Tonometry apparatus
First Claim
1. Apparatus for measuring pressure within an eye, comprisinga housing,a member interposable between a surface of the eye and a portion of said housing, said member having a rear end and a front end and being substantially non-compressible along its front-to-rear direction, said member being engaged with said housing such that it is frontwardly-and-rearwardly moveable with respect to said portion of said housing,means associated with said housing and said member for providing a force resisting rearward movement of said member with respect to said portion of said housing, so that when said member is interposed between the eye surface and said housing portion and said housing portion is moved toward the eye surface, said member front end forms a depression or flattening of the eye surface and said member is moved rearward with respect to said housing against said resisting force, andmeans for determining the position of said member with respect to said portion of said housing.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for measuring pressure within an eye includes means for increasingly inwardly deforming a surface of the eye by applying a progressively increasing force onto the surface, means responsive to inward deformation of the eye surface for taking a measure related to the amount of the deformation and means for taking a measure related to the amount of the applied force at a sampling time during the progressively increasing force, and electronic means responsive to the deformation-related measuring means and the applied force-related measuring means for determining intraocular pressure from the relation between the measures. Such apparatus includes a housing; a member interposable between a surface of the eye and a portion of the housing, and frontwardly-and-rearwardly moveable with respect thereto; means associated with the housing and the member for providing a force, for example a magnetic repulsion, resisting relative rearward movement of the member so that when the member is interposed between the eye surface and the housing portion and the housing portion is moved toward the eye surface, the member front end deforms the eye surface and the member is moved rearward with respect to the housing against the resisting force; and means such as a Hall effect sensor for determining the position of the member with respect to the housing portion. Also, such apparatus further includes means associated with the member front end for determining the amount of deformation of the eye surface.
83 Citations
25 Claims
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1. Apparatus for measuring pressure within an eye, comprising
a housing, a member interposable between a surface of the eye and a portion of said housing, said member having a rear end and a front end and being substantially non-compressible along its front-to-rear direction, said member being engaged with said housing such that it is frontwardly-and-rearwardly moveable with respect to said portion of said housing, means associated with said housing and said member for providing a force resisting rearward movement of said member with respect to said portion of said housing, so that when said member is interposed between the eye surface and said housing portion and said housing portion is moved toward the eye surface, said member front end forms a depression or flattening of the eye surface and said member is moved rearward with respect to said housing against said resisting force, and means for determining the position of said member with respect to said portion of said housing.
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14. Apparatus for measuring pressure within an eye, comprising
means for increasingly inwardly deforming a surface of the eye by applying a progressively increasing force onto the surface, means for taking a measure related to the amount of the deformation and means for taking a measure related to the amount of said applied force at a sampling time during said progressively increasing force, and electronic means responsive to said deformation-related measuring means and said applied force-related measuring means for determining intraocular pressure from the relation between said deformation-related measure and said force-related measure.
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22. A method for measuring intraocular pressure in an eye, comprising
providing means for inwardly deforming a surface of the eye, contacting said deforming means with a surface of the eye and applying a progressively increasing force to urge said deforming means in a direction toward the eye to increasingly inwardly deform the surface, measuring the amount of said deformation of the surface and the amount of said applied force at a time during said progressively increasing force, and determining intraocular pressure from the relation between said measured deformation and said progressively increasing force.
Specification