The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 17, 2011
Filed:
Feb. 03, 2010
James Jianguo Xu, San Jose, CA (US);
Ken Kinsun Lee, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
James Jianguo Xu, San Jose, CA (US);
Ken Kinsun Lee, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Zeta Instruments, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A 3-D optical microscope, a method of turning a conventional optical microscope into a 3-D optical microscope, and a method of creating a 3-D image on an optical microscope are described. The 3-D optical microscope includes a processor, at least one objective lens, an optical sensor capable of acquiring an image of a sample, a mechanism for adjusting focus position of the sample relative to the objective lens, and a mechanism for illuminating the sample and for projecting a pattern onto and removing the pattern from the focal plane of the objective lens. The 3-D image creation method includes taking two sets of images, one with and another without the presence of the projected pattern, and using a software algorithm to analyze the two image sets to generating a 3-D image of the sample. The 3-D image creation method enables reliable and accurate 3-D imaging on almost any sample regardless of its image contrast.