Selective illumination fundus imaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11363950-B2
Application number	US-202016776866-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2020
Priority date	Mar 13, 2018
Publication date	Jun 21, 2022
Grant date	Jun 21, 2022

Abstract

Fundus imaging includes selective illumination and exposure of an image sensor array. Fundus imaging systems and methods disclosed herein are wide field of view imaging typically conducted under non-mydriatic conditions. At a first time, an illumination unit illuminates a first portion of an eye fundus. At a second time, the illumination unit illuminates a second portion of the eye fundus. One or more fundus images are captured during illumination.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-mydriatic fundus imaging system, comprising:
an illumination unit;
a rolling reset image sensor array, including a plurality of rows of pixels;
a processing unit; and
memory encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the non-mydriatic fundus imaging system to:
illuminate, with the illumination unit, a first area of a fundus;
while the first area of the fundus is illuminated, expose a first portion of the plurality of rows of pixels;
stop illuminating the first area of the fundus;
illuminate, with the illumination unit, a second area of the fundus; and
while the second area of the fundus is illuminated, expose a second portion of the plurality of rows of pixels, wherein the second portion is different from the first portion.

2. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging system according to claim 1 , wherein the rolling reset image sensor array is a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor array configured for a rolling shutter exposure, with:
the first portion of the plurality of rows of pixels being exposed as the rolling shutter exposure; and
the second portion of the plurality of rows of pixels being exposed as the rolling shutter exposure.

3. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging system according to claim 1 , the illumination unit including a first light source and a second light source.

4. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging system according to claim 3 , the first light source being arranged to at least partially illuminate the first area of the fundus; and
the second light source being arranged to at least partially illuminate the second area of the fundus.

5. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging system according to claim 3 , the first light source being a first light emitting diode array; and
the second light source being a second light emitting diode array.

6. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging system according to claim 5 , a wavelength of the first light emitting diode array being equal to a wavelength of the second light emitting diode array.

7. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging system according to claim 1 , the plurality of rows of pixels having a top portion and a bottom portion; and
the first portion of the plurality of rows of pixels being exposed starting at the top portion of the plurality of rows of pixels.

8. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging system according to claim 7 , the second portion of the plurality of rows of pixels being exposed continuing at a top of the bottom portion of the plurality of rows of pixels.

9. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging system according to claim 1 , the first area including at least a bottom area of the fundus; and
the second area including at least a top area of the fundus.

10. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging system according to claim 9 , the second area overlapping at least a portion of the first area.

11. A method of imaging a fundus under non-mydriatic conditions, the method comprising:
illuminating a first area of the fundus using an illumination unit;
while illuminating the first area of the fundus, exposing a first portion of a plurality of rows of pixels of a global shutter image sensor array;
stopping illuminating the first area of the fundus;
illuminating a second area of the fundus using the illumination unit; and
while illuminating the second area of the fundus, exposing a second portion of the plurality of rows of pixels of the global shutter image sensor array, wherein the second portion is different from the first portion.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein exposing the first portion of the plurality of rows of pixels includes exposing the plurality of rows of pixels as a global shutter exposure; and
wherein exposing the second portion of the plurality of rows of pixels includes exposing the plurality of rows of pixels as the global shutter exposure.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein illuminating the first area of the fundus includes illuminating a first light source of the illumination unit; and
wherein illuminating the second area of the fundus includes illuminating a second light source of the illumination unit.

14. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising reading out the first portion of the plurality of rows of pixels as global shutter readout, wherein reading out the first portion of the plurality of rows of pixels occurs in parallel with stopping illuminating the first area of the fundus.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:
reading out the second portion of the plurality of rows of pixels as global shutter readout; and
stopping illuminating the second area of the fundus, wherein reading out the second portion of the plurality of rows of pixels occurs in parallel with stopping illuminating the second area of the fundus.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein illuminating the first area of the fundus includes illuminating at least a bottom area of the fundus; and
wherein illuminating the second area of the fundus includes illuminating at least a top area of the fundus.

17. A non-mydriatic fundus imaging apparatus, comprising:
a first light-emitting diode (LED) array;
a second LED array;
an image sensor array including a plurality of rows of pixels, the image sensor array configured for global shutter operation;
a processing unit; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the non-mydriatic fundus imaging apparatus to:
during a first time period, illuminate the first LED array;
capture a first image by exposing, during the first time period, a first portion of the plurality of rows of pixels as global shutter operation;
during a second time period, illuminate the second LED array; and
capture a second image by exposing, during the second time period, a second portion of the plurality of rows of pixels as global shutter operation, wherein the second portion is different from the first portion.

18. The non-mydriatic fundus imaging apparatus according to claim 17 , the memory further storing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the non-mydriatic fundus imaging apparatus to generate a composite image by processing the first image and the second image.

Assignees

• Welch Allyn Inc

Inventors

• Wang Ynjiun Paul

Classifications

• A61B3/14 Primary

  Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography · CPC title

• A61B3/12 Primary

  for looking at the eye fundus, e.g. ophthalmoscopes (A61B3/13 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61B3/0008

  provided with illuminating means (A61B3/117, A61B3/14 take precedence) · CPC title

• A61B3/0025

  characterised by electronic signal processing, e.g. eye models · CPC title