Automated scanning of microscope slides
US6049421A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 20, 1998 |
| Grant date | Apr 11, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 20, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B21/26
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A system is provided for the automated imaging of a succession of microscope slides (S). The slides are mounted in carriers and loaded into cassettes. Slide carriers from a first cassette in a slide loader (2) are ejected from the cassette into a loading station and thence moved by an actuator onto a stage beneath a microscope objective (6) which images a sub-area of a circular sample area on the slide onto an imaging sensor (10) whence images are digitized and stored. The stage (4) is conjointly rotated by a motor (22) as a carrier (24) for the stage is moved linearly, so as to execute a spiral scan of sub-areas of the sample area which sub-areas are successively imaged using a strobe lamp (12) to illuminate the sample area at intervals during the scan determined by signals from an encoder (25). A preliminary scan, which may be in an opposite direction along the spiral, may be used to obtain, for a focus actuator (18), focusing data used during the scan. As a following slide carrier is loaded onto the stage for scanning, the previous slide carrier is ejected into a chute from which an actuator inserts it into a further cassette in the same orientation in which it left the first ca…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.