CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 365 to PCT/EP2018/055040, filed Mar. 1, 2018, entitled “MICROSCOPE,” which claims priority to China Patent Application No. 2017/10124508.6, filed Mar. 3, 2017, the entirety of the aforementioned applications are incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to the microscopy field, and more particularly to a microscope and a method for operating and controlling the microscope.

BACKGROUND ART

In a microscope, for effective observation of a specimen on the stage, the positions of the stage along the left-right, front-rear, and up-down directions must be adjusted so that a specific region of the specimen appears in the field of view with proper resolution. In the prior art, an ordinary electric microscope, for example, is provided with a focus knob to adjust the raising and lowering of the stage (i.e. up-down position) by means of pinion and rack transmission or electric motor transmission, and there is usually an additional joystick (control handle) for adjusting the position of the stage in the horizontal plane (left-right and front-rear directions). This necessitates an additional external control device for operation of the microscope, which increases the system cost. Besides, when using a joystick to horizontally move the stage, the microscope operator needs to turn his/her eyes away from the eyepiece to look for the position of the joystick and then turns back to the eyepiece so as to horizontally adjust the stage by operating the joystick during observation, which is inconvenient.

As more and more functions are introduced into an automated microscope, the number of various buttons and keys is increased and it is difficult for the user to remember their positions. Also, the designer can hardly layout so many buttons and keys in an ergonomic way. Therefore, some microscope producers tend to adopt PC or touch pad, which can integrate many buttons and keys more conveniently, to perform various functions of the microscope. The disadvantage of this way is also that if the microscope operator operates the microscope in a stand-alone mode (i.e. without aid of computer or software), he/she have to shift his/her eyes away from the eyepiece and look at the touch pad for operation, and then back to the eyepiece.

In the U.S. Pat. No. 7,259,908B2, the focus knob can only be used to control raising and lowering of the stage, while the peripheral buttons are used to control rotation of objective nosepiece and reflector turret to realize switching of the working objective lens and the working reflector. This design improves the human-machine interaction experience for the operator to some extent and is easy for operation. However, the patent does not disclose how to ergonomically control movement of the stage of the microscope in the horizontal plane, and the focus knob can only be used for controlling raising and lowering of the stage in the Z axis direction.

In addition, along with increasing of automation and integration of the microscope, more and more functional elements are integrated into the microscope. How to conveniently, precisely, and efficiently control various functions and parts of a microscope has become an increasingly focused concern of this technical field.

The invention aims to solve the above and other problems in the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aim of the invention can be achieved by the microscope as described hereinafter.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a microscope is provided which comprises: a stage; an x motor, a y motor, and a z axis focusing driving mechanism that drive the stage to move along left-right, front-rear, and up-down directions respectively; a controller; at least one knob which is operatively coupled to the x motor and/or y motor or the z axis focusing driving mechanism selectively by means of the controller to control operation of the coupled motor or the coupled z axis focusing driving mechanism; and at least one button which is coupled to the controller in communication and sends to the controller one or more types of button signals indicating that the button has been triggered by operation of the microscope user, wherein the controller is configured to disconnect a normal operative coupling between the knob and the z axis focusing driving mechanism and establish an operative coupling between the knob and the x motor and/or y motor when receiving a triggered predetermined button signal, and restore the normal operative coupling between the knob and the z axis focusing driving mechanism and disconnect the operative coupling between the knob and the x motor and/or y motor when no longer receiving the triggered predetermined button signal or when receiving a next triggered button signal.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the first aspect of the invention, the at least one button may include an x button and a y button, and the controller is configured to establish or disconnect the operative coupling between the knob and the x motor according to the button signal from the x button, and establish or disconnect the operative coupling between the knob and the y motor according to the button signal from the y button.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the first aspect of the invention, the at least knob may include a first knob and a second knob which are configured to be able to establish or disconnect the operative coupling with the x motor and the y motor respectively by operating the button.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the first aspect of the invention, the z axis focusing driving mechanism may be a z motor; and a rotary encoder may be installed on the knob, which rotary encoder converts the angular displacement of the knob to an electric pulse signal for controlling operation of the x motor, y motor, or z motor.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the first aspect of the invention, the controller may include a main controller, a z controller coupled to the z motor and the main controller, and an xy controller coupled to the x motor, the y motor, and the main controller; the main controller is configured to receive a button signal from the button and send the button signal to the z controller; the z controller is configured to receive the electric pulse signal from the knob, forward the electric pulse signal to the main controller when receiving the triggered predetermined button signal without controlling the z motor according to the electric pulse signal, and restore the control of the z motor according to the electric pulse signal when no longer receiving the triggered predetermined button signal or when receiving a next triggered button signal; the main controller is further configured to calculate the amount and direction of movement according to the electric pulse signal when receiving it from the z controller and send a corresponding movement instruction to the xy controller; and the xy controller is configured to control operation of the x motor and/or y motor according to the movement instruction received from the main controller.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the first aspect of the invention, the button may be arranged in the vicinity of the knob so that the user can operate the knob and the button simultaneously with the same hand, or may be arranged at an end of the knob, or may be arranged inside the knob so that the operation direction of the button is parallel to the direction of a rotation axis of the knob.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the first aspect of the invention, the button may be an illuminative button or a button that can light an illuminative device, which is configured to be lighted and extinguished respectively when the operative coupling between the knob and the x motor and/or the y motor is established and disconnected by means of the button signal emitted by it.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the first aspect of the invention, at least one of the knob may be a composite knob consisting of a coarse adjusting wheel and a fine adjusting wheel which are coaxially arranged.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the first aspect of the invention, the coarse adjusting wheel and the fine adjusting wheel may share one rotary encoder or may be provided with their respective rotary encoders.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a microscope is provided which comprises: a stage; a controller; at least one knob which is operatively coupled to the stage selectively by means of the controller to control movement of the stage; and at least one button which is coupled to the controller in communication and sends to the controller one or more types of button signals indicating that the button has been triggered by operation of the microscope user, wherein the controller is configured to disconnect a normal operative coupling between the knob and the stage and establish an operative coupling between the knob and other elements of the microscope to control operations of the said other elements when receiving a triggered predetermined button signal, and restore the normal operative coupling between the knob and the stage and disconnect the operative coupling between the knob and the said other elements when no longer receiving the triggered predetermined button signal or when receiving a next triggered button signal.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the said other elements of the microscope may include an objective nosepiece and/or a reflector turret and/or a menu of an On-Screen-Display (OSD) system of the microscope, a microscope settings memory and an illumination device.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the knob may be configured to control during its rotation the rotation of the objective nosepiece and/or the rotation of the reflector turret and/or the scrolling of menu items of the OSD system of the microscope.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the button may be configured to trigger the function(s) of photographing and/or video recording of a microscope camera and/or saving settings in a microscope settings memory, like the parfocal position of the current working objective lens and/or loading/unloading position of the stage when operated in a predetermined way.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, a rotary encoder may be installed on the knob, which rotary encoder converts the angular displacement of the knob to an electric pulse signal for controlling operation of a driving device that drives the stage or the said other elements.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the at least one knob may be a composite knob consisting of a first adjusting wheel and a second adjusting wheel which are coaxially arranged.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the button may be arranged in the vicinity of the knob so that the user can operate the knob and the button simultaneously with the same hand, or may be arranged at an end of the knob, or may be arranged inside the knob so that the operation direction of the button is parallel to the direction of a rotation axis of the knob.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the said other elements may include an objective nosepiece and a reflector turret of the microscope; the first adjusting wheel is configured to control during its rotation the rotation of one of the objective nosepiece and the reflector turret, and the second adjusting wheel is configured to control during its rotation the rotation of the other of the objective nosepiece and the reflector turret.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the said other elements may include an objective nosepiece and a reflector turret of the microscope; the at least one knob includes two knobs arranged at the left side and right side of the microscope respectively; the left knob is configured to control during its rotation the rotation of one of the objective nosepiece and the reflector turret, and the right knob is configured to control during its rotation the rotation of the other of the objective nosepiece and the reflector turret.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the said other elements may include an OSD system of the microscope; the first adjusting wheel is configured to make a selection during its rotation by scrolling among items in the same level of menu of the OSD system, and the second adjusting wheel is configured to switch during its rotation between adjacent levels of menu of the OSD system; the composite knob further includes a confirmation button configured to confirm the selection of a menu item when being operated.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the first adjusting wheel and the second adjusting wheel may share one rotary encoder or may be provided with their respective rotary encoders.

In an exemplary configuration of the microscope according to the second aspect of the invention, the button may be an illuminative button or a button that can light an illuminative device, which is configured to be lighted and extinguished respectively when the operative coupling between the knob and the said other elements is established and disconnected by means of the button signal emitted by it.

The significance of the invention is to enable the operator of an automated microscope with many functions to operate the microscope in the conventional stand-alone mode in a traditional and comfortable way without use of computer and software. In the whole stand-alone mode, the operator can conduct continuous observation without turning the eyesight away from the eyepiece. In the microscope according to the invention, additional element control functions (including control of vertical and horizontal movement of the stage) can be performed by means of the existing focus knob for adjusting the raising and lowering of the stage, so that control of the movement of the stage in the horizontal plane (in order to locate the observation target on the specimen or sample) is as convenient as control of vertical focusing of the stage in the traditional method. Meanwhile, as the stage of the microscope according to the invention can be moved along the x direction and the y direction simultaneously in the horizontal plane, the speed of locating the observation target on the specimen or sample can be accelerated. In the invention, the same knob can be used to additionally control other elements of the microscope, such as the objective lens, reflector, and OSD, and a button is used to simply switch between the various functions of the knob. Good hand-feeling can be provided by operating these elements and functions. In this way, less operating devices may be used in the microscope and advantages of the knob in terms of operation, such as convenience, preciseness and compliance with conventional operation habit, may be utilized. Therefore, the microscope according to the invention has a simple structure and a reduced cost, and is easier for operation.

The above and other technical effects of the invention can be clearly understood through the following description of embodiments thereof with reference to the drawings.

