초록 ▼

A digital optical microscope includes a primary image sensor that generates a primary image of a sample at a primary frame rate, an auxiliary image sensor that generates an auxiliary image of the sample at an auxiliary frame rate that is faster than the primary frame rate, and a controller that adju

A digital optical microscope includes a primary image sensor that generates a primary image of a sample at a primary frame rate, an auxiliary image sensor that generates an auxiliary image of the sample at an auxiliary frame rate that is faster than the primary frame rate, and a controller that adjusts a focal distance between an objective lens and the sample along an optical axis in response to the auxiliary image, thereby autofocusing the primary image on the sample. The primary image sensor generates the primary image in response to the autofocusing.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A digital optical microscope, comprising: a primary image sensor that sequentially generates a first and a second primary image of a sample at a primary frame rate; an auxiliary image sensor that sequentially generates a first, a second and a third auxiliary image of the samp

What is claimed is: 1. A digital optical microscope, comprising: a primary image sensor that sequentially generates a first and a second primary image of a sample at a primary frame rate; an auxiliary image sensor that sequentially generates a first, a second and a third auxiliary image of the sample at an auxiliary frame rate that is faster than the primary frame rate; and a controller that adjusts a focal distance between an objective lens and the sample along an optical axis to a first focal distance to obtain the first primary and auxiliary images, then to a second focal distance to obtain the second auxiliary image, then to a third focal distance to obtain the third auxiliary image, and then to a selected focal distance based on the first, second and third auxiliary images to obtain the second primary image, thereby autofocusing the primary image on the sample, wherein the primary image sensor generates the primary image in response to the autofocusing. 2. The microscope of claim 1, wherein the primary image sensor is a camera and the auxiliary image sensor is a camera. 3. The microscope of claim 1, wherein the primary image comprises more pixels than the auxiliary image. 4. The microscope of claim 3, wherein the primary image has a primary resolution at a field of view, the auxiliary image has an auxiliary resolution at the field of view, and the primary resolution is higher than the auxiliary resolution. 5. The microscope of claim 3, wherein the primary image has a primary resolution at a field of view, the auxiliary image has an auxiliary resolution at a region or regions of interest within the field of view, and the primary resolution is the same as the auxiliary resolution. 6. The microscope of claim 1, wherein the primary image comprises at least three times as many pixels as the auxiliary image, and the auxiliary frame rate is at least three times as fast as the primary frame rate. 7. The microscope of claim 1, wherein the controller determines a quantitative characteristic based on a sharpness of the auxiliary image, determines the selected focal distance based on the quantitative characteristic, and adjusts the focal distance to the selected focal distance to autofocus the primary image on the sample. 8. The microscope of claim 1, wherein the controller determines a quantitative characteristic for each auxiliary image to obtain multiple focus values of the quantitative characteristic, determines the selected focal distance based on the multiple focus values, and adjusts the focal distance to the selected focal distance to autofocus the primary image on the sample. 9. The microscope of claim 1, wherein the controller determines a first focus value of a quantitative characteristic for the first auxiliary image and a second focus value of the quantitative characteristic for the second auxiliary image, determines the first focus value while adjusting the focal distance between the first and second focal distances, determines the selected focal distance based on the first and second focus values, and adjusts the focal distance to the selected focal distance to autofocus the primary image on the sample. 10. A digital optical microscope, comprising: an objective lens; a beam splitter that splits light that is collected from a sample and passes through the objective lens into a primary light path and an auxiliary light path; a primary image sensor that generates a first and a second primary image of the sample with a primary pixel count at a primary frame rate using the primary light path without using the auxiliary light path; an auxiliary image sensor that generates a first, a second and a third auxiliary image of the sample with an auxiliary pixel count at an auxiliary frame rate using the auxiliary light path without using the primary light path; and a controller that adjusts a focal distance between the objective lens and the sample along an optical axis to a first focal distance to obtain the first primary and first auxiliary images, then to a second focal distance to obtain the second auxiliary image, then to a third focal distance to obtain the third auxiliary image, and then to a selected focal distance based on the first, second and third auxiliary images to obtain the second primary image, thereby autofocusing the second primary image on the sample, wherein the auxiliary frame rate is faster than the primary frame rate. 11. The microscope of claim 10, wherein the objective lens has a numerical aperture of at least 0.5. 12. The microscope of claim 10, wherein the primary image sensor is a camera and the auxiliary image sensor is a camera. 13. The microscope of claim 10, wherein the primary image has a primary resolution at a field of view, the auxiliary image has an auxiliary resolution at the field of view, and the primary resolution is higher than the auxiliary resolution. 14. The microscope of claim 10, wherein the primary image has a primary resolution at a field of view, the auxiliary image has an auxiliary resolution at a region or regions of interest within the field of view, and the primary resolution is the same as the auxiliary resolution. 15. The microscope of claim 10, wherein the primary image comprises at least three times as many pixels as the auxiliary image, and the auxiliary frame rate is at least three times as fast as the primary frame rate. 16. The microscope of claim 10, wherein the controller determines a quantitative characteristic based on a sharpness of the auxiliary image, determines a selected focal distance based on the quantitative characteristic, and adjusts the focal distance to the selected focal distance to autofocus the primary image on the sample. 17. The microscope of claim 10, wherein the first, second and third auxiliary images are obtained at successive focal distances, and wherein the controller determines a quantitative characteristic for each auxiliary image to obtain multiple focus values of the quantitative characteristic, determines the selected focal distance based on the multiple focus values, and adjusts the focal distance to the selected focal distance to autofocus the primary image on the sample. 18. The microscope of claim 10, wherein the controller: adjusts the focal distance to sequentially obtain the first auxiliary image at the first focal distance and the second auxiliary image at the second focal distance, determines a first focus value of a quantitative characteristic for the first auxiliary image and a second focus value of the quantitative characteristic for the second auxiliary image, determines the first focus value while adjusting the focal distance between the first and second focal distances, determines the selected focal distance based on the first and second focus values, and adjusts the focal distance to the selected focal distance to autofocus the primary image on the sample. 19. The digital optical microscope of claim 10, wherein the auxiliary pixel count is lower than the primary pixel count. 20. A digital optical microscope, comprising: an objective lens with a field of view; a beam splitter that splits light that is collected from a sample at the field of view and passes through the objective lens into a primary light path and an auxiliary light path; a primary image sensor that generates first and second primary images of the sample using the primary light path without using the auxiliary light path, wherein the primary images each have a primary pixel count and are generated at a primary frame rate, the first primary image represents a first region of the sample at the field of view, the second primary image represents a second region of the sample at the field of view, and the regions are laterally offset; an auxiliary image sensor that generates first, second and third auxiliary images of the sample using the auxiliary light path without using the primary light path, wherein the auxiliary images are generated while the field of view is at the second region and the auxiliary images each have an auxiliary pixel count and are generated at an auxiliary frame rate; and a controller that adjusts a lateral position between the objective lens and the sample to move the field of view from the first region to the second region and adjusts a focal distance between the objective lens and the sample along an optical axis to a selected focal distance using the auxiliary images without using the primary images, thereby autofocusing the second primary image on the sample using the auxiliary image sensor without using the primary image sensor, wherein the primary image sensor generates the first primary image while the controller moves the field of view from the first region to the second region, while the auxiliary image sensor generates the auxiliary images and while the controller adjusts the focal distance to the selected focal distance, the primary image sensor generates the second primary image in response to the autofocusing, the auxiliary pixel count is lower than the primary pixel count and the auxiliary frame rate is faster than the primary frame rate. 21. The microscope of claim 20, wherein the primary image sensor is a camera and the auxiliary image sensor is a camera. 22. The microscope of claim 20, wherein the primary images have a primary resolution at the field of view, the auxiliary images have an auxiliary resolution image at the field of view, and the primary resolution is higher than the auxiliary resolution. 23. The microscope of claim 20, wherein the primary images have a primary resolution at the field of view, the auxiliary images have an auxiliary resolution at a region or regions of interest within the field of view, and the primary resolution is the same as the auxiliary resolution. 24. The microscope of claim 20, wherein each primary image comprises at least three times as many pixels as each auxiliary image, and the auxiliary frame rate is at least three times as fast as the primary frame rate. 25. The microscope of claim 20, wherein the controller adjusts the focal distance to sequentially obtain the first auxiliary image at a first focal distance, the second auxiliary image at a second focal distance and the third auxiliary image at a third focal distance, determines a first focus value of a quantitative characteristic for the first auxiliary image, a second focus value of the quantitative characteristic for the second auxiliary image and a third focus value of the quantitative characteristic for the third auxiliary image, and determines the selected focal distance based on the first, second and third focus values. 26. The microscope of claim 20, wherein the primary image sensor generates the first primary image by collecting first primary light from the primary light path and then transferring first primary image data based on the first primary light to the controller, and the controller moves the field of view from the first region to the second region, the auxiliary image sensor generates the auxiliary images and the controller adjusts the focal distance to the selected focal distance after the primary image sensor collects the first primary light and before the primary image sensor completes transferring the first primary image data to the controller. 27. The microscope of claim 26, wherein the auxiliary image sensor generates the first auxiliary image by collecting first auxiliary light from the auxiliary light path and then transferring first auxiliary image data based on the first auxiliary light to the controller, the controller adjusts the focal distance to sequentially obtain the first auxiliary image at a first focal distance, the second auxiliary image at a second focal distance and the third auxiliary image at a third focal distance, the controller begins adjusting the focal distance from the first focal distance to the second focal distance after the auxiliary image sensor collects the first auxiliary light and before the auxiliary image sensor completes transferring the first auxiliary image data to the controller, and the controller completes adjusting the focal distance from the first focal distance to the second focal distance after the auxiliary image sensor completes transferring the first auxiliary image data to the controller. 28. The microscope of claim 27, wherein the controller determines a first focus value of a quantitative characteristic for the first auxiliary image, a second focus value of the quantitative characteristic for the second auxiliary image and a third focus value of the quantitative characteristic for the third auxiliary image, determines the selected focal distance based on the first, second and third focus values, begins adjusting the focal distance from the first focal distance to the second focal distance before the controller begins determining the first focus value, and completes adjusting the focal distance from the first focal distance to the second focal distance after the controller completes determining the first focus value. 29. The microscope of claim 27, wherein the controller maintains the focal distance at the first focal distance while the primary image sensor collects the first primary light, while the controller moves the field of view from the first region to the second region and while the auxiliary image sensor collects the first auxiliary light.