Ophthalmological measurement apparatus

An ophthalmological measurement apparatus for acquiring information relating to an eye of a patient to be measured, said apparatus comprising:

• a fixation target system for generating a fixation target visible to the patient and on which the patient's eye is fixated, wherein said fixation target is movable to guide the patient's eye so that a desired portion of the patient's eye is positioned in a position to be examined by an examiner, the desired portion of the patient's eye including a position of interest on the patient's eye to the examiner;
• a beam directing optical system for directing a beam to the fundus of said eye, wherein said beam directing optical system comprises a beam deflection member for deflecting said beam to the position of interest to the examiner;
• a first detection system for acquiring positional information of said fixation target;
• and a
• second detection system for acquiring the information relating to the exit angle of said beam by said beam deflection member.

An ophthalmological measurement method for measuring bloodstream velocity in a fundus blood vessel in an eye of a patient to be measured, said method comprising the steps of:

• generating a fixation target visible to the patient, said fixation target being movable to guide the eye so that a desired portion on the fundus of the eye can be observed by an observing system;
• directing a beam to the fundus of said eye via a deflection member in order to irradiate the desired protion on the fundus with the beam;
• and
• indicating positional information of said fixation target on the fundus and positional information of said beam deflected by said deflection member on the fundus.

An ophthalmological measurement apparatus for acquiring information relating to an eye of a patient to be measured by an examiner, said apparatus comprising:

• a fixation target generating member for generating a fixation target visible to the patient and on which the patient's eye is fixated, wherein said fixation target is movable, wherein said fixation target generating member comprises means for guiding the patient's eye when the patient is fixated on said fixation target so that a desired portion of the patient's eye is positioned in a position to be examined by the examiner, wherein the desired portion of the patient's eye comprises a position of interest on the patient's eye to the examiner, wherein said fixation target generating member also comprises means for changing the position of interest;
• a beam directing optical system for directing a beam to the fundus of said eye, wherein said beam directing optical system comprises a beam deflection member for deflecting said beam to the position of interest to the examiner;
• a first detection system for acquiring the position information of said fixation target;
• a second detection system for acquiring the information relating to the exit angle of said beam by said beam deflection member;
• means for receiving light reflected from the position of interest illuminated by the beam from said beam directing optical system when the position of interest includes a blood vessel, wherein said beam directing optical system directs the beam to the position of interest from a first direction when the fixation target is positioned at a first position, wherein said beam directing optical system directs the beam to the position of interest from a second direction when the fixation target is moved to a second position;
• first and second converting means for converting the received light from the blood vessel into signals;
• means for computing first and second maximum doppler shift frequencies of the signals from the first and second converting means, respectively, when said beam directing optical system directs the beam at the position of interest from a first direction and for computing third and fourth maximum doppler shift frequencies of the signals from the first and second converting means, respectively, when said beam directing optical system directs the beam at the position of interest from a second direction;
• means for determining the area where the first, second, third, and fourth maximum doppler shift frequencies are inverted;
• and
• means for verifying the area where the first, second, third, and fourth maximum doppler shift frequencies are inverted by referring to the information acquired by said first and second detection systems.