JP3056282B2 - Ophthalmic imaging equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus,
The present invention relates to an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus including an illumination device for illuminating an eye to be examined.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus having a plurality of image recording means or an illuminating device provided in an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus capable of recording a plurality of image information, for example, a visible photographing mode and a visible fluorescent photographing mode are used. Focusing on, an image recording mode requiring the largest amount of light, that is, the range of the amount of light that can be emitted at the maximum in accordance with the visible fluorescence imaging mode is determined. The light amount was arbitrarily selected within the set maximum / minimum light amount range.

[0003]

By the way, in the ophthalmologic photographing apparatus configured as described above, for example, an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus capable of performing photographing by inserting a filter between an illumination light source and an eye to be examined. However, when the eye to be inspected is illuminated with an appropriate amount of light when the filter is inserted without inserting the filter, there is a problem in that the eye to be inspected may be damaged or the subject may be distressed. Needless to say, it is not good to give an unnecessarily strong illumination light amount even in an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus in which no filter is inserted between the illumination light source and the eye to be inspected.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus that does not apply an unnecessarily strong illumination light amount to the subject's eye.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of photographing modes can be selected, an illumination device for illuminating an eye to be inspected, and the amount of illumination of the illumination device can be increased or decreased.
A ophthalmologic imaging apparatus that includes a light amount setting means for,
Different illumination light depending on the selected shooting mode
The maximum amount of light is set, and the amount of light exceeding this maximum
It cannot be set by the light amount setting means .

[0006]

[0007]

According to the constructions of the first and second aspects, since the eye to be inspected is not illuminated with an unnecessarily large amount of light, the eye to be inspected may or may not be obstructed. The pain given to the subject can be minimized.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of an ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of a fundus camera according to the present invention, FIGS. 2A and 2B are front views showing the appearance of a switching operation unit, and FIG. It is a figure showing an optical system.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes an illumination optical system, and 2 denotes an observation / photographing optical system.

The illumination optical system 1 includes an observation eye illumination light source (for example, a halogen lamp) 3, a condenser lens 4, an imaging eye illumination light source (for example, a xenon tube) 5, a condenser lens 6, a half mirror 7, an infrared light. It comprises a cut filter 8, an exciter filter 9, a ring slit 10, a relay lens 11, a total reflection mirror 12, an optical element 13, and a relay lens 14.

Here, it is assumed that the observation eye illumination light source 3 and the imaging eye illumination light source 5 generate light having a wavelength range from visible light to infrared light. The infrared cut filter 8 is set so as to be inserted into the optical path P for visible illumination and to be retracted from the optical path P for infrared illumination.

The exciter filter 9 is retracted from the optical path P when performing color photography or monochrome photography other than fluorescence photography, and is used to excite the fluorescence agent when performing fluorescence photography by intravenously injecting a fluorescent substance into a subject. It is inserted into the optical path P to transmit the excitation wavelength. Furthermore, an exciter filter 9 for infrared illumination is used for infrared fluorescence observation / photographing.
Is inserted into the optical path P.

On one surface of the optical element 13, a visible light shielding portion 13 a is provided, and on the other surface of the optical element 13, an infrared light shielding portion 13 b is provided. It is designed to be removed.

The observation / photographing optical system 2 includes an objective lens 15,
Perforated mirror 16, diaphragm member 17, barrier filter 1
8, a focusing lens 19, an imaging lens 20, quick return mirrors 21 and 22, and a film 23.

The barrier filter 18 is retracted from the optical path Q of the observation / photographing optical system 2 when performing color photography or monochrome photography other than fluorescence photography. When fluorescent imaging is performed by intravenously injecting a fluorescent agent into a subject, the fluorescent agent is inserted into the optical path Q to transmit only the fluorescent wavelength. Further, at the time of infrared fluorescence observation / photographing, a barrier filter 18 for infrared illumination is inserted into the optical path Q.

The quick return mirror 21 is retracted from the optical path Q of the observation / photographing optical system 2 as shown by a dashed line when recording on the film 23, and is used when displaying a fundus image of the eye R to be inspected on the screen. The optical path is changed to the image receiving optical system 24 after being inserted into the Q.

The image receiving optical system 24 includes the relay lens 2
5, 26, a total reflection mirror 27, a CCD 28, etc.
A fundus image or the like is formed on the CD 28 and displayed on the monitor 29 on the screen.

The quick return mirror 22 is inserted into the optical path Q of the observation / photographing optical system 2 to change the optical path to the eyepiece optical system 30 during observation.

The eyepiece optical system 30 includes a field lens 3
1, a prism 32 and an eyepiece 33.

The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus of the present invention incorporates a circuit as shown in FIG. In the figure, 41 is an illumination light source drive circuit, 42 is a control unit for controlling the illumination light source drive circuit 41, 43 is a switching operation unit for switching the illumination light amount, and 44 is a shooting mode determination circuit for determining a shooting state. The photographing mode determination circuit 44 is connected to a fundus camera (not shown).

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B,
The main body operation unit (not shown) of the ophthalmologic photographing apparatus includes a switch unit 45 for setting the light amount of the observation eye illumination light source 3 and a switch unit 46 for setting the light amount of the imaging eye illumination light source 5.
Are provided respectively.

In each of these switch sections 45 and 46, at least the upper limit value of the light amount of each of the light sources 3 and 5 is operated by the switching operation section 43 in accordance with the photographing mode.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the switch unit 45 includes a down button 45a for setting the upper limit of the light amount of the observation eye illumination light source 3 to be low, and a light amount of the observation eye illumination light source 3. An up button 45b for setting the upper limit value of the button to be high, and a display section 45c for displaying the light amount level set by the buttons 45a and 45b. In the switch unit 45, at least the upper limit value of the light amount according to the shooting mode is automatically set in the switching operation unit 43.

The display unit 45c sets the level display so as to emit light in accordance with a preset maximum light amount upper limit, and the light amount upper limit in a certain shooting mode is lower than the set maximum light amount upper limit. In this case, the light emission is set to stop in the middle of the level display (at this time, even if the up button 45b is pressed, the light amount does not increase any more).

By the way, the display unit 45c matches the light amount range for each photographing mode with the level display range, and in any photographing mode, when the light amount in the photographing mode reaches the upper limit, the level is displayed. The display can also be set so that the maximum value can be displayed.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the switch section 46 includes a plurality of setting switches 46 for setting the light amount of the light source 5 for photographing the subject's eye to be photographed in a stepwise manner in accordance with the photographing mode or the like.
a, 46a... This setting switch 46a,
46a are attached with light-emitting parts 46b, 46b, which are composed of, for example, light-emitting diodes, and emit light corresponding to the pressed setting switches 46a, 46a,. The upper limit of the light amount is notified.

When the photographing mode is switched, the setting is not performed even if the setting switches 46a, 46a... .

In the above configuration, the observation illumination light from the observation eye illumination light source 3 passes through the condenser lens 4, is reflected by the half mirror 7, and is guided to the exciter filter 9.

At this time, for example, in color photography or monochrome photography other than fluorescence photography, since the exciter filter 9 is retracted from the optical path P of the illumination optical system 1, the observation illumination light is directed toward the ring slit 10 as it is. It proceeds and is guided to the ring slit 10 via the exciter filter 9 at the time of fluorescent imaging.

Further, the observation illumination light passing through the ring slit 10 passes through the relay lens 11, is reflected by the total reflection mirror 12, passes through the harmful reflected light removing optical element 13, the relay lens 14, and is reflected by the hole. The light reflected by the mirror 16 passes through the objective lens 15 to illuminate the fundus r of the eye R to be inspected.

The illuminating light from the illuminating light source 5 for the photographic eye passes through the relay lens 6 and the half mirror 7, and illuminates the fundus r of the eye R to be inspected along the same path as the illuminating light for observation.

On the other hand, the reflected light from the fundus r is
5 to a perforated reflecting mirror 16 through which the hole 1
6a, it is guided toward the barrier filter 18 through the opening 17a of the diaphragm member 17. At the time of general photographing, since the barrier filter 18 is retracted from the optical path Q of the observation / photographing optical system 2, the reflected light from the fundus r proceeds directly to the imaging lens 20 via the focusing lens 19, barrier filter 18 when the fluorescence photography, is guided to the imaging lens 20 through the focusing lens 19, after passing through the focusing lens 19, field lens 31 is reflected by the quick return mirror 22, flop rhythm 32, eyepiece It is guided to the examiner's eye I via the lens 33.

At the time of photographing to be recorded on the film, the quick return mirrors 21 and 22 are retracted to the dashed line position, and the reflected light from the fundus r passes directly through the focusing lens 19 and directly enters the film 23.

On the other hand, when observation / photographing is performed on a screen, such as during infrared fluorescence observation / photographing, the reflected light passing through the focusing lens 19 is reflected by the quick return mirror 21 inserted in the optical path Q and relayed. The light is guided to a CCD 28 through a lens 25, a total reflection mirror 27, and a relay lens 26. The reflected light guided to the CCD 28 is displayed on a monitor 29 as an image. When recording an image of the CCD 28, a signal of the CCD 28 is sent to a recording device (not shown) and recorded.

Here, normal 35 mm color observation and photographing,
Considering the required light amount of the light source for each of the 35 mm fluorescent observation and photographing and the infrared fluorescent observation and photographing, it is assumed that a standard film and monitor are used, and that the color 35
mm, 35 mm fluorescent light, and infrared fluorescent light, the required light amount of the light source increases. Therefore, in a conventional fundus camera capable of performing infrared fluorescence imaging, a switch unit 45 for adjusting the amount of observation light,
The observation / photographing light amount that can be set by the photographing light amount adjusting switch unit 46 is set based on the infrared fluorescence. Therefore, in the present invention, the shooting mode is determined by the shooting mode determination circuit 44,
The result of the determination is sent to the control unit 42.

The control unit 42 limits at least the upper limit of the settable light amount in accordance with the required light amount of the light source for each photographing mode set in advance based on the determination result. At this time, in the operation of the switching operation section 43, even if the switching operation to the setting of the light quantity more than the restricted amount is performed by each of the switch sections 45 and 46, the switch operation is not accepted. The switchable range may be internally switched.

[0038]

As described above , according to the present invention,
The maximum value of the amount of illumination corresponding to the shooting mode is set.
Light intensity exceeding the maximum value can be set by the light intensity setting means.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent an unnecessarily strong illumination light amount from being given to the subject's eye.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of an embodiment of a fundus camera according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the appearance of a switching operation unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an optical optical system of the fundus camera.

[Description of Symbols] R: Eye to be inspected 3: Illumination light source (illumination device) for observation eye to be inspected 5: Illumination light source (illumination device) for eye to be photographed 23: Film (image recording means) 29: Monitor (image recording means) 41 ... Illumination light source drive circuit (illumination device) 45, 46. Switch unit (light amount switching unit) 43.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An illumination device for illuminating an eye to be inspected, wherein a plurality of photographing modes can be selected, and an illumination light amount of the illumination device is increased.
A ophthalmologic imaging apparatus that includes a light amount setting means for Gensa, illumination light different in correspondence to the selected imaging mode
The maximum amount of light is set, and the amount of light exceeding this maximum
An ophthalmologic photographing apparatus characterized in that it cannot be set by light amount setting means .