Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080239294 | High efficiency balanced detection interferometer - An interferometer configured for use in optical coherence domain (OCT) reflectometry systems is disclosed. In the preferred embodiments, efficient routing of light and a balanced detection arrangement provide a high signal to noise ratio. In one set of embodiments, a pair of cascaded 2×2 couplers is used to split light along separate sample and reference paths and also for combining light returning from those paths and supplying the interfered collected light to the detection system. The interferometer can be used with various OCT modalities including time-domain and frequency domain approaches. | 10-02-2008 |
20080246918 | Optical coherence tomography for eye-length measurement - An accurate measure of eye length can be obtained using concurrent OCT measurements. A position OCT device can be used to continually monitor the position of the front surface of the cornea, while a distance OCT device can determine the apparent distance between the front surface of the cornea and the front surface of the retina. Since the eye is likely to move during the period of time between measurements of the cornea and retina, the monitored position of the cornea can be used to correct the apparent length measurement by the amount of eye movement over that period of time, in order to obtain an accurate measure of eye length. In some embodiments a single OCT device can serve the dual role of monitoring eye position while making eye length measurements | 10-09-2008 |
20080278683 | ADAPTIVE SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR AND ITS APPLICATIONS - An adaptive sequential wavefront sensor comprises a sub-wavefront focusing lens, a sequential wavefront scanning device, a variable aperture, a position sensing device, and means for coordinating the operation of the wavefront scanning device, the variable aperture and the position sensing device. An adaptive sequential wavefront sensing method comprises the steps of sequentially projecting portions of a wavefront as image spots on a position sensing device, determining the deflection of each received image spot from a reference point on the position sensitive device, and coordinating the operation of a variable aperture with the operation the sequential projection and image position sensing. The adaptive sequential wavefront sensor has high speed, large dynamic range and variable spatial resolution, and hence can be used for real time measurement of the dynamics of eye accommodation. In addition, other functions or measurements can be combined with the adaptive sequential wavefront sensor to provide additional advantages. These additional function or measurement modules include a micro display based internal fixation and visual acuity projection module, a corneal topography module, and an optical coherence tomography module. When one or more of these modules is (are) combined with the adaptive sequential wavefront sensor, the combination system or apparatus can provide more accurate objective and subjective auto-refraction prescription, LASIK corneal ablation prescription, and contact lens or intra ocular lens prescriptions. | 11-13-2008 |
20090046979 | VARYING REFRACTIVE INDEX OPTICAL MEDIUM USING AT LEAST TWO MATERIALS WITH THICKNESSES LESS THAN A WAVELENGTH - An optical medium has a graded effective refractive index with a high maximum refractive index change. The medium is formed using alternating layers of two or more materials having significantly different refractive indices. The thickness of the layers of at least one of the materials is substantially less than the effective light wavelength of interest. The effective index of refraction in a local region within the medium depends on the ratio of the average volumes of the two materials in the local region. A graded index of refraction is provided by varying the relative thicknesses of the two materials. | 02-19-2009 |
20100110378 | ENABLING MEASUREMENT WITH A HANDHELD EYE IMAGING DEVICE - An apparatus and method is disclosed that enables an existing handheld eye imaging device to do direct measurement on images taken from the patient eye. In a preferred embodiment, a reticle is arranged in the handheld eye imaging device so that a reticle image is superimposed on the object image. In addition to allowing the user to make measurements, the reticle superimposed eye image can also be used to align the eye with the handheld eye imaging device, be used for registering images taken at different times, and also be used for finding previously recorded points on the images for comparison purposes. | 05-06-2010 |
20100110379 | OPTIMIZING VISION CORRECTION PROCEDURES - In one embodiment, an apparatus for optimizing vision correction procedures comprising: a narrow beam of light directed to a patient's retina; a dynamic defocus and compensation offsetting device configured to offset the defocus of a wavefront from an eye, a wavefront sensor configured to measure the local tilt of a number of subwavefronts sampled around an annular ring (the diameter of which can be dynamically changed) over the wavefront with the defocus offset; and a display device configured to display a two dimensional (2D) data points pattern in real time with each data point location representing a corresponding local tilt of the sampled subwavefronts. A proper defocus offset, not passive compensation, can reveal the predominant feature(s) of other wavefront aberration component(s), thus enabling a refractive surgeon to fine tune the vision correction procedure and minimize the remaining wavefront aberration(s) in real time. Meanwhile, by sampling the wavefront around annular rings and displaying the local tilt of the sampled subwavefronts on a monitor in the form of a 2D data points pattern, a refractive ophthalmic surgeon can easily correlate the measurement result to the two major refractive errors, namely spherical and cylinder refractive errors, including the axis of astigmatism. | 05-06-2010 |
20100118270 | ADAPTOR FOR MOUNTING A GONIO LENS ONTO A HAND-HELD EYE EXAMINATION DEVICE - An apparatus and method is disclosed that provides a means for mounting a separate optical element, such as a gonio lens, to a hand-held eye imaging device. In this way, the doctor only needs to use one hand to hold the imaging apparatus while the other hand can be freed to open the patient eye lid and also maintain a safe relative distance of the gonio lens with respect to the patient's eye. The gonio lens and adaptor can each or both be made disposable and also mechanically switchable relative to each other as well as relative to the handheld eye imaging device so that different portions of the patient eye can be imaged sequentially without the need to rotate the hand held eye imaging device. | 05-13-2010 |
20100121442 | OPTICAL COUPLING GEL FOR EYE IMAGING - The invention discloses an optical coupling gel that has a set of desired features for application in eye imaging, including being approved for eye contact, optically transparent, able to maintain normal hydration of the ocular surface, flexible and capable of maintaining a distinct shape, minimal in breakdown/change during use, and easily dispensable/applicable. In one embodiment, the gel is made of Sodium Carboxy Methylcellulose (SCMC), where the amount of the cellulose determines the viscosity of the gel for its particular application. The right amount of gel is contained in an applicator for application to one or two eyes. | 05-13-2010 |
20100226542 | METHOD OF BIOIMAGE DATA PROCESSING FOR REVEALING MORE MEANINGFUL ANATOMIC FEATURES OF DISEASED TISSUES - The present invention discloses a method for generating elevation maps or images of a tissue layer/boundary with respect to a fitted reference surface, comprising the steps of finding and segmenting a desired tissue layer/boundary; fitting a smooth reference surface to the segmented tissue layer/boundary; calculating elevations of the same or other tissue layer/boundary relative to the fitted reference surface; and generating maps of elevation relative to the fitted surface. The elevation can be displayed in various ways including three-dimensional surface renderings, topographical contour maps, contour maps, en-face color maps, and en-face grayscale maps. The elevation can also be combined and simultaneously displayed with another tissue layer/boundary dependent set of image data to provide additional information for diagnostics. | 09-09-2010 |
20100231858 | ADAPTIVE SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR WITH PROGRAMMED CONTROL - One embodiment is a machine comprising a sequential wavefront scanner, a variable aperture, a position sensing device and an electronic control and detection system. The electronic control and detection system is configured to control the sequential wavefront scanner to shift the incident wavefront by a set of displacements selected to form a selected scanning pattern to scan the incident wavefront and configured to vary the aperture size to vary detection resolution at different parts of the scanning pattern. | 09-16-2010 |
20110164220 | Adaptive Sequential Wavefront Sensor with Variable Aperture - One embodiment is a machine comprising a sequential wavefront scanner, a variable aperture, a position sensing device and a controller. The controller is coupled to the variable aperture and sequential wavefront scanning device and configured to coordinate the operation of the variable aperture and the sequential wavefront scanning device. | 07-07-2011 |
20110242483 | REAL-TIME MEASUREMENT/DISPLAY/RECORD/PLAYBACK OF WAVEFRONT DATA FOR USE IN VISION CORRECTION PROCEDURES - One embodiment is an apparatus/system for providing feedback to a procedure. The apparatus includes a real time wavefront sensor for measuring the wavefront of an optical beam, a real time video camera for capturing a scene where the optical beam comes from, a computer for processing the captured wavefront data and synchronizing the data with the video and outputting the synchronized information to a display, and a display for simultaneously displaying the synchronized wavefront and video information. Another embodiment of the present invention is a method for providing feedback to a procedure. The method involves the steps of measuring the wavefront of an optical beam with a real time wavefront sensor; capturing a video of a scene from which the optical beam comes; processing the captured wavefront data and synchronizing it with the video; and simultaneously displaying the wavefront information with the video on the same display screen. | 10-06-2011 |
20110292401 | Apparatus and method for optical interrogation - An interrogation apparatus and method use a partial shear optical interference apparatus to interrogate the optical properties of an array of target specimen probe volumes as compared to an array of reference sample probe volumes. The apparatus produces a formatted probe beam that contains a partially sheared probe beam pair that is formatted into an array of completely sheared probe beam pairs. Target specimen probe volumes and reference sample probe volumes are suitably organized and exposed to the array of completely sheared probe beam pairs. | 12-01-2011 |
20120026466 | LARGE DIOPTER RANGE REAL TIME SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - Example embodiments of a large dynamic range sequential wavefront sensor for vision correction or assessment procedures are disclosed. An example embodiment optically relays a wavefront from an eye pupil or corneal plane to a wavefront sampling plane in such a manner that somewhere in the relaying process, the wavefront beam from the eye within a large eye diopter range is made to reside within a desired physical dimension over a certain axial distance range in a wavefront image space and/or a Fourier transform space. As a result, a wavefront beam shifting device can be disposed there to fully intercept and hence shift the whole beam to transversely shift the relayed wavefront. | 02-02-2012 |
20120045101 | METHOD OF BIOIMAGE DATA PROCESSING FOR REVEALING MORE MEANINGFUL ANATOMIC FEATURES OF DISEASED TISSUES - The present invention discloses a method for generating elevation maps or images of a tissue layer/boundary with respect to a fitted reference surface, comprising the steps of finding and segmenting a desired tissue layer/boundary; fitting a smooth reference surface to the segmented tissue layer/boundary; calculating elevations of the same or other tissue layer/boundary relative to the fitted reference surface; and generating maps of elevation relative to the fitted surface. The elevation can be displayed in various ways including three-dimensional surface renderings, topographical contour maps, contour maps, en-face color maps, and en-face grayscale maps. The elevation can also be combined and simultaneously displayed with another tissue layer/boundary dependent set of image data to provide additional information for diagnostics. | 02-23-2012 |
20120188506 | OPTIMIZING VISION CORRECTION PROCEDURES - In one embodiment a wavefront sensor is configured to measure real time aberration values of a wavefront returned from the eye of a patient while an image of the eye of the patient is being viewed by a surgeon during an on-going vision correction procedure and for providing an output signal indicating real time aberration values and a display, coupled to the wavefront sensor, is configured to show a dynamic display indicating the real time aberration values to the surgeon and configured to be viewed by the surgeon while also viewing the image of the eye of the patient during the on-going vision correction procedure. | 07-26-2012 |
20120268717 | Ophthalmic Wavefront Sensor Operating in Parallel Sampling and Lock-In Detection Mode - One embodiment of the present invention is an ophthalmic wavefront sensor for use with an ophthalmic microscope to provide continuous measurements of the refractive state of an eye. The wavefront sensor operates in both parallel sampling and lock-in detection mode by synchronizing the pulsing of the light source with a multiple number of position sensing devices/detectors used for detecting the centroid position of the sampled sub-wavefronts. Other embodiments include a beam scanner to sample selected portions of the wavefront and a live image sensor and a tracking deflector. | 10-25-2012 |
20120307205 | COMPACT WAVEFRONT SENSOR MODULE AND ITS ATTACHMENT TO OR INTEGRATION WITH AN OPHTHALMIC INSTRUMENT - One embodiment disclosed is a compact wavefront sensor module to be attached to or integrated with an ophthalmic instrument for eye examination and/or vision correction procedures. The front lens for relaying the wavefront from the eye to a wavefront sampling plane is positioned at the optical input port of the wavefront sensor module. The front lens is shared by the wavefront sensor and the ophthalmic instrument, and the wavefront sensor module can be made very compact while still being able to cover a large eye wavefront measurement diopter range. | 12-06-2012 |
20120308108 | METHOD OF BIOIMAGE DATA PROCESSING FOR REVEALING MORE MEANINGFUL ANATOMIC FEATURES OF DISEASED TISSUES - The present invention discloses a method for generating elevation maps or images of a tissue layer/boundary with respect to a fitted reference surface, comprising the steps of finding and segmenting a desired tissue layer/boundary; fitting a smooth reference surface to the segmented tissue layer/boundary; calculating elevations of the same or other tissue layer/boundary relative to the fitted reference surface; and generating maps of elevation relative to the fitted surface. The elevation can be displayed in various ways including three-dimensional surface renderings, topographical contour maps, contour maps, en-face color maps, and en-face grayscale maps. The elevation can also be combined and simultaneously displayed with another tissue layer/boundary dependent set of image data to provide additional information for diagnostics. | 12-06-2012 |
20130128228 | LARGE DIOPTER RANGE REAL TIME SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - Example embodiments of a large dynamic range sequential wavefront sensor for vision correction or assessment procedures are disclosed. An example embodiment optically relays a wavefront from an eye pupil or corneal plane to a wavefront sampling plane in such a manner that somewhere in the relaying process, the wavefront beam from the eye within a large eye diopter range is made to reside within a desired physical dimension over a certain axial distance range in a wavefront image space and/or a Fourier transform space. As a result, a wavefront beam shifting device can be disposed there to fully intercept and hence shift the whole beam to transversely shift the relayed wavefront. | 05-23-2013 |
20130265541 | OPTIMIZING VISION CORRECTION PROCEDURES - In one embodiment, a wavefront sensor is combined with a slit lamp eye examination device so that real time aberration values of an eye being examined can be viewed during a slit lamp eye examination session. | 10-10-2013 |
20130281841 | METHOD OF BIOIMAGE DATA PROCESSING FOR REVEALING MORE MEANINGFUL ANATOMIC FEATURES OF DISEASED TISSUES - The present invention discloses a method for generating elevation maps or images of a tissue layer/boundary with respect to a fitted reference surface, comprising the steps of finding and segmenting a desired tissue layer/boundary; fitting a smooth reference surface to the segmented tissue layer/boundary; calculating elevations of the same or other tissue layer/boundary relative to the fitted reference surface; and generating maps of elevation relative to the fitted surface. The elevation can be displayed in various ways including three-dimensional surface renderings, topographical contour maps, contour maps, en-face color maps, and en-face grayscale maps. The elevation can also be combined and simultaneously displayed with another tissue layer/boundary dependent set of image data to provide additional information for diagnostics. | 10-24-2013 |
20140022509 | Compact Wavefront Sensor Module and Its Attachment to or Integration with an Ophthalmic Instrument - One embodiment disclosed is a compact wavefront sensor module to be attached to or integrated with an ophthalmic instrument for eye examination and/or vision correction procedures. The front lens for relaying the wavefront from the eye to a wavefront sampling plane is positioned at the optical input port of the wavefront sensor module. The front lens is shared by the wavefront sensor and the ophthalmic instrument, and the wavefront sensor module can be made very compact while still being able to cover a large eye wavefront measurement diopter range. | 01-23-2014 |
20140055749 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REAL TIME LARGE DIOPTER RANGE SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - A sequential wavefront sensor includes a light source, a beam deflecting element, a position sensing detector configured to output a plurality of output signals and a plurality of composite transimpedance amplifiers each coupled to receive an output signal. The output of each composite transimpedance amplifier is phase-locked to a light source drive signal and a beam deflecting element drive signal. | 02-27-2014 |
20140063455 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REAL TIME LARGE DIOPTER RANGE SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - A wavefront sensor includes a wavefront scanning module configured to output wavefront tilt measurements of a wavefront beam returned from a subject eye, a biometric/anatomic measurement device configured to output biometric/anatomic measurements of the subject eye and a processing system, coupled to the scanning module and the biometric/anatomic measurement device, configured to process biometric/anatomic measurements output during a surgical procedure to determine eye status information and to concurrently output eye status information and wavefront tilt information during the surgical procedure. | 03-06-2014 |
20140063456 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REAL TIME LARGE DIOPTER RANGE SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - An wavefront sensor uses a calibration wave generator to calculate correction factors to be applied to ratiometric combinations of position sensor output signals to determine real centroid deflection values. | 03-06-2014 |
20140063457 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REAL TIME LARGE DIOPTER RANGE SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - An wavefront including a light source for providing a light beam to illuminate a subject eye and a beam deflecting to deflect the light beam to compensate transverse movement of the subject eye. A second beam deflecting element scans the beam around a small portion of the retina to dissipate energy. | 03-06-2014 |
20140063459 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REAL TIME LARGE DIOPTER RANGE SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - An apparatus including a wavefront sensor including a light source configured to illuminate a subject eye, a detector, an image sensor configured to output an image of the subject eye, a first beam deflecting element configured to intercept a wavefront beam returned from a subject eye when the subject eye is illuminated by the light source and configured to direct a portion of the wavefront from the subject eye through an aperture toward the detector and a controller, coupled to the light source, the image sensor and the beam deflecting element, configured to process the image to determine transverse movement of the subject eye and to control the beam deflecting element to deflect and project through the aperture portions of an annular ring portion of the wavefront and further configured to pulse the light source at a firing rate to sample selected portions of the annular ring at the detector, to process the image of the subject eye to calculate transverse movement of the subject eye and to orient the beam deflecting element at a DC offset angle to compensate transverse movement of the subject eye. | 03-06-2014 |
20140063462 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REAL TIME LARGE DIOPTER RANGE SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - An apparatus including a position sensing detector and a processing system, with the processing system configured to determine axis of astigmatism and cylinder and sphere diopter values of a subject eye. | 03-06-2014 |
20140063463 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A REAL TIME LARGE DIOPTER RANGE SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - A wavefront sensor includes a light source configured to illuminate a subject eye, a detector, a first beam deflecting element configured to intercept a wavefront beam returned from a subject eye when the subject eye is illuminated by the light source and configured to direct a portion of the wavefront from the subject eye through an aperture toward the detector and a controller, coupled to the light source and the beam deflecting element, configured to control the beam deflecting element to deflect and project different portions of an annular ring portion of the wavefront from the subject eye through the aperture and further configured to pulse the light source at a firing rate to sample selected portions of the annular ring at the detector. | 03-06-2014 |
20140125949 | ELECTRONIC EYE MARKING/REGISTRATION - One embodiment is a method for finding, calculating and electronically marking a reference axis for astigmatism correction/neutralization of a patient eye during a refractive surgery. | 05-08-2014 |
20140168605 | LARGE DIOPTER RANGE REAL TIME SEQUENTIAL WAVEFRONT SENSOR - Example embodiments of a large dynamic range sequential wavefront sensor for vision correction or assessment procedures are disclosed. An example embodiment optically relays a wavefront from an eye pupil or corneal plane to a wavefront sampling plane in such a manner that somewhere in the relaying process, the wavefront beam from the eye within a large eye diopter range is made to reside within a desired physical dimension over a certain axial distance range in a wavefront image space and/or a Fourier transform space. As a result, a wavefront beam shifting device can be disposed there to fully intercept and hence shift the whole beam to transversely shift the relayed wavefront. | 06-19-2014 |
20140368794 | OPTIMIZING VISION CORRECTION PROCEDURES - In one embodiment, a wavefront sensor is combined with a slit lamp eye examination device so that real time aberration values of an eye being examined can be viewed during a slit lamp eye examination session. | 12-18-2014 |
20150049305 | Large Diopter Range Real Time Sequential Wavefront Sensor - Example embodiments of a large dynamic range sequential wavefront sensor for vision correction or assessment procedures are disclosed. An example embodiment includes first and second optically coupled 4F relays and a variable focus lens disposed substantially at the image plane of the first 4F relay and the object plane of the second 4F relay. | 02-19-2015 |