Imaging Device Auto-Focus Correction for Culture Vessel Variations
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing imaging methods for multipotent stem cells, such as ES and iPS cells, face challenges in maintaining focus during time-lapse imaging due to variations in culture vessel installation states, leading to longer imaging times and inconsistent focus positions across multiple imaging sessions.
Innovation Solution
An imaging device and method that uses auto-focus control to detect focusing positions during initial imaging, sets reference positions within the culture vessel, and corrects focus positions for subsequent imaging sessions based on these references, allowing for consistent focus regardless of vessel installation changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If auto-focus control is performed on each observation region during time-lapse imaging, then focusing accuracy is improved, but imaging time becomes excessively long
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs auto-focus control only during the first imaging session to establish reference focusing positions for all observation regions. These pre-acquired focusing positions are then reused in subsequent imaging sessions, eliminating the need for repeated auto-focus operations and significantly reducing imaging time while maintaining focusing accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a copy of the focusing position information obtained during the first imaging session and applies this copied data to subsequent imaging sessions. By storing and reusing the focusing position data rather than重新 acquiring it, the system maintains consistent focusing accuracy across multiple imaging sessions without the time penalty of repeated auto-focus control.
2Loss of time
If focusing position information from first imaging is reused in second and subsequent imaging, then imaging time is shortened, but focusing accuracy deteriorates due to changes in culture vessel installation state
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs feedback validation by detecting the focusing position at reference positions during each imaging session. When the detected focusing position at a reference position deviates from the stored reference value by more than a predetermined threshold, the system automatically updates the focusing position information for that session. This feedback mechanism ensures that reused focusing position data remains accurate even when culture vessel installation states change between sessions.
3Area of stationary object
If tiling photography is performed with focus on the base of culture vessel, then wide-field imaging is achieved, but focusing accuracy deteriorates due to non-uniform thickness of vessel bottom
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the culture vessel into multiple observation regions and acquires focusing position information independently for each region. Instead of using a single focus setting for the entire vessel base, the system stores individual focusing positions for each observation region, allowing each region to be imaged at its optimal focus level despite variations in vessel bottom thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the culture vessel into multiple discrete observation regions (e.g., wells in a multi-well plate) and processes focusing for each segment separately. By treating each observation region as an independent unit with its own focusing position data, the system overcomes the limitation of uniform focusing across the entire vessel base.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are an imaging device, an imaging method and an imaging control program which make it possible to shorten an imaging time, and to capture an image of each observation region at an appropriate focusing position regardless of the state of installation of a culture vessel on a stage. In a case where an observation target is imaged multiple times, a focusing position of an observation region within a culture vessel is detected by auto-focus control during first imaging, and the first imaging of each observation region is performed using the focusing position. Next, the focusing position of a reference position is detected by auto-focus control during second imaging subsequent to the first imaging, and the focusing position of each observation region detected in the first imaging is corrected on the basis of the detected focusing position and the focusing position of the reference position in the first imaging.