Patents by Inventor Yoshihiro Shimada

Yoshihiro Shimada 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: 7593173
    Abstract: A device driving a corrector ring of a corrector ring mounting objective lens mounted to an objective mounting and dismounting section of a revolver includes a rotation driving mechanism having a motor and a turning effort transmitting section which transmits a turning effort of the motor to the corrector ring of the corrector ring mounting objective lens mounted to the revolver to drive the corrector ring; and a connection unit for connecting the turning effort transmitting section to the corrector ring of the corrector ring mounting objective lens introduced into an observation optical path in association with a switching operation performed by the revolver and disconnecting the turning effort transmitting section from the corrector ring of the corrector ring mounting objective lens removed from the observation optical path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2009
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Mitsuo Harada, Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Publication number: 20090195866
    Abstract: A microscope has an objective lens, an imaging lens projecting light passing through the objective lens to form an image of a specimen, an image sensor located at an imaging position where the image of the specimen is formed by the imaging lens, an illumination light source, and a reflecting fluorescence illumination optical system including a dichroic mirror introducing light from the illumination light source into an optical path on the objective lens side, illuminating the specimen with the light. In this case, the microscope further has a relay optical system in which an intermediate image of the specimen is formed between the objective lens and the imaging lens and is relayed to the imaging lens, and the dichroic mirror of the reflecting fluorescence illumination optical system is located between a pupil position conjugate with a pupil position of the objective lens, formed between the relay optical system and the imaging lens, and the relay optical system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2007
    Publication date: August 6, 2009
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenji Kawaski, Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Publication number: 20090185268
    Abstract: A box-type microscope apparatus includes a stage, a microscope, and a housing, which has a fixed housing and a moving housing provided to be openable, closable, and movable with respect to the fixed housing. The box-type microscope apparatus further includes a specimen vessel positioning device for fixing the specimen vessel placed on the stage at a constant position. of the stage and a positioning release device for actuating the specimen vessel positioning means when the moving housing is moved toward a position of a closed state to release a positioning of the specimen vessel performed by the specimen vessel positioning device with respect to the stage when the moving housing is opened.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2008
    Publication date: July 23, 2009
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuo HARADA, Yoshihiro SHIMADA
  • Publication number: 20090161358
    Abstract: An illumination apparatus for a cellular analysis apparatus includes a plurality of LEDs of different center emission wavelengths, a photodetector, a path sharing device for introducing light emitted from the plurality of LEDs into the common optical path, a light-introducing device located on the common optical path to introduce part of the light emitted from the plurality of LEDs passing through the common optical path into the photodetector, a feedback controller controlling turning-on states of the LEDs over preset states in accordance with the amount of light emitted from the plurality of LEDs detected by the photodetector, and an illumination light supplying device located on the common optical path to supply light which is emitted from the plurality of LEDs to pass through the common optical path and is not introduced into the photodetector through the light-introducing device, as illumination light for a cellular analysis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2008
    Publication date: June 25, 2009
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryo TSUTSUI, Yuichiro MATSUO, Yoshihiro SHIMADA, Mitsuo HARADA
  • Publication number: 20090161205
    Abstract: A box-type motor-operated microscope has a motor-operated microscope section having a transmitting illumination optical system, an electric stage, and an image forming optical system; and a housing. The housing includes a fixed housing and a moving housing. The moving housing is movable parallel to an oblique direction with respect to the fixed housing while holding optical elements arranged above the electric stage so that the specimen vessel placed on the electric stage is made replaceable, the motor-operated microscope section is sealed and light-blocked in cooperation with the fixed housing, and the optical axis of the transmitting illumination optical system is practically aligned with that of the image forming optical system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2008
    Publication date: June 25, 2009
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuo Harada, Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Publication number: 20090046358
    Abstract: The size and production costs of an optical microscope apparatus capable of blocking light or maintaining the specimen environment are reduced. The provided optical microscope apparatus includes a microscope that has a stage for mounting a specimen A, a transmission-illumination optical system, and an detection optical system; and a housing that surrounds the microscope, wherein the housing includes a fixed housing, and a movable housing, wherein, among optical parts constituting the transmission-illumination optical system and the image-forming optical system, at least some optical parts disposed above the stage are movable, and wherein a switching mechanism is provided, the switching mechanism being configured to retract the optical parts away from above the stage when the movable housing is disposed in an open position relative to the fixed housing and to substantially align the optical axes of both optical systems when the movable housing is disposed in a closed position relative to the fixed housing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2006
    Publication date: February 19, 2009
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Publication number: 20080279441
    Abstract: In compound screening using cell images, compounds having an effective action on cells are searched for by automated processing, to more perform existing methods for compound searching more effectively. There is provided an apparatus including an image-acquisition unit for capturing a plurality of cell images under different image-acquisition conditions; and an analysis unit for extracting a cell position and at least one feature on the basis of the plurality of cell images and for performing statistical analysis with the extracted features serving as parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2006
    Publication date: November 13, 2008
    Inventors: Yuichiro Matsuo, Kosuke Takagi, Yoshihiro Shimada, Tsuyoshi Kawai
  • Publication number: 20080225416
    Abstract: A device driving a corrector ring of a corrector ring mounting objective lens mounted to an objective mounting and dismounting section of a revolver includes a rotation driving mechanism having a motor and a turning effort transmitting section which transmits a turning effort of the motor to the corrector ring of the corrector ring mounting objective lens mounted to the revolver to drive the corrector ring; and a connection unit for connecting the turning effort transmitting section to the corrector ring of the corrector ring mounting objective lens introduced into an observation optical path in association with a switching operation performed by the revolver and disconnecting the turning effort transmitting section from the corrector ring of the corrector ring mounting objective lens removed from the observation optical path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2008
    Publication date: September 18, 2008
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuo HARADA, Yoshihiro SHIMADA
  • Publication number: 20080170292
    Abstract: An observation apparatus for observing an observation object mounted at an observation position on a stage through an immersion objective lens placed below the observation object. The observation apparatus has a liquid pouring device, constructed to be relatively movable with respect to the immersion objective lens, pouring a liquid on a top lens surface of the immersion objective lens from the upper side of the immersion objective lens at a distance from the observation position on the stage; and a position control device automatically adjusting relative positions of a liquid pouring position of the liquid pouring device and the immersion objective lens and automatically adjusting relative positions of the immersion objective lens on which the liquid is poured by the liquid pouring device and a desired observation position on the stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2008
    Publication date: July 17, 2008
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuo HARADA, Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Publication number: 20080152190
    Abstract: A method of imaging fluorescence, in which an inverted fluorescence imaging apparatus provided with an immersion objective is used to image an observation phosphor for a constant term, includes an imaging position locating step of locating a vessel incorporating the observation phosphor at an imaging position of the fluorescence imaging apparatus; a liquid pouring step of pouring a preset amount of liquid between a top portion of the immersion objective in the fluorescence imaging apparatus and the vessel to bring about a charged state; an imaging step of imaging the observation phosphor in the vessel in a state where a space between the top portion of the immersion objective and the vessel is charged with the liquid; and a repeated control step of repeating a series of operations including the liquid pouring step of a single operation and the imaging step of a preset number of times of operations performed after the liquid pouring step of the single operation, at preset time intervals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2007
    Publication date: June 26, 2008
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuo Harada, Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Publication number: 20080106787
    Abstract: A microscope illumination apparatus, which has at least three kinds of light sources, each of a different emission wavelength region and a different figure and size of the light-emitting section, and supplies emitted light from individual light sources as illumination light for observing a specimen to the microscope body, includes collimator lenses converting incident rays into parallel rays, arranged on the exit sides of the individual light sources; a path sharing means introducing light emerging from the collimator lenses into a common optical path; an imaging lens, placed on the common optical path, forming images of the individual light sources introduced into the common optical path through the path sharing means at a common position; and an optical fiber placed so that the entrance end face of the optical fiber is located at a position where the images of the individual light sources are formed through the imaging lens.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2007
    Publication date: May 8, 2008
    Applicant: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryo Tsutsui, Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Patent number: 7324200
    Abstract: A fluorescence photometric apparatus which includes a light source, a light irradiating unit configured to condense light from the light source on a sample by means of an objective lens and irradiating the sample with the condensed light, and a photodetector which detects fluorescence emitted from the sample, includes an illuminating unit configured to obtaining a sample image, a position adjusting unit configured to adjusting a relative position of the sample and a position of a light spot condensed by the light irradiating unit, and an imaging unit configured to simultaneously two-dimensionally or three-dimensionally imaging both the sample image and an image of the light spot from the light irradiating unit configured to condensing the light on the sample.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2008
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Publication number: 20070097369
    Abstract: A fluorescence photometric apparatus which includes a light source, a light irradiating unit configured to condense light from the light source on a sample by means of an objective lens and irradiating the sample with the condensed light, and a photodetector which detects fluorescence emitted from the sample, includes an illuminating unit configured to obtaining a sample image, a position adjusting unit configured to adjusting a relative position of the sample and a position of a light spot condensed by the light irradiating unit, and an imaging unit configured to simultaneously two-dimensionally or three-dimensionally imaging both the sample image and an image of the light spot from the light irradiating unit configured to condensing the light on the sample.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2006
    Publication date: May 3, 2007
    Applicant: Olympus Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Patent number: 7187493
    Abstract: A laser microscope is provided in which a beam splitter extracts a part of a laser light of two wavelengths ?1=488 nm and ?2=514.5 nm, a prism spectrally resolves the laser light of the two wavelengths ?1 and ?2, a two-split photodiode detects intensities of two lines spectrally resolved in this manner, and a controller controls an acousto-optical tunable filter (AOTF) fixed to an output end of an argon laser based on a detection signal outputted from the two-split photodiode so that respective light intensities of both lines of wavelengths ?1 and ?2 become constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2007
    Assignee: Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sasaki, Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Publication number: 20070008536
    Abstract: There is provided a light measurement apparatus includes a light source, a container which includes a sample tank, a lens which condenses light from a sample accommodated in the sample tank or from the container which are exited by a exciting light from the light source, a photodetector which detects light from the sample accommodated in the sample tank or from the container, wherein the light passes through the lens, a position detecting unit which detects a position of the sample tank based on a detection output from the photodetector, and a position adjusting unit which sets the container or the lens based on a detection output from the position detecting unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2006
    Publication date: January 11, 2007
    Applicant: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Mitani, Akihiro Namba, Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Patent number: 6934020
    Abstract: A laser microscope includes a laser light emitting system which emits a pump beam and a Stokes beam having different frequencies, and a common optical fiber having one end and the other end. The pump beam and the Stokes beam emitted from the laser light emitting system are incident on the one end thereof and emitted from the other end thereof. A beam irradiating mechanism condenses and irradiates the pump beam and the Stokes beam emitted from the other end of the optical fiber, onto a sample via the objective lens, thereby making an anti-Stokes beam be emitted from the sample. A photo detector detects the anti-Stokes beam emitted from the sample. A beam selecting mechanism allows only the anti-Stokes beam of the pump beam, the Stokes beam and the anti-Stokes beam to be received on the photo detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Patent number: 6903816
    Abstract: A mirror driving mechanism comprises a driver configured to drive at least one mirror which reflects a light flux while adjusting a wavelength width and a wavelength band of the light flux separated in a spectrum, and a controller configured to control the driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2005
    Assignee: Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tatsuo Nakata, Yoshihiro Shimada, Yasuaki Natori
  • Patent number: 6693945
    Abstract: This invention provides a laser scanning microscope in which a harmonic generator for modulating a laser beam Q having passed through an optical fiber into a laser beam Qb having a wavelength different from that of the laser beam Q, and sending the laser beam Qb to a scanning type optical microscope main body is integrally attached to the scanning type optical microscope main body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2004
    Assignee: Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Shimada
  • Patent number: 6563634
    Abstract: A microscope according to the invention comprises an aberration correcting objective lens facing a specimen and having an aberration correcting lens correcting an aberration due to an error in the thickness of a cover, a Petri dish or a slide glass; a moving amount detector detecting moving amount of the aberration correcting lens; a focusing unit moving the specimen; a driver unit driving the focusing unit; and an arithmetic unit obtaining a defocus amount based on a moving amount detected by the moving amount detector. When the aberration correcting lens is moved, the specimen is put out of focus. On the basis of a defocus amount obtained by the arithmetic unit, the driver unit drives the focusing unit so that the lens may focus on the specimen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masakazu Shimada, Yoshihiro Shimada, Hisao Kitagawa
  • Patent number: RE38860
    Abstract: A scanning optical microscope comprising a laser source, a scan optical system for scanning a sample with a laser beam from the laser source, a spectral resolving optical system for resolving spectra of fluorescent rays from the sample, a wavelength splitting optical system for splitting the fluorescent rays that have passed the spectral resolving optical system into rays of a plurality of different wavelengths and guiding the split rays to optical paths of the plurality of different wavelengths, a plurality of image forming optical systems, respectively provided in the optical paths of the plurality of different wavelengths, for forming images of the fluorescent rays from the sample, a plurality of confocal apertures respectively provided in the optical paths at focal points of the image forming optical systems, and a plurality of photosensors, respectively provided in the optical paths, for sensing the fluorescent rays from the sample that have passed the respective confocal apertures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2005
    Assignee: Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Shimada