maximum contrast image whose calculated contrast value is maximum in a plurality of performed observation images; detect the relative position of the stage and the optical image forming system; perform a correcting process of moving the detected relative position corresponding to the detected maximum contrast image by a specified value in a direction opposite the direction of the relative movement; and bring focus using the corrected relative position as a focal point. | 07-11-2013 |
20130342902 | Microscope Having an Autofocusing Device and Autofocusing Method for Microscopes - A method for autofocusing in microscopic examination of a specimen located at the focus of a microscope objective uses an autofocus beam path, the autofocus beam path being directed, via a deflection device arranged on the side of the microscope objective facing away from the specimen, toward the microscope objective, and from there onto a reflective autofocus interface in the specimen region. The autofocus beam path is reflected at the autofocus interface and directed via the microscope objective and the deflection device toward an autofocus detector. The deflection device comprises two regions spaced apart from one another in a propagation direction of the autofocus beam path. Each region reflects the autofocus beam path. The autofocus detector is arranged in a plane conjugated with the microscope objective pupil to acquire an interference pattern. The focus of the microscope is adjusted as a function of the acquired interference pattern. | 12-26-2013 |
20140002896 | MICROSCOPE FOCUSING MECHANISM | 01-02-2014 |
20140049816 | Surgical Microscope Objective Having an Adjustable Focal Intercept - A surgical microscope objective has an adjustable focal intercept and defines an optical axis. The objective has an objective body wherein a negative member is fixed and in which a positive member can be displaced. The negative member faces toward the object and has a lateral edge. The positive member is held in a frame, which is guided on a first guiding section formed on the objective body so it can move in the direction of the optical axis using a first guiding part. The positive member is guided on a second guiding section, which is formed on the objective body, using a second guiding part connected to the frame of the positive member and movable between the lateral edge of the negative member and the objective body. The second guiding part is offset from the first guiding part in the direction of the optical axis facing the negative member. | 02-20-2014 |
20140153089 | DEVICE FOR FOCUSING A MICROSCOPE OBJECTIVE ON A SAMPLE - A device for focusing a microscope objective on a sample accurately with a high spatial resolution. The device has a positioning unit having a main body, an objective holder movably supported on the main body and adapted to hold the microscope objective, and an actuator for moving the objective holder along the optical axis of the microscope objective. The objective holder holds the microscope objective only at a front portion of the microscope objective facing the sample. The positioning unit includes one or more lever arms, each of which coupled at its one end via a first flexure bearing to the main body and at its other end via a second flexure bearing to the objective holder. The main body of the positioning unit is attached to a stage that carries the sample. | 06-05-2014 |
20140160558 | FOCUS CONTROL APPARATUS AND METHOD - A focus control apparatus and method capable of generating a focus position signal according to a real focus position error even in proximity to the interference between regions having different thicknesses to perform a high precision focus position control using the focus position signal are provided. A focus control apparatus includes an error signal correction portion configured to correct a focus error signal which indicates an error from a focus position of an object with respect to an optical system and a region conversion detection portion configured to output a regional signal which corresponds to an observation region or a non-observation region, when the observing region of the optical system is converted between the observation region and the non-observation region having a height different from a height of the observation region, wherein the error signal correction portion corrects the focus error signal to a value corresponding to an error from the focus position in the observation region when the region signal indicates the non-observation region. | 06-12-2014 |
20140198381 | METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR OPERATING A DYNAMIC NANO FOCUSING SYSTEM - The invention relates to a method and to an arrangement for operating a dynamic nano focusing system for use thereof in the field of microscopy, interferometry or similar applications, wherein the nano focusing system comprises a lever-transmission piezo actuator and a frictionless guide based on a resiliently deformable solid body joint which is connected to a mounting unit, in particular for a lens, in order to implement the desired adjustment paths for the focusing. According to the invention, in order to increase the dynamics during the focusing process, a secondary fine adjustment movement is superimposed on the primary adjustment movement, said secondary fine adjustment movement having a smaller adjustment path but higher frequency than the primary adjustment movement, wherein, when the fine adjustment is carried out, a determination is made as to whether the focusing result changes, in order to specify according thereto the amount and/or the direction of the primary adjustment movement. | 07-17-2014 |
20150015942 | METHOD FOR DETECTING AND CONTROLLING SUPPLY OF AN IMMERSION MEDIUM - A method for detecting and controlling supply of an immersion medium into an immersion film region between the front lens of a microscope objective and a preparation, particularly in automated microscopes, using a light source which is reflected into the microscope beam path by means of a beam splitter. The state of the immersion film region is recorded and evaluated in a detection unit of the microscope or a detection unit of the autofocus device through an autofocus signal of the light source and/or a reflection of a modulation object arranged in the intermediate image plane of an incident light illumination, and is transmitted to a control unit for the purpose of a change or an error treatment of the immersion process. | 01-15-2015 |