Glass slide conveyance device and glass slide image capturing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024010448-A1
Application number	US-202118255041-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 28, 2021
Priority date	Dec 8, 2020
Publication date	Jan 11, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is a glass slide conveyance device (300) including: an arm member (316) provided to be movable in a first direction on a plane and having, at a distal end, a first contact member that comes in contact with a first end surface of the glass slide; a support plate (320) that includes a second contact member that comes in contact with a second end surface of the glass slide, the second end surface located opposite to the first end surface in the first direction, the supported plate being configured to support the glass slide from below; a driver that drives the arm member to be movable in the first direction; and a biasing member (312) provided between the driver and the arm member. When the arm member moves to a position where the first contact member and the second contact member simultaneously come in contact with the glass slide, the biasing member biases the arm member in the first direction.

First claim

1 . A glass slide conveyance device that conveys a glass slide on which a biological specimen is mounted, the glass slide conveyance device comprising:
an arm member provided to be movable in a first direction on a plane and having, at a distal end, a first contact member that comes in contact with a first end surface of the glass slide; a support plate that includes a second contact member that comes in contact with a second end surface of the glass slide, the second end surface located opposite to the first end surface in the first direction, the supported plate being configured to support the glass slide from below; a driver that drives the arm member to be movable in the first direction; and a biasing member provided between the driver and the arm member, wherein, when the arm member moves to a position where the first contact member and the second contact member simultaneously come in contact with the glass slide, the biasing member biases the arm member in the first direction.

2 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the driver includes: a rotary disc; and a drive member that rotates by transmission of rotation of the rotary disc via the biasing member, and the arm member is connected to the drive member and moves in the first direction by the rotation of the drive member.

3 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 1 , wherein the biasing member includes a torsion coil spring.

4 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 1 , wherein the support plate includes two pieces of the second contact members.

5 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first and second contact members each has a shape of a cylinder, and the side surface of the first and second contact members respectively come in contact with the first and second end surfaces of the glass slide.

6 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 5 , wherein the side surface is formed of a material subjected to nitriding treatment.

7 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 5 , wherein the first and second contact members are formed of a hard ceramic material.

8 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 5 ,
wherein the first and second contact members are provided to be rotatable about a central axis of the cylinder as a rotation axis.

9 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 1 , wherein the support plate is provided to be movable in the first direction.

10 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 2 , further comprising a detection mechanism that detects a width of the glass slide in the first direction,
wherein the detection mechanism includes: a light detector including an illuminator and a light receiver provided to face each other; and a light shielding member that is connected to the drive member and is capable of blocking light from the illuminator.

11 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 10 , wherein the drive member is a disc-shaped member rotatable about a center of the member as a rotation axis.

12 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 11 ,
wherein the light shielding member is formed as a protrusion protruding outward from a circumference of the drive member, and blocks, at a distal end of the protrusion, light from the illuminator.

13 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 12 ,
wherein a distance from the distal end of the protrusion to the center of the driving member is twice or more a radius of the drive member.

14 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 10 ,
wherein the light shielding member is an L-shaped member having a short rectangular portion and a long rectangular portion connected via a fulcrum, an end of the short rectangular portion rotates about the fulcrum as a rotation center in accordance with the rotation of the drive member, and an end of the long rectangular portion, which is capable of blocking light from the illuminator, rotates about the fulcrum as a rotation center in accordance with the rotation of the end of the short rectangular portion.

15 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 14 , wherein a length of the long rectangular portion is twice or more a length of the short rectangular portion.

16 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 1 , further comprising a guide mechanism that comes in contact with a third end surface of the glass slide and a fourth end surface of the glass slide located opposite to the third end surface in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and that guides the glass slide to a predetermined position of the support plate.

17 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 16 ,
wherein the guide mechanism includes a pair of guide members, each of the guide members is provided to be rotatable about a rotation fulcrum provided in a central portion, as a rotation center, one end of each of the guide members is moved in the second direction by a guide driver, and the other end of each of the guide members is provided with a third contact member that comes in contact with the glass slide.

18 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 17 , wherein the guide driver comes in contact with the one end and moves the one end in the second direction by this contact.

19 . The glass slide conveyance device according to claim 18 ,
wherein the guide driver is provided to be movable in the first direction, and the one end performs a sliding movement on a side surface of the guide driver, provided obliquely with respect to the first direction, and moves in the second direction by the sliding movement.

20 . A glass slide image capturing system comprising:
a glass slide storage section that stores a plurality of glass slides on each of which a biological specimen is mounted; an image capturing section that captures an image of each of the glass slides; and a slide conveyer that conveys each of the glass slides between the glass slide storage portion and the image capturing section, wherein the glass slide conveyer includes: an arm member provided to be movable in a first direction on a plane and having, at a distal end, a first contact member that comes in contact with a first end surface of the glass slide; a support plate that includes a second contact member that comes in contact with a second end surface of the glass slide, the second end surface located opposite to the first end surface in the first direction, the supported plate being configured to support the glass slide from below; a driver that drives the arm member to be movable in the first direction; and a biasing member provided between the driver and the arm member, and when the arm member moves to a position where the first contact member and the second contact member simultaneously come in contact with the glass slide, the biasing member biases the arm member in the first direction.

Assignees

• Sony Group Corp

Inventors

• Tamura Shigeru

Classifications

• B65G49/06 Primary

  for fragile sheets, e.g. glass · CPC title

• G02B21/362

  Mechanical details, e.g. mountings for the camera or image sensor, housings (G02B21/364 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B21/06

  Means for illuminating specimens · CPC title

• G02B21/34 Primary

  Microscope slides, e.g. mounting specimens on microscope slides · CPC title