Microscope Image Stitching Color Correction via Preliminary Action
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing microscope systems face issues with unnatural joins in wide-field-angle images due to changes in brightness and hue caused by Auto Exposure, Auto Gain Control, and Auto White Balance operations during image stitching.
Innovation Solution
An image acquisition apparatus that includes a stage, objective lens, image capturing unit, color-difference calculating unit, and color-difference correcting unit, which calculates and corrects the color dissimilarity between captured and pasted images to match the brightness and hue, thereby preventing unnatural joins during image stitching.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If AE, AGC, or AWB operations are performed during image acquisition, then the brightness and hue are automatically adjusted, but the color consistency between captured images changes causing unnatural joins in pasted images
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by setting the AE, AGC, and AWB operations to stop before image acquisition begins. The exposure time, gain, and white balance are predetermined and fixed for the entire sequence of image captures. This ensures that all captured images have consistent color properties before pasting, eliminating the color shifts that would otherwise occur during automatic adjustments.
2Area of stationary object
If multiple images are captured and pasted to create wide-field-angle images, then the coverage area increases, but the brightness and hue changes cause unnatural joins at boundaries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent ensures color consistency is established in advance by fixing exposure time, gain, and white balance settings before capturing the sequence of images. This preliminary configuration guarantees that all images, regardless of their position in the sequence, have uniform color properties, allowing them to be pasted together without visible boundaries or unnatural joins.
3Area of stationary object
If the stage is moved to capture different viewing fields, then the observation area expands, but the color variation between fields degrades image quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by predetermining the exposure time, gain, and white balance settings before the stage movement and image capture sequence begins. These fixed settings ensure that all images captured across different viewing fields maintain uniform color properties, preventing color variation that would otherwise degrade the overall image quality of the composite wide-field image.
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
The apparatus generates high-quality pasted images by accurately matching the color and brightness of stitched images, reducing the occurrence of unnatural joins and improving the overall image quality.
Implementation Method 1
an objective lens that collects light from the specimen mounted on the stage
Data Source
AI summary
An image acquisition apparatus including: a stage on which a specimen is mounted; an objective lens that collects light from the specimen; a stage driving part that drives the stage; an image capturing unit that acquires an image by photographing the light collected by the objective lens; an image-generating unit that generates a pasted image by pasting the captured image acquired by the image capturing unit; a storage unit that stores the pasted image; a color-difference calculating unit that calculates a degree of dissimilarity between a color of the pasted image and a color of the captured image prior to pasting; and a color-difference correcting unit that corrects the color of the captured image so as to match the color of the pasted image, on the basis of the calculated degree of dissimilarity.