Lensless e-Petri Dish Imaging via Sub-pixel Shifted Projections
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional optical microscopes with bulky optics are expensive, difficult to miniaturize, and ineffective for imaging confluent cell cultures or samples with contiguous cell arrangements, as they suffer from optical limitations like aberrations and chromaticity, and digital in-line holographic microscopy struggles with phase information recovery and coherence-based noise.
Innovation Solution
The e-Petri system employs a CMOS imaging sensor with a transparent layer and a smartphone as an illumination source, capturing sub-pixel shifted projection images from various angles to reconstruct high-resolution images using a super-resolution algorithm, enabling imaging of confluent specimens without mechanical scanning or microfluidic flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional optical microscopes with bulky optics are used, then imaging capability is achieved, but device size becomes large and cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the bulky optical lens from the imaging system, extracting only the essential imaging function. By using a lensless approach with a light detector positioned close to the specimen, the system eliminates the need for large optical components while maintaining imaging capability through computational reconstruction of images from raw sensor data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/optical lens-based imaging system with a computational imaging approach. Instead of using physical optics to focus and form images, the system uses algorithms to reconstruct images from raw projection data captured by the light detector, substituting mechanical optical components with computational processing.
2Measurement precision
If conventional optical microscopes are used, then imaging is possible, but optical aberrations and chromaticity occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the imaging function from the optical lens that causes aberrations. By removing the lens entirely and using a lensless projection approach, the system eliminates the source of optical aberrations and chromaticity while still achieving imaging through computational methods that process the projection data directly.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes the optical lens-based system with a computational imaging system. Instead of relying on optical components that introduce aberrations, the system uses algorithmic reconstruction to achieve high-quality images free from optical defects, replacing physical optics with computational processing.
3Measurement precision
If digital in-line holographic microscopy is used, then imaging capability is achieved, but phase information recovery is difficult and coherence-based noise occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential projection imaging function while removing the holographic interference pattern that causes coherence-based noise. By using direct projection imaging without holographic modulation, the system captures intensity information directly without the complex interference patterns that make phase recovery difficult and introduce noise.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a simple, inexpensive light detector (such as a CMOS or CCD sensor) that can be easily replaced or updated, rather than complex holographic microscopy systems. This approach prioritizes practical, cost-effective imaging over sophisticated but problematic holographic methods.
4Measurement precision
If sub-pixel shifted projection images are captured, then high-resolution reconstruction is achieved, but number of images to be processed increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the imaging process into multiple sub-pixel shifted projections, where each projection captures information at a slightly different position. By dividing the high-resolution image acquisition into multiple lower-resolution projections that are later combined computationally, the system achieves high resolution while managing processing complexity through structured data collection and reconstruction algorithms.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach provides a cost-effective, high-resolution, wide-field-of-view imaging solution for confluent specimens, overcoming the limitations of conventional microscopes and digital in-line holography by achieving sub-pixel resolution and reducing human labor and contamination risks in laboratory settings.
Implementation Method 1
a light detector configured to sample a sequence of sub-pixel shifted projection images of the specimen
Implementation Method 2
The e-Petri dish also includes a transparent layer between the sensing surface and the specimen surface
Data Source
AI summary
An e-Petri dish comprising a transparent layer having a specimen surface and a light detector configured to sample a sequence of sub-pixel shifted projection images of a specimen located on the specimen surface. The sub-pixel shifted projection images associated with light from a plurality of illumination angles provided by an illumination source.