IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20160157710A1
• Filed: 07/24/2014
• Published: 06/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Tomatsu, Nobuhiro, Sato, Makoto, Makihira, Tomoyuki, Iwase, Yoshihiko, Miyata, Kazuhide, Shinbata, Hiroyuki, Tomita, Ritsuya, Kibe, Daisuke
• Granted Patent: US 9,700,199 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/0025 characterised by electronic signal processing, e.g. eye models
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/0041 characterised by display arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/102 for optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/14 Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography apparatus or arrangements for taking photographs per se G03B
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10101 Optical tomography; Optical coherence tomography [OCT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30041 Eye; Retina; Ophthalmic
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/248 involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/337 involving reference images or patches

Abstract

To accurately position multiple tomographic image.

An image processing apparatus includes a detecting unit configured to detect motion of an eye in a plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on a predetermined region extracted from the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images of the eye, and a positioning unit configured to position a plurality of tomographic luminance images corresponding to the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on the detected movement.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a tomographic image acquiring unit configured to acquire a plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images of an eye;

an extracting unit configured to extract a depolarizing region from the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images;

a detecting unit configured to detect motion of the eye in the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on the extracted depolarizing region; and

a positioning unit configured to position a plurality of tomographic luminance images corresponding to the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on the detected movement.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the extracting unit extracts a luminance value greater than a threshold, from the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, as the depolarizing region.

3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images are a plurality of degree of polarization uniformity (DOPU) images;

and wherein the extracting unit extracts the retinal pigment epithelium from the plurality of DOPU images, as the depolarizing region.

4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images are a plurality of retardation images;

and wherein the extracting unit extracts the retinal nerve fiber layer from the plurality of retardation images, as the depolarizing region.

5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an overlaying unit configured to overlay a plurality of tomographic luminance images which have been positioned; and

a display control unit configured to display the overlaid images on a display unit.

6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting unit detects at least one of parallel movement, enlarging/reduction, and rotation, in the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, as the motion.

7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein return light from the object which has been irradiated by the measurement light, and reference light corresponding to the measurement light, are multiplexed, the multiplexed light is split into light having polarization different from each other, and a plurality of tomographic images are generated based on the light having polarization different from each other, the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images being the plurality of tomographic images thus generated.

10. An ophthalmologic system comprising:

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, acquired by an ophthalmologic apparatus communicably connected to the image processing apparatus according to claim 1, to the tomographic image acquiring unit.

8. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a tomographic image acquiring unit configured to acquire a plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images of an eye;

an extracting unit configured to extract a depolarizing region from the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images;

a detecting unit configured to detect motion of the eye in the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on the extracted depolarizing region; and

a positioning unit configured to position the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on the detected movement.

9. (canceled)

11. An image processing method comprising:

a step to acquire a plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images of an eye;

a step to extract a depolarizing region from the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images;

a step to detect motion of the eye in the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on the extracted depolarizing region; and

a step to position a plurality of tomographic luminance images corresponding to the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on the detected movement.

12. The image processing method according to claim 11, wherein, in the step to extract, a luminance value greater than a threshold is extracted from the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, as the depolarizing region.

13. The image processing method according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images are a plurality of DOPU images;

and wherein the retinal pigment epithelium is extracted from the plurality of DOPU images as the depolarizing region, in the step to extract.

14. The image processing method according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images are a plurality of retardation images;

and wherein the retinal nerve fiber layer is extracted from the plurality of retardation images as the depolarizing region, in the step to extract.

15. The image processing method according to claim 11, further comprising:

a step to overlay a plurality of tomographic luminance images which have been positioned; and

a step to display the overlaid images on a display unit.

16. The image processing method according to claim 11, wherein, in the step to detect, at least one of parallel movement, enlarging/reduction, and rotation, is detected in the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, as the motion.

17. The image processing method according to claim 11, wherein return light from the object which has been irradiated by the measurement light, and reference light corresponding to the measurement light, are multiplexed, the multiplexed light is split into light having polarization different from each other, and a plurality of tomographic images are generated based on the light having polarization different from each other, the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images being the plurality of tomographic images thus generated.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the steps of the image processing method according to claim 11.

18. An image processing method comprising:

a step to acquire a plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images of an eye;

a step to extract a depolarizing region from the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images;

a step to detect motion of the eye in the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on the extracted depolarizing region; and

a step to position the plurality of polarization-sensitive tomographic images, based on the detected movement.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the steps of the image processing method according to claim 18.

19. (canceled)

21. (canceled)