Patent Document ID: 7660523
Application ID: 11605327
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An intermittent phototaking device comprising: a microscope that is equipped with an objective lens used for observing a sample to be observed; an electric stage that holds the sample to be observed; a driving system that controls variation in relative position between the stage and the objective lens, and driving with respect to an autofocus movement of the microscope; a phototaking device that photographs an image of the sample to be observed through the objective lens; and an intermittent recording device that controls the driving system and the phototaking device and captures and processes the photographed image; wherein the driving system includes an autofocus device that carries out autofocusing operation of the microscope with respect to the sample to be observed, and an axial drive controller that controls a relative position in a direction of the optical axis between the objective lens and the sample to be observed, the axial drive controller including a light source, a focusing optical system that focuses a light image based on the light source onto the sample through the objective lens, an autofocus imaging optical system that receives, through the objective lens, light of the light image reflected by the sample, detects the light and forms a reflected image of the light image, and an offset lens to move either one of the light image and the reflected image or both in the direction of the optical axis of the focus optical system or/and autofocus imaging optical system, the intermittent recording device includes a receiving means that receives a setting of phototaking timing of the intermittent recording, the intermittent recording device, upon receiving an instruction for switching the autofocus device on, obtains and records an amount of offset of the position of the sample to be observed with respect to a predetermined reference position thereof, the amount of offset corresponding to a distance between a point to be focused of the sample to be observed and the predetermined reference position thereof, and being determined by the microscope and set by an operator by means of the offset lens through the axial drive controller, the autofocus device focusing on the predetermined reference position of the sample to be observed immediately before each phototaking timing through the focusing optical system, the auto focus imaging optical system and the offset lens, and shifting the stage by an amount determined based on the set amount of offset of the position of the sample to be observed with respect to the predetermined reference position, and the intermittent recording device further including means for controlling time lapse in which the intermittent recording device instructs a phototaking to the phototaking device at the set phototaking timing when the stage has been shifted by the amount determined based on the set amount of offset of the position of the sample to be observed with respect to the predetermined reference position, and records the phototaking image, and means for terminating the intermittent recording.