Granted Patent B2

US 12,611,099 · App. 18/351,381 · Granted Apr 28, 2026

Inventors: Zsolt Bor (San Clemente, CA); Alireza Malek Tabrizi (Fremont, CA)

Assignee: Alcon Inc.

A61B3/1025G06T7/0012G06T7/521G16H30/40G06T2207/30041

Abstract

Claims (33)

1 . A method for characterizing floaters, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, one or more images of at least one of a patient's retinas, the one or more images captured while the at least one of the patient's retinas is stimulated with one or more patient stimulus images;

identifying, by the computing device, one or more shaded regions in the one or more images to obtain one or more shadow images; and

outputting, by the computing device, one or more observer stimulus images to a display device, the one or more observer stimulus images derived from the one or more shadow images and identical to a perception of the at least one of the patient's retinas of the one or more patient stimulus images.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the one or more images comprises receiving the one or more images from a scanning laser ophthalmoscope.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more patient stimulus images each include a fixation target.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more patient stimulus images include a series of patient stimulus images, wherein the fixation targets of the series of patient stimulus images are at a plurality of different locations.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of different locations simulate eye movement while reading.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising deriving the one or more observer stimulus images from the one or more shadow images by combining the one or more shadow images with the one or more patient stimulus images.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising deriving the one or more observer stimulus images from the one or more shadow images by adjusting one or both of size and brightness of the one or more shadow images based on properties of the display device.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the display device is a virtual reality display device.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more images comprise one or more left images of a left retina of the patient and one or more right images of a right retina of the patient; and

wherein outputting the one or more observer stimulus images derived from the one or more shadow images to the display device comprises:

outputting one or more left observer stimulus images of the one or more observer stimulus images on a left side of the virtual reality display device, the one or more left observer stimulus images derived from the one or more left images; and

outputting one or more right observer stimulus images of the one or more observer stimulus images on a right side of the virtual reality display device, the one or more right observer stimulus images derived from the one or more right images.

10 . A system for characterizing floaters comprising:

a retinal imaging device;

a display device; and

a computing device configured to:

receive one or more images of at least one of a patient's retinas from the retinal imaging device, the one or more images captured while the at least one of the patient's retinas is stimulated with one or more patient stimulus images;

identify one or more shaded regions in the one or more images to obtain one or more shadow images; and

output one or more observer stimulus images to the display device, the one or more observer stimulus images derived from the one or more shadow images and identical to a perception of the at least one of the patient's retinas of the one or more patient stimulus images.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the retinal imaging device is a laser scanning ophthalmoscope.

12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more patient stimulus images each include a fixation target.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more patient stimulus images include a series of patient stimulus images, wherein the fixation targets of the series of patient stimulus images are at a plurality of different locations.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of different locations simulates eye movement while reading.

15 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the computing device is further configured to derive the one or more observer stimulus images from the one or more shadow images by combining the one or more shadow images with the one or more patient stimulus images.

16 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the computing device is further configured to derive the one or more observer stimulus images from the one or more shadow images by adjusting one or both of size and brightness of the one or more shadow images based on properties of the display device.

17 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the display device is a virtual reality display device.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the one or more images of the at least one of the patient's retinas comprise one or more left images of a left retina of the patient and one or more right images of a right retina of the patient;

wherein the computing device is configured to output the one or more observer stimulus images derived from the one or more shadow images to the display device by:

outputting one or more left observer stimulus images of the one or more observer stimulus images on a left side of the virtual reality display device, the one or more left observer stimulus images derived from the one or more left images; and

outputting one or more right observer stimulus images of the one or more observer stimulus images on a right side of the virtual reality display device, the one or more right observer stimulus images derived from the one or more right images.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (206)