System and method for corneal topography with flat panel display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9962077-B2
Application number	US-201715476670-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2017
Priority date	Jul 1, 2014
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A corneal topographer includes: a flat panel display configured to display a light pattern and to project the light pattern onto a cornea of an eye disposed on a first side of the flat panel display; an optical system disposed on a second side of the flat panel display, the optical system being configured to receive and process reflected light from the cornea that passes through the flat panel display from the cornea to the optical system; a camera configured to receive the processed reflected light from the optical system and to capture therefrom a reflected light pattern from the cornea produced in response to the projected light pattern; and one or more processors configured to execute an algorithm to compare the projected light pattern to the reflected light pattern from the cornea, and to produce a topographic map of the cornea based on a result of the comparison.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a flat panel display having a plurality of pixels and configured to display a light pattern formed by illumination of some of the pixels and to project the light pattern onto a cornea of an eye disposed on a first side of the flat panel display;
an optical system disposed on a second side of the flat panel display, the optical system being configured to receive and process reflected light from the cornea that passes through the flat panel display from the cornea to the optical system; and
a camera configured to receive the processed reflected light from the optical system and to capture therefrom a reflected light pattern from the cornea produced in response to the projected light pattern.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: one or more processors configured to execute an algorithm to compare the projected light pattern to the reflected light pattern from the cornea, and to produce a topographic map of the cornea based on a result of the comparison.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flat panel display is a transparent flat panel display, and wherein the reflected light from the cornea passes through the transparent flat panel display to the optical system.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the flat panel display has an aperture passing therethrough, and wherein the reflected light from the cornea passes through the aperture to the optical system.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the projected light pattern comprises a pattern of projected light spots and the reflected light pattern from the cornea comprises a pattern of reflected light spots.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the projected light spots are colored light spots, and wherein various projected light spots have different colors to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the apparatus is configured to dynamically adjust the colors of the projected light spots to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the projected light spots each have a size and shape, and wherein at least one of the size and shape of at least two of the projected light spots differ from each other to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the apparatus is configured to dynamically adjust at least one of the size and shape of the projected light spots to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated.

10. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the apparatus is configured to dynamically adjust a local density of the projected light spots to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated to facilitate production of the topographic map of the cornea.

11. A method, comprising:
providing a flat panel display having a plurality of pixels;
projecting a light pattern, formed by illumination of some of the pixels of the flat panel display, from the flat panel display onto a cornea of an eye disposed on a first side of the flat panel display;
receiving and optically processing reflected light from the cornea that passes through the flat panel display via an optical system disposed on a second side of the flat panel display;
receiving at a camera the optically processed reflected light from the optical system;
capturing from processed reflected light via the camera a reflected light pattern from the cornea produced in response to the projected light pattern;
comparing the projected light pattern to the reflected light pattern from the cornea; and
producing a topographic map of the cornea based on a result of the comparison.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the flat panel display is a transparent flat panel display, the method further comprising passing the reflected light from the cornea through the transparent flat panel display to the optical system.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the flat panel display has an aperture passing therethrough, the method further comprising passing the reflected light from the cornea through the aperture to the optical system.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the projected light pattern comprises a pattern of projected light spots and the reflected light pattern from the cornea comprises a pattern of reflected light spots.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the projected light spots are colored light spots, and wherein various projected light spots have different colors to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising: dynamically adjusting the colors of the projected light spots to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the projected light spots each have a size and shape, and wherein at least one of the size and shape of at least two of the projected light spots differ from each other to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising: dynamically adjusting at least one of the size and shape of the projected light spots to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising: dynamically adjusting a local density of the projected light spots to facilitate association of the reflected light spots with the projected light spots from which they were generated to facilitate production of the topographic map of the cornea.

20. An apparatus, comprising:
a portable computing device, comprising:
a housing;
a flat panel display having a plurality of pixels and connected to the housing and configured to display a light pattern thereon formed by illumination of some of the pixels and to project the light pattern onto a cornea of an eye disposed on a first side of the flat panel display, and
one or more processors disposed within the housing of the portable computing device;

an optical system disposed on a second side of the transparent flat panel display, configured to receive and process reflected light from the cornea that passes through the flat panel display; and
a camera configured to receive the processed reflected light from the optical system and to capture therefrom a reflected light pattern from the cornea produced in response to the projected light pattern,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive image data from the camera and to process the image data to produce a topographic map of the cornea.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the portable computing device comprises one of a smart phone and a tablet computer.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the one of the smart phone and the tablet computer includes the flat panel display.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the flat panel display is a transparent flat panel display, and wherein the reflected light from the cornea passes through the transparent flat panel display to the optical system.

24.

Assignees

• Amo Wavefront Sciences Llc

Inventors

• Farrer Stephen W
• Powers W Shea
• Neal Daniel R
• Voss Larry B

Classifications

• A61B3/005

  Constructional features of the display · CPC title

• A61B3/0025

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

• A61B3/107 Primary

  for determining the shape or measuring the curvature of the cornea · CPC title

• A61B3/14

  Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography · CPC title