JPH11344676A - Microscope imaging system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: The present invention relates to a microscope image photographing system that divides a range in which a specimen is magnified and photographed into a plurality of regions, and magnifies each region at a predetermined magnification. An object of the present invention is to provide a microscope image photographing system capable of photographing. SOLUTION: A range acquiring means for acquiring a range in which a specimen is magnified and photographed, a magnification acquiring means for acquiring a magnification in magnified photographing, and dividing the range into a plurality of regions according to an angle of view corresponding to the magnification. In a microscope image photographing system including a dividing unit and a photographing unit configured to photograph the plurality of regions at the magnification, a microscope image including the range is acquired, and a microscope image of each region divided by the dividing unit is obtained. Area characteristic detecting means for detecting the ratio of the object to the background of each area based on the characteristics, and a photographing order determining means for determining the order when enlarging each area according to the ratio of the object, The photographing means enlarges and photographs each area in the order determined by the photographing order determining means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microscope image photographing system for dividing a range in which a specimen is magnified and photographed into a plurality of regions, and magnifying each region at a predetermined magnification.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional microscope image photographing system divides a photographing range into a plurality of regions corresponding to the angle of view of an objective lens based on a photographing range designated by an operator and a magnification of an objective lens. Something to shoot. Generally, such a microscope image capturing system includes a low-magnification objective lens for capturing an entire specimen, a monitor for displaying a microscope image, and a position input device (for example, a mouse or the like) for specifying a capturing range. ing.

When the operator wants to observe the entire specimen in detail using such a microscope image photographing system, an operator uses an image obtained by photographing with a low-magnification objective lens (hereinafter referred to as a "macro observation image"). , The photographing range to be photographed at a high magnification is designated via the position input device. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
In the publication of JP-138355, in order to reduce the labor of the operator, a rectangular shooting range including the entire sample is automatically recognized, and the shooting range is divided into a plurality of areas corresponding to the angle of view of the objective lens. A technique for photographing is disclosed.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-138355 discloses a technique in which, of a plurality of divided areas, an area where no specimen is present is deleted from an object to be photographed. Therefore, in the microscope image capturing system to which the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-138355 is applied, it is possible to capture only the region where the sample exists at a desired magnification.

By the way, even in a region where a sample exists, there are a region where the proportion of the sample is low and a region where only the sample occupies, and the proportion of the sample in each region is not constant. For example, in the case of cancer that occurs in the periphery of an organ, the area where the specimen occupies a low area is more important, and in the case of cancer that occurs inside the organ, the area where the specimen occupies a higher area It becomes more important.

As described above, the importance of the proportion occupied by the sample may differ depending on the place where the cancer occurs or the degree of progress.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-1
Japanese Patent Publication No. 38355 describes that it is recognized whether or not a sample is included, but does not disclose any distinction between regions according to the proportion of the sample. That is, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-138355, the region where the sample exists is all treated uniformly.

Therefore, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-138355 cannot meet the demand for preferentially observing a region of high importance, and it has been difficult to improve the efficiency of inspection. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a microscope image photographing system capable of performing magnified photographing from a region of high importance.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a microscope image photographing system, comprising: a range acquiring means for acquiring a range for enlarging and photographing a specimen; and a magnification acquiring means for acquiring a magnification for enlarging and photographing the specimen. A dividing unit that divides the range acquired by the range acquiring unit into a plurality of regions according to an angle of view corresponding to the magnification acquired by the magnification acquiring unit; and a plurality of regions divided by the dividing unit is acquired by the magnification acquiring unit. In a microscope image photographing system comprising photographing means for enlarging and photographing at the acquired magnification, a microscope image including the range acquired by the range acquiring means is acquired, and a microscope image corresponding to each area divided by the dividing means Area characteristic detecting means for detecting a ratio of an object to a background with respect to each area based on the characteristics of each area, Imaging order determining means for determining the order of enlarging and photographing each area according to the ratio of the object occupied by the object, and the imaging means enlarges and photographs the area in the order determined by the imaging order determining means. It is characterized by the following.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the microscope image capturing system according to the first aspect, wherein the area characteristic detecting means holds at least one of the color information of the object and the background in advance and performs division. The ratio between the object and the background is detected by identifying, on the basis of the color information, a portion of the microscope image corresponding to each region divided by the means that can be considered to match the color of the object or the background. It is characterized by the following.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a microscope image photographing system according to the first or second aspect, wherein the photographing order determining means determines an object based on a detection result by the area characteristic detecting means. It is characterized in that a region whose occupation ratio exceeds a predetermined threshold value is selected, and an order in which the region is magnified and photographed is determined. Claim 4
The microscope image photographing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising interruption instruction means for receiving an external operation for instructing interruption of enlarged photographing by the photographing means, The photographing means is characterized in that, when an external operation for instructing interruption of the enlarged photographing is received via the interruption instructing means, the photographing means is interrupted.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the microscope image photographing system according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the order determined by the photographing order determining means is supplied to the outside. Order outputting means, and an order changing means for receiving an external operation for changing the order determined by the shooting order determining means, wherein the shooting order determining means responds to the external operation received via the order changing means, Is characterized in that the order in which the images are magnified is changed.

A microscope image photographing system according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the microscope image photographing system according to the fourth aspect, further comprising display means for displaying a microscope image obtained by enlarging and photographing by the photographing means, and a communication system. The interruption instruction means and the display means transmit information to the imaging means via the communication system. Claim 7
A microscope image photographing system according to claim 5, further comprising a communication system in the microscope image photographing system according to claim 5, wherein the sequence output unit and the sequence change unit communicate information with the imaging unit via the communication system. It is characterized by.

[0014]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of the microscope image photographing system of the present embodiment. In the figure, a microscope image transmission terminal 101 having a microscope 100 and a microscope image reception terminal 102 are connected via a communication line 103.

In the microscope image transmitting terminal 101, the microscope 100 is provided with a scanning stage 104 capable of moving horizontally and vertically and a magnification of various types (for example, 0.5 ×, 1).
×, 2 ×, 4 ×, 10 ×, 20 ×, 40 ×, 60 ×, 1
00 ×). A video camera 106 for photographing a specimen is attached to an upper part of the microscope 100.

The scanning stage 104 is connected to a scanning stage controller 107 for controlling the horizontal movement and the vertical movement of the scanning stage 104.
The microscope image transmission terminal 101 includes a control unit 108, an image memory 109, an image processing unit 110, an operation unit 111, a communication processing unit 112, an image input / output unit 113, and a monitor 11
4

The control section 108 includes a movable section of the objective lens 105 of the microscope 100, a scanning stage controller 107, a terminal for controlling the image memory 109, a terminal for controlling the image processing section 110, an operation section 111, and a communication processing section 112. Is connected to the control terminal. The control unit 10
Step 8 will be described later. An input of the image input / output unit 113 is connected to an image output terminal of the video camera 106 and an image output terminal of the image memory 109. An output of the image input / output unit 113 is an image input terminal of the image memory 109. And a monitor 114.

The image input terminal of the image memory 109 is also connected to the image output terminal of the image processing unit 110. The image output terminal of the image memory 109 is connected to the image input terminal of the image processing unit 110. And a terminal for image input of the communication processing unit 112. In FIG. 1, the path of the image is indicated by a double line.

The image input / output unit 113 is provided for the video camera 10.
The subject image picked up by 6 is captured as a microscope image, and the captured microscope image is AD-converted to monitor 11
4 and the image memory 109. Image memory 10
Reference numeral 9 denotes an image processing unit 110 and a communication processing unit 112 while recording the microscope image supplied from the image input / output unit 113.
To supply. Further, the image memory 109 stores the image processing unit 1
While recording the image that has been subjected to the image processing by 10, the image is supplied to the image input / output unit 113.

The image input / output unit 113 includes an image processing unit 110
The image which has been subjected to the image processing and is supplied via the image memory 109 is also supplied to the monitor 114. Note that the microscope image supplied to the communication processing unit 112 is supplied to the microscope image receiving terminal 102 via the communication line 103. The microscope image receiving terminal 102 includes a control unit 120, a communication processing unit 121, an image memory 122, an image processing unit 12
3, operation unit 124, image input / output unit 125, and monitor 1
26.

The control section 120 is connected to a control terminal of the communication processing section 121, a control terminal of the image memory 122, a control terminal of the image processing section 123, and an operation section 124. The processing of the control unit 120 will be described later.
An image output terminal of the communication processing unit 121 is an image memory 1
22 terminals for image input. The image input terminal of the image memory 122 is also connected to the image output terminal of the image processing unit 123.

The image output terminal of the image memory 122 is
It is connected to an image input terminal of the image processing unit 123 and an input of the image input / output unit 125. The output of the image input / output unit 125 is connected to a monitor 126. Communication processing unit 121
Supplies the microscope image received via the communication line 103 to the image memory 122.

The image memory 122 stores the microscope image supplied from the communication processing unit 121 while storing the microscope image.
3 and the image input / output unit 125. The image memory 122 supplies the image processed by the image processing unit 123 to the image input / output unit 125 while recording the image. The image input / output unit 125 supplies the image supplied from the image memory 122 to the monitor 126.

The operation unit 111 in the microscope image transmission terminal 101 and the operation unit 1 in the microscope image reception terminal 102
Reference numeral 24 is, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. The operation unit 111 receives external operations such as setting of the magnification of the objective lens 105 and changing the order of shooting by the operator, and the operation unit 124 receives an instruction to interrupt shooting. By the way, regarding the correspondence between the invention described in the first to seventh aspects and the present embodiment, the range acquisition unit includes the control unit 10.
8 corresponds to “a function of determining an area to be magnified”.

The magnification acquiring means corresponds to the “function for accepting magnification setting” of the operation unit 111. The dividing unit corresponds to “the function of dividing the macro observation image into a plurality of regions” of the image processing unit 110. The photographing unit corresponds to the microscope 100 (including the objective lens 105 and the scanning stage 104), the scanning stage controller 107, and the video camera 106.

The area characteristic detecting means corresponds to the “function of detecting the ratio indicated by the sample” of the image processing unit 110. The photographing order determining means corresponds to the “function of determining the photographing order” of the control unit 108. The interruption instructing unit corresponds to the “function for receiving an instruction to suspend the photographing” of the operation unit 124.

The order output means corresponds to the monitor 114. The order changing unit corresponds to the “function for receiving a change in the order of shooting” of the operation unit 111. The display means corresponds to the monitor 126. The communication system includes a communication processing unit 11
2,121.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are operation flowcharts of the microscope image transmission terminal. FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the microscope image receiving terminal. Hereinafter, FIGS. 1 to 4
The operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, for example, a process is assumed in which a microscope image is transmitted from a hospital without a pathologist to a pathology classroom of a medical school of a university, and a consultation on the progress of cancer is requested.

It is also assumed that the specimen to be consulted has been stained by a predetermined staining method (eg, HE staining, Azan staining, etc.). Further, it is assumed that color information (hereinafter, referred to as “staining color information”) of a color similar to the color by which the sample is dyed by such a staining method is stored in the image processing unit 110 in advance. Here, FIG. 2 shows that the operator of the microscope image transmission terminal
FIG. 4 shows an operation flowchart from the time when the start of the process related to the consultation request is instructed, and FIG.
5 shows an operation flowchart from the time when reception of a microscope image is started.

In S1 of FIG. 2, the control unit 108 instructs the microscope 100 to generate a macro observation image.
That is, the control unit 108 switches the objective lens 105 to a magnification (for example, 0.5 times) for macro observation, and fixes the scanning stage 104 at a predetermined position via the scanning stage controller 107.
Note that the video camera 106 constantly captures images,
The subject image is supplied to the image input / output unit 113. Further, as described above, the image input / output unit 113 includes the video camera 10.
The subject image supplied from 6 is captured as a microscope image, and the captured microscope image is supplied to the monitor 114 and the image memory 109. In the monitor 114, FIG.
, A macro observation image is displayed.

In S2 of FIG. 2, the control unit 108 waits until the operator requests the setting of the magnification of the objective lens 105 via the operation unit 111. When the operator sets the magnification of the objective lens 105 in such a standby state, the control unit 108 performs the process of S3 in FIG. S in FIG.
In 3, the control unit 108 instructs the image memory 109 and the image processing unit 110 to divide the macro observation image into a plurality of regions according to the magnification set by the operator. Note that the control unit 108 performs such an instruction,
The image processing unit 110 is notified of the magnification set by the operator.

When instructed in this way, the image memory 10
9 records the macro observation image supplied from the image input / output unit 113. In the image memory 109, a macro observation image is recorded by recording color information corresponding to each pixel of an image sensor (not shown) in the video camera 106.

On the other hand, the image processing unit 110
The macro observation image recorded in 09 is taken in. In addition, the image processing unit 110 superimposes the mesh image on the macro observation image so that the macro observation image is divided into a plurality of regions according to the angle of view corresponding to the magnification notified from the control unit 108. The macro observation image on which the mesh images are superimposed in this way is stored in the image memory 109.
Is temporarily recorded on the monitor 1 via the image input / output unit 113.
14. On the monitor 114, an image as shown in FIG. 5 (2) is displayed.

In the course of performing such a process, the control unit 108 calculates the center position of each area and generates a table as shown in FIG. At this point, the control unit 108 determines “the ratio of the sample” and “the imaging order”.
Field is initialized. In S4 of FIG. 2, the control unit 1
08 instructs the image processing unit 110 to calculate the ratio of the sample to each area.

When instructed in this way, the image processing section 110 compares the color information of all the pixels in each area with the above-mentioned "staining color information", thereby obtaining a sample with a stained color. Count close pixels. Also, the image processing unit 110
Calculates the proportion of the sample in each region based on the number of pixels counted as described above (the number of pixels close to the color in which the sample is dyed) and the total number of pixels in each region.

The ratio of the sample occupied by each region calculated in this way is notified to the control unit 108, and stored in the “sample occupied ratio” column of the above-described table in association with each region. You. In S5 of FIG.
In step 08, an area in which the proportion of the sample falls below a predetermined value is excluded from the target of the enlarged imaging, and an area to be enlarged is determined.

That is, the control unit 108 refers to the table, detects an area where the proportion of the sample falls below a predetermined value, and deletes information on the area. FIG.
In S6, the control unit 108 determines the photographing order of the region to be magnified, based on the proportion of the sample. In the present embodiment, as described above, a process of requesting a consultation regarding the degree of progression of cancer is assumed.

That is, the control unit 108 determines the photographing order in ascending order of the value stored in the column of “ratio of sample” in the table, and determines the photographing order thus determined in the column of “photographing order” in the table. To be stored. The control unit 10
8 is for the region where the proportion of the sample
The imaging order is determined in ascending order of the “area identification number”.

By the way, in the process of requesting an initial consultation on cancer, the order of imaging of the region to be magnified may be in order from the lowest percentage of the sample. Further, it is assumed that the operator instructs, via the operation unit 111, whether the photographing order is in the order of higher or lower order of the sample ratio. In S7 of FIG. 2, the control unit 108
Instructs the image processing unit 110 to display the shooting order on the macro observation image. Note that, when such an instruction is given, the control unit 108 notifies the image processing unit 110 of the imaging order corresponding to each area.

When instructed in this way, the image processing unit 110 superimposes a number indicating the photographing order on each area of the macro observation image. The macro observation image on which the numbers indicating the photographing order are superimposed as described above is stored in the image memory 10.
9, and is supplied to the monitor 114 via the image input / output unit 113. On the monitor 114, an image as shown in FIG. 5 (3) is displayed.

Therefore, the operator can confirm the photographing order based on the image displayed on the monitor 114. In S8 of FIG. 2, the control unit 108 waits until the operator requests the start of imaging of each area via the operation unit 111. The control unit 108 performs the process of S9 in FIG. 2 in such a standby state.

In FIG. 2S9, the control unit 108 determines whether or not the operator has instructed to change the photographing order via the operation unit 111. When it is recognized that the operator has instructed to change the photographing order by such a determination, the control unit 10
8 performs the processing of S10 in FIG. In FIG. 2S10,
The control unit 108 changes the shooting order according to an instruction from the operator to change the shooting order.

Here, a microscope image photographing system in which a menu as shown in FIG. 7A can be displayed on the monitor 114 and an operator can select a specific area or menu item via the operation unit 111 is considered. In such a microscope image photographing system, for example, as shown in FIG. 7 (2), when the region of the fourth photographing order and the item “frontmost” in the menu are selected, the control unit 108 The value of the column of “photographing order” in the above table is changed as follows.

1-> 2 2-> 3 3-> 4 4-> 1 The photographing order changed in this way is displayed on the macro observation image as in S7 of FIG. That is, the monitor 114 displays an image as shown in FIG.

By the way, when the operator requests the start of photographing of each area via the operation unit 111, the control unit 108
The process of S11 in FIG. 3 is performed. In S11 in FIG. 3, the control unit 108 instructs the microscope 100 to generate a microscope image of each area according to the imaging order. That is, the control unit 108 switches the objective lens 105 to the magnification requested by the operator, and notifies the scanning stage controller 107 of the value of the “center position” in the order of the “photographing order” of the table. Further, the control unit 108 notifies the image memory 109 of the timing at which the scanning stage 104 is fixed by the scanning stage controller 107.

In this state, enlargement photographing is performed by the video camera 106, and a microscope image obtained by the enlargement photographing is constantly supplied to the image memory 109 via the image input / output unit 113. The scanning stage controller 107 fixes the scanning stage 104 according to the “center position” notified from the control unit 108.

The image memory 109 temporarily records the microscope image supplied from the image input / output unit 113 at the timing notified from the control unit 108. Therefore, in the image memory 109, the microscope image obtained by the enlarged photographing with the scanning stage 104 fixed is temporarily recorded. In S12 of FIG. 3, the control unit 108
Instructs the communication processing unit 112 to transmit the microscope image temporarily recorded in the image memory 109 to the microscope image receiving terminal 102.

When the communication processing unit 112 is instructed in this way, every time a microscope image is recorded in the image memory 109, the microscope image is transmitted to the communication processing unit 121 in the microscope image receiving terminal 102. The communication processing unit 112
Performs communication control with the communication processing unit 121 in the microscope image receiving terminal 102 according to a predetermined communication protocol,
It is assumed that the microscope image receiving terminal 102 has been notified in advance of requesting a consultation. Further, the communication processing unit 112 can notify the microscope image receiving terminal 102 of the start and end of the transmission of the microscope image.

In FIG. 3S13, the control unit 108 determines whether or not the generation and transmission of the microscope images of all the regions to be enlarged have been completed. When recognizing that the generation and transmission of the microscope images of all the regions have not been completed by such a determination, the control unit 108
The process of S14 in FIG. 3 is performed. By the way, in FIG. 4 S101, the control unit 120 in the microscope image receiving terminal 102
It waits until transmission of the microscope image by the microscope image transmission terminal 101 is started. When the control unit 120 is notified that the transmission of the microscope image by the communication processing unit 112 in the microscope image transmission terminal 101 is started via the communication processing unit 121 in the state of being on standby, S1 in FIG.
02 and subsequent processes are performed.

In S102 of FIG. 4, the control unit 120
Instructs the communication processing unit 121 and the image memory 122 to receive a microscope image. When instructed in this manner, the communication processing unit 121 receives the microscope image transmitted by the microscope image transmission terminal 101 and supplies the microscope image to the image memory 122. The image memory 122 records the microscope image supplied from the communication processing unit 121.

The microscope image thus recorded in the image memory 122 is supplied to the monitor 126 via the image input / output unit 125. That is, the microscope image is displayed on the monitor 126 in S103 of FIG. FIG.
In S104, the control unit 120 determines whether or not the transmission of the microscope image by the microscope image transmission terminal 101 has been completed. When the control unit 120 recognizes that the transmission of the microscope image has not been completed by such determination,
Performs the process of S105 in FIG.

In S105 of FIG. 4, the control unit 120
Indicates that the operator (here, corresponding to a pathologist) operates the operating unit 1
Then, it is determined whether or not an instruction to interrupt the reception of the microscope image has been made via the control unit 24. When recognizing that the interruption of the reception of the microscope image has been instructed by such a determination, the control unit 120 performs the process of S106 in FIG. Further, when recognizing that the interruption of the reception of the microscope image has not been instructed, the control unit 120 repeats the processing from S102 in FIG. 4.

In S106 of FIG. 4, the control unit 120
Is transmitted via the communication processing unit 121 to the microscope image transmission terminal 10.
1 is instructed to interrupt the generation and transmission of the microscope image. In S14 of FIG. 3, the control unit 108 determines whether the microscope image receiving terminal 102 has instructed to suspend the generation and transmission of the microscope image. When the control unit 108 recognizes that the interruption of the generation and transmission of the microscope image has been instructed by such a determination, the control unit 108 performs the process of S15 in FIG. If the control unit 108 recognizes that the interruption of the generation and transmission of the microscope image has not been instructed,
Repeatedly performs the processing from S11 in FIG.

In S15 of FIG. 3, the control unit 108
The communication processing unit 11 instructs the scanning stage controller 107 and the image memory 109 to suspend the generation of the microscope image, and instructs the transmission stage 11 to suspend the transmission of the microscope image.
Instruct 2 At this time, the control unit 108 also interrupts the notification of the value of the “center position” to the scanning stage controller 107.

As described above, in this embodiment, when a pathologist who is the operator of the microscope image receiving terminal 102 is requested to perform a consultation on the progress of cancer, the inside of the specimen (the proportion of the specimen (A region with a high value) can be observed preferentially. That is, the pathologist can preferentially observe a microscope image with high importance.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to efficiently observe the sample to be consulted. Further, in the present embodiment, the pathologist, when the microscope image required for consultation is received,
The transmission of the microscope image can be interrupted. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the transmission time of the microscope image required until the consultation is completed can be reduced.

As a method of calculating the proportion of the sample, a macro observation image is converted into a monochrome image, and the monochrome image is binarized by a predetermined threshold value to determine whether or not the image is a sample portion. Can be generated. However, such a method may not be able to generate binarized data with high accuracy due to the influence of noise or the like.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, since the color information is used when calculating the proportion of the sample, the sample portion can be recognized with high accuracy. In the present embodiment, the “stained color information” is used when calculating the proportion of the sample because the stained sample is subjected to consultation, but the color information that can distinguish the sample portion from the background portion is used. Then, any color information may be used.

In the present embodiment, the photographing order is changed in accordance with an instruction from the operator of the microscope image transmission terminal 101, but the processing of S7 to S10 in FIG. The imaging order may be changed by an instruction of a pathologist who is an operator on the image receiving terminal 102 side. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the entire specimen is set as an object of the enlarged photographing, and the region where the sample exists is defined as the range of the enlarged photographing. However, the macro observation image is displayed on the monitor 114 for such an enlarged photographing range. In this case, a range specified by the operator via the operation unit 111 may be used.

Further, in a microscope image photographing system capable of displaying a macro observation image on a monitor 126 in the microscope image receiving terminal 102 via the communication line 103, an operator of the microscope image receiving terminal 102 designates a photographing range for enlarging and photographing. May be. Further, in the present embodiment, the microscopic photographing is performed by the video camera 106.
An electronic still camera may be used. However, the electronic still camera used in the microscope image photographing system to which the present invention is applied needs to be able to display a finder screen on the monitor 114, and the photographing timing needs to be controlled by the control unit 108.

In the present embodiment, the region where the specimen is present is set as a target for magnified photographing. For example, if a part of the sample is stained, that part can be set as a target for magnified photographing.

[0062]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to quickly generate a microscope image of a region that is likely to be important according to the proportion of the object.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the ratio of the object occupied by each area can be accurately detected. According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to exclude a region where the target does not exist or a region where the ratio of the target is low from the target of the magnified photographing. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the enlarged photographing can be interrupted by an instruction from the operator. According to the invention described in claim 6, even when the observer of the microscope image is in a remote place, the magnified photographing can be interrupted by the instruction of the observer.

Therefore, according to the fourth and sixth aspects of the present invention, the enlarged photographing can be interrupted when the enlarged photographing of the important area is completed. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the order in which the magnification photographing is performed can be changed based on the instruction of the operator. Further, in the invention according to claim 7, even when the observer of the microscope image is in a remote place, the order in which the magnified photographing is performed can be changed based on the instruction of the observer.

Therefore, in the inventions according to the fifth and seventh aspects, when there are a plurality of regions occupied only by the object, or when the ratio of the object occupied is high, it is unlikely that the region is important. Can be flexibly dealt with even when the importance cannot be determined only by the ratio of the object, as in the case where there is a. Therefore, according to the first to seventh aspects of the present invention, the efficiency of inspection by the microscope image capturing system can be reliably improved.

In particular, according to the inventions described in claims 6 and 7, the time required for transmitting a microscope image can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a microscope image photographing system.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of a microscope image transmission terminal.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart (continued) of the microscope image transmission terminal.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the microscope image receiving terminal.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a monitor.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a table.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a method of changing a shooting order.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 microscope 101 microscope image transmission terminal 102 microscope image reception terminal 103 communication line 104 scanning stage 105 objective lens 106 video camera 107 scanning stage controller 108, 120 control unit 109, 122 image memory 110, 123 image processing unit 111, 124 operation unit 112 , 121 Communication processing unit 113, 125 Image input / output unit 114, 126 Monitor

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A range acquisition unit for acquiring a range in which a sample is enlarged and photographed, a magnification acquisition unit for acquiring a magnification when the sample is enlarged and photographed, and an angle of view corresponding to the magnification acquired by the magnification acquisition unit A dividing unit that divides the range acquired by the range acquiring unit into a plurality of regions, and a photographing unit that enlarges and photographs the plurality of regions divided by the dividing unit with the magnification acquired by the magnification acquiring unit. A microscope image photographing system comprising: acquiring a microscope image including the range acquired by the range acquiring unit; and setting a target for each region based on characteristics of the microscope image corresponding to each region divided by the division unit. Area characteristic detecting means for detecting a ratio of an object to a background, and a ratio of an object occupied by each area based on a detection result by the area characteristic detecting means. A photographing order determining unit that determines an order in which each region is magnified and photographed, wherein the photographing unit magnifies and photographs the region in the order determined by the photographing order determining unit. Microscope imaging system. 2. The microscope image photographing system according to claim 1, wherein the area characteristic detecting means holds color information of at least one of an object and a background in advance, and stores the color information in each area divided by the dividing means. A microscope image characterized by detecting a ratio of an object to a background by identifying a portion of the corresponding microscope image that can be considered to match the color of the object or the background based on the color information. Shooting system. 3. The microscope image photographing system according to claim 1, wherein the photographing order determining unit determines a ratio of a target object based on a detection result by the region characteristic detecting unit. A microscopic image capturing system, which selects an area larger than the above and determines an order when magnifying the area. 4. The microscope image photographing system according to claim 1, further comprising: interruption instruction means for accepting an external operation for instructing interruption of enlarged photographing by said photographing means; A microscope image photographing system, wherein, when an external operation for instructing interruption of magnified photographing is received via the interruption instructing means, magnified photographing is interrupted. 5. The microscope image photographing system according to claim 1, wherein: a sequence output unit that supplies the order determined by the photographing order determining unit to the outside; and the photographing order determination. And an order changing means for receiving an external operation for changing the order determined by the means, wherein the photographing order determining means is adapted to perform an enlargement shooting of an area according to the external operation received via the order changing means. A microscope image photographing system characterized by changing an order. 6. The microscope image photographing system according to claim 4, further comprising: a display unit for displaying a microscope image obtained by enlarging and photographing by the image pickup unit; and a communication system, wherein the interruption instruction unit and the display unit A microscope image capturing system, wherein information is transmitted to the image capturing unit via the communication system. 7. The microscope image photographing system according to claim 5, further comprising a communication system, wherein the sequence output unit and the sequence change unit communicate information with the imaging unit via the communication system. A microscope image photographing system characterized by the above-mentioned.