Grayscale redistribution system to improve retinal imaging by reducing the effect of a highly reflective optic nerve
US7334896B2 · kind B2 · utility
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 30, 2005 |
| Grant date | Feb 26, 2008 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 11, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA61B3/14
- WIPO fieldMedical technology
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A system is provided to improve retinal camera picture quality by providing a user-variable transfer function for each pixel that results in redistributing grayscale values to solve the problem of saturation caused by highly reflective retinal objects. The result is the ability to capture both optic nerve and retina detail in a single picture. The darker retina is brightened to permit observing retinal detail using the redistributed grayscale values, while preserving optic nerve detail. Those pixels experiencing high-intensity reflections are properly exposed to prevent saturation, while outputs of low-intensity pixels associated with the darker regions are intensified, in one embodiment in accordance with an adjustable Bezier curve. The result is that one can obtain retinal details previously flooded out by the reflections from the optic nerve while at the same time offering optic nerve detail. In one embodiment the redistributed grayscale values are optimized for each color plane to provide color-corrected images matching those associated with film cameras.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.