Retinal imaging system with user-controlled fixation target for retinal alignment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11571124-B2
Application number	US-202016821936-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2020
Priority date	Mar 26, 2019
Publication date	Feb 7, 2023
Grant date	Feb 7, 2023

Abstract

Retinal imaging systems and methods are described. In an embodiment, the retinal imaging system includes an eyepiece lens assembly; an image sensor adapted to acquire a retinal image of an eye through the eyepiece lens assembly; a dynamic fixation target optically coupled to the eyepiece lens assembly such that the dynamic fixation target is viewable through the eyepiece lens assembly; and a controller communicatively coupled to the image sensor and the dynamic fixation target. In an embodiment, the dynamic fixation target includes a display where an image generated by the display is controlled by a position of a user's eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A retinal imaging system, comprising:
an eyepiece lens assembly;
an image sensor adapted to acquire a retinal image of an eye through the eyepiece lens assembly;
a dynamic fixation target optically coupled to the eyepiece lens assembly such that the dynamic fixation target is viewable through the eyepiece lens assembly by the eye; and
a controller communicatively coupled to the image sensor and the dynamic fixation target, the controller including logic that, when executed by the controller, causes the retinal imaging system to perform operations including:
acquiring a first image of the eye;
analyzing the first image to determine whether any misalignment between the eye and the eyepiece lens assembly is greater than a threshold misalignment;
in response to determining whether any misalignment is greater than the threshold misalignment, adjusting the dynamic fixation target based on a position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly; and
acquiring the retinal image of the eye while the eye is positioned within the threshold misalignment.

2. The retinal imaging system of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the dynamic fixation target includes displaying an alignment image with the dynamic fixation target based upon a position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly.

3. The retinal imaging system of claim 2 , wherein adjusting the dynamic fixation target includes moving an element of the alignment image based upon the position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly.

4. The retinal imaging system of claim 2 , wherein the alignment image includes a representation of the position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly and a representation of an aligned eye position that is under the threshold misalignment.

5. The retinal imaging system of claim 4 , wherein the representation of the position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly and the representation of the aligned eye position do not completely overlap when there is any misalignment between the eye and the eyepiece lens assembly.

6. The retinal imaging system of claim 4 , the alignment image includes a representation of a direction in which to move the eye to achieve alignment of the eye with the eyepiece lens assembly.

7. The retinal imaging system of claim 2 , wherein the alignment image includes a representation of the threshold misalignment.

8. The retinal imaging system of claim 7 , wherein adjusting the alignment image includes changing a size of the representation of the threshold misalignment changes based on an alignment between the eye and the eyepiece lens assembly.

9. The retinal imaging system of claim 2 , wherein the alignment image comprises a representation of one or more of a lateral position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly and an eye relief position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly.

10. The retinal imaging system of claim 9 , wherein the representation of the eye relief position relative to the eyepiece lens assembly is represented by one or more colors displayed in the image.

11. The retinal imaging system of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the dynamic fixation target based on the position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly presents strategic goals for a user to achieve alignment of the eye position relative to the eyepiece lens assembly.

12. The retinal imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the controller further includes logic that, when executed by the controller, causes the retinal imaging system to perform operations including:
displaying, with the dynamic fixation target, a pupil dilation image configured to dilate a pupil of the eye.

13. The retinal imaging system of claim 12 , wherein the pupil dilation image includes a representation of a problem to be solved by a user.

14. The retinal imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the threshold misalignment is based on an eyebox of the retinal imaging system.

15. A non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:
acquiring a first image of an eye;
analyzing the first image to determine whether any misalignment between the eye and an eyepiece lens assembly of a retinal imaging system is greater than a threshold misalignment;
in response to determining whether any misalignment is greater than the threshold misalignment, adjusting a dynamic fixation target of the retinal imaging system based on a position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly;
displaying the dynamic fixation target to the eye; and
acquiring a retinal image of the eye while the eye is positioned within the threshold misalignment.

16. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein adjusting the dynamic fixation target includes displaying an alignment image with the dynamic fixation target based upon the position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly.

17. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein adjusting the dynamic fixation target includes moving an element of the alignment image based upon the position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly.

18. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the alignment image includes a representation of the position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly and a representation of an aligned eye position that is under the threshold misalignment.

19. The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the image includes a representation of the threshold misalignment.

20. A method of obtaining a retinal image of an eye, the method comprising:
acquiring a first image of the eye;
analyzing the first image to determine whether any misalignment between the eye and an eyepiece lens assembly of a retinal imaging system is greater than a threshold misalignment;
in response to determining whether any misalignment is greater than the threshold misalignment, adjusting a dynamic fixation target of the retinal imaging system based on a position of the eye relative to the eyepiece lens assembly;
displaying the dynamic fixation target to the eye; and
acquiring the retinal image of the eye while the eye is positioned within the threshold misalignment.

Assignees

• Verily Life Sciences Llc

Inventors

• Kramer Ryan

Classifications

• G06T7/0012

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• A61B3/0075

  provided with adjusting devices, e.g. operated by control lever · CPC title

• A61B3/0091 Primary

  Fixation targets for viewing direction · CPC title

• A61B3/152 Primary

  for aligning · CPC title

• A61B3/12

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