US 9,295,388 B2Granted

Methods and apparatus for retinal imaging

AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology

InventorsMatthew Everett Lawson, Ramesh Raskar

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Abstract

In exemplary implementations, this invention comprises apparatus for retinal self-imaging. Visual stimuli help the user self-align his eye with a camera. Bi-ocular coupling induces the test eye to rotate into different positions. As the test eye rotates, a video is captured of different areas of the retina. Computational photography methods process this video into a mosaiced image of a large area of the retina. An LED is pressed against the skin near the eye, to provide indirect, diffuse illumination of the retina. The camera has a wide field of view, and can image part of the retina even when the eye is off-axis (when the eye's pupillary axis and camera's optical axis are not aligned). Alternately, the retina is illuminated directly through the pupil, and different parts of a large lens are used to image different parts of the retina. Alternately, a plenoptic camera is used for retinal imaging.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A method of imaging a retina of a first eye of a human, which method comprises, in combination:

(a) a camera capturing multiple images of different areas of the retina during a time period in which the first eye rotates through different rotational positions;
and
(b) one or more processors processing the multiple images to create a mosaiced image of a region of the retina;
wherein
(i) a lens that is exterior to and not part of the first eye includes a first region of the lens and a second region of the lens, and
(ii) the method includes
(A) when the eye is in a first rotational position, the camera capturing a first image of a first area of the retina but not a second area of the retina, such that light forming the first image passes through the pupil of the first eye and travels through the first region but not the second region of the lens, and
(B) when the eye is in a second rotational position, the camera capturing a second image of the second area but not the first area of the retina, such that light forming the second image passes through the pupil of the eye and travels through the second region but not the first region of the lens,
(iii) the first and second rotational positions are different from each other, and
(iv) the multiple images include the first and second images.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/214,950Filed 16 Mar 2014 · continuation
Priority: 13 Feb 2013
Published: US 2014/0226128 A114 Aug 2014
Granted: 29 Mar 2016
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

A61B 3/14
Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions: arrangements specially adapted for…
A61B 3/0025
Operational features thereof: characterised by electronic signal processing, e.g. eye models
A61B 3/0091
Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes: fixation targets for viewing direction
A61B 3/12
Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions: for looking at the eye fundus,…

Family

Application13/766,751Parent of this continuation · filed 13 Feb 2013
US 2014/0226128 A1Pre-grant publication · published 14 Aug 2014
US 9,060,718 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2013/0208241 A1Published application
US 9,295,388 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.