Abstract: A method and system is described that greatly improves the safety and efficacy of ophthalmic laser surgery. The method and system are applicable to precise operations on a target subject to movement during the procedure. The system may comprise the following elements: (1) a user interface, (2) an imaging system, which may include a surgical microscope, (3) an automated tracking system that can follow the movements of an eye, (4) a laser, (5) a diagnostic system, and (6) a fast reliable safety means, for automatically interrupting the laser firing.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for template-controlled, precision laser interventions is described that greatly improves interventions such as laser microsurgery, particularly ophthalmic surgery, and industrial micromachining. The instrument and system are applicable to those specialties wherein the positioning accuracy of laser lesions is critical, such as whenever precise operations on a target or series of targets subject to movement during the procedure are to be effected. The system includes a user interface, wherein the user can either draw, adjust, or designate particular template patterns overlaid on a live video images of the target (such as the cornea) which are stabilized and produce an apparently stationary display of the target and provide the means for converting the template pattern into a sequence of automatic motion instructions to direct a laser beam to be sequentially applied replicating the designated template pattern into the corresponding surgical or industrial site.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for template-controlled, precision laser interventions is described that greatly improves the accuracy, speed, range, reliability, versatility, safety, and efficacy of interventions such as laser microsurgery, particularly ophthalmic surgery, and industrial micromachining. The instrument and system are applicable to those specialties wherein the positioning accuracy of laser lesions is critical, wherever accurate containment of the spatial extent of a laser lesion is desirable, and/or whenever precise operations on a target or series of targets subject to movement during the procedure are to be effected. A key object of the present invention is to implement a fully integrated approach based on a number of different instrumental functions all operating in concert within a single, fully automated unit. Each of the complementary, and at times competing, functions requires its own technologies and corresponding subassemblies.

Abstract: A method and system is described that greatly improves the safety and efficacy of ophthalmic laser surgery. The method and system are applicable to precise operations on a target subject to movement during the procedure. The system may comprise the following elements: (1) a user interface, (2) an imaging system, which may include a surgical microscope, (3) an automated tracking system that can follow the movements of an eye, (4) a laser, (5) a diagnostic system, and (6) a fast reliable safety means, for automatically interrupting the laser firing.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for template-controlled, precision laser interventions is described that greatly improves the accuracy, speed, range, reliability, versatility, safety, and efficacy of interventions such as laser microsurgery, particularly ophthalmic surgery, and industrial micromachining. The instrument and system are applicable to those specialties wherein the positioning accuracy of laser lesions is critical, wherever accurate containment of the spatial extent of a laser lesion is desirable, and/or whenever precise operations on a target or series of targets subject to movement during the procedure are to be effected. A key object of the present invention is to implement a fully integrated approach based on a number of different instrumental functions all operating in concert within a single, fully automated unit. Each of the complementary, and at times competing, functions requires its own technologies and corresponding subassemblies.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system for template-controlled, precision laser interventions is described that greatly improves the accuracy, speed, range, reliability, versatility, safety, and efficacy of interventions such as laser microsurgery, particularly ophthalmic surgery, and industrial micromachining. The instrument and system are applicable to those specialties wherein the positioning accuracy of laser lesions is critical, wherever accurate containment of the spatial extent of a laser lesion is desirable, and/or whenever precise operations on a target or series of targets subject to movement during the procedure are to be effected.

Abstract: The present invention describes a technique and apparatus for finding spots in an image with substantial noise making it difficult to identify without specialized noise suppression algorithms. In the context of determining corneal shape, as an example of the technique, the reflections of point light sources in or on the cornea have long played a diagnostic role. The image analysis technique described applies the tools of mathematical morphology and prior information about the shape of illumination patterns to remove noise and isolate the points of interest for further mathematical analysis. The output from the technique is a set of pairs matching the detected points in the image with the known location of the illumination.

Abstract: A diagnostic system for support of laser ocular surgery, for example, solves a problem of competition for light which is often encountered when a series of different detectors are used to receive and detect features of a target reflecting an illuminating light beam. The intensity of an illuminating beam, particularly in eye surgery, is limited to a level above which damage to the eye can occur. In a system wherein a plurality of successive beam splitters are used, each reflecting a portion of the light intensity and transmitting the remaining light intensity, the series of detecting devices compete for adequate light intensity for the particular functions being served. The system of the invention solves this problem and increases the effective quantity of light useful from a given input intensity by dividing the light spectrally after its reflection from the eye, thereby making use of a different spectral range of the light at each of the plurality of different detecting devices.

Abstract: A system for effecting precision laser surgery includes an intensified surgical video microscope directed at the tissue to be operated upon and having zoom capability. The surgical microscope presents a microscopic image on a video screen in front of the surgeon. Preferably, the video screen is divided into multiple separate sections, with the microscopic video image in one section and precise cross sectional and plan views indicating location presented in the other sections of the screen. These additional views may be generated using Moire interferometry by projecting a Ronchi ruling on the surface of the tissue, in viewing the projection with a camera to obtain all necessary information for contour tracking of the subject surface. Interior elements and interfaces of, for example, the eye are also sensed by a light beam and precisely located and mapped by a computer forming a part of the device.

Abstract: An ophthalmic diagnostic instrument determines the shape of the cornea through projection of an image onto the cornea through the optics of the diagnostic instrument. The instrument and the method of the invention involve folding a projected pattern of discrete separated point light sources so that the pattern is projected toward the eye coaxially with return collected light reflected off the cornea. The instrument avoids any need for a pattern light source directly adjacent to the eye, and provides the surgeon or other eye care specialist with a real time image accurately displaying the shape of the cornea. The surgeon is thus able to monitor the corneal shape prior to surgery, to monitor its changes during the course of the surgery, and to further monitor the cornea in post operative stages.

Abstract: A diagnostic system for support of laser ocular surgery, for example, solves a problem of competition for light which is often encountered when a series of different detectors are used to receive and detect features of a target reflecting an illuminating light beam. The intensity of an illuminating beam, particularly in eye surgery, is limited to a level above which damage to the eye can occur. In a system wherein a plurality of successive beam splitters are used, each reflecting a portion of the light intensity and transmitting the remaining light intensity, the series of detecting devices compete for adequate light intensity for the particular functions being served. The system of the invention solves this problem and increases the effective quantity of light useful from a given input intensity by dividing the light spectrally after its reflection from the eye, thereby making use of a different spectral range of the light at each of the plurality of different detecting devices.