U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,264 discloses a method and an arrangement for generating a stereoscopic image in a microscope arrangement. An object is illuminated from two directions in a clocked manner and respective images are supplied to the right and left eye of the viewer at a clock frequency. For this purpose, the exit pupil of the objective is sectioned and alternately supplied to the left and right eye in a clocked manner above the flicker frequency of the eye.
Japanese patent publication JP 4-355 712 describes a stereoscopic viewing system wherein, in one embodiment, the splitting of the sectional images takes place by means of a rotating mirror system.
German patent publication 4,243,556 discloses a two channel stereoscopic microscope wherein the ocular images are supplied to a video camera in a clocked manner in order to realize a stereo illustration on a stereo-capable display.
British Patent 2,268,283 discloses how to generate stereoscopic images by means of a monocular instrument in that the beam path, which comes from an objective, is split utilizing mirrors or prisms and is supplied to two oculars or video cameras.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,902 discloses a stereoscopic endoscope wherein an image, which comes from an objective, is sectioned by means of a shutter and the sectional images are alternately shown on a stereo-capable display.
All of these solutions have in common that the light, which comes from the object, is not optimally utilized. This is so because a portion of the light is suppressed by diaphragms, splitters or shutters and therefore cannot contribute to forming the image.
In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to provide an arrangement for generating a stereoscopic image wherein the resolution and the stereoscopic impression are significantly improved relative to the state of the art.
The method of the invention is for generating a stereoscopic image of an object and includes the steps of: providing a microscope arrangement defining an imaging beam path coming from the object with the microscope arrangement including an objective mounted in the beam path to define an intermediate image plane; placing a reflective element in or close to the intermediate image plane or in or close to a plane conjugated to the intermediate image plane; and, driving the reflective element at a clock frequency so as to reflect respective images of the object alternately toward the left and right eyes of an observer.
The stereoscopic image of a self-luminous object such as a microscopic fluorescent object is especially advantageously generated in that a switchable reflective element is mounted in the intermediate image plane downstream of the objective. The switchable reflective element alternately supplies an image of the object to the left and right eyes of the viewer in a clocked manner. The switching frequency lies above the flicker frequency of the eye and is, for example, 100 Hz or greater.
In this way, the sectioning of the exit pupil known from the state of the art with its light losses is replaced by an almost loss-free system. With this arrangement, transilluminated and incident-light illuminated objects can be viewed. The reflective element can be configured as a DMD mirror or a pivoted mirror. A DMD mirror or digital micromirror device comprises a plurality of micromirrors whose angular position can be electrostatically changed at a high switching speed.
The invention will now be explained with respect to the drawings wherein:
a is a section view of the reflective element in the form of a mirror having a spherical surface; and,
In
To facilitate viewing the drawings, the additional beam path is shown stretched, that is, the direction change, which results after the reflection at reflective element 2, is neglected in order to continue the further beam path in the plane of the drawing. The further beam path includes a transmission optic (relay system) having the main plane (H, H′rs) which effects the imaging into the oculars (not shown). AP and AP′ identify the exit pupil plane of the objective and the plane conjugated thereto, respectively. In known solutions for generating a stereo impression, a pupil sectioning takes place in plane AP′.
In
Alternatively, a DMD chip can be utilized as mirror 2 wherein the micromirrors are switched over at a clock frequency and virtually free of delay by a clock frequency generator 10. The relay lenses (RS21, RS22) of the transmitting system generate the intermediate images for the respective oculars (OK1, OK2). Deflecting prisms (UP1, UP2) and prisms (P1, P2) supply the intermediate image to the ocular viewing. By displacing the prisms (P1, P2), the eye spacing of the viewer can be adjusted which is indicated by reference numerals (4, 6).
Alternatively, or in common with the ocular viewing, the outcoupling of the image, which corresponds to the particular stereo channel, can take place also by means of mirror S2 onto electronic cameras (K1, K2) (see
In
The spatial separation of the two stereo channels can simultaneously be effected by the reflective element 2 for a correspondingly rapid switchover (especially when the element 2 is configured as a DMD). For this reason, the splitting utilizing shutters, diaphragms, polarizers or the like known from the state of the art and associated perforce with losses can be omitted. This leads to a significant increase of the brilliance and of the stereo impression.
For the case that a pivoted mirror is utilized as a reflective element and the switchover speed is limited for mechanical reasons, the separation of the stereo channels at the viewing end can also take place by means of shutters as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,264 which is incorporated herein by reference.
As mentioned above and shown in
It is understood that the foregoing description is that of the preferred embodiments of the invention and that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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195 07 344.4 | Mar 1995 | DE | national |
195 42 827.7 | Nov 1995 | DE | national |
196 06 424.4 | Feb 1996 | DE | national |
196 25 200.8 | Jun 1996 | DE | national |
197 22 726.0 | May 1997 | DE | national |
This is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 10/075,456, filed Feb. 15, 2002, which, in turn, is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/505,724, filed Feb. 17, 2000 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,348,994), which, in turn, is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/881,278, filed Jun. 24, 1997 (now abandoned), which, in turn, is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 08/610,455, filed Mar. 4, 1996 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,264). The present continuation-in-part application claims priority of German patent application nos. 195 07 344.4, filed Mar. 2, 1995; 195 42 827.7, filed Nov. 17, 1995; 196 06 424.4, filed Feb. 22, 1996; 196 25.200.8, filed Jun. 24, 1996; and, 197 22 726.0, filed May 30, 1997. The entire contents of all of the above German and United States patents and patent applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 08881278 | Jun 1997 | US |
Child | 09505724 | Feb 2000 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10075456 | Feb 2002 | US |
Child | 11078289 | Mar 2005 | US |
Parent | 09505724 | Feb 2000 | US |
Child | 10075456 | Feb 2002 | US |
Parent | 08610455 | Mar 1996 | US |
Child | 08881278 | Jun 1997 | US |