Methods and apparatus for making a determination about an eye in ambient lighting conditions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016128559-A1
Application number	US-201514934742-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 6, 2015
Priority date	Nov 7, 2014
Publication date	May 12, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and apparatus for making a determination about an eye in ambient lighting conditions comprising detecting ambient light reflected out of an eye of a subject from a retina of the eye of the subject and making a determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light.

First claim

1 . A method comprising:
detecting, using a computing device, ambient light reflected out of an eye of a subject from a retina of the eye of the subject; and making a determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light.

2 . (canceled)

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein making a determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light comprises making a determination based at least in part on a brightness and one or more colors of the reflected ambient light.

4 . (canceled)

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein making a determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light comprises making a determination of a refractive error for the eye of the subject based at least in part on a brightness and one or more colors of the reflected ambient light.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting, using the computing device, ambient light reflected out of an eye of a subject from a retina of the eye of the subject further comprises:
capturing, using an image capture device, an image of the eye of a subject, wherein said image is captured using only ambient lighting conditions and wherein non-relevant reflections from the eye of the subject are managed while capturing the image; determining, using the computing device, an overall intensity of light from a plurality of pixels located within the at least a portion of a pupil captured in the image; determining, using the computing device, a first intensity of a first color from the plurality of pixels located within the at least a portion of a pupil of the eye of the subject captured in the image; determining, using the computing device, a second intensity of a second color from the plurality of pixels located within the at least a portion of the pupil of the eye of the subject captured in the image; and comparing, by the computing device, a relative intensity of the first color and a relative intensity of the second color, wherein said comparison and said overall intensity are used to make the determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first color comprises any one or any combination of red, green, and blue and the second color comprises any one or any combination of red, green, and blue.

8 . (canceled)

9 . (canceled)

10 . The method of claim 6 , wherein capturing, using the image capture device, an image of the eye of the subject comprises capturing a first image using only ambient lighting conditions with the image capture device through a spectacle lens or a contact lens while the subject is wearing the spectacle lens or the contact lens over the eye and capturing a second image using only ambient lighting conditions with the image capture device while the subject is not wearing the spectacle lens or the contact lens over the eye and the first image is compared to the second image and the determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light is based on the comparison and comprises an estimated prescription for the spectacle lens or the contact lens.

11 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first intensity of the first color is brighter relative to the second intensity of the second color and the overall intensity is relatively brighter, and the determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light comprises a positive value or hyperopia.

12 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first intensity of the first color is dimmer relative to the second intensity of the second color and the overall intensity is relatively dimmer, and the determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light comprises a negative value or myopia.

13 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises:
making a first determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light from a first plurality of pixels located within the at least a portion of the pupil of the eye of the subject captured in the image; making a second determination from a second plurality of pixels located within the at least a portion of the pupil of the eye of the subject captured in the image, wherein the second plurality of pixels are a subset of the first plurality of pixels; making a third determination from a third plurality of pixels located within the at least a portion of the pupil of the eye of the subject captured in the image, wherein the third plurality of pixels are a subset of the first plurality of pixels and are separate from the second plurality of pixels; comparing the first determination, the second determination and the third determination to make the determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein comparing the first determination, the second determination and the third determination to make the determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light comprises one or more of determining a standard deviation of the first determination to the second determination, a standard deviation of the first determination to the second determination, or a standard deviation of the second determination to the third determination, wherein the determined standard deviation indicates the determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the determination about the eye of the subject based upon the reflected ambient light is a presence or an absence of astigmatism.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the presence of astigmatism is detected and an amount of astigmatism is determined by comparing the overall intensity and the relative intensity of the first color or the relative intensity of the second color of various regions of the pupil.

17 . The method of claim 6 , wherein managing non-relevant reflections from the eye while capturing the image comprises managing reflections from a cornea or a lens of the eye of the subject while capturing the image.

18 . The method of claim 6 , wherein managing non-relevant reflections from the eye while capturing the image comprises placing a polarizing filter over a lens of the image capture device or between the image capture device and the eye of the subject, or wherein managing non-relevant reflections from the eye while capturing the image comprises blocking light that would lead to reflections from a corneal surface of the eye or a lens of the eye, or wherein managing non-relevant reflections from the eye while capturing the image comprise providing a surface that absorbs light or prevents the non-relevant reflections from the eye while capturing the image.

19 . (canceled)

20 . (canceled)

21 . (canceled)

22 . (canceled)

23 . (canceled)

24 . (canceled)

25 . (canceled)

26 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the subject's pupil has a diameter of approximately 2 mm or less.

27 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the subject's pupil is a natural pupil or the subject's pupil is an artificial pupil.

28 . (canceled)

29 . (canceled)

30 . (canceled)

31 . (canceled)

32 . (canceled)

33 . (canceled)

34 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Ohio State Innovation Foundation

Inventors

• Bailey Melissa D

Classifications

• A61B3/158 Primary

  of corneal reflection · CPC title

• A61B3/156

  for blocking · CPC title

• A61B3/12

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

• A61B3/0025 Primary

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

• A61B3/1035

  for measuring astigmatism (testing astigmatism A61B3/036) · CPC title