Mosaicing and enhancement of images for ophthalmic diagnosis and documentation
First Claim
1. A method of mosaicing images of the eye, comprising the steps of:
- acquiring a first image of the eye from a narrow field of view image acquisition device;
acquiring a second image of the eye from said image acquisition device, wherein said second image includes a portion of said first image; and
processing said images to produce a mosaic representation.
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Abstract
The invention is a method and system for mosaicing images of the eye to create high resolution, wide-field ophthalmic images for the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases. The inventive method acquires a first image of the eye, acquires a second image of the eye, and processes the images to produce a mosaic representation. The second image includes a portion of the first image. To guide in acquiring the second image, the method may view the first image while acquiring the second image. The images typically are acquired using either a direct ophthalmoscope or a slitlamp biomicroscope. The method further may convert the images to a digital format. The step of processing includes aligning and merging the images, and conducting real-time processing and non-real-time processing. Real-time processing may include eliminating non-overlapping images, image registration, topology inference, local-to-global alignment, image fusion, signal estimation, and multiresolution blending, while the non-real-time processing may include local alignment, global alignment, image registration, intra-alignment, inter-alignment, signal averaging, and photometric blending.
44 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method of mosaicing images of the eye, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring a first image of the eye from a narrow field of view image acquisition device;
acquiring a second image of the eye from said image acquisition device, wherein said second image includes a portion of said first image; and
processing said images to produce a mosaic representation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for mosaicing images of the eye, comprising:
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a narrow field of view image acquisition device adapted to provide first and second adjustment images of the eye;
a camera coupled to said image acquisition device to capture said images;
a data processor coupled to said camera to process said images into a mosaic representation; and
a monitor coupled to said data processor to guide a user in acquiring images using said image acquisition device. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of detecting eye diseases, comprising the steps of:
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examining the eye using a narrow field of view image acquisition device;
capturing images of the eye, wherein each of said images includes a portion of another image;
aligning and merging said images to create a mosaic representation;
viewing said mosaic representation; and
detecting eye disease from said mosaic representation. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of creating a mosaic representation of the eye, comprising the steps of:
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providing a narrow field of view image acquisition device adapted to acquire images of the eye;
acquiring a first image of a first portion of the eye;
moving said image acquisition device to a second portion of the eye, wherein said second portion overlaps said first portion;
acquiring a second image of said second portion of the eye; and
processing said images to create a mosaic representation of the eye. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method for mosaicing direct ophthalmoscope images, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring a first direct ophthalmoscope image;
converting said first image into a digital format;
acquiring at least one subsequent direct ophthalmoscope image, wherein said subsequent images reproduce a portion of a preceding image;
converting said images into a digital format;
processing said images during said steps of acquiring said images to guide acquisition of said subsequent images;
processing said images to increase resolution and quality of said images;
merging said images to produce a mosaic representation of said images; and
processing said mosaic representation such that said mosaic representation provides a seamless representation of said images.
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36. A method for mosaicing slitlamp images, comprising the steps of:
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acquiring a first slitlamp image;
converting said first image into a digital format;
acquiring subsequent slitlamp images, wherein said subsequent images reproduce a portion of a preceding image;
converting said images into a digital format;
processing said images during said steps of acquiring said images to guide acquisition of additional images;
processing said images to increase resolution and quality of said images;
merging said images to produce;
a mosaic representation of said images; and
processing said mosaic representation such that said mosaic provides a seamless representation of said images.
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Specification