Patent · US Expired

Charge-coupled device imaging apparatus

US5672881A · kind A · utility

98Cited by
6References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 6, 1996
Grant dateSep 30, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 6, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N21/6456
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An apparatus for fluorescence of a biological sample includes a light illumination source, an ambient light-excluding optical chamber, a sample holder, a two-dimensional array charge coupled device ("CCD") sensor providing for on-chip signal integration of each pixel of the array, and an analog/digital converter for digitizing the CCD signal. Signal acquisition time from the array is varied so that the integrated signal from each pixel is below its saturation level. A darkfield value for each pixel is acquired and subtracted from the illuminated signal from that pixel so as to yield a darkfield corrected signal. The fluorescence value for each pixel can be compensated for variations in excitation energy reaching different sample areas. Image readout is through a single channel output.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.