Patents by Inventor Reginald Birngruber
Reginald Birngruber has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 11076994Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus for changing the refractive power of the cornea (1), in particular for correcting hyperopia or presbyopia, exhibiting injection means (13, 15) having at least one hollow needle (15) for injecting at least one optically transparent filling material having a predetermined refractive index into an intrastromal corneal pocket (7), characterized by a controllable injection drive (17) that is coupled at least indirectly to the injection means (13, 15) and is designed for changing an amount, to be injected, of the at least one filling material; a device for optical coherence tomography (OCT) (19) that is designed for monitoring the area of the corneal pocket (7) by means of measurement of depth profiles of the cornea (1) on a repeatedly cycled-through scan pattern; and a computing unit (21) that is designed and/or configured to determine from the measurement data of the OCT device (19) at least the radius of curvature of the front (3) of the cornea (1) keeping pace temporally wiType: GrantFiled: May 31, 2017Date of Patent: August 3, 2021Assignee: The General Hospital CorporationInventors: Alfred Vogel, Norbert Linz, Sebastian Freidank, Reginald Birngruber
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Patent number: 10736731Abstract: A method for treating hyperopia or presbyopia in a patient, the method comprising making a cut deep in the patient's cornea to create a two-dimensional slit adjacent to and generally parallel to an anterior surface of the cornea and injecting a liquid or semi-solid transparent filler material into the deep cut in an amount sufficient to flatten the posterior surface of the cornea to increase the refractive power of the cornea by a predetermined correction of up to about 5 diopters due to the physical flattening of the posterior surface of the cornea, wherein the transparent filler material comprises a refractive index of about 1.3 to about 1.6, and forms a corneal implant with a lenticular shape within the cornea.Type: GrantFiled: June 13, 2016Date of Patent: August 11, 2020Assignee: The General Hospital CorporationInventors: Richard Rox Anderson, Reginald Birngruber
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Patent number: 10682052Abstract: The invention relates to an interferometric method, in which the light scattered by an object is imaged onto an electronic camera, wherein a sample light component is assigned to scattering sites on a sectional face in the interior of the object. This sample light component can be separated from the contributions of the other sample light components by processing of the camera image and leads to a sectional image. A particular advantage of the invention lies in the fact that multiple parallel sectional faces can be exposed sequentially at predetermined intervals from each other in the interior of the object. Such a sequence of sectional images can be used to calculate a solid model of the object.Type: GrantFiled: August 9, 2016Date of Patent: June 16, 2020Assignees: Medizinisches Laserzentrum Luebeck GmbH, Thorlabs GmbHInventors: Peter Koch, Gesa Franke, Hendrik Spahr, Helge Sudkamp, Gereon Hüttmann, Dierck Hillmann, Reginald Birngruber
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Publication number: 20190209380Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus for changing the refractive power of the cornea (1), in particular for correcting hyperopia or presbyopia, exhibiting injection means (13, 15) having at least one hollow needle (15) for injecting at least one optically transparent filling material having a predetermined refractive index into an intrastromal corneal pocket (7), characterized by a controllable injection drive (17) that is coupled at least indirectly to the injection means (13, 15) and is designed for changing an amount, to be injected, of the at least one filling material; a device for optical coherence tomography (OCT) (19) that is designed for monitoring the area of the corneal pocket (7) by means of measurement of depth profiles of the cornea (1) on a repeatedly cycled-through scan pattern; and a computing unit (21) that is designed and/or configured to determine from the measurement data of the OCT device (19) at least the radius of curvature of the front (3) of the cornea (1) keeping pace temporally wiType: ApplicationFiled: May 31, 2017Publication date: July 11, 2019Inventors: Alfred Vogel, Norbert Linz, Sebastian Freidank, Reginald Birngruber
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Publication number: 20180235461Abstract: The invention relates to an interferometric method, in which the light scattered by an object is imaged onto an electronic camera, wherein a sample light component is assigned to scattering sites on a sectional face in the interior of the object. This sample light component can he separated from the contributions of the other sample light components by processing of the camera image and leads to a sectional image. A particular advantage of the invention lies in the fact that multiple parallel sectional faces can be exposed sequentially at predetermined intervals from each other in the interior of the object. Such a sequence of sectional images can be used to calculate a solid model of the object. The invention is applicable in particular to the live retina and allows a three-dimensional retina scan within a few seconds with a cost-effective and, if necessary, hand-held device. Application options are in the fields of ophthalmology and in biometry.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 9, 2016Publication date: August 23, 2018Applicants: Thorlabs GmbH, Medizinisches Laserzentrum Lübeck GmbHInventors: Peter KOCH, Gesa FRANKE, Hendrik SPAHR, Helge SUDKAMP, Gereon HÜTTMANN, Dierck HILLMANN, Reginald BIRNGRUBER
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Patent number: 10016164Abstract: A system and method are provided for the design and assembly of a device including a sensor capable and a compatible matrix material incorporated into a dressing. The sensor is capable of detecting analytes such as molecular oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitric oxides, dissolved analytes in plasma, and hydrogen ions, and the matrix is at least partially permeable to the analyte. The device emits a detectable signal when the sensor is excited in the presence of the analyte.Type: GrantFiled: July 10, 2013Date of Patent: July 10, 2018Assignee: The General Hospital CorporationInventors: Conor L. Evans, Gabriela Apiou, Reginald Birngruber, Alexander J. Nichols, Emmanouil Rousakis, Zongxi Li
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Publication number: 20180177587Abstract: A method for treating hyperopia or presbyopia in a patient, the method comprising making a cut deep in the patient's cornea to create a two-dimensional slit adjacent to and generally parallel to an anterior surface of the cornea and injecting a liquid or semi-solid transparent filler material into the deep cut in an amount sufficient to flatten the posterior surface of the cornea to increase the refractive power of the cornea by a predetermined correction of up to about 5 diopters due to the physical flattening of the posterior surface of the cornea, wherein the transparent filler material comprises a refractive index of about 1.3 to about 1.6, and forms a corneal implant with a lenticular shape within the cornea.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 13, 2016Publication date: June 28, 2018Inventors: Richard Rox Anderson, Reginald Birngruber
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Publication number: 20150182166Abstract: A system and method are provided for the design and assembly of a device including a sensor capable and a compatible matrix material incorporated into a dressing. The sensor is capable of detecting analytes such as molecular oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitric oxides, dissolved analytes in plasma, and hydrogen ions, and the matrix is at least partially permeable to the analyte. The device emits a detectable signal when the sensor is excited in the presence of the analyte.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 10, 2013Publication date: July 2, 2015Inventors: Conor L. Evans, Gabriela Apiou, Reginald Birngruber, Alexander J. Nichols, Emmanouil Rousakis, Zongxi Li
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Patent number: 8774904Abstract: A device for examining or treating living tissue by means of local heating of the tissue by absorbing electromagnetic radiation, with at least one radiation source emitting electromagnetic radiation, a control unit for controlling the irradiation parameters of the radiation source, and at least one FD-OCT apparatus with a light source emitting a measurement light for illuminating that tissue region in which the electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by the tissue, characterized by a computational unit for carrying out the following steps: determining the depth-resolved tissue velocity in the radiation direction of the measurement light at a predetermined measurement point of the tissue from the phase information from the FD-OCT interference light, integrating the established tissue velocity over time, differentiating the calculated time integral with respect to space, and displaying the spatial derivative as a function of space and time and/or feeding the spatial derivative as a function of space and time to aType: GrantFiled: April 16, 2011Date of Patent: July 8, 2014Assignee: Medizinisches Laserzentrum Luebeck GmbHInventors: Reginald Birngruber, Ralf Brinkmann, Gereon Huettmann, Heike Mueller
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Publication number: 20130102894Abstract: A device for examining or treating living tissue by means of local heating of the tissue by absorbing electromagnetic radiation, with at least one radiation source emitting electromagnetic radiation, a control unit for controlling the irradiation parameters of the radiation source, and at least one FD-OCT apparatus with a light source emitting a measurement light for illuminating that tissue region in which the electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by the tissue, characterized by a computational unit for carrying out the following steps: determining the depth-resolved tissue velocity in the radiation direction of the measurement light at a predetermined measurement point of the tissue from the phase information from the FD-OCT interference light, integrating the established tissue velocity over time, differentiating the calculated time integral with respect to space, and displaying the spatial derivative as a function of space and time and/or feeding the spatial derivative as a function of space and time to aType: ApplicationFiled: April 16, 2011Publication date: April 25, 2013Applicant: MEDIZINISCHES LASERZENTRUM LUEBECK GMBHInventors: Reginald Birngruber, Ralf Brinkmann, Gereon Huettmann, Heike Mueller
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Patent number: 6234633Abstract: A method for the topographic display of interior surfaces of an object, for example, leakages on vessels of biological material by means of fluorescence angiography, in the case of which fluorescence images are produced in several planes of different depths and a fluorescent segmental chart is obtained therefrom.Type: GrantFiled: November 1, 1999Date of Patent: May 22, 2001Assignee: Medizinisches Laserzentrum Luebeck GmbHInventors: Reginald Birngruber, Joachim Noack, Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth
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Patent number: 6095648Abstract: Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided for deriving the relative position of an eye by tracking a boundary of the eye such as the limbus (i.e., the interface between the white sclera and the colored iris). A technique for tracking the position of the eye of patient comprises directing light to an annular region of the eye between the sclera and the iris and receiving reflected light from that region. The intensity of the reflected light is then measured to determine a relative position of the eye. In some embodiments, the measured region is scanned around the boundary. In other embodiments, a light spot is scanned around a substantially annular trajectory radially outward from the pupil. The signals corresponding to the intensity of the reflected light are then processed and measured to determine the eye's position. A flap of tissue covering the boundary may be automatically detected so as to selectively measure the boundary away from the flap.Type: GrantFiled: March 8, 1999Date of Patent: August 1, 2000Assignee: Herbert Schwind GmbH & Co. KGInventors: Reginald Birngruber, Christian Scholz, Peter Koch, Ralf Engelhardt
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Patent number: 5302259Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for altering the properties of light sensitive material, for example, biological material, which has a plurality of randomly spaced light absorbing structures thereon. A beam of light, for example, from a laser, is directed, as by scanning, onto a site of the material to be influenced. In order to achieve changes in the properties of the light sensitive material substantially only at each light absorbing structure, the light beam is modulated with a pattern of successive pulses, the pattern being a plurality of pulses of selected duration, energy level, and repetition frequency. The light induced changes may be thermal, mechanical, or chemical in nature.Type: GrantFiled: February 23, 1993Date of Patent: April 12, 1994Inventor: Reginald Birngruber
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Patent number: 4741612Abstract: A control system for use with a conventional photocoagulation device for controlling the exposure parameters of irradiation of biological tissue, such as the fundus of an eye. The photocoagulation device includes a source of radiation, a means for initiating and terminating the source of radiation, and sensing means for measuring the extent of coagulation of the biological tissue. Exposure parameters of the device include exposure time and the wavelength spot size and power of the irradiating beam. The control system cooperates with the device for determining and regulating the exposure parameters in accordance with the unique mathematical relationship between the extent and progression of coagulation during a photocoagulation operation, thereby to terminate the photocoagulation operation should unsatisfactory results be anticipated.Type: GrantFiled: June 30, 1986Date of Patent: May 3, 1988Inventors: Reginald Birngruber, Veit-Peter Gabel