|Número de publicación||US7284858 B2|
|Tipo de publicación||Concesión|
|Número de solicitud||US 10/468,241|
|Número de PCT||PCT/EP2002/001675|
|Fecha de publicación||23 Oct 2007|
|Fecha de presentación||16 Feb 2002|
|Fecha de prioridad||21 Feb 2001|
|También publicado como||CA2417776A1, CA2417776C, DE10108797A1, DE50213161D1, EP1303210A2, EP1303210B1, EP2042078A2, EP2042078A3, EP2042078B1, US20040070728, WO2002065899A2, WO2002065899A3|
|Número de publicación||10468241, 468241, PCT/2002/1675, PCT/EP/2/001675, PCT/EP/2/01675, PCT/EP/2002/001675, PCT/EP/2002/01675, PCT/EP2/001675, PCT/EP2/01675, PCT/EP2001675, PCT/EP2002/001675, PCT/EP2002/01675, PCT/EP2002001675, PCT/EP200201675, PCT/EP201675, US 7284858 B2, US 7284858B2, US-B2-7284858, US7284858 B2, US7284858B2|
|Inventores||Roland Bergner, Roland Barth, Axel Doering, Frank Behrend, Klaus-Ditmar Voigt|
|Cesionario original||Carl Zeiss Meditec Ag|
|Exportar cita||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Citas de patentes (44), Otras citas (1), Citada por (8), Clasificaciones (12), Eventos legales (5)|
|Enlaces externos: USPTO, Cesión de USPTO, Espacenet|
The IOL (intraocular lens) calculation formula “Holladay 2” (“Intraocular Lens Power Calculations for the Refractive Surgeon”, Jack T. Holladay, in: Operative Techniques in Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Vol. 1, No. 3 (September), 1998: pp 105-117), by which the power of an intraocular lens (IOL) for implantation into the human eye can be calculated, as well as the selection of special types of IOL (ICL etc.), require the so-called “horizontal white-to-white distance” (hor-w-t-w), which is the horizontal diameter of the iris, as an input value.
In corneal surgery for the removal of visual deficiciencies in the human eye (PRK, LASIK), it is also interesting for the surgeon to know at which point the patient's visual axis passes through the cornea. Thereafter, laser ablation can be effected more precisely at this point than according to the previous assumption based on the geometric center of the cornea.
The interferometric length measurement of the thickness of the cornea, of the anterior chamber depth and of the lens thickness in the human eye using PCI requires preadjustment of the eye along its theoretical optical axis in front of the measurement instrument, as opposed to the axial length measurement which requires positioning of the eye along the actual visual axis.
In order to determine the “hor-w-t-w”, use was previously made of rulers and templates (
Further, invasive measurement means are known in the form of mechanical slide gauges which are inserted into the anterior chamber through an incision in the sclera (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,564).
Further, gonioscopes, as they are called, are known which are placed on the eye, project scales onto the iris and allow the iris diameter to be read through magnifying glasses (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,812).
Devices which measure the diameter of the pupil are referred to as pupillometers (e.g. EP 0,550,673). However, they do not measure the diameter of the iris.
No devices are known for determining the point where the visual axis passes through the cornea. The camera industry merely uses methods which detect the direction in which a human eye is looking; the output signals of such arrangements serve, for example, to control autofocus mechanisms in photographic cameras (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,234), or they are used in so-called eye trackers. Said devices monitor eye movements or viewing movements.
Also, no devices are known for preadjustment of the eye along the optical axis; by focusing the eye differently or by scanning the measuring beam, rather haphazard efforts are made to find the right positioning of the eye along the optical axis by trial.
The applicant's WO 00/33729 discloses a system and a method for determining, in a non-contacting manner, the axial length, the cornea curvature and the anterior chamber depth of the eye using one single device to calculate the optical effect of an intraocular lens. The eye is generally illuminated via visible or IR LEDs, the reflection images thereof being captured by the CCD camera and displayed. Further, a fixation light is provided for the test subject to direct the pupil of the eye in the direction of the optical axis, the reflection of the fixation light also being captured by the CCD camera.
It is an object of the invention to provide a device and a method allowing higher precision of the hor-w-t-w determination in a user-independent manner. According to the invention, this object is achieved by the features of the independent claims. Preferred further embodiments are the subject of the dependent claims.
In a surprising manner, the invention also realizes a practical possibility of describing the point of intersection of the visual axis through the cornea relative to the center of the pupil and/or the center of the iris and of enabling a more precise preadjustment of an interferometric length measurement instrument along the optical axis of the eye, based on the position of said intersection point and on the geometric center of the cornea.
The position of the visual axis was previously unknown to the user of such instrument. Therefore, the patient was requested to focus differently by suitable means (fixation light for the patient's eye within the instrument or outside the instrument). Thereupon, a measurement operation was initiated, which was only successful if the measurement was effected along the optical axis. This means that it is not clear whether or not this axis has been hit until after said measurement operation.
The fixation light is moved in increments of 1°; quite a few useless measurement operations may be required until the point is reached where said interferometric measurement is successful.
Such procedure is not acceptable in the ophthalmological routine.
The invention is described in greater detail below with reference to the schematic drawings, wherein:
The image of the eye is imaged, via a telecentric imaging system 5 onto an image sensor 6, preferably a CCD camera, which is connected to a control and evaluation unit (not shown). The video signal of the camera is displayed on a screen or LC display (not shown).
The illumination 2 allows the user, during the entire time of adjustment and of measurement of the test subject, to check whether the test subject is focusing correctly—and, consequently, whether the result of said measurement is correct. The imaging of the test subject's eye with the relevant image details is effected in a telecentric manner so as to minimize the influence of the adjustment of the test subject.
Upon correct adjustment of the patient's eye and upon initiation by the user, the BAS signal of the CCD camera is taken over into the memory of a computer via a frame grabber.
Using means of image processing, the distances within said image are determined, from which the following values can be calculated on the basis of the image scale of the observation optics:
Since the real shapes of the iris and pupil of the human eye do not necessarily have to be circles, ellipses with their parameters of semiaxes and focal points may be determined as well, according to a further embodiment.
With a suitably selected image scale of the imaging optics 5, the measured values can be determined with a computational precision of <±0.01 mm.
The diameter of the iris yields the horizontal white-to-white distance:
The x and y coordinates of the Purkinje image of the fixation light yield the point where the visual axis passes through the cornea, provided that the test subject is focusing correctly, which the user can check during measurement on the basis of the live video image on the LC display. The visual axis and optical axis may deviate from each other by up to 8°, because the fovea may be offset from 3° nasally to 8° temporally. (Simplified schematic eye according to Gullstrand in Diepes “Refraktionsbestimmung” Bode publishing company, Pfortzheim, 5th edition 1988).
The angle between the visual axis and the optical axis of the eye results from angular relationships, for example, on the basis of the Gullstrand eye, wherein the measured offset (distance) between the image of the fixation point and the iris center and/or the pupil center is taken into account.
Prior to the interferometric measurement of the anterior ocular media, the deviation of both visual axes from one another is determined.
The fixation point of the present measurement system is marked along the visual axis. The amount and the direction of the distance of this point to the center of the pupil (and/or the center of the iris) is determined.
Simple trigonometric formulae yield the required angle between the optical axis and the visual axis, for example, as:
According to this measured value, a preadjustment of the patient's viewing direction may advantageously be effected by providing a fixation light to the patient at the calculated angle α, thus obviating a complex search procedure.
Method for Determining the Positions of Pupil, Iris and Fixation Point
As input value for evaluation, a digitized gray scale image is used at an image scale allowing the entire iris to be captured with turned-on surround field illumination.
After noise reduction, the evaluation unit determines the objects: pupil, iris and fixation point image.
Advantageously, the pupil image is roughly determined at first and used for iris detection, since the contrast at the iris edge is usually weak and, moreover, the iris periphery may be covered by the eye lids at the top and bottom thereof, so that no circular, but only sector-shaped sensing is possible.
Upon successful execution, the parameters of the iris and of the pupil are returned as a circular model (radius, center) or as an elliptic model (main axes, center). The fixation point (i.e. the point where the visual axis passes through the cornea) is returned in the form of its coordinates, i.e. the coordinates are available to the calling program.
Edge detection on the basis of gray scale profiles in the original image leads to great variations in determining the edge locations, said variations resulting from noise superpositioned on the image signal. A 20×20 median filter is used for noise reduction.
Rough Detection of the Pupil—FIG. 2/
For rough detection of the position of the pupil, a binarization method with subsequent search for joined objects in the binary image is used.
Binarization refers to the pixel-wise gray scale transformation according to
horizontal coordinate of a pixel
vertical coordinate of a pixel
g (x, y)
gray scale value of the pixel at the location (x, y)
non-negative threshold value
The pupil is assumed to be that binary object which exceeds a predetermined minimum and is closest to the image center. Due to its dependence on ambient brightness, a binarization method with a constant threshold value is not suitable. Therefore, binary objects are determined for a series of threshold values according to the above method. The “optimum” threshold value thr* is assumed to be that value which, upon being incremented, results in the smallest change in the selected binary object (i.e. position and size). On the basis of the binary object allocated to this threshold value, the following factors are determined for a rough assessment of the position of the pupil:
(x0, y0) centroid of the binary object (center coordinates) R (area of the binary object/π)1/2 (estimated radius).
Fine Detection of Pupil and Iris—
The edge locations for the pupil and iris (edge=“periphery” of the circle/ellipse) are determined from gray scale profiles (=scans of the gray scale values of the median-filtered image along paths) via the center of the roughly determined pupil (see Figure). For the iris, it is assumed, first of all, that the edge is located in a specific, larger circular ring, arranged concentrically to the roughly detected pupil. The following algorithm applies analogously to the fine detection of both the pupil edge and the iris edge.
Scanning was effected by means of search beams (search directions) S starting from xo,yo, with the search beam direction being successively varied by an angle α. The rough search range SB on the search beam S is obtained from the already determined rough model of iris and pupil. The determination of the pupil edge K is effected over the entire circle, while the iris edge determination only takes place in an angular region around the X axis (2 sectors of a circle) due to possible lid covering.
In these profiles, turning points are determined by suitable smoothing and numerical differentiation. A number of methods are known for this purpose (e.g. Savitzky A. and Golay, M. J. E. Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 36, pp. 1627-39, 1964), which may be efficiently implemented as one-dimensional, linear filters. In general, a multiplicity of turning points will be found along the gray scale profile. Among these, that position (x,y) which meets the following conditions is determined as an edge location:
Thus, a maximum of two edge locations each are available per gray scale profile (i.e. per scanning angle α) for iris modelling and for pupil modelling, respectively. In order to eliminate systematic interferences, for example, caused by the iris or the pupil being covered in the case of a narrow eyelid opening, the range of scanning angles used may be restricted, i.e. αmin, iris<α<αmax, iris for iris edge determination and, analogously, αmin, pupil<α<αmax, pupil for pupil edge determination.
Adaptation of the Pupil/Iris Model—
The number of edge locations (xi, yi) determined in the preceding step allows the parameters of the pupil model and of the iris model (i.e. either circle or ellipse) to be determined by means of regression. This is done by minimizing the sum of square errors
over the number of possible parameter vectors p (circle: center coordinates and radius; ellipse: center coordinates, lengths of the main axes, angle(s) between the great main axis and the x axis). For adjustment of the circle, a solution of (1) is possible in a direct and numerically efficient manner by the method of singular value distribution. For the solution of the restricted root-mean-square value problem for adaptation of the ellipse, there also exist a number of standard approaches (e.g. in Bookstein, F. L. Fitting conic sections to scattered data. Computer Graphics and Image Processing, Vol. 9, pp. 56-71, 1979, and Fitzgibbon, A. W. and Fisher, R. B. A buyer's guide to conic fitting. Proceedings of British Machine Vision Conference, Birmingham, 1995).
In order to reduce the influence of wild values (i.e. incorrectly determined edge locations), use is made of a two-step regression method according to
Moreover, alternative methods for selection of the edge locations which are to be used for parameter adaptation can be used, such as the Hough transformation for circular models.
Detection of the Fixation Point—
For detection of the fixation point, a binarization (see above) of the unfiltered image of the CCD camera is effected with a threshold value ΘFP=s*thr* (s>1.0), said threshold value depending on thr* (threshold value used for the rough detection of the pupil). As the fixation point, there is determined the center of that integral binary object BF (gray scale values >ΘFP) which is located closest to the determined pupil center PM and has a predetermined minimum surface area.
Other, non-relevant binary objects (e.g. reflection images of the LED illumination) are identified through their greater distance from the pupil center and are not taken into consideration.
Before the determined coordinates are returned to the calling program, a plausibility check according to
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|Clasificación de EE.UU.||351/205, 351/206, 351/208|
|Clasificación internacional||A61B3/113, A61B3/11, A61B3/10|
|Clasificación cooperativa||A61B3/1005, A61B3/112, A61B3/113|
|Clasificación europea||A61B3/10B, A61B3/113, A61B3/11D|
|18 Ago 2003||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: CARL ZEISS JENA GMBH, GERMANY
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:BERGNER, ROLAND;BARTH, ROLAND;DOERING, AXEL;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:014773/0772
Effective date: 20021202
|11 Sep 2007||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: CARL ZEISS MEDITEC AG, GERMANY
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:CARL ZEISS JENA GMBH;REEL/FRAME:019811/0896
Effective date: 20070830
|29 Dic 2009||CC||Certificate of correction|
|15 Abr 2011||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|16 Abr 2015||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 8