Patent ID: RE39751

Claim:
A confocal microscope apparatus comprising: a light-emitting portion for emitting a light beam with which a specimen to be observed is irradiated; a rotatable disk scanner having a plurality of pinholes formed in a disk for the light beam to pass therethrough between said light-emitting portion and the specimen, said pinholes being arranged to move through a first position facing said light-emitting portion and scan the specimen with the light beam having passed through said pinholes, along with rotation of said disk scanner; a confocal optical system for conjugating said first position and a second position on the specimen to cause the light beam having passed through said pinholes to be radiated onto the specimen, and to cause a light beam from the specimen to form an image on said disk; a camera for photographing a still image of the image formed by said confocal optical system; means for generating an exposure time signal representing an exposure time of said camera; means for generating a rotational period signal representing a rotational period of said disk scanner; means for comparing the exposure time signal with the rotational period signal to generate based on a comparison result a signal concerning at least one certain condition which must be changed among conditions of said disk scanner, said confocal optical system, and said camera; wherein said certain condition comprises a rotational speed of said disk scanner; means for automatically changing said certain condition on the basis of the comparison result; and means for switching whether to control the rotational speed of said disk scanner in association with the exposure time.