IMAGE-CAPTURING DEVICE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CAPTURING IMAGES

Abstract

The invention relates to an image-capturing device for the miniaturized near-field image capture of biological tissue, in particular for the imaging of genetic indicators. The image-capturing device comprises at least one digital image sensor and an objective lens in the form of a rod-shaped gradient index lens (GRIN), which objective lens is coupled to the digital image sensor for image capture. The objective lens is connected to the digital image sensor to from a monolithic, fixed assembly. There is no mechanical separating interface between the objective lens and the digital image sensor by means of which the digital image sensor can be separated from the objective lens by the user. The invention further relates to a system for the miniaturized near-field image capture of biological tissue, said system comprising an image-capturing device of this type and an evaluation device connected to the image-capturing device.

Claims

1. An image-capturing device for the miniaturized near-field image capture of biological tissue and/or imaging of genetic indicators, comprising: at least one digital image sensor; an objective lens in a form of a rod-shaped gradient index lens (GRIN), said objective lens being coupled to the at least one digital image sensor for image capture, wherein the objective lens is connected to the at least one digital image sensor to form a monolithic, fixed structural unit, wherein between the objective lens and the at least one digital image sensor there is no mechanical separating interface by way of which the at least one digital image sensor is able to be separated from the objective lens by a user.

2. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an electrical plug connector as a sole connecting and separating interface that is operable by the user, wherein the electrical plug connector is connectable to an external power supply and/or evaluation unit via a line.

3. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the at least one digital image sensor is embodied as a wafer-level-packaged image sensor.

4. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1 wherein manual focusing by the user is not possible between the objective lens and the at least one digital image sensor.

5. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a spacer structurally integrated into a monolithic construction of the image-capturing device, wherein the spacer is arranged between the objective lens and the at least one digital image sensor.

6. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a beam splitter structurally integrated into a monolithic construction of the image-capturing device, wherein the beam splitter is arranged between the objective lens and the at least one digital image sensor.

7. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 6 further comprising a light source configured for emitting light to the beam splitter, wherein the light source is structurally integrated in the monolithic construction of the image-capturing device (1).

8. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1 wherein no real intermediate image of an image acquired by the objective lens is generated in a beam path between the objective lens and an image-capturing surface of the at least one digital image sensor.

9. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1 wherein components of the image-capturing device that are connected to one another to form a monolithic, fixed structural unit are connected to one another by adhesive and/or by frictionally locking connection.

10. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the image-capturing device is embodied as a disposable product.

11. A system for the miniaturized near-field image capture of biological tissue, comprising; an image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1; and an evaluation device connected to the image-capturing device.

12. A method for the miniaturized near-field image capture of a biological tissue and/or imaging of genetic indicators in the biological tissue, comprising performing image capture with an image-capturing device as claimed in claim 1.

13. The image-capturing device as claimed in claim 7 wherein the light source is a fluorescent light source.

Description

[0043] The invention is explained in greater detail below on the basis of exemplary embodiments using drawings.

[0044] In the figures:

[0045] FIG. 1 shows an image-capturing device in side view and

[0046] FIG. 2 shows a system for capturing images and

[0047] FIG. 3 shows the image-capturing device in accordance with FIG. 1 with further details.

[0048] The image-capturing device 1 in accordance with FIG. 1 comprises a digital image sensor 3, which can be embodied as a wafer-level-packaged image sensor. An electrical plug connector 2, e.g. in the form of a socket, is arranged at the image sensor 3. At its side configured for image capture, the image sensor 3 is coupled to a beam splitter 4. The beam splitter 4 can be embodied as a chroic beam splitter, i.e. as a beam splitter that differentiates between specific light colors or wavelengths of the light.

[0049] A light source 11 is additionally fitted to the beam splitter 4. The light source 11 is mounted on a backplate 10. The arrangement of the backplate 10 with the light source 11 is connected to the beam splitter 4 via a lens mount 8. There can be arranged in the lens mount 8 a lens 9, e.g. a collimation lens, which converts light emitted in a substantially punctiform fashion by the light source 11 into a substantially parallel beam path.

[0050] An objective lens 6 is arranged in the further beam path from the image sensor 3 toward an image acquisition region 7 of the image-capturing device 1, said objective lens being coupled to the beam splitter 4 via a spacer 5. The objective lens 6 is embodied as a rod-shaped gradient index lens.

[0051] In the case of the described construction of the image-capturing device 1, the objective lens 6, the spacer 5 (which is optional), the light source 11 with the backplate 10 and the lens mount 8 can be coupled to the beam splitter 4 to form a monolithic optical module. Said optical module is connected to the digital image sensor 3 to form a monolithic fixed structural unit.

[0052] FIG. 2 shows a system for capturing images, comprising an image-capturing device 1 and an evaluation device 23. The evaluation device 23 is coupled to the image-capturing device 1 via a cable 21. For this purpose, at its end the cable 21 has a plug 20, which is coupled to the electrical plug connector 2 of the image-capturing device 1. In addition, the cable 21 can have a rotary load relieving means 22 in order to minimize torsional loads of the cable 21. By means of the image-capturing device 1, images can be captured by way of the image acquisition region 7 and be transmitted to the evaluation device 23 via the cable 21. The captured images can be evaluated in the evaluation device 23. In addition, the evaluation device 23 can be configured for controlling the image-capturing device, e.g. for driving the light source 11, and can emit corresponding control signals to the image-capturing device 1.

[0053] FIG. 3 shows the image-capturing device 1 with light beam paths depicted therein. In the case of the digital image sensor 3, the image-capturing surface 14 thereof is additionally depicted.

[0054] Light emitted by the light source 11 is converted into a substantially parallel beam path 15 by means of the lens 9. The beam path 15 is deflected in the direction of the objective lens 6 by means of the beam splitter 4 and is emitted by the objective lens 6 in the image acquisition region 7. The emitted light impinges on biological tissue 30. Light emitted from there in turn is acquired at a location 12 onto which the objective lens 6 focuses, and is forwarded via the objective lens 6 by means of the depicted beam path 13 running crosswise. The objective lens 6 focuses to infinity in the direction of the digital image sensor 3, that is to say that a substantially parallel beam path is forwarded via the spacer 5 and the beam splitter 4. Via a lens integrated in the digital image sensor 3, the incoming parallel beam path is focused onto the image-capturing surface 14.