Image acquiring apparatus, image acquiring method, and image acquiring program

Abstract

A semi-automatic mode according to which an operator makes a necessary confirmation when an image pickup condition for a micro image is set with reference to a macro image is provided in controlling the acquisition of the macro image, the setting of the image pickup condition, and the acquisition of the micro image with respect to each of a plurality of samples S stored in a sample storage unit 11, and in the semi-automatic mode, the sample S whose macro image has been acquired by a macro image acquiring unit 20 is placed at a standby position without being moved directly to an image acquiring position for a micro image acquiring unit 30. According to this structure, image acquisition with respect to each of the samples S can be efficiently performed, and an operational burden imposed on the operator is reduced. Accordingly, it becomes possible to realize an image acquiring apparatus, an image acquiring method, and an image acquiring program each of which is capable of performing image acquisition with respect to each of the samples with high efficiency.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a structure of an embodiment of an image acquiring apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a structure of a microscope unit of the image acquiring apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a figure with schematic views showing a method for acquiring a sample image.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a method for setting a threshold to binarize a macro image.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a structure of a control unit of the image acquiring apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the production of sample data using a micro image.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an image acquiring method in a full-automatic mode.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an image acquiring method in a semi-automatic mode.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an image acquiring method in a semi-automatic mode.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a method for setting an image pickup condition.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an example of an operation screen used to set an image pickup condition.

FIG. 12 is a view showing an example of an operation screen used to set an image pickup condition.

FIG. 13 is a view showing an example of an operation screen used to set an image pickup condition.

Claims

1. An image acquiring apparatus comprising: sample storage means for storing a plurality of samples;macro image acquiring means for acquiring a macro image of the sample;micro image acquiring means for acquiring a micro image while scanning the sample with higher resolution than that of the macro image; andcontrol means including macro image acquisition control means for controlling an operation to acquire the macro image by the macro image acquiring means, image pickup condition setting means for setting an image pickup condition for the micro image with reference to the macro image, and micro image acquisition control means for controlling an operation to acquire the micro image by the micro image acquiring means;wherein the control means has a semi-automatic mode serving as a control mode, andwherein, in the semi-automatic mode,the macro image acquisition control means performs control to place each of the samples from a storage position in the sample storage means at an image acquiring position for the macro image acquiring means so as to acquire the macro image, and then performs control to place the sample at a standby position;the image pickup condition setting means sets the image pickup condition for the micro image while allowing an operator to confirm the macro image and the corresponding image pickup condition with respect to the sample the macro image of which has been acquired; andthe micro image acquisition control means performs control to place the sample from the standby position and for which the image pickup condition has been set at an image acquiring position for the micro image acquiring means, and performs control to acquire the micro image with reference to the image pickup condition.

2. The image acquiring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising sample moving means for moving each of the samples among the storage position, the standby position, and the respective image acquiring positions for the macro image acquiring means and the micro image acquiring means.

3. The image acquiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in the semi-automatic mode, the image pickup condition setting means allows display means to display the image pickup condition automatically obtained in accordance with the macro image so that the operator selects whether to use the image pickup condition or to manually reset the image pickup condition.

4. The image acquiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means has a full-automatic mode serving as a control mode, and wherein, in the full-automatic mode,the macro image acquisition control means performs control to place the sample from the storage position at the image acquiring position for the macro image acquiring means so as to acquire the macro image;the image pickup condition setting means automatically sets the image pickup condition for the micro image corresponding to the macro image with respect to the sample the macro image of which has been acquired; andthe micro image acquisition control means performs control to place the sample for which the image pickup condition has been set at the image acquiring position for the micro image acquiring means, and performs control to acquire the micro image with reference to the image pickup condition.

5. The image acquiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pickup condition setting means sets an image acquiring range and a focus measuring position as the image pickup condition for the micro image while referring to the macro image; and the micro image acquisition control means performs control to acquire focus information concerning the sample based on the focus measuring position, and performs control to acquire the micro image based on the obtained focus information and the image acquiring range.

6. The image acquiring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the macro image acquiring means and the micro image acquiring means are formed as single image acquiring means, and an optical system for image acquisition is configured to be switchable in accordance with the acquisition of the macro image or the micro image.

7. An image acquiring method using a plurality of samples stored in sample storage means as objects, the image acquiring method comprising: a macro image acquiring step of acquiring a macro image of the sample;a micro image acquiring step of acquiring a micro image while scanning the sample with higher resolution than that of the macro image; anda control step including a macro image acquisition control step of controlling an operation to acquire the macro image by the macro image acquiring step, an image pickup condition setting step of setting an image pickup condition for the micro image with reference to the macro image, and a micro image acquisition control step of controlling an operation to acquire the micro image by the micro image acquiring step;wherein the control step has a semi-automatic mode serving as a control mode, andwherein, in the semi-automatic mode,the macro image acquisition control step performs control to place each of the samples from a storage position in the sample storage means at an image acquiring position for the macro image acquiring step so as to acquire the macro image, and then performs control to place the sample at a standby position;the image pickup condition setting step sets the image pickup condition for the micro image while allowing an operator to confirm the macro image and the corresponding image pickup condition with respect to the sample the macro image of which has been acquired; andthe micro image acquisition control step performs control to place the sample from the standby position and for which the image pickup condition has been set at an image acquiring position for the micro image acquiring step, and performs control to acquire the micro image with reference to the image pickup condition.

8. The image acquiring method according to claim 7, further comprising a sample moving step of moving each of the samples among the storage position, the standby position, and the respective image acquiring positions for the macro image acquiring step and the micro image acquiring step.

9. The image acquiring method according to claim 7, wherein, in the semi-automatic mode, the image pickup condition setting step allows a display means to display the image pickup condition automatically obtained in accordance with the macro image so that the operator selects whether to use the image pickup condition or to manually reset the image pickup condition.

10. The image acquiring method according to claim 7, wherein the control step has a full-automatic mode serving as a control mode, and wherein, in the full-automatic mode,the macro image acquisition control step performs control to place the sample from the storage position at the image acquiring position for the macro image acquiring step so as to acquire the macro image;the image pickup condition setting step automatically sets the image pickup condition for the micro image corresponding to the macro image with respect to the sample the macro image of which has been acquired; andthe micro image acquisition control step performs control to place the sample for which the image pickup condition has been set at the image acquiring position for the micro image acquiring step, and performs control to acquire the micro image with reference to the image pickup condition.

11. The image acquiring method according to claim 7, wherein the image pickup condition setting step sets an image acquiring range and a focus measuring position as the image pickup condition for the micro image while referring to the macro image; and the micro image acquisition control step performs control to acquire focus information concerning the sample based on the focus measuring position, and performs control to acquire the micro image based on the obtained focus information and the image acquiring range.

12. An image acquiring program being applied to an image acquiring apparatus including sample storage means for storing a plurality of samples,macro image acquiring means for acquiring a macro image of the sample, andmicro image acquiring means for acquiring a micro image while scanning the sample with higher resolution than that of the macro image;the image acquiring program comprising a control processing including a macro image acquisition control processing for controlling an operation to acquire the macro image by the macro image acquiring means; an image pickup condition setting processing for setting an image pickup condition for the micro image with reference to the macro image; and a micro image acquisition control processing for controlling an operation to acquire the micro image by the micro image acquiring means;wherein the control processing has a semi-automatic mode serving as a control mode, andwherein, in the semi-automatic mode,the macro image acquisition control processing performs control to place each of the samples from a storage position in the sample storage means at an image acquiring position for the macro image acquiring means so as to acquire the macro image, and then performs control to place the sample at a standby position;the image pickup condition setting processing sets the image pickup condition for the micro image while allowing an operator to confirm the macro image and the corresponding image pickup condition with respect to the sample the macro image of which has been acquired; andthe micro image acquisition control processing performs control to place the sample from the standby position and for which the image pickup condition has been set at an image acquiring position for the micro image acquiring means, and performs control to acquire the micro image with reference to the image pickup condition, and wherein the control processing is executed by a computer.

13. The image acquiring program according to claim 12, further comprising a sample moving processing for moving each of the samples among the storage position, the standby position, and the respective image acquiring positions for the macro image acquiring means and the micro image acquiring means, wherein the sample moving processing is executed by a computer.

14. The image acquiring program according to claim 12, wherein, in the semi-automatic mode, the image pickup condition setting processing allows display means to display the image pickup condition automatically obtained in accordance with the macro image so that the operator selects whether to use the image pickup condition or to manually reset the image pickup condition.

15. The image acquiring program according to claim 12, wherein the control processing has a full-automatic mode serving as a control mode, and wherein, in the full-automatic mode,the macro image acquisition control processing performs control to place the sample from the storage position at the image acquiring position for the macro image acquiring means so as to acquire the macro image;the image pickup condition setting processing automatically sets the image pickup condition for the micro image corresponding to the macro image with respect to the sample the macro image of which has been acquired; andthe micro image acquisition control processing performs control to place the sample for which the image pickup condition has been set at the image acquiring position for the micro image acquiring means, and performs control to acquire the micro image with reference to the image pickup condition, and wherein the control processing is executed by a computer.

16. The image acquiring program according to claim 12, wherein the image pickup condition setting processing sets an image acquiring range and a focus measuring position as the image pickup condition for the micro image while referring to the macro image; and the micro image acquisition control processing performs control to acquire focus information concerning the sample based on the focus measuring position, and performs control to acquire the micro image based on the obtained focus information and the image acquiring range.