Focus-Bracket Sub-Image Composition for Clear Cell Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image capturing technologies struggle to produce high-contrast images of subjects, particularly cells or microorganisms adhered to flexible and translucent sheet-shaped members or within culture bags, due to deflection and deformation, leading to inconsistent focal planes and poor image quality.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that includes an image-capturing unit, control unit, and processing units to capture and process multiple focus bracket images, detect subject positions and sizes, generate sub-images, select high-contrast images, and compose them into a composite image, ensuring accurate focal alignment and contrast adjustment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If multiple focus bracket images are captured to handle deflection and deformation, then image quality and contrast are improved, but device complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image processing task by dividing captured images into multiple sub-images based on detected subject positions. Each sub-image corresponds to a specific subject region, allowing independent processing and composition. This segmentation approach handles deflection and deformation by treating each subject's focal plane requirements separately, thereby improving image quality without requiring complex global processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension of processing by detecting subject positions and sizes to generate position-specific sub-images. Instead of processing the entire image uniformly, the system creates multiple sub-images at different positions with adjusted focal planes, effectively adding a spatial dimension to the image processing workflow. This resolves the contradiction by enabling precise focal alignment for each subject region.
2Adaptability or versatility
If focal plane position is changed to capture subjects at different depths, then subjects distributed in image-capturing direction are captured, but image composition becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary detection of subject positions and sizes before image composition. By detecting where subjects are located and how large they are in the captured images, the system prepares position information that guides subsequent sub-image generation and composition. This preliminary action simplifies the composition process by providing a clear roadmap for merging images taken at different focal planes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from subject position and size detection to adjust the image composition process. The detected position information feeds into the sub-image generation step, which then feeds into composition. This feedback loop ensures that images are composed correctly based on actual subject locations, handling distributed subjects at different depths while maintaining systematic control over the composition complexity.
3Measurement precision
If sub-images are selected based on contrast to ensure quality, then image clarity is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality control by evaluating contrast specifically within detected subject regions rather than processing the entire image uniformly. The system identifies subject positions and assesses contrast locally at these positions to determine which sub-images to select for composition. This localized approach improves image clarity by focusing computational resources on relevant regions while reducing overall processing time.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided an apparatus including: an acquiring unit which acquires a plurality of images captured by changing a position of a focal plane relative to a subject in an image-capturing direction; a selecting unit which selects, out of the plurality of images, two or more images which have higher contrast than a reference value; a composing unit which composes the two or more images to generate a composite image; and a sub-image generating unit which generates, from each of the plurality of images, a sub-image of at least one position in the image which is a common position among the plurality of images, wherein the sub-image includes a plurality of sub-images, the selecting unit selects two or more sub-images which have higher contrast than the reference value, and the composing unit composes the two or more sub-images for each position in the image to generate a composite sub-image.