HANDHELD REFLECTOMETER FOR MEASURING MACULAR PIGMENT
First Claim
1. A reflectometry instrument to measure macular pigment of a macula of a human eye, comprising:
- a housing including a lower hand-held portion;
an assembly of optical elements arranged within the housing to sequentially image the eye with multiple fields of view and to illuminate the eye with multiple light sources;
an actuatable trigger having a first trigger switch position, a second trigger switch position and a third trigger switch position;
a spectrally-modifiable light source for emitting an illumination beam in a direction toward the macula, the spectrally-modifiable light source providing a range of spectra depending on the position of the actuatable trigger; and
a spectrometer for measuring one or more spectra measurements of a detection beam, the detection beam being reflected from the macula, each of the one or more spectra measurements being indicative of the amount of the macular pigment in the macula, and combining the one or more spectra measurements to result in a macular pigment optical density measurement.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A macular pigment reflectometer is handheld, light, and portable. It can be provided as a part of a self-contained system. The self-contained system includes a docking station in which the macular pigment reflectometer is placed between uses. The docking station is used to recharge the battery of the handheld macular pigment reflectometer. The docking station also has one or more types of communication ports, such as one for a wired or wireless internet connection, through which the handheld macular pigment reflectometer can communicate with a computer or an electronic medical records system. The instrument operates in a pulsed operating mode wherein relative instrument-to-eye motion is reduced and, preferably, nearly eliminated. The handheld macular pigment reflectometer contains an on-board spectrometer which is designed to capture spectra in very short intervals of time. A trigger on the instrument allows for a rapid, intuitive, and sequential alignment followed by rapid data gathering.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A reflectometry instrument to measure macular pigment of a macula of a human eye, comprising:
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a housing including a lower hand-held portion; an assembly of optical elements arranged within the housing to sequentially image the eye with multiple fields of view and to illuminate the eye with multiple light sources; an actuatable trigger having a first trigger switch position, a second trigger switch position and a third trigger switch position; a spectrally-modifiable light source for emitting an illumination beam in a direction toward the macula, the spectrally-modifiable light source providing a range of spectra depending on the position of the actuatable trigger; and a spectrometer for measuring one or more spectra measurements of a detection beam, the detection beam being reflected from the macula, each of the one or more spectra measurements being indicative of the amount of the macular pigment in the macula, and combining the one or more spectra measurements to result in a macular pigment optical density measurement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A hand-held reflectometry instrument to measure macular pigment of a macula of a human eye, comprising:
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a housing including an actuatable trigger having a first switch position, a second switch position and a third switch position; a first light source within the housing for emitting an illumination beam in a direction toward the macula; and a spectrometer within the housing for measuring a detection beam, the detection beam being a portion of the illumination beam reflected from the macula, the detection beam being indicative of the amount of the macular pigment in the macula. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of determining an amount of macular pigment in the macula of a human eye, comprising:
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using a multi-step alignment process involving (i) a first light source to provide an alignment relative to a patient'"'"'s pupil, and (ii) a second light source to provide alignment relative to the patient'"'"'s retina after alignment relative to the patient'"'"'s pupil; after the alignment process, (iii) activating a measurement process by passing an illumination beam through a lens system and onto the macula; receiving, with a spectrometer, a detection beam reflected from the macula; and measuring characteristics of the detection beam at the spectrometer. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification