Patent ID: 8837676

Claim:
A virtual-slide creating device comprising: a stage on which a sample is mounted; an objective lens that collects light from the sample mounted on the stage; a relative movement mechanism that moves at least one of the stage and the objective lens relative to each other in a direction crossing the optical axis of the objective lens to produce a relative moving velocity, said relative movement mechanism configured to produce relative moving velocities of at least greater and lesser than a predetermined threshold; an operation input unit that outputs a movement instruction signal to the relative movement mechanism; a position detecting unit that obtains relative position information of the stage and the objective lens; an image capturing unit that captures the light collected by the objective lens to acquire a partial enlarged image of the sample; a display unit that displays the enlarged image acquired by the image capturing unit; an image saving unit that saves an enlarged image acquired by the image capturing unit each time at least one of the stage and the objective lens is moved relative to each other by a predetermined distance, based on the relative position information obtained by the position detecting unit; an image processing unit that creates a virtual slide by forming an array of enlarged images saved by the image saving unit, based on the relative position information detected by the position detecting unit; and a velocity detecting unit that detects a relative moving velocity of at least one of the stage and the objective lens, wherein the image saving unit saves an enlarged image acquired by the image capturing unit only when the relative moving velocity detected by the velocity detecting unit is less than the predetermined threshold and not save images when the relative moving velocity detected by the velocity detecting unit is the predetermined threshold or greater.