Microscope apparatus and method for image acquisition of specimen slides having scattered specimens

1. A microscope image acquisition apparatus comprising:

a macro-image acquisition section that acquires a macro image of a glass slide having a specimen mounted thereon;

an extraction section that extracts the image of the specimen acquired by the macro-image acquisition section;

a block setting section that sets a respective block for each one of a plurality of non-contiguous specimen elements (lumps) in the extracted specimen image when the specimen extracted by the extraction section is scattered to form said plurality of non-contiguous specimen elements (lumps);

an area dividing section that for each of the blocks set by the block setting section, divides said block into a plurality of small regions; and

a micro-image acquisition section that searches for an autofocusing in-focus position in each of the blocks set by the block setting section, performs an automatic focusing operation for the specimen in each of the small regions in a block where the in-focus position has been found, and acquires, for each of the small regions generated by the area dividing section, a micro image having a higher resolution than the macro image.

2. A microscope image acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the micro-image acquisition section does not perform micro-image acquisition for a block where the in-focus position has not been found as a result of the in-focus position search in each of the blocks.

3. A microscope image acquisition apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising an image processing section that labels, on the macro image, the block where the in-focus position has not been found as a result of the in-focus position search in each of the blocks, performed by the micro-image acquisition section.

4. A microscope image acquisition apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the image processing section labels the block where the in-focus position has not been found, by coloring the block.

5. A microscope image acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an order setting section that sets an order in which the micro-image acquisition section acquires micro images of the plurality of small regions generated by the area dividing section.

6. A microscope image acquisition apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the order setting section sets the order so as to scan the plurality of small regions, arrayed in a grid pattern, from the upper-left small region while the scanning line alternately meanders to the right and left.

7. A microscope image acquisition method comprising:

acquiring using a microscope a macro image of a glass slide having a specimen mounted thereon;

processing the acquired macro image to extract the image of the specimen;

when the specimen extracted in the processing step is scattered to form a plurality of non-contiguous specimen elements (lumps), setting a respective block for each one of said plurality of non-contiguous specimen elements;

for each of the image blocks set in the block setting step, dividing said block into a plurality of small image regions;

searching for an autofocusing in-focus position in each of the image blocks set in the block setting step;

performing an automatic focusing operation for the specimen in each of the small regions where the in-focus position has been found in the in-focus position searching step, and

acquiring, for each of the small regions generated by the dividing step, a micro image having a higher resolution than the macro image.

8. A microscope image acquisition method according to claim 7 , wherein, for a block where the in-focus position has not been found as a result of the in-focus position search in each of the blocks, the micro image acquisition is not performed in the micro-image acquisition step.

9. A microscope image acquisition method according to claim 8 , further comprising the step of labeling, on the macro image, the block where the in-focus position has not been found as a result of the in-focus position search in each of the blocks, performed by the micro-image acquisition step.

10. A microscope image acquisition method according to claim 9 , wherein, in the labeling step, the block where the in-focus position has not been found is labeled by coloring the block.

11. A microscope image acquisition method according to claim 7 , further comprising a step of setting an order in which micro images of the plurality of small regions generated in the dividing step are acquired in the micro-image acquisition step.

12. A microscope image acquisition method according to claim 11 , wherein, in the order setting step, the order is set so as to scan the plurality of small regions, arrayed in a grid pattern, from the upper-left small region while the scanning line alternately meanders to the right and left.

13. A microscope image acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the micro-image acquisition section searches a reference of the in-focus position in each of the blocks and starts acquisition of the micro image in each of the blocks on a basis of the reference in each of the blocks.

14. A microscope image acquisition apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an automatic focusing range used in a case where the micro-image acquisition section searches the in-focus position in each of the blocks is larger than an automatic focusing range used in a case where the micro-image acquisition section acquires the micro image in the small region.

15. A microscope image acquisition method according to claim 7 , wherein in the in-focus position searching step, a reference of the in-focus position is searched in each of the blocks, and

wherein in the micro-image acquisition step, acquisition of the micro image in each of the blocks is started on a basis of the reference in each of the blocks.

16. A microscope image acquisition method according to claim 7 , wherein in the in-focus position searching step, an automatic focusing range used in a case where the in-focus position is searched in each of the blocks is larger than an automatic focusing range used in a case where the micro image in the small region is acquired in the micro-image acquisition step.