Sequential eye screening method and apparatus

An apparatus for generating images of eyes for use in identifying non-refractive and refractive errors, comprising:

• a camera having an objective lens;
• an infrared light source located coaxially with the objective lens;
• a first flash positioned adjacent to the infrared light source and operable to emit light from a first meridian around the objective lens;
• a second flash positioned adjacent to the infrared light source and operable to emit visible light from a second meridian around the objective lens;
• and
• wherein the first and second flashes sequentially emit light from the first and second meridians around the objective lens in a time period shorter than a response time of the eyes.

A system for generating infrared and visible images of eyes, comprising:

• a camera having an objective lens;
• an infrared light source located coaxially with the objective lens;
• a first flash positioned adjacent to the infrared light source and operable to emit light from a first meridian around the objective lens;
• a second flash positioned adjacent to the infrared light source and operable to emit visible light from a second meridian around the objective lens;
• and
• a control system, in communication with the camera, infrared light source, and flashes, operable to cause the infrared light source to emit infrared light and to cause the camera to capture an infrared image of the eyes using the emitted infrared light, the control system further operable to cause the flashes to fire sequentially in a time period shorter than a response time of the eyes and to cause the camera to capture an image of the eyes using the light emitted by the flashes.

A system for identifying non-refractive and refractive errors in eyes, comprising:

• a camera having an objective lens;
• an infrared light source located coaxially with the objective lens;
• a first flash positioned adjacent to the infrared light source and operable to emit light from a first meridian around the objective lens;
• a second flash positioned adjacent to the infrared light source and operable to emit visible light from a second meridian around the objective lens;
• wherein the first and second flashes sequentially emit light from the first and second meridians around the objective lens in a time period shorter than a response time of the eyes;
• and
• a control system, in communication with the camera, infrared light source, and flashes, operable to cause the camera to record an infrared image of the eyes while illuminated by infrared light and sequential images of the eyes while illuminated by the flashes, the control system further operable to process the infrared image to identify non-refractive errors in the eyes and to process the sequential images to identify refractive errors in the eyes.

A method for identifying errors in eyes, comprising the steps of:

• generating an infrared image of the eyes;
• identifying non-refractive errors using the infrared image;
• generating sequential images of the eyes in a time period shorter than a response time of the eyes;
• and
• identifying refractive errors using the sequential images.