System and method for real-time montaging from live moving retina

1. A method to montage a plurality of scanning LASER ophthalmoscope (SLO) narrow field of view (FOV) images comprising the steps of:

providing an optically stabilized SLO having a substantially real-time optical imaging stabilization system and a steering means, said SLO communicatively coupled to a computer;

imaging a narrow FOV of a surface of an eye by computer by acquiring one or more image strips of said narrow FOV, followed by:

acquiring a successive one or more image strips of at least a part of said narrow FOV;

combining by computer said successive one or more image strips of at least a part of said narrow FOV with one or more previously acquired one or more image strips of said at least a part of said narrow FOV to generate a combined image of at least part of said at least a part of said narrow FOV;

repeating said step of acquiring a successive one or more image strips of said at least a part of said narrow FOV until a predetermined number of strips is reached;

repeating said step of acquiring a successive one or more image strips of at least a part of said narrow FOV to repeating said step of acquiring a successive one or more image strips of said narrow FOV until a predetermined number of strips is reached, until said imaging a narrow FOV of a surface of an eye is complete; and

shifting by use of said steering means to another overlapping narrow FOV of said surface of an eye by computer and repeating said step of imaging a narrow FOV of said surface of an eye;

repeating said step of shifting to another overlapping narrow FOV of said surface of an eye until a pre-determined wide FOV of said surface of an eye has been imaged by a plurality of combined overlapping images; and

stitching together by computer either incrementally after each of said narrow FOV is imaged or after said predetermined wide FOV is imaged, each of said plurality of combined overlapping images together to generate a montage wide FOV image of said surface of said eye.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said one or more image strips comprise an entire frame.

3. A method to montage a plurality of scanning LASER ophthalmoscope (SLO) narrow field of view (FOV) images comprising the steps of:

providing an optically stabilized SLO having a substantially real-time optical imaging stabilization system and a steering means, said SLO communicatively coupled to a computer;

imaging a narrow FOV of a surface of an eye by computer by acquiring one or more image strips of said narrow FOV, followed by:

acquiring a successive one or more image strips of at least a part of said narrow FOV;

combining by computer said successive one or more image strips of said at least a part of said narrow FOV with one or more previously acquired one or more image strips of said at least a part of said narrow FOV to generate a combined image of said at least a part of said narrow FOV;

calculating by computer an image quality metric (IQM) of said combined image using at least a portion of said narrow FOV;

comparing by computer said IQM to a pre-determined IQM threshold;

repeating said step of acquiring a successive one or more image strips of said narrow FOV until said predetermined IQM threshold is reached;

repeating said step of acquiring a successive one or more image strips of at least a part of said narrow FOV to repeating said step of acquiring a successive one or more image strips of said narrow FOV, until said imaging a narrow FOV of a surface of an eye is complete; and

shifting by use of said steering means to another overlapping narrow FOV of said surface of an eye by computer and repeating said step of imaging a narrow FOV of said surface of an eye;

repeating said step of shifting to another overlapping narrow FOV of said surface of an eye until a predetermined wide FOV of said surface of an eye has been imaged by a plurality of combined overlapping images; and

stitching together by computer either incrementally after each of said narrow FOV is imaged or after said predetermined wide FOV is imaged, each of said plurality of combined overlapping images together to generate a montage wide FOV image of said surface of said eye.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said one or more image strips comprises an entire frame.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein said step of providing an optically stabilized SLO comprises the step of providing an adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) having a substantially real-time optical imaging stabilization system.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein said step of shifting by said steering means to another overlapping narrow FOV of said surface of an eye comprises shifting to another overlapping narrow FOV of said surface of an eye with about a 20% or less overlap.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein said step of comparing by computer said IQM comprises comparing by computer said IQM based on a power measurement.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein said step of comparing by computer said IQM comprises comparing by computer said IQM based on a spatial frequency content measurement.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein said step of comparing by computer said IQM comprises comparing by computer an IQM based on a contrast or sharpness measurement.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein said step of comparing by computer said IQM comprises comparing by computer said IQM by use of a texture based measurement.

11. The method of claim 3 , wherein said step of comparing by computer said IQM comprises comparing by computer said IQM based on a probability density function measurement.

12. The method of claim 3 , further including before said step of repeating said step of shifting to another overlapping narrow FOV of said surface of an eye until a predetermined wide FOV of said surface of an eye has been imaged, the step of selecting said pre-determined wide FOV by use of a Fundus wide field camera communicatively coupled to said computer.