Patents by Inventor Christian Schumann

Christian Schumann has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11971531
    Abstract: A method is useable for determining a thickness of a cover slip or object carrier in a microscope, which has an objective facing toward a sample chamber. Two optical media border two opposing surfaces of the cover slip or object carrier and form two partially reflective interfaces, which are arranged at different distances from the objective. The method includes: deflecting a measurement light beam by the objective with oblique incidence on the cover slip or object carrier; generating two reflection light beams spatially separated from one another by the measurement light beam being partially reflected on each of the two interfaces; receiving the two reflection light beams by the objective and conducting them onto a position-sensitive detector; registering the incidence locations on the position-sensitive detector; and determining the thickness of the cover slip or object carrier based on the registered incidence locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: LEICA MICROSYSTEMS CMS GMBH
    Inventors: Alexander Weiss, Christian Schumann, Ronja Capellmann
  • Patent number: 11964570
    Abstract: In a method for operating an electric vehicle, including an electrical drive device for driving the vehicle, a control device for controlling the driving of the vehicle, a first energy storage device for supplying the control device with a first DC voltage, a second energy storage device for supplying the drive device with a second DC voltage, and an energy supply unit providing an output DC voltage, the first energy storage device is connected to the energy supply unit via a converter device, the second energy storage device is connected to the energy supply unit, the converter device converts the output DC voltage into the first DC voltage, a first power flow from the first energy storage device to the second energy storage device is prevented and a second power flow from the second energy storage device to the first energy storage device is prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: SEW-EURODRIVE GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Jens Schäfer, Jan Becker, Gero Bockelmann, Matthias Hauck, Christian Schumann, Josef Schmidt
  • Publication number: 20240094518
    Abstract: A microscope for fluorescence light imaging includes an illumination device configured to direct excitation light along an excitation beam path into a sample, and a detection device configured to detect fluorescence light emanating from the sample along a detection beam path which is located in a same hemisphere relative to the sample as the excitation beam path, wherein the illumination device includes a light guiding system configured to guide the excitation light such that, in phase space defined by position and angle of a light beam, a support of the excitation beam path is disjunct from a support of the detection beam path, and wherein the detection device includes at least one emission filter configured to allow the fluorescence light propagating along the detection beam path to be detected for fluorescence light imaging while discarding light that is spectrally different from the fluorescence light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2022
    Publication date: March 21, 2024
    Inventors: Benjamin Deissler, Christian Schulz, Christian Schumann
  • Patent number: 11933972
    Abstract: An optical system for a microscope for imaging an object includes: a telescope system having an optical correction unit, which is adjustable in order to correct a spherical imaging aberration, and having a zoom optical unit, which is adjustable in order to adapt a magnification of the telescope system to a ratio of two refractive indices, one of which is assigned to an object side and an other of which is assigned to an image side, within a predetermined magnification range. The telescope system is telecentric over an entire magnification range both with respect to the object side and with respect to the image side by the zoom optical unit contained in the telescope system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: LEICA MICROSYSTEMS CMS GMBH
    Inventors: Andreas Lotter, Christian Schulz, Christian Schumann
  • Patent number: 11920658
    Abstract: A rack steering system and a motor vehicle having such a rack steering system. The inventive rack steering system comprises a steering gear housing, a toothed rack, which extends through the steering gear housing, an electric motor, which is coupled to the toothed rack on a thread side of the steering gear housing via a ball screw to provide an axial force to the toothed rack, and two track rod links arranged at axial ends of the toothed rack. The steering gear housing is designed in one piece such that a drive insert opening is formed on the thread side of the steering gear housing for arrangement of the electric motor and a direct stop face for a track rod link or a support face for the arrangement and axial support of a separate stop element for a track rod link is also formed on this thread side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Heiko Schumann, Christian Schillak, Jens Rogall
  • Publication number: 20230324662
    Abstract: A method for automatically ascertaining illumination brightnesses to be adjusted of at least two light sources for exciting at least one respective fluorophore in a sample to be imaged in a fluorescence microscope includes separately controlling, in terms of illumination brightness, each of the at least two light sources, detecting an image intensity of a microscopically imaged sample with at least two detectors, and automatically ascertaining the illumination brightnesses to be adjusted of the at least two light sources in such a way that a predefined setpoint of a signal-to-noise ratio is reached for each fluorophore. In order to ascertain the illumination brightnesses of the at least two light sources, cross-talk of a detector for different emission spectra of the fluorophores and/or cross-excitation of a fluorophore for different illumination spectra of the light sources are/is taken into account.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2020
    Publication date: October 12, 2023
    Inventors: Christian SCHUMANN, Benjamin DEISSLER, Kai RITSCHEL
  • Publication number: 20230274493
    Abstract: The invention relates to a direct volume rendering apparatus for volume rendering a three-dimensional image data set. For each primary ray (10) of a plurality of primary rays, which traverse through the three-dimensional image data set and meet a respective pixel of a two-dimensional image in a two-dimensional image plane on which the three-dimensional image data set should be projected, colors and opacities are provided along the primary ray (10). Each primary ray (10) is subdivided into segments I, II, III, IV based on the opacities and/or colors along the respective primary ray (10), wherein, for each segment I, II, III, IV, a segment lighting value in accordance with a predetermined lighting calculation rule is calculated. The colors and segment lighting values are finally projected along the primary rays (10) onto the pixels based on a predetermined projection rule.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2021
    Publication date: August 31, 2023
    Applicant: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Angewandten Forschung Eingetragener Verein
    Inventors: Christian Schumann, Valentin Kraft, Florian Link
  • Patent number: 11703672
    Abstract: A microscopic transmitted light contrasting method includes illuminating a sample through asymmetrical first and second illumination pupils and imaging the sample through asymmetrical first and second detection pupil in order to generate, respectively, first and second partial images. The first illumination pupil and the first detection pupil, as well as the second illumination pupil and the second detection pupil, are arranged pivoted in relation to one another and partially overlapping in projection on a plane perpendicular to an optical axis in such a way that first and third regions of an angular space are in a bright field and second and fourth regions of the angular space are in a dark field, and the first and second partial images each have a bright and a dark field component. An image of the sample is generated from the first and second partial images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: LEICA MICROSYSTEMS CMS GMBH
    Inventor: Christian Schumann
  • Publication number: 20230175963
    Abstract: A method of analyzing a mixed fluorescence response of a plurality of fluorophores in a microscopic sample includes reconstructing individual fluorescence responses from a mixed fluorescence response using spectral un-mixing based on reference emission spectra for fluorophores to be reconstructed, and a procedure for determining and validating reference emission spectra including providing a plurality of image acquisition settings for a sequence of images of the sample equal to, or greater than, the plurality of fluorophores and including an illumination setting for each image, acquiring the sequence of images using the plurality of image acquisition settings and storing each image together with the corresponding illumination setting, determining candidate reference emission spectra for the fluorophores to be reconstructed from the sequence of images of the sample using one or more reference emission spectra determination algorithms, and conditionally using the candidate reference emission spectra as the refe
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2022
    Publication date: June 8, 2023
    Inventors: Benjamin DEISSLER, Christian SCHUMANN, Kai RITSCHEL, Mate BELJAN, Wernher FOUQUET, Gheorghe COJOC
  • Publication number: 20230152562
    Abstract: A light sheet microscope includes a light source configured to emit illumination light, an optical system configured to form a light sheet from the illumination light in a sample space, the light sheet being focused in a thickness direction perpendicular to a light propagation direction thereof to form a beam waist in the thickness direction, wherein the optical system has a field diaphragm adjustable to vary a width of the light sheet in a width direction, a scanning element configured to move the light sheet a scanning distance in the sample space along a scanning direction, and a control unit configured to control the field diaphragm for adjusting the width of the light sheet and to control the scanning element for moving the light sheet by the scanning distance to manipulate a target area of a sample by scanning the target area with the beam waist.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Publication date: May 18, 2023
    Inventor: Christian SCHUMANN
  • Publication number: 20230129462
    Abstract: A fluorescence microscope, includes an optical system configured to collect fluorescent light emitted from different fluorophore species within a field of view and to focus the fluorescent light for detection, a spectral splitting arrangement configured to split the fluorescent light into at least two spectrally different fluorescent light components, a multi-channel detector system including at least two image sensors configured to detect at least two spatial light intensity distributions based on the at least two spectrally different fluorescent light components, each spatial light intensity distribution representing an image of the object over the field of view, and a processor configured to determine spatial distributions of the different fluorophore species based on a spectral unmixing analysis of each spatial light intensity distribution, wherein the processor is further configured to obtain compensation information and to determine a spatial distribution of each fluorophore species by taking into accou
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2021
    Publication date: April 27, 2023
    Inventor: Christian SCHUMANN
  • Patent number: 11635608
    Abstract: A method is useable for determining a refractive index of an optical medium in a microscope, which has an objective facing toward a sample chamber. The optical medium is one of two optical media, which border two opposing surfaces of a cover slip or object carrier in the sample chamber and form two partially reflective interfaces, which are arranged at different distances from the objective. The method includes: deflecting a measurement light beam by the objective with oblique incidence on the cover slip or object carrier; generating two reflection light beams spatially separated from one another by the measurement light beam being partially reflected at each of the interfaces; receiving the two reflection light beams by the objective and conducting them onto a position-sensitive detector; registering intensities by the position-sensitive detector; and determining the refractive index of the optical medium based on the registered intensities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: LEICA MICROSYSTEMS CMS GMBH
    Inventors: Alexander Weiss, Christian Schumann, Ronja Capellmann
  • Patent number: 11630292
    Abstract: An optical scanning microscope includes an illumination system having a light source portion emanating from a light source, first and second polarizing beam splitters, and first and second optical channels disposed between the beam splitters. The light source portion is configured to emit a first illumination light beam comprising light of a first main polarization direction and of a second main polarization direction. The first beam splitter is configured to guide the light primarily into the first and channels, respectively. The second beam splitter is configured to form a second illumination light beam from light of the first and second main polarization directions from the first channel and second channels, respectively. The first and second channels are configured to emit the light of the first and second main polarization directions from the first and second channels, respectively, so as to have different types of convergence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: LEICA MICROSYSTEMS CMS GMBH
    Inventors: Christian Schumann, Albrecht Weiss, Tobias Bauer, Cornell Peter Gonschior
  • Patent number: 11586027
    Abstract: A method for imaging a sample using a light-sheet microscope includes illuminating the sample from two different illumination directions using two light sheets, which have different polarization states and are superimposed on one another in a coplanar manner in a target region of the sample. An image of the illuminated target region is generated using an imaging optical unit of the light-sheet microscope. An interference pattern is generated using the two light sheets in the illuminated target region, whereby an image modulation corresponding to the interference pattern is applied to the image of the target region. The image modulation is evaluated. The illuminated target region is aligned in dependence on the evaluated image modulation in relation to a focal region of the imaging optical unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: LEICA MICROSYSTEMS CMS GMBH
    Inventors: Theo Larrieu, Christian Schumann
  • Publication number: 20230035107
    Abstract: An oblique plane microscope includes an optical imaging system configured to form an image of an object. The optical imaging system includes a telescope system with an optical zoom system, which is adjustable for adapting a magnification of the telescope system to a ratio between two refractive indices, one of which being associated with an object side of the telescope system and the other being associated with an image side of the telescope system. The oblique plane microscope further includes a control unit. The control unit is configured to evaluate an image quality of the image formed by the optical imaging system and to adjust the optical zoom system based on the evaluation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 9, 2020
    Publication date: February 2, 2023
    Inventor: Christian Schumann
  • Publication number: 20220410719
    Abstract: In a method for operating an electric vehicle, including an electrical drive device for driving the vehicle, a control device for controlling the driving of the vehicle, a first energy storage device for supplying the control device with a first DC voltage, a second energy storage device for supplying the drive device with a second DC voltage, and an energy supply unit providing an output DC voltage, the first energy storage device is connected to the energy supply unit via a converter device, the second energy storage device is connected to the energy supply unit, the converter device converts the output DC voltage into the first DC voltage, a first power flow from the first energy storage device to the second energy storage device is prevented and a second power flow from the second energy storage device to the first energy storage device is prevented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Publication date: December 29, 2022
    Applicant: SEW-EURODRIVE GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Jens SCHÄFER, Jan BECKER, Gero BOCKELMANN, Matthias HAUCK, Christian SCHUMANN, Josef SCHMIDT
  • Patent number: 11536939
    Abstract: A method is useable for digitally correcting an optical image of a sample by a microscope that has a cover slip covering the sample. The method includes: determining, by the microscope, an index of refraction of an optical medium bordering the cover slip, a tilt of the cover slip, and/or a thickness of the cover slip; ascertaining an imaging error to be corrected in the form of a pupil function based on the index of refraction of the optical medium, the tilt of the cover slip, and/or the thickness of the cover slip; carrying out imaging of the sample by the microscope; and digitally correcting image data captured by the imaging of the sample based on the pupil function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: LEICA MICROSYSTEMS CMS GMBH
    Inventors: Christian Schumann, Tobias Bauer
  • Publication number: 20220390730
    Abstract: An optical system for a light-sheet microscope comprises transporting optics configured to project, into a sample, a light sheet for illuminating a sample plane positioned obliquely to an optical axis of the transporting optics and to project the illuminated sample plane into an intermediate image space. The transporting optics comprises an interchanging system that includes a first light-deflection element and a second light-deflection element. The interchanging system is configured to switch an illumination direction along which the light sheet illuminates the sample by alternately introducing the first light-deflection element and the second light-deflection element into a beam path of the transporting optics. The first light-deflection element causes a partial image inversion in only one direction. The second light-deflection element causes a complete image inversion in two directions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2020
    Publication date: December 8, 2022
    Inventor: Christian SCHUMANN
  • Publication number: 20220390732
    Abstract: A microscope for imaging a sample by a transmitted light contrasting method includes an objective lens holder configured to place an objective lens of a number of objective lenses onto an optical axis of the microscope. The microscope further includes a lens system for forming an intermediate image of an exit pupil of any one of the number of objective lenses placed onto the optical axis. The intermediate image is formed at a respective conjugated plane conjugate to the exit pupil. The microscope further includes a control device configured for automatically positioning a modulation element onto the optical axis at a positon related to the respective conjugated plane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2022
    Publication date: December 8, 2022
    Inventors: Arnold MUELLER-RENTZ, Christian SCHUMANN, Sebastian HITZLER
  • Publication number: 20220373464
    Abstract: A control system for automatedly determining an illumination intensity of at least one light source of a fluorescence microscope is provided. The control system is configured to automatedly determine, after a change in a light path, a control value for the illumination intensity of the at least one light source in order to achieve a desired value of an inspection parameter characterizing sample inspection. The light path comprises at least one of: an illumination path from the at least one light source to the sample and an imaging path from the sample to at least one detector. Determining the control value is based on: (i) a value of the illumination intensity that was set before the change in the light path, (ii) a value of the inspection parameter used before the change in the light path, and (iii) a physical model of the light path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2022
    Publication date: November 24, 2022
    Inventors: Kai RITSCHEL, Christian SCHUMANN