Background reduction apparatuses and methods of ocular surface interferometry (OSI) employing polarization for imaging, processing, and/or displaying an ocular tear film
First Claim
1. An apparatus for imaging an ocular tear film of an eye, comprising:
- an imaging device platform for mounting an imaging device along an imaging axis;
a light source attached to the imaging device platform and arranged to direct a light at an illumination angle that is off axis relative to the imaging axis to avoid projecting light directly into a pupil of an eye, the light including unpolarized light having a first intensity in an illumination path to illuminate a region of interest (ROI) of an ocular tear film, thereby producing a specularly reflected light in a first polarization plane containing optical wave interference from the ROI of the ocular tear film;
a polarizer disposed in the illumination path having a polarization axis parallel or substantially parallel to the first polarization plane of the specularly reflected light such that a background signal comprised of the unpolarized light returned from the ROI of the ocular tear film has a second intensity less than the first intensity; and
an imaging device attached to the imaging device platform and configured to capture the optical wave interference of the specularly reflected light and the background signal from the ROI of the ocular tear film.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Background reduction apparatuses and methods of Ocular surface interferometry (OSI) employing polarization are disclosed for measuring a tear film layer thickness (TFLT) of the ocular tear film, including lipid layer thickness (LLT) and/or aqueous layer thickness (ALT) and can be used to evaluate and potentially diagnosis dry eye syndrome (DES). In certain disclosed embodiments, a multi-wavelength light source can be controlled to illuminate the ocular tear film. Light emitted from the multi-wavelength light source undergoes optical wave interference interactions in the tear film. An imaging device can be focused on the lipid layer of the tear film to capture optical wave interference interactions of specularly reflected light from the tear film combined with a background signal(s) in at least one image. The at least one image can be processed and analyzed to measure a tear film layer thickness (TFLT), including lipid layer thickness (LLT) and/or aqueous layer thickness (ALT).
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. An apparatus for imaging an ocular tear film of an eye, comprising:
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an imaging device platform for mounting an imaging device along an imaging axis; a light source attached to the imaging device platform and arranged to direct a light at an illumination angle that is off axis relative to the imaging axis to avoid projecting light directly into a pupil of an eye, the light including unpolarized light having a first intensity in an illumination path to illuminate a region of interest (ROI) of an ocular tear film, thereby producing a specularly reflected light in a first polarization plane containing optical wave interference from the ROI of the ocular tear film; a polarizer disposed in the illumination path having a polarization axis parallel or substantially parallel to the first polarization plane of the specularly reflected light such that a background signal comprised of the unpolarized light returned from the ROI of the ocular tear film has a second intensity less than the first intensity; and an imaging device attached to the imaging device platform and configured to capture the optical wave interference of the specularly reflected light and the background signal from the ROI of the ocular tear film. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of imaging an ocular tear film of an eye, comprising:
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directing multi-wavelength light including unpolarized light having a first intensity in an illumination path to illuminate a region of interest (ROI) of an ocular tear film thereby producing a specularly reflected light in a first polarization plane containing optical wave interference from the ROI of the ocular tear film while avoiding projecting the multi-wavelength light directly into a pupil of an eye; polarizing the unpolarized light such that a background signal comprised of the unpolarized light returned from the ROI of the ocular tear film to have a second intensity less than the first intensity; capturing at least one image of the optical wave interference of the specularly reflected light and the background signal from the ROI of the ocular tear film; and receiving the at least one image containing the optical wave interference of the specularly reflected light and the background signal.
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22. An apparatus for imaging an ocular tear film of an eye, comprising:
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an imaging device platform for mounting an imaging device along an imaging axis; a multi-wavelength light source attached to the imaging device platform and arranged to direct a multi-wavelength light at an illumination angle that is off axis relative to the imaging axis to avoid projecting light directly into a pupil of an eye, the light including unpolarized light having a first intensity in an illumination path to illuminate a region of interest (ROI) of an ocular tear film, thereby producing a specularly reflected light in a first polarization plane containing optical wave interference from the ROI of the ocular tear film; a polarizer disposed in the illumination path having a polarization axis parallel or substantially parallel to the first polarization plane of the specularly reflected light such that a background signal comprised of the unpolarized light returned from the ROI of the ocular tear film has a second intensity less than the first intensity; an imaging device attached to the imaging device platform and configured to capture the optical wave interference of the specularly reflected light and the background signal from the ROI of the ocular tear film; and a control system configured to receive at least one image containing the optical wave interference of the specularly reflected light and the background signal captured by the imaging device while illuminated by the multi-wavelength light passing through the polarizer. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification