Iris pattern recognition and alignment

In a diagnostic and therapeutic system for laser eye surgery wherein a diagnostic image of a patient's eye that is obtained by a diagnostic image capture is aligned with a treatment image of the patient's eye that is obtained by a treatment image capture device that is associated with a treatment laser system, via an iris pattern recognition technique, the improvement characterized by:

• an illumination control device for controlling a visible illumination level on one of the patient's eye being examined and the patient's other eye (not being examined) wherein the visible illumination level acts as a control for the pupil diameter of the examined eye;
• a sequential plurality of diagnostic iris images each including a different pupil diameter ranging between a dilated pupil size and a constricted pupil size corresponding to the controlled visible illumination level, wherein at least an indicia of an iris recognition landmark is identifiable in each sequential diagnostic iris image even though the corresponding iris recognition landmark is not identifiable between the constricted diagnostic pupil image and the dilated diagnostic pupil image;
• an eye diagnostic measuring device for obtaining a diagnostic measurement of the patient's eye associated with the dilated diagnostic pupil image, cooperatively associated with the illumination control device and the diagnostic image capture device;
• means for exporting at least one of the diagnostic iris images to the laser treatment system;
• and
• means for aligning the dilated pupil diagnostic iris image with the constricted pupil diagnostic iris image, and further for aligning the aligned constricted pupil diagnostic iris image with the treatment iris image having a constricted pupil of a size generally corresponding to the diagnostic image constricted pupil size.

In a diagnostic and therapeutic system for laser eye surgery wherein a diagnostic image of a patient's eye that is obtained by a diagnostic image capture device that is also adapted to make a diagnostic measurement of the patient's eye, is aligned with a treatment image of the patient's eye that is obtained by a treatment image capture device which is associated with a treatment laser system, via an iris pattern recognition technique,

• the improvement characterized by:
• an illumination control device for controlling a visible illumination level on one of the patient's eye being examined and the patient's other eye (not being examined) wherein the visible illumination level acts as a control for the pupil diameter of the examined eye;
• a sequential plurality of diagnostic iris images each including a different pupil diameter ranging between a dilated pupil size and a constricted pupil size corresponding to the controlled visible illumination level, obtained by the diagnostic image capture device, wherein an iris recognition landmark is identifiable in each sequential diagnostic iris image even though the corresponding iris recognition landmark is not identifiable between the constricted diagnostic pupil image and the dilated diagnostic pupil image;
• means for exporting at least one of the diagnostic iris images to the laser treatment system;
• means for aligning the dilated pupil diagnostic iris image, associated with a diagnostic measurement image, with the constricted pupil diagnostic iris image;
• and
• means for aligning the aligned constricted pupil diagnostic iris image with the treatment iris image having a constricted pupil of a size generally corresponding to the diagnostic image constricted pupil size.