Ocular imaging with illumination in image path

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10708473-B2
Application number	US-201816191938-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2018
Priority date	Dec 22, 2017
Publication date	Jul 7, 2020
Grant date	Jul 7, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus for imaging an interior of an eye includes a light sensitive sensor, and a housing structure with an opening defining an imaging area to place the eye for imaging by the light sensitive sensor. One or more light emitters (LEs) are disposed in an image path between the light sensitive sensor and the eye during capture of a plurality of images. A controller is coupled to the plurality of LEs and the light sensitive sensor. The controller implements logic that when executed by the controller causes the apparatus to perform operations including: illuminating the imaging area with the one or more LEs; and capturing, with the light sensitive sensor, the plurality of images of the interior of the eye at the same time as the eye is illuminated with the light from the one or more LEs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for imaging an interior of an eye, comprising:
a light sensitive sensor;
a housing structure with an opening defining an imaging area to place the eye for imaging by the light sensitive sensor;
one or more light emitters (LEs) capable of outputting light, and disposed in an image path between the light sensitive sensor and the imaging area, wherein the one or more LEs are disposed on one or more arms that extend into the image path and obstruct a portion of the image path extending to the light sensitive sensor;
a controller coupled to the one or more LEs, and the light sensitive sensor, wherein the controller implements logic that when executed by the controller causes the apparatus to perform operations including:
illuminating the imaging area with the one or more LEs; and
capturing, with the light sensitive sensor, a plurality of images of the interior of the eye as the eye is illuminated with the light from the one or more LEs.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller further implements logic that when executed by the controller causes the apparatus to perform operations including:
combining at least two images in the plurality of images to form a composite image of the interior of the eye, wherein the combining removes one or more artifacts present in the plurality of images from the composite image, the one or more artifacts due to the one or more arms being present in the image path.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the controller further implements logic that when executed by the controller causes the apparatus to perform operations including:
excluding one or more images in the plurality of images from the composite image, wherein the one or more images include at least one of out of focus images, image artifacts, reflections in the image, or objects other than the eye in the image.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the combining includes at least one of focus stacking, image stitching, image blending, or any combination thereof.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller further implements logic that when executed by the controller causes the apparatus to perform operations including:
sequentially illuminating the imaging area with the one or more LEs from a plurality of different positions in the image path.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the one or more LEs are disposed on a single arm, and wherein the controller further implements logic that when executed by the controller causes the apparatus to perform operations including:
rotating the single arm; and
illuminating the imaging area with the one or more LEs while the single arm is rotating.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the single arm is attached to a ring and extends toward the center of the ring, and wherein rotating the single arm includes rotating the ring around a pivot point; or
wherein the single arm is rotated around a point of attachment, and wherein the one or more LEs are disposed at a distal end of the single arm opposite the point of attachment.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the one or more arms are disposed at fixed positions in the image path.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more arms are a plurality of arms and are disposed on a ring-shaped structure, and wherein at least one of the one or more arms extend towards a center of the ring, and at least one of the one or more arms extend away from the center of the ring.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least part of the illumination system is transparent, or capable of becoming transparent.

11. A method of imaging an interior of an eye, comprising:
illuminating the eye with one or more light emitters (LEs) disposed in an image path between a light sensitive sensor and the eye during capture of a plurality of images, wherein the one or more LEs are disposed on one or more structures that extend into the image path and obstruct a portion of the image path extending between the eye to the light sensitive sensor;
capturing a plurality of images of the interior of the eye with the light sensitive sensor as the eye is illuminated with light from the one or more LEs; and
combining, using a controller, at least two of the plurality of images to form a composite image of the interior of the eye.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein combining at least two of the images in the plurality of images to form the composite image includes at least one of focus stacking, image stitching, image blending, or any combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, excluding one or more images in the plurality of images from the composite image, wherein the one or more images include at least one of out of focus images, image artifacts, reflections in the image, or objects other than the eye in the image.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising removing an image artifact, caused by the one or more structures holding the one or more light emitters in the image path, from the composite image by at least one of:
excluding portions of the images including the image artifact from being included in the composite image; or
placing the one or more structures in the image path out of focus of the plurality of images.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein illuminating the eye with one or more LEs includes illuminating the eye sequentially from a plurality of different positions in the image path.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more structures comprise one or more arms.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising
rotating the one or more arms; and
illuminating the eye with the one or more LEs while the one or more arms is rotating.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein rotating the one or more arms includes at least one of:
rotating a ring around a pivot point, wherein the one or more arms extend towards a center of the ring; or
rotating the one or more arms around a point of attachment, and wherein the one or more LEs are disposed proximate to a distal end of the one or more arms opposite the point of attachment.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein illuminating the eye includes illuminating the eye from fixed positions in the image path.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein at least some of the light reflected from the eye having a path to be incident on the light sensitive sensor is obstructed by the one or more structures.

21. A system for imaging an interior of an eye, comprising:
a housing structure with an opening defining an imaging area to place the eye for the imaging;
an illumination system configurable to illuminate the imaging area from a selected one of directions; and
a light sensitive sensor coupled to capture a plurality of images of the interior of the eye, wherein the illumination system includes a structure that extends into an image path between the light sensitive sensor and the imaging area and obstructs a portion of the image path between the light sensitive sensor and the eye.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the illumination system includes one or more light emitters (LEs) that sequentially illuminate the imaging area with illumination events.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein:
there are more of the illumination events than images in the plurality of images;
there are fewer of the illumination events than the images in the plurality of images; or
there are the same number of the illumination events as the images in the plurality of imag

Assignees

• Verily Life Sciences Llc

Inventors

• Kramer Ryan
• Glik Eliezer
• Wu Honglei

Classifications

• G02B21/367 Primary

  providing an output produced by processing a plurality of individual source images, e.g. image tiling, montage, composite images, depth sectioning, image comparison · CPC title

• H04N23/676

  Bracketing for image capture at varying focusing conditions · CPC title

• H04N23/56

  provided with illuminating means · CPC title

• H04N23/67

  Focus control based on electronic image sensor signals · CPC title

• H04N23/74

  by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means · CPC title