WO2024202213A1 - 眼科装置及び眼科装置の作動方法 - Google Patents

眼科装置及び眼科装置の作動方法 Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2024202213A1
WO2024202213A1 PCT/JP2023/041453 JP2023041453W WO2024202213A1 WO 2024202213 A1 WO2024202213 A1 WO 2024202213A1 JP 2023041453 W JP2023041453 W JP 2023041453W WO 2024202213 A1 WO2024202213 A1 WO 2024202213A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
examination
eye
head
subject
control unit
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/JP2023/041453
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English (en)
French (fr)
Japanese (ja)
Inventor
高明 柴野
佑樹 望月
南 鈴木
将 山部
浩一 月原
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Topcon Corp
Original Assignee
Topcon Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
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Publication date
Application filed by Topcon Corp filed Critical Topcon Corp
Priority to EP23930840.6A priority Critical patent/EP4670619A1/en
Priority to CN202380096616.0A priority patent/CN121001646A/zh
Priority to JP2025509699A priority patent/JPWO2024202213A1/ja
Publication of WO2024202213A1 publication Critical patent/WO2024202213A1/ja
Priority to US19/341,684 priority patent/US20260076543A1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B3/00—Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes
    • A61B3/10—Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions
    • A61B3/14—Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography
    • A61B3/15—Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography with means for aligning, spacing or blocking spurious reflection ; with means for relaxing
    • A61B3/152—Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography with means for aligning, spacing or blocking spurious reflection ; with means for relaxing for aligning
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B3/00—Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes
    • A61B3/0075—Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes provided with adjusting devices, e.g. operated by control lever
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B3/00—Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes
    • A61B3/0016—Operational features thereof
    • A61B3/0025—Operational features thereof characterised by electronic signal processing, e.g. eye models
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B3/00—Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes
    • A61B3/10—Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions
    • A61B3/102—Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions for optical coherence tomography [OCT]
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B3/00—Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes
    • A61B3/10—Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions
    • A61B3/103—Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions for determining refraction, e.g. refractometers, skiascopes
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B3/00—Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes
    • A61B3/10—Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions
    • A61B3/12—Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions for looking at the eye fundus, e.g. ophthalmoscopes
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B3/00—Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes
    • A61B3/10—Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions
    • A61B3/14—Arrangements specially adapted for eye photography

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an ophthalmic device that uses an examination head to sequentially examine the left and right eyes to be examined, and a method for operating the ophthalmic device.
  • ophthalmic examinations of the subject's eye are performed using ophthalmic equipment.
  • the positioning of the examination head (also called the examination unit) of the ophthalmic equipment relative to the subject's eye, i.e., alignment, is extremely important.
  • a stereo camera is used to stereophotograph the subject's eye, and alignment detection is performed to detect the relative position of the subject's eye with respect to the examination head based on the anterior segment image of the subject's eye obtained by this stereophotography. Then, in the ophthalmic devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the examination head is moved electrically based on the results of the alignment detection, thereby performing auto-alignment of the examination head with respect to the subject's eye. Next, after this auto-alignment is completed, the examination (photographing, etc.) of the subject's eye is performed using the examination head.
  • the examination head when used to examine the left and right test eyes, after the examination of one of the left and right test eyes (first eye) is completed, the examination head is aligned with the other of the left and right test eyes (second eye) (switching between left and right eyes) and the second eye is examined by the examination head.
  • Figure 33 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the relationship between the lens size of the objective lens of the examination head and the working distance of the examination head.
  • the shooting angle of the conventional objective lens 100 provided in the examination head is about 45°.
  • the ophthalmic device is, for example, a fundus camera compatible with wide-angle shooting, an OCT (optical coherence tomography) device, or an SLO (Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope) device
  • an objective lens 102 larger than the objective lens 100 is provided in the examination head due to optical constraints.
  • the working distance d2 between the subject's eye E and the examination head when the objective lens 102 is used is shorter than the working distance d1 between the subject's eye E and the examination head when the objective lens 100 is used.
  • FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the problem caused by the shortening of the working distance between the subject's eye E and the examination head 104.
  • the distance between the subject's forehead and the examination head 104 is about 22 mm
  • the distance between the subject's nose and the examination head 104 is about 2 mm
  • the distance between the subject's cheek and the examination head 104 is about 28 mm. Therefore, the distance between the subject's nose and the examination head 104 is particularly short. For this reason, if the subject H moves his/her face during switching between the left and right eyes after the examination of the subject's eye E (first eye) is completed, the examination head 104 may come close to the subject's face, especially the nose.
  • the present invention was made in consideration of these circumstances, and aims to provide an ophthalmic device and an operating method for an ophthalmic device that can reliably prevent the examination head from coming close to the subject's nose.
  • An ophthalmic device for achieving the object of the present invention includes an examination head for examining a subject's eye, and for examining a first eye, one of the left and right subjects, using the examination head, and then examining a second eye, the other of the left and right subjects.
  • the ophthalmic device includes a displacement mechanism for displacing the examination head relative to the subject's eye, a drive control unit for driving the displacement mechanism to displace the examination head along the tilt axis to an examination position for the subject's eye to be examined, when an axis along the line of sight of the subject's eye that is parallel to the front-to-back direction that is the working distance direction of the examination head is set as a reference axis, and an axis tilted outwardly away from the subject's nose with the subject's eye as the center is set as a tilt axis, and an evacuation control unit for driving the displacement mechanism to evacuate the examination head along the tilt axis when examination of the first eye by the examination head is completed.
  • This ophthalmic device can prevent the examination head from coming close to the subject's face even if the subject's face moves after the examination of the first eye is completed.
  • the retraction control unit drives the displacement mechanism to retract the examination head in a direction away from the nose on the face. This makes it possible to prevent the examination head from approaching the subject's nose after the examination of the first eye is completed.
  • the retraction control unit drives the displacement mechanism to retract the examination head along the tilt axis in a direction away from the face. This makes it possible to prevent the examination head from approaching the subject's face after the examination of the first eye is completed.
  • the displacement mechanism includes a movement mechanism that moves the examination head in the front-back, left-right, and up-down directions relative to the subject's eye, and a rotation mechanism that rotates the examination head around a predetermined rotation axis, and when the direction in the front-back direction in which the examination head moves away from the face is defined as the rearward direction, the retraction control unit drives the movement mechanism to move the examination head in at least one of the rearward and outward directions. This makes it possible to prevent the examination head from approaching the subject's face after the examination of the first eye is completed.
  • the displacement mechanism includes a movement mechanism that moves the examination head in the front-back, left-right, and up-down directions relative to the subject's eye, and a rotation mechanism that rotates the examination head around a predetermined rotation axis, and the retraction control unit drives the rotation mechanism to rotate the examination head in a direction away from the nose. This makes it possible to prevent the examination head from coming close to the subject's nose after the examination of the first eye is completed.
  • the retraction control unit drives the displacement mechanism to retract the examination head upward. This makes it possible to prevent the examination head from approaching the subject's face after the examination of the first eye is completed.
  • An ophthalmologic apparatus includes an imaging unit that images the subject's nose, and a nose position detection unit that detects the position of the nose based on the image of the nose captured by the imaging unit, and the retraction control unit drives the displacement mechanism based on the detection result of the nose position detection unit to retract the examination head in a direction away from the subject's face. This makes it possible to reliably retract the examination head in a direction away from the subject's face.
  • An ophthalmologic apparatus includes a movement detection unit that continuously detects the presence or absence of facial movement while the retraction control unit drives the displacement mechanism to retract the examination head away from the face, and when facial movement is detected by the movement detection unit, the retraction control unit stops driving the displacement mechanism or increases the retraction speed of the examination head by the displacement mechanism. This prevents the examination head from approaching the subject's face (particularly the nose) even if facial movement occurs during retraction of the examination head.
  • the rotation axis is parallel to the up-down direction, and the outward direction is parallel to the left-right direction.
  • the rotation axis is perpendicular to the vertical direction, and the outward direction is upward in the vertical direction.
  • the displacement mechanism includes a moving mechanism that moves the examination head in the front-back, left-right, and up-down directions relative to the subject's eye, and a rotating mechanism that rotates the examination head around a predetermined rotation axis
  • the examination head has an objective lens
  • the drive control unit executes the following processes: driving the moving mechanism to move the examination head from an initial position predetermined for each of the left and right subjects' eyes to the tilt axis, driving the rotating mechanism to rotate the examination head to make the optical axis of the objective lens parallel to the tilt axis, and driving the moving mechanism to displace the examination head along the tilt axis to the examination position; and a left-right eye switching control unit drives the displacement mechanism to displace the examination head away from the face, and then drives the displacement mechanism to displace the examination head via a first initial position that is the initial position of the first eye to a second initial position that is the initial position of the second eye, or to the second initial position without passing through the first initial position
  • the rotation mechanism has a rotation axis parallel to the vertical direction, and rotates the examination head around the objective lens, so that when viewed from one side in the vertical direction, a first initial position and a second initial position are set with a gap in the horizontal direction, and when the left/right eye switching control unit displaces the examination head from the first initial position to the second initial position, it performs a left/right movement process that drives the movement mechanism to move the examination head at least in the left/right direction, and a rotation process that drives the rotation mechanism during the left/right movement process to rotate the examination head so as to make the optical axis parallel to the reference axis, and is provided with an imaging unit that is provided in the examination head and images the subject's nose after the rotation process is performed, a nose position detection unit that detects the position of the nose based on the image of the nose captured by the imaging unit, and a tilt angle determination unit that determines the tilt angle of the tilt axis corresponding to the second eye relative
  • an operating method of an ophthalmic device includes an examination head that performs an examination on a subject's eye and a displacement mechanism that displaces the examination head relative to the subject's eye, and performs an examination on a first eye, which is one of the left and right subject's eyes, using the examination head, and then performs an examination on a second eye, which is the other of the left and right subject's eyes.
  • the operating method includes a drive control step of driving the displacement mechanism to displace the examination head along the tilt axis to an examination position for the subject's eye to be examined, where an axis along the line of sight of the subject's eye that is parallel to the front-to-back direction that is the working distance direction of the examination head is set as a reference axis, and an axis inclined outwardly away from the subject's nose with the subject's eye as the center is set as a tilt axis, and an evacuation control step of driving the displacement mechanism to evacuate the examination head along the tilt axis when the examination of the first eye by the examination head is completed.
  • the present invention can reliably prevent the test head from coming close to the subject's nose.
  • FIG. 1 is a side view of an ophthalmic apparatus according to a first embodiment.
  • 1 is a front view of the lens barrel as seen from the front side in the Z direction.
  • 3 is a cross-sectional view of the lens barrel taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2.
  • 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ophthalmic apparatus according to a first embodiment.
  • FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a method of auto-alignment of an inspection head.
  • FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a 1-1st example of auto-alignment of the inspection head in the first embodiment.
  • FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a 1-2 example of auto-alignment of the inspection head in the first embodiment.
  • FIG. 11A to 11C are explanatory diagrams for explaining a first to third example of auto-alignment of the inspection head in the first embodiment.
  • 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a first fourth example of auto-alignment of the inspection head in the first embodiment.
  • FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a first example of retraction control of the inspection head;
  • FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a second example of the retraction control of the inspection head.
  • FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a third example of the retraction control of the inspection head.
  • FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a fourth example of the retraction control of the inspection head.
  • FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a fifth example of the retraction control of the inspection head.
  • 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of left/right eye switching control processing executed by a left/right eye switching control unit;
  • FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of an examination process of an eye to be examined by the ophthalmologic apparatus of the first embodiment.
  • 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of an auto-alignment process of the inspection head.
  • 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the displacement of the inspection head after the start of auto-alignment.
  • FIG. FIG. 13 is a side view of an ophthalmic apparatus according to a second embodiment.
  • FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a 2-1st example of auto-alignment of the inspection head in the second embodiment.
  • FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining Example 2-2 of auto-alignment of the inspection head in the second embodiment.
  • 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the retraction control performed by the retraction control unit in the second embodiment by driving the rotation mechanism.
  • FIG. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ophthalmologic apparatus according to a third embodiment.
  • 13 is a flowchart showing a flow of retraction control of the examination head in an ophthalmologic apparatus according to the third embodiment.
  • FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a modified example of the method for detecting the presence or absence of facial movement while the examination head is retracted in the ophthalmologic apparatus of the third embodiment.
  • FIG. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ophthalmic apparatus according to a fourth embodiment. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of left/right eye switching control executed by a left/right eye switching control unit according to a fourth embodiment.
  • FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a flow of left/right eye switching control processing by an ophthalmologic apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.
  • FIG. 13 is a side view of an ophthalmic apparatus according to a fifth embodiment.
  • FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a third example of auto-alignment of the inspection head in the fifth embodiment.
  • FIG. FIG. 13 is a side view of an ophthalmic apparatus according to a sixth embodiment.
  • 23 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a fourth example of auto-alignment of the inspection head in the sixth embodiment.
  • FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the relationship between the lens size of an objective lens of an inspection head and the working distance of the inspection head.
  • FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a problem that occurs when the working distance between the subject's eye and the examination head becomes shorter.
  • FIG. 1 is a side view of an ophthalmic apparatus 10 according to a first embodiment.
  • the X direction is the left-right direction based on a subject
  • the Y direction is the up-down direction
  • the Z direction is the front-back direction (also called the working distance direction) parallel to the front direction approaching the subject (subject's eye E) and the rear direction away from the subject.
  • the ophthalmic device 10 is a multifunction device that combines a fundus camera that performs fundus photography of the subject's eye E and an optical coherence tomography device that uses OCT to obtain a tomographic image of the subject's eye E.
  • the ophthalmic device 10 includes a base 12, a face support unit 14, an XZ movement mechanism 16, a Y movement mechanism 18, a swing rotation mechanism 20, and an examination head 22.
  • a face support part 14 is attached to the front end part of the base 12 on the front side in the Z direction (the side of the subject's eye E).
  • the base 12 is also provided with an XZ movement mechanism 16.
  • the face support section 14 has a chin rest 14a and a forehead rest 14b whose position can be adjusted in the Y direction (up and down direction), and supports the subject's face in a position facing the examination head 22 (scope tube 28).
  • the XZ movement mechanism 16 together with the Y movement mechanism 18 described below, constitutes the movement mechanism of the present invention.
  • the XZ movement mechanism 16 includes a platform that is movable in the X and Z directions relative to the base 12, and an electric drive mechanism (a known actuator such as a motor drive mechanism) that moves the platform in the X and Z directions.
  • This XZ movement mechanism 16 moves the Y movement mechanism 18, swing rotation mechanism 20, and inspection head 22 together in the X and Z directions.
  • the Y movement mechanism 18 includes a lifting platform that is movable in the Y direction (not shown), and an electric drive mechanism that moves the lifting platform in the Y direction.
  • This Y movement mechanism 18 moves the swing rotation mechanism 20 and the inspection head 22 together in the Y direction. This allows the swing rotation mechanism 20 and the inspection head 22 to be moved together in the X, Y and Z directions by the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18.
  • the swing rotation mechanism 20 corresponds to the rotation mechanism of the present invention, and constitutes the displacement mechanism of the present invention together with the already described XZ movement mechanism 16 and Y movement mechanism 18.
  • the swing rotation mechanism 20 is equipped with a rotation axis 20a parallel to the Y direction and an electric drive mechanism that rotates this rotation axis 20a, and rotates (swings) the inspection head 22 around the rotation axis 20a.
  • the inspection head 22 is attached to the upper end of the rotation shaft 20a in the Y direction. This allows the inspection head 22 to be moved in the XYZ directions by the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18, and to be rotated around the axis of the rotation shaft 20a by the swing rotation mechanism 20.
  • the examination head 22 is provided with a fundus camera unit 24 and an OCT unit 26, as shown in FIG. 4, which will be described later, and a lens barrel 28.
  • the fundus camera unit 24 photographs the fundus of the subject's eye E through an objective lens 30, which will be described later, and outputs a fundus image, which is a front image of the fundus, to a control device 40 (see FIG. 4), which will be described later.
  • the OCT unit 26 photographs the subject's eye E using OCT through the objective lens 30, and outputs detection signals and the like required to generate a tomographic image of the subject's eye E to the control device 40.
  • the specific configurations of the fundus camera unit 24 and the OCT unit 26 are publicly known technologies (see Patent Document 1 above), so a detailed description will be omitted here.
  • FIG. 2 is a front view of the lens barrel 28 as seen from the front side in the Z direction.
  • FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the lens barrel 28 along line 3-3 in FIG. 2.
  • the lens barrel 28 is provided at the end of the inspection head 22 on the front side in the Z direction.
  • the lens barrel 28 houses (holds) an objective lens 30 having an optical axis O1 (see FIG. 3) parallel to the Z direction.
  • four illumination light sources 32 and a stereo camera 34 are provided on the lens barrel tip surface 28a on the front side in the Z direction of the lens barrel 28.
  • a large lens compatible with wide-angle photography i.e., a lens with a short working distance, is used as the objective lens 30 (see FIG. 33).
  • the type of objective lens 30 is not particularly limited, and a lens with a photography angle of view of about 45° may be used.
  • the position of the rotation axis 20a and the position of the objective lens 30 coincide (including approximately coincidence, the same applies below).
  • the inspection head 22 is rotated (swings) around the objective lens 30 by the swing rotation mechanism 20.
  • the illumination light sources 32 are provided at both ends (left and right ends) of the telescope tube tip surface 28a in the X direction, and two are provided at the lower end of the telescope tube tip surface 28a, sandwiching a camera 34a (described below) between them.
  • Each illumination light source 32 is, for example, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) light source, and illuminates the subject's eye E.
  • the stereo camera 34 is used for alignment detection to detect the relative position of the subject's eye E in the XYZ directions with respect to the inspection head 22.
  • the stereo camera 34 is composed of multiple cameras 34a.
  • the stereo camera 34 is composed of three cameras 34a in total: two cameras 34a provided at both ends (left and right ends) in the X direction corresponding to the left and right positions of the objective lens 30 in the lens barrel tip surface 28a, and one camera 34a provided at the lower end corresponding to the lower position of the objective lens 30 in the lens barrel tip surface 28a.
  • Each camera 34a simultaneously captures the anterior segment of the subject's eye E from multiple different directions (three directions in this embodiment) during alignment detection, and outputs multiple (three) anterior segment images of the subject's eye E to the control device 40 (see FIG. 4).
  • the number of cameras 34a may be two or four or more.
  • each camera 34a can be changed as appropriate. However, for example, if the camera 34a is provided in the upper region F1 (see FIG. 2) of the tube tip surface 28a, which is higher in the Y direction than both ends in the X direction, there is a risk that the pupil of the subject's eye E will be hidden by the subject's upper eyelashes when the camera 34a is used to photograph the subject's eye E. Furthermore, if the cameras 34a are provided in the left and right diagonally lower regions F2 (see FIG. 2) between both ends in the X direction and the lower end of the tube tip surface 28a, each camera 34a will be more likely to approach the subject's nose N (see FIG. 5) during alignment of the inspection head 22. For this reason, it is preferable to provide the cameras 34a at both ends in the X direction and the lower end of the tube tip surface 28a.
  • FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ophthalmic device 10 of the first embodiment.
  • the ophthalmic device 10 in addition to the already-described XZ movement mechanism 16, Y movement mechanism 18, swing rotation mechanism 20, examination head 22, and stereo camera 34, the ophthalmic device 10 is provided with a fixation light emitter 36, a display unit 37, an operation unit 38, a memory unit 39, and a control device 40.
  • the fixation light emitting unit 36 emits fixation light (bright spot image) toward the subject's eye E to guide and fix the gaze direction of the subject's eye E.
  • the fixation light emitting unit 36 is composed of a known fixation target display unit, multiple fixation holes, and an external fixation lamp (see Patent Document 2 above).
  • the fixation target display unit is provided inside the examination head 22 and is used for internal fixation, which projects fixation light (such as a bright spot image) onto the subject's eye E through the objective lens 30.
  • Fixation hole is provided on the Z-direction front surface (or the tip surface 28a of the telescope tube) of the examination head 22 so as to surround the objective lens 30, and is used for peripheral fixation.
  • Peripheral fixation is a fixation method in which the subject's eye E is rotated significantly in a desired direction by selectively lighting each fixation hole.
  • the external fixation light is provided on the face support unit 14 or the examination head 22 and is used for external fixation.
  • External fixation is a fixation method in which the subject's eye E is rotated in any direction by adjusting the light source position of the external fixation light, or the subject's eye E is rotated significantly more than when it is internally fixed, or the direction of the subject's eye E is adjusted by guiding the line of sight of the subject's eye E or the fellow eye when internal fixation cannot be performed.
  • the display unit 37 is, for example, a touch panel monitor, and displays the setting screen of the ophthalmic device 10, the operation screen [UI (User Interface) screen] of the ophthalmic device 10, an image of the anterior segment of the subject's eye E captured by the stereo camera 34, and the examination results of the subject's eye E by the examination head 22 (fundus image and tomographic image of the subject's eye E).
  • UI User Interface
  • the operation unit 38 uses a known operation lever, switch, and operation screen displayed on the display unit 37.
  • the operation unit 38 is used for inputting operations such as adjusting the position of the chin rest 14a and the forehead rest 14b, moving and rotating the examination head 22 in the XYZ directions, selecting the type of examination (fundus photography and OCT photography), switching between auto-alignment and manual alignment, starting the examination, and saving the examination results (fundus image, tomographic image).
  • the memory unit 39 is a recording medium (storage medium) that stores the program executed by the control device 40, and various types of well-known storage may be used.
  • the memory unit 39 also stores a fundus image of the subject's eye E captured by the fundus camera unit 24 and a tomographic image of the subject's eye E captured by the OCT unit 26 using OCT.
  • the control device 40 controls the overall operation of each part of the ophthalmic device 10, and performs operations such as alignment of the examination head 22 with respect to the subject's eye E, fundus photography of the subject's eye E using the fundus camera unit 24, and OCT photography of the subject's eye E using the OCT unit 26.
  • the control device 40 has an arithmetic circuit composed of various processors and memories, etc.
  • the various processors include a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and programmable logic devices (e.g., SPLDs (Simple Programmable Logic Devices), CPLDs (Complex Programmable Logic Devices), and FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays)).
  • the various functions of the control device 40 may be realized by a single processor, or by multiple processors of the same or different types.
  • the control device 40 executes the control program stored in the memory unit 39 to function as a nose photography control unit 41A, a nose position detection unit 41B, a tilt angle determination unit 43, an alignment detection unit 44, a drive control unit 46, a fixation control unit 48, a measurement control unit 50, a storage control unit 52, an evacuation control unit 54, and a left/right eye switching control unit 56.
  • Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the method of auto-alignment of the inspection head 22.
  • the symbol "OD” in Figure 5 indicates the right eye (Oculus dexter), and the symbol “OS” indicates the left eye (Oculus sinister).
  • the left eye OS (corresponding to the first eye in the present invention), which is one of the left and right test eyes E, is inspected first, and then the right eye OD (corresponding to the second eye in the present invention), which is the other of the left and right test eyes E.
  • the working distance of the examination head 22 becomes shorter due to the enlargement of the objective lens 30. Therefore, as shown by reference symbol 5A in FIG. 5, when the examination head 22 is moved forward in the Z direction from a position directly in front of the subject's eye E (here, the left eye OS) during auto-alignment of the examination head 22, there is a risk that the examination head 22 will come close to the subject's nose N.
  • the examination head 22 is brought into close contact with the subject's eye E from an oblique direction when viewed from one side in the Y direction.
  • the axis along the line of sight of the subject's eye E parallel to the Z direction is taken as the reference axis VA
  • the direction in the X direction away from the nose N with the subject's eye E (here, the left eye OS) as the reference point is taken as the outward direction X1
  • the axis tilted by an angle ⁇ from the reference axis VA in the outward direction X1 with the subject's eye E as the center is taken as the tilt axis TA.
  • the examination head 22 when the examination head 22 is viewed from one side in the Y direction, it is displaced along the tilt axis TA to an examination position (hereinafter simply referred to as the examination position) where examination of the subject's eye E (fundus photography, OCT photography) can be performed.
  • the "displacement” referred to here includes movement and rotation of the examination head 22 in the XYZ directions.
  • the nose imaging control unit 41A drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 to move the examination head 22 to an imaging position where the nose N can be imaged by multiple (here, at least two or more) cameras 34a, which correspond to the imaging unit of the present invention.
  • the nose photography control unit 41A estimates the position (three-dimensional coordinates) of the subject's nose N based on the Y-direction positions of the chin rest 14a and the forehead rest 14b.
  • the nose photography control unit 41A estimates the position of the nose N by having each camera 34a take a photograph and analyzing the captured image of each camera 34a to detect the positions of the subject's facial parts (test eye E, nose N, mouth, eyebrows, etc.).
  • the nose photography control unit 41A detects a photographing position where the nose N can be photographed by the multiple cameras 34a based on the estimated result of the position of the nose N and the known photographing conditions of each camera 34a (photographing angle of view, direction of the photographing optical axis).
  • the nose photography control unit 41A drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 to adjust the position of the inspection head 22 to the photographing position.
  • the nose position detection unit 41B detects the position (three-dimensional coordinates) of the nose N based on the images of the nose N captured by each of the multiple cameras 34a, and outputs the detection results to the evacuation control unit 54.
  • the method of detecting the relative positions of various objects using the stereo camera 34 is a publicly known technique (see, for example, Patent Document 1), so a detailed description will be omitted here.
  • the tilt angle determination unit 43 determines the tilt angle ⁇ of the tilt axis TA relative to the reference axis VA when viewed from one side in the Y direction, i.e., the tilt angle ⁇ of the tilt axis TA relative to the reference axis VA in the XZ plane. For example, the tilt angle determination unit 43 determines a value selected by the examiner using the operation unit 38 from among a plurality of angles (10°, 15°, 20°, etc.) as the tilt angle ⁇ , and outputs information on this tilt angle ⁇ to the drive control unit 46.
  • the tilt angle determination unit 43 may detect the relative position of the nose N with respect to the inspection head 22 based on the captured images obtained by stereoscopically photographing the nose N using the stereo camera 34, and may determine the tilt angle ⁇ that can prevent the inspection head 22 from approaching the nose N based on the detection result.
  • the alignment detection unit 44 detects the relative position of the subject's eye E with respect to the inspection head 22 by identifying the pupil center position of the subject's eye E and calculating the three-dimensional coordinates of this pupil center position based on the anterior ocular images of the subject's eye E stereoscopically photographed by each camera 34a of the stereo camera 34 during auto-alignment of the inspection head 22.
  • the method of alignment detection using the stereo camera 34 is a publicly known technique (see Patent Document 1 above), so a detailed description will be omitted here.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 18, and the swing rotation mechanism 20 to align the inspection head 22 with the subject's eye E and to switch the subject's eye E to be inspected (switch between left and right eye).
  • Alignment of the inspection head 22 includes auto-alignment, which is performed by automatically driving the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 18, and the swing rotation mechanism 20, and manual alignment, which drives the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 18, and the swing rotation mechanism 20 in response to an input operation to the operation unit 38.
  • the operation unit 38 is used to switch between auto-alignment and manual alignment.
  • the drive control unit 46 determines the tilt axis TA corresponding to the tilt angle ⁇ based on the tilt angle ⁇ initially determined by the tilt angle determination unit 43.
  • the drive control unit 46 first determines the reference axis VA based on the captured image obtained by stereoscopically capturing the subject's face (test eye E or nose N, etc.) using the stereo camera 34. Alternatively, the drive control unit 46 estimates the reference axis VA based on the Y-direction positions of the chin rest 14a and forehead rest 14b and the known discrimination information for the left eye OS and right eye OD. Then, the drive control unit 46 determines the axis tilted by angle ⁇ in the outward direction X1 from the reference axis VA centered on the test eye E as the tilt axis TA.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 18, and the swing rotation mechanism 20 based on the tilt axis TA to start auto-alignment, which automatically displaces the examination head 22 from the initial position at the time the ophthalmic device 10 is powered on to the examination position.
  • FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a first example of auto-alignment of the inspection head 22 in the first embodiment.
  • the inspection head 22 in the initial position, is positioned such that the optical axis O1 of the objective lens 30 is between the reference axes VA of the left and right test eyes E (left eye OS and right eye OD) when viewed from one side in the Y direction, that is, facing (including approximately facing, the same applies below) the nose N.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to execute a first drive process that moves the inspection head 22 in the outward direction X1 from the initial position to the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the swing rotation mechanism 20 after completing the first drive process to execute a second drive process in which the inspection head 22 is rotated by a tilt angle ⁇ around the rotation axis 20a (see arrow R).
  • a tilt angle ⁇ around the rotation axis 20a (see arrow R).
  • the optical axis O1 of the inspection head 22 becomes parallel to the tilt axis TA.
  • the second drive process may be executed before the first drive process.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to start a third drive process in which the examination head 22 is moved to the examination position along the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction (see arrow XZ1). This causes the examination head 22 to be moved toward the subject's eye E while keeping the tilt angle ⁇ constant (including approximately constant, the same applies below).
  • the inspection head 22 is displaced to a position where the alignment detection unit 44 can identify the pupil center position of the test eye E, i.e., a position where alignment can be detected.
  • the alignment detection result is input from the alignment detection unit 44 to the drive control unit 46.
  • the Y-direction position adjustment of the inspection head 22 may be performed by the Y movement mechanism 18 even before alignment detection (at any stage of the first drive process to the third drive process) so that alignment detection by the alignment detection unit 44 is possible.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 based on the alignment detection result input from the alignment detection unit 44, and continues the third drive process until the inspection head 22 reaches the inspection position. In the third drive process that is executed based on this alignment detection result, the position of the inspection head 22 in the Y direction is also adjusted.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to first move the inspection head 22 forward in the Z direction (toward the subject's eye E) by a predetermined distance (see arrow Z1) as shown by reference numeral 7A in FIG. 7, and then executes a first drive process to move the inspection head 22 outward in the X1 direction to the tilt axis TA as shown by reference numeral 7B in FIG. 7.
  • the movement distance of the inspection head 22 forward in the Z direction is not particularly limited as long as a safe distance can be secured between the inspection head 22 and the nose N. For example, this movement distance may be determined based on the result of calculating the Z direction distance from the inspection head 22 to the nose N based on the captured images obtained by stereoscopically capturing the nose N with the stereo camera 34.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the swing rotation mechanism 20 to execute a second drive process similar to the previously described example 1-1 (see reference symbol 6B in FIG. 6) to make the optical axis O1 parallel to the tilt axis TA.
  • the second drive process may be executed before the first drive process.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to execute the third drive process in the same manner as in the above-described example 1-1 (see reference numerals 6C and 6D in FIG. 6), thereby moving the inspection head 22 to the inspection position along the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction. Then, as shown by reference numeral 7E in FIG. 7, the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 based on the alignment detection detected by the alignment detection unit 44 during the auto-alignment, and continues the third drive process until the inspection head 22 reaches the inspection position.
  • FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a first-third example of auto-alignment of the inspection head 22 in the first embodiment.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 18, and the swing rotation mechanism 20 to execute a first drive process that simultaneously moves the inspection head 22 forward in the Z direction and outward in the X1 direction, and rotates the inspection head 22 at a tilt angle ⁇ (see arrows XZ2 and R).
  • This makes it possible to move the inspection head 22 diagonally to the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction, and to make the optical axis O1 parallel to the tilt axis TA.
  • the inspection head 22 may be displaced over the shortest distance to a position on the tilt axis TA where the stereo camera 34 can capture an image of the anterior segment of the subject's eye E, or to a position where an observation optical system (not shown) in the inspection head 22 can capture an image of the anterior segment of the subject's eye E.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 to execute the second drive process after the first drive process is completed.
  • the second drive process of Example 1-3 is the same process as the third drive process of Examples 1-1 and 1-2 described above, and moves the inspection head 22 to the inspection position along the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 based on the alignment detection detected by the alignment detection unit 44 during the auto-alignment, and continues the second drive process until the inspection head 22 reaches the inspection position.
  • FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a first to fourth example of auto-alignment of the inspection head 22 in the first embodiment.
  • the symbol P0 in the figure is the initial position at startup, which is the initial position of the inspection head 22 when the ophthalmic device 10 is turned on.
  • the symbol C0 in the figure is a center line that passes through the initial position at startup P0 and is parallel to the Z direction. Note that in FIG. 9, the optical axis O1 of the inspection head 22 is omitted to prevent the drawing from becoming too complicated.
  • the examination head 22 is positioned opposite the nose N at the start-up initial position P0.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to execute a first drive process in which the examination head 22 is moved in the outward direction X1 from the start-up initial position P0 to a predetermined pre-examination initial position P1 when viewed from one side in the Y direction, as shown by the parenthetical number (2).
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to move the examination head 22 from the start-up initial position P0 to a predetermined pre-examination initial position P2 when viewed from one side in the Y direction.
  • the pre-examination initial position P1 corresponds to the first initial position of the present invention, and is, for example, a position where the stereo camera 34 or an observation optical system (not shown) in the examination head 22 can photograph the anterior segment of the left eye OS.
  • the pre-examination initial position P2 corresponds to the second initial position of the present invention, and is, for example, a position where the stereo camera 34 or the observation optical system described above can photograph the anterior segment of the right eye OD.
  • the symbol C1 in the figure is a straight line that passes through the pre-examination initial position P1 and is parallel to the Z direction
  • the symbol C2 is a straight line that passes through the pre-examination initial position P2 and is parallel to the Z direction.
  • the pre-inspection initial positions P1 and P2 are set with a gap in the X direction when viewed from one side in the Y direction, and the midpoint between them in the X direction coincides with the startup initial position P0 (center line C0). Note that the startup initial position P0 may be shifted in the Z direction with respect to the pre-inspection initial positions P1 and P2.
  • the second drive process in the first to fourth examples is a process in which, as shown in the parenthesized number (3), the inspection head 22 is moved forward in the Z direction (see arrow Z1) from the pre-inspection initial position P1 to the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction, and then the swing rotation mechanism 20 is driven to rotate the inspection head 22 (see arrow R) to make the optical axis O1 parallel to the tilt axis TA.
  • the drive control unit 46 executes a third drive process similar to the above-described Example 1-1 (see symbols 6C and 6D in FIG. 6) to move the inspection head 22 to the inspection position along the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction. Then, during the auto-alignment, the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 based on the alignment detection result of the alignment detection unit 44, and continues the third drive process until the inspection head 22 reaches the inspection position.
  • the fixation control unit 48 emits fixation light from the fixation light emission unit 36 at least from before the start of auto-alignment of the examination head 22 until the examination of the subject's eye E by the examination head 22 is completed. This makes it possible to guide and fix the subject's line of sight in the direction of the fixation light while the examination head 22 is moved to the examination position during auto-alignment. This makes it possible to rotate the subject's eye E to follow the movement of the examination head 22. As a result, the line of sight of the subject's eye E can always be fixed to the examination head 22.
  • the measurement control unit 50 controls fundus photography of the subject's eye E by the fundus camera unit 24, and tomographic image photography of the subject's eye E by the OCT unit 26. For example, after completing auto-alignment of the examination head 22, the measurement control unit 50 performs autofocus processing to drive a focus optical system (not shown) (see Patent Document 1) housed in the examination head 22 to focus the examination head 22 on the observed area (fundus, etc.) of the subject's eye E. Next, the measurement control unit 50 controls the fundus camera unit 24 to photograph the subject's eye E, or the OCT unit 26 to photograph the subject's eye E.
  • a focus optical system not shown
  • the measurement control unit 50 When the measurement control unit 50 performs fundus photography of the subject's eye E using the fundus camera unit 24, it acquires a fundus image of the subject's eye E from the fundus camera unit 24 and outputs it to the storage control unit 52.
  • the measurement control unit 50 performs OCT photography of the subject's eye E using the OCT unit 26, it generates a tomographic image of the subject's eye E using a known method based on the detection signal output from the OCT unit 26, and outputs this tomographic image to the storage control unit 52.
  • the storage control unit 52 causes the display unit 37 to display the fundus image or tomographic image of the subject's eye E input from the measurement control unit 50.
  • the storage control unit 52 stores the fundus image or tomographic image of the subject's eye E in the memory unit 39.
  • the retraction control unit 54 operates after the examination of the left eye OS (first eye) by the examination head 22 is completed, that is, after the fundus camera unit 24 or OCT unit 26 has completed photographing the left eye OS.
  • the working distance between the left eye OS and the examination head 22 is short. For this reason, if the subject moves their face after the examination of the left eye OS by the examination head 22 is completed or when switching between the left and right eyes as described below, there is a risk that the examination head 22 will come close to the subject's face, particularly the nose N on the face.
  • the evacuation control unit 54 drives at least one of the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 18, and the swing rotation mechanism 20 to execute evacuation control for evacuating the examination head 22 in a direction away from the subject's face, particularly the nose N.
  • the evacuation control unit 54 determines the evacuation direction (XYZ directions, rotation direction) in which the examination head 22 moves away from the nose N based on the detection result of the nose position detection unit 41B described above, and evacuates the examination head 22 in this evacuation direction.
  • the retraction direction of the inspection head 22 may be fixed. In this case, it is possible to omit photographing the nose N by the stereo camera 34 and detecting the position of the nose N by the nose position detection unit 41B before starting the auto-alignment.
  • FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a first example of the retraction control of the inspection head 22.
  • the retraction control unit 54 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to move the inspection head 22 along the tilt axis TA in a direction away from the nose N (see arrow XZ3).
  • FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a second example of the retraction control of the inspection head 22.
  • FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a third example of the retraction control of the inspection head 22.
  • the retraction control unit 54 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to move the inspection head 22 backward in the Z direction (rearward direction Z2) as shown in FIG. 11, or moves the inspection head 22 in the outward direction X1 as shown in FIG. 12, thereby moving the inspection head 22 away from the nose N.
  • the inspection head 22 may be moved simultaneously in the rearward direction Z2 and the outward direction X1, that is, in a diagonal direction (including a direction different from the tilt axis TA).
  • FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a fourth example of the retraction control of the inspection head 22.
  • the retraction control unit 54 drives the swing rotation mechanism 20 to rotate the inspection head 22 in a direction away from the nose N (see arrow R).
  • the rotation direction of the inspection head 22 away from the nose N can be determined based on left/right eye information indicating whether the test eye E is the left eye OS or the right eye OD, or the direction of the outward direction X1 (see symbol 6A in FIG. 6), etc.
  • FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a fifth example of the retraction control of the inspection head 22.
  • the retraction control unit 54 drives the Y movement mechanism 18 to move the inspection head 22 upward in the Y direction (outward direction Y1), thereby moving the inspection head 22 away from the nose N.
  • FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of left/right eye switching control processing executed by the left/right eye switching controller 56.
  • the left/right eye switching controller 56 executes left/right eye switching control by driving at least the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the swing rotation mechanism 20 to displace the inspection head 22 from the pre-examination initial position P1 to the pre-examination initial position P2.
  • the left/right eye switching control unit 56 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to move the inspection head 22 after the retraction control indicated by the parenthesized number (1) to the pre-examination initial position P1 indicated by the parenthesized number (2).
  • the left/right eye switching control unit 56 executes a left/right movement process to drive the XZ movement mechanism 16 to move the inspection head 22 from the pre-examination initial position P1 to the pre-examination initial position P2 indicated by the parenthesized number (3) in the left/right switching direction X2.
  • the left/right eye switching control unit 56 drives the swing rotation mechanism 20 before or after the inspection head 22 reaches the pre-examination initial position P2 to execute a rotation process to rotate the inspection head 22 so that the optical axis O1 is parallel to the reference axis VA (Z direction).
  • the left/right eye switching control unit 56 may drive at least the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the swing rotation mechanism 20 to displace the examination head 22 to the pre-examination initial position P2 via the pre-examination initial position P1.
  • the examination head 22 after the evacuation control indicated by the parenthesized number (1) may be displaced by the shortest distance to the pre-examination initial position P2 indicated by the parenthesized number (3).
  • Fig. 16 is a flow chart showing the flow of the examination process of the subject's eye E by the ophthalmic apparatus 10 of the first embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration.
  • the examiner operates the operation unit 38 to adjust the height positions (Y direction positions) of the chin rest 14a and the forehead rest 14b to suit the subject (step S1).
  • the examiner then operates the operation unit 38 to select the type of examination for the subject's eye E (fundus photography by the fundus camera unit 24, OCT photography by the OCT unit 26) (step S2).
  • the examiner also operates the operation unit 38 to select auto-alignment mode as the alignment mode for the examination head 22.
  • the fixation control unit 48 causes the fixation light to be emitted from the fixation light emission unit 36 (step S3). This makes it possible to guide and fix the gaze direction of the subject's eye E.
  • the nose photographing control unit 41A and nose position detection unit 41B are activated first.
  • the nose photographing control unit 41A drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 to adjust the position of the examination head 22 to the photographing position of the nose N, and then causes the multiple cameras 34a to simultaneously photograph the nose N and output the photographed images of the nose N from each camera 34a to the nose position detection unit 41B (step S3A).
  • the nose position detection unit 41B detects the position of the nose N based on the photographed images of the nose N taken by each of the multiple cameras 34a, and outputs the detection result to the evacuation control unit 54 (step S3A).
  • step S4 automatic alignment of the examination head 22 with respect to the subject eye E is performed.
  • FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing the flow of the auto-alignment process of the inspection head 22 in the operation method of the ophthalmic apparatus of the present invention.
  • FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the displacement of the inspection head 22 after auto-alignment starts. Note that the explanation here is given by taking as an example the case where auto-alignment of "Example 1-4" shown in FIG. 9 is performed.
  • the tilt angle determination unit 43 determines the angle previously selected by the examiner on the operation unit 38 as the tilt angle ⁇ , and then outputs information about this tilt angle ⁇ to the drive control unit 46 (step S4A). As a result, the drive control unit 46 determines the tilt axis TA based on this tilt angle ⁇ , and then starts auto-alignment of the inspection head 22 (step S4B).
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to execute a first drive process that moves the inspection head 22 in the outward direction X1 from the startup initial position P0 to the pre-inspection initial position P1 when viewed from one side in the Y direction (step S4C).
  • the alignment detection unit 44 starts capturing images with each camera 34a of the stereo camera 34, and continuously acquires captured images from each camera 34a and analyzes each captured image (step S4D).
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to move the inspection head 22 forward in the Z direction to the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction, and then drives the swing rotation mechanism 20 to rotate the inspection head 22 to make its optical axis O1 parallel to the tilt axis TA (step S4E).
  • the inspection head 22 is displaced from the start-up initial position P0 shown at symbol XVIIIA in FIG. 18 to the tilt axis TA as shown at symbol XVIIIB, and the optical axis O1 becomes parallel to the tilt axis TA.
  • the emission of fixation light from the fixation light emission unit 36 allows the line of sight of the subject's eye E to follow the displacement of the inspection head 22.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to start a third drive process in which the inspection head 22 is moved to the inspection position along the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction, as shown by reference symbol XVIIIC in FIG. 18 (step S4F, which corresponds to the drive control step of the present invention).
  • step S4F which corresponds to the drive control step of the present invention.
  • the alignment detection unit 44 waits for alignment detection until the pupil center position of the test eye E can be identified from the captured images acquired by each camera 34a (NO in step S4G). Then, during auto-alignment, each camera 34a captures an image of the anterior segment of the test eye E, and the anterior segment image of the test eye E is input from each camera 34a to the alignment detection unit 44 as a captured image. This enables the alignment detection unit 44 to identify the pupil center position of the test eye E based on the anterior segment image input from each camera 34a (YES in step S4G).
  • the alignment detection unit 44 performs alignment detection to detect the relative position of the test eye E with respect to the inspection head 22 by converting the pupil center position of the test eye E into three-dimensional coordinates (step S4H). Then, the alignment detection unit 44 outputs the detection result of the alignment detection to the drive control unit 46.
  • the drive control unit 46 switches the alignment mode of the inspection head 22 to the manual alignment mode (the same applies to the second and subsequent embodiments described below). This prevents the inspection head 22 from approaching the subject's eye E in a state where alignment detection is not possible.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 based on the alignment detection result input from the alignment detection unit 44, and continues the third drive process until the inspection head 22 reaches the inspection position. Specifically, the drive control unit 46 calculates the difference between the three-dimensional coordinates (target coordinates) of the inspection position determined based on the alignment detection result and the three-dimensional coordinates (current coordinates) of the current inspection head 22, and continues the third drive process until this difference becomes equal to or less than a threshold value (step S4I, NO in step S4J, step S4K). As a result, the inspection head 22 is moved to the inspection position while maintaining the tilt angle ⁇ .
  • the drive control unit 46 stops driving the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 and ends the auto-alignment (YES in step S4J).
  • the measurement control unit 50 drives the focus optical system (not shown) to perform auto-focus (step S5), and then causes the fundus camera unit 24 to perform fundus photography of the left eye OS, or the OCT unit 26 to perform OCT photography of the left eye OS (step S6).
  • the measurement control unit 50 outputs the fundus image of the left eye OS acquired from the fundus camera unit 24 to the storage control unit 52.
  • the measurement control unit 50 generates a tomographic image of the left eye OS based on the detection signal output from the OCT unit 26, and outputs this tomographic image to the storage control unit 52.
  • the retraction control unit 54 determines the retraction direction of the examination head 22 based on the position detection result of the nose N by the nose position detection unit 41B described above. Then, the retraction control unit 54 drives, for example, the XZ movement mechanism 16 to retract the examination head 22 in a direction away from the nose N along the tilt axis TA as shown by reference symbol XVIIID in FIG. 18 (step S7, which corresponds to the retraction control step of the present invention).
  • the retraction control unit 54 may drive the XZ movement mechanism 16 to retract the examination head 22 backward in the Z direction or to the outward direction X1, drive the swing rotation mechanism 20 to rotate the examination head 22 in a direction away from the nose N, or drive the Y movement mechanism 18 to retract the examination head 22 upward in the Y direction. This prevents the examination head 22 from approaching the nose N even if the subject's face moves after the examination of the left eye OS is completed.
  • the storage control unit 52 causes the display unit 37 to display the fundus image or tomographic image of the subject eye E input from the measurement control unit 50. This allows the examiner to check whether the desired fundus image or tomographic image has been obtained. Then, when the desired fundus image or tomographic image has been obtained, the examiner inputs an image storage operation to the operation unit 38. This causes the storage control unit 52 to store the fundus image or tomographic image of the subject eye E in the memory unit 39 (step S8).
  • the left/right eye switching control unit 56 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the swing rotation mechanism 20, etc., as shown in FIG. 15, to execute left/right eye switching control to displace the inspection head 22 from the pre-examination initial position P1 to the pre-examination initial position P2 (YES in step S9, step S10).
  • step S4D onward the processes from step S4 (step S4D onward) to step S8 described above are repeated.
  • the examination head 22 under the control of the drive control unit 46, the examination head 22 is displaced to the tilt axis TA corresponding to the right eye OD (see reference symbol XVIIIE in FIG. 18), and is further moved along the tilt axis TA to the examination position of the right eye OD (see reference symbol XVIIIF in FIG. 18).
  • the examination head 22 is displaced from the examination position of the right eye OD to the initial position P0 at startup, as shown by reference symbol XVIIIG in FIG. 18 (step S11).
  • the examination head 22 may be retracted from the nose N and then displaced to the initial position P0 at startup, as shown in the above-described FIGS. 10 to 14.
  • the examination head 22 by moving the examination head 22 away from the subject's face (nose N) when the examination of the subject's eye E (first eye) is completed, it is possible to reliably prevent the examination head 22 from approaching the face, particularly the nose N, even if movement occurs in the subject's face from the time when the examination of one of the left or right subject's eyes E is completed to the time of left or right eye switching control.
  • [Second embodiment] 19 is a side view of an ophthalmic apparatus 60 according to a second embodiment.
  • the swing rotation mechanism 20 rotates (swings) the inspection head 22 around the objective lens 30, but the ophthalmic apparatus 60 according to the second embodiment includes an inspection head 66 whose rotation center position is different from that of the first embodiment.
  • the ophthalmic device 60 is a fundus camera and includes a base 12, a face support unit 14, an XZ movement mechanism 16, a fixation light emitter 36 (only the external fixation light is shown), a Y movement mechanism 62, a swing rotation mechanism 64, and an examination head 66.
  • the ophthalmic device 60 also includes the stereo camera 34, display unit 37, operation unit 38, memory unit 39, and control device 40 described in the first embodiment, although not shown.
  • the Y movement mechanism 62 together with the XZ movement mechanism 16, constitutes the movement mechanism of the present invention.
  • the Y movement mechanism 62 has a shape that extends forward in the Z direction.
  • a swing rotation mechanism 64 is provided at the tip of the Y movement mechanism 62 on the forward side in the Z direction.
  • the Y movement mechanism 62 moves the swing rotation mechanism 64 and the inspection head 66 together in the Y direction.
  • the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 62 can move the swing rotation mechanism 64 and the inspection head 66 together in the X, Y and Z directions.
  • the swing rotation mechanism 64 corresponds to the rotation mechanism of the present invention, and together with the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 62 described above, constitutes the displacement mechanism of the present invention.
  • the swing rotation mechanism 64 has a rotation axis 64a parallel to the Y direction, and rotates the inspection head 66 around this rotation axis 64a.
  • the rotation axis 64a is provided forward in the Z direction from the lens barrel 28 (objective lens 30) of the inspection head 66. This allows the rotation axis 64a to be aligned with the subject's eye E (center of rotation) when viewed from one side in the Y direction by adjusting the XZ position of the swing rotation mechanism 64 with the XZ movement mechanism 16. In this case, the swing rotation mechanism 64 rotates (swings) the inspection head 66 around the center of rotation of the subject's eye E.
  • the swing rotation mechanism 64 can also rotate (tilt) the inspection head 66 around a rotation axis perpendicular to the Y direction.
  • the inspection head 66 is attached to a swing rotation mechanism 64. This allows the inspection head 66 to be moved in the XYZ directions by the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 62, and to be rotated around the axis of rotation 64a by the swing rotation mechanism 64.
  • This inspection head 66 is provided with the fundus camera unit 24 and the lens barrel 28 (including the stereo camera 34) described in the first embodiment.
  • the control device 40 of the second embodiment is basically the same as the control device 40 of the first embodiment described above, except for some differences in the method of auto-alignment of the inspection head 66 by the drive control unit 46 and the method of evacuation control of the inspection head 66 by the evacuation control unit 54.
  • the drive control unit 46 determines the tilt axis TA based on the tilt angle ⁇ determined by the tilt angle determination unit 43, and then drives the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 62, and the swing rotation mechanism 64 to perform auto-alignment of the inspection head 66.
  • FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a second example of auto-alignment of the inspection head 66 in the second embodiment. As shown by the reference symbol XXA in FIG. 20, the inspection head 66 is initially placed in the initial position P0 at startup, similar to the first embodiment.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to execute a first drive process for moving the examination head 66 (swing rotation mechanism 64) in the XZ direction from the startup initial position P0 (see arrow XZ2). Specifically, when viewed from one side in the Y direction, the examination head 66 is moved in the XZ direction to a position where the rotation axis 64a coincides with the center of rotation of the subject's eye E.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the swing rotation mechanism 64 to execute a second drive process in which the examination head 66 is rotated by a tilt angle ⁇ around the rotation axis 20a (center of rotation of the subject's eye E) (see arrow R).
  • a tilt angle ⁇ around the rotation axis 20a (center of rotation of the subject's eye E) (see arrow R).
  • the examination head 66 is moved to the tilt axis TA and the optical axis O1 becomes parallel to the tilt axis TA.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to start a third drive process in which the inspection head 66 is moved to the inspection position along the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction, as in the first embodiment (see arrow XZ1).
  • the third drive process in the second embodiment mainly involves Z-axis movement of the inspection head 66 by the XZ movement mechanism 16. As a result, the inspection head 66 is moved toward the subject's eye E while maintaining a constant tilt angle ⁇ .
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 62 based on the alignment detection detected by the alignment detection unit 44 during the auto-alignment, and continues the third drive process until the inspection head 66 reaches the inspection position.
  • Example 21 is an explanatory diagram for explaining Example 2-2 of auto-alignment of the inspection head 66 in the second embodiment.
  • the drive control unit 46 simultaneously drives the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 62, and the swing rotation mechanism 64 to execute a first drive process that simultaneously moves the inspection head 66 in the XZ directions and rotates the inspection head 66 at a tilt angle ⁇ (see arrows XZ2 and R).
  • the first drive process of Example 2-2 is a process that simultaneously executes the first drive process and the second drive process of Example 2-1 described in FIG. 20.
  • the inspection head 66 is moved to the tilt axis TA, and the optical axis O1 of the objective lens 30 becomes parallel to the tilt axis TA.
  • the inspection head 66 may be displaced over the shortest distance on the tilt axis TA to a position where the stereo camera 34 can capture an image of the anterior segment of the subject's eye E, or to a position where an observation optical system (not shown) in the inspection head 22 can capture an image of the anterior segment of the subject's eye E.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 62 to execute a second drive process similar to the third drive process of the above-mentioned "Example 2-1", thereby moving the inspection head 66 to the inspection position along the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the Y direction (see arrow XZ1). Then, as shown by the symbol XXIC in FIG. 21, the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 62 based on the alignment detection detected by the alignment detection unit 44 during the auto-alignment, and continues the second drive process until the inspection head 66 reaches the inspection position.
  • the evacuation control unit 54 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 in the same manner as in the first embodiment to evacuate the inspection head 66 along the tilt axis TA (see FIG. 10), or to evacuate the inspection head 66 backward in the Z direction or outward in the X1 direction (see FIG. 11 and FIG. 12).
  • the evacuation control unit 54 may also drive the Y movement mechanism 18 in the same manner as in the first embodiment to evacuate the inspection head 66 upward in the Y direction (see FIG. 14).
  • FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the evacuation control performed by the evacuation control unit 54 of the second embodiment by driving the swing rotation mechanism 64.
  • the evacuation control unit 54 of the second embodiment drives the swing rotation mechanism 64 to execute evacuation control to rotate the examination head 66 around the rotation axis 64a in a direction away from the subject's face (nose N) (see arrow R).
  • the examination head 66 can be retracted from the subject's face (nose N) when the examination of one of the left or right subject's eyes E is completed, thereby achieving the same effect as in the first embodiment described above.
  • FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ophthalmic apparatus 10 according to a third embodiment.
  • the examination heads 22 and 66 are retracted after the examination of the left eye OS by the examination heads 22 and 66 is completed.
  • the examination heads 22 and 66 may approach the subject's face, particularly the nose N.
  • the presence or absence of the subject's face movement is continuously detected while the examination heads 22 and 66 are retracted, and if the face moves during the retraction of the examination heads 22 and 66, the method of retraction control of the examination heads 22 and 66 is changed.
  • the ophthalmic device 10 of the third embodiment has a configuration that is basically the same as the ophthalmic device 10 of each of the above embodiments, except that the control device 40 functions as a motion detection control unit 55 and the function of the evacuation control unit 54 is partially different. For this reason, parts that are the same in function or configuration as the ophthalmic device 10 of each of the above embodiments are given the same reference numerals and their description is omitted.
  • the motion detection control unit 55 together with the stereo camera 34, constitutes the motion detection unit of the present invention.
  • This motion detection control unit 55 uses the stereo camera 34 to continuously detect the presence or absence of facial movement of the subject while the inspection heads 22, 66 are retracted.
  • FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing the flow of retraction control of the examination heads 22, 66 in the ophthalmologic apparatus 10 of the third embodiment. Note that the explanation here takes as an example a case in which the retraction control unit 54 executes the first example of the retraction control shown in FIG. 10 based on the detection result of the nose position detection unit 41B.
  • the retraction control unit 54 determines the retraction direction (here, the first example) based on the detection result of the nose position detection unit 41B, and then drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 to start retracting the examination heads 22, 66 along the tilt axis TA from the subject's face (nose N) (step S20).
  • the motion detection control unit 55 continuously captures the subject's face with each camera 34a of the stereo camera 34, acquires the captured image of the face from each camera 34a, and acquires the position information (three-dimensional coordinates) of the inspection heads 22, 66 at the time of capture by each camera 34a.
  • the motion detection control unit 55 acquires the captured image of the face captured by each camera 34a and the position information of the inspection heads 22, 66, it detects the three-dimensional coordinates of specific parts of the subject's face based on the acquired data.
  • the motion detection control unit 55 detects (determines) the presence or absence of facial movement based on whether the difference (absolute value) between the three-dimensional coordinates of the newly detected specific part and the three-dimensional coordinates of the previously detected specific part is greater than a predetermined threshold value (step S21).
  • the method for detecting the presence or absence of facial movement using the stereo camera 34 is not limited to the above-mentioned method, and various known methods may be used.
  • the detection process is repeatedly performed by the motion detection control unit 55 until the motion detection control unit 55 detects the motion of the subject's face or until the retraction of the inspection heads 22, 66 is completed (NO in step S22, NO in step S23).
  • step S22 If the movement detection control unit 55 does not detect any movement of the subject's face until the retraction of the inspection heads 22, 66 is complete (NO in step S22, YES in step S23), the retraction control of the inspection heads 22, 66 by the retraction control unit 54 is completed. Then, the left/right eye switching control by the left/right eye switching control unit 56 described in step S10 of FIG. 16 above is started.
  • the retraction control unit 54 controls the XZ movement mechanism 16 to increase the retraction speed of the inspection heads 22, 66 or stop the retraction of the inspection heads 22, 66 (step S24).
  • the inspection heads 22, 66 can be retracted from the subject's face, particularly the nose N, in a short time, preventing the inspection heads 22, 66 from approaching the nose N even if the face moves. Then, when the inspection heads 22, 66 are retracted to a predetermined position, the retraction control of the inspection heads 22, 66 is completed (step S26).
  • the inspection heads 22, 66 are prevented from approaching the subject's face, particularly the nose N.
  • the retraction control unit 54 switches the retraction control of the inspection heads 22, 66 to the manual operation mode, and the examiner operates the operation unit 38 to control the retraction of the inspection heads 22, 66.
  • the retraction speed of the examination heads 22, 66 can be increased or the retraction can be stopped, thereby preventing the examination heads 22, 66 from approaching the nose N.
  • FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a modified method for detecting the presence or absence of facial movement while the examination heads 22, 66 are retracted in the ophthalmic device 10 of the third embodiment.
  • the movement detection control unit 55 of the third embodiment continuously detects the presence or absence of facial movement of the subject using the stereo camera 34 while the examination heads 22, 66 are retracted, but as shown in FIG. 25, the presence or absence of facial movement may be continuously detected using one or more distance measuring sensors 70 instead of the stereo camera 34.
  • the distance measurement sensors 70 together with the motion detection control unit 55, constitute the motion detection unit of the present invention, and are provided in multiple numbers, for example, on the end surface 28a of the lens barrel. Note that each distance measurement sensor 70 may be provided at a location other than the end surface 28a of the lens barrel 28, or on the front surface of the housing of the inspection head 22, 66. There may also be only one distance measurement sensor 70. As each distance measurement sensor 70, for example, a photoelectric sensor, optical fiber sensor, laser sensor, camera-integrated laser displacement sensor, ultrasonic sensor, or capacitance sensor may be used.
  • the motion detection control unit 55 continuously acquires the detection signals output from the distance measurement sensors 70 while the inspection heads 22, 66 are being retracted, calculates the face distance, which is the distance between the inspection heads 22, 66 and the subject's face based on the detection signals of the distance measurement sensors 70, and acquires the three-dimensional coordinates of the inspection heads 22, 66.
  • the motion detection control unit 55 continuously calculates the position information (three-dimensional coordinates) of the face while the inspection heads 22, 66 are being retracted based on the calculation results of the three-dimensional coordinates of the inspection heads 22, 66 and the face distance while the inspection heads 22, 66 are being retracted.
  • the motion detection control unit 55 can detect (determine) the presence or absence of facial movement based on whether the amount of change in the position of the face is greater than a predetermined threshold value. As a result, the motion detection control unit 55 can continuously detect the presence or absence of facial movement while the inspection heads 22, 66 are being retracted, similar to the case where the stereo camera 34 is used.
  • [Fourth embodiment] 26 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ophthalmic device 10 according to a fourth embodiment.
  • the examiner selects the tilt angle ⁇ on the operation unit 38 before the examination of the left eye OS, and this tilt angle ⁇ is also used during the examination of the right eye OD.
  • the examinee's face may move, that is, the position of the face may move. In this case, if the examination head 22 is displaced along the tilt axis TA to the examination position of the right eye OD, the examination head 22 may come close to the nose N.
  • the position of the subject's nose N is detected while the left/right movement process is being performed by the left/right eye switching control unit 56, and the tilt angle ⁇ (tilt axis TA) corresponding to the right eye OD is determined based on the detection result.
  • the ophthalmic device 10 of the fourth embodiment has basically the same configuration as the ophthalmic device 10 of the first and third embodiments, except for some differences in the functions of the nose photography control unit 41A, nose position detection unit 41B, tilt angle determination unit 43, and left/right eye switching control unit 56 of the control device 40. For this reason, parts that are the same in function or configuration as the first and third embodiments are given the same reference numerals and their description is omitted.
  • FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an example of left/right eye switching control executed by the left/right eye switching control unit 56 of the fourth embodiment.
  • the left/right eye switching control unit 56 of the fourth embodiment drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 in the same manner as in the first embodiment to move the inspection head 22 after the retraction control shown in parenthetical number (1) to the pre-examination initial position P1 shown in parenthetical number (2), and then executes left/right movement processing.
  • the inspection head 22 is moved in the left/right switching direction X2 from the pre-examination initial position P1 to the pre-examination initial position P2 shown in parenthetical number (4).
  • the left/right eye switching control unit 56 drives the swing rotation mechanism 20 during the left/right movement process as indicated by the parenthesized number (3) to execute a rotation process (see arrow BR) that rotates the inspection head 22 so that the optical axis O1 (see FIG. 6, etc.) is parallel to the reference axis VA.
  • this rotation process is preferably completed before the inspection head 22 reaches the center line C0, i.e., before the inspection head 22 reaches a position approximately in front of the nose N.
  • the nose imaging control unit 41A, nose position detection unit 41B, and tilt angle determination unit 43 perform control related to determining the tilt angle ⁇ corresponding to the right eye OD after the left/right eye switching control unit 56 rotates the inspection head 22.
  • FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing the flow of left/right eye switching control processing by the ophthalmic device 10 of the fourth embodiment.
  • the left/right movement process of the inspection head 22 is started by the left/right eye switching control unit 56 (step S30), and when the inspection head 22 is rotated during this process (step S31), the nose imaging control unit 41A, nose position detection unit 41B, and tilt angle determination unit 43 of the control device 40 are activated.
  • the nose photographing control unit 41A of the fourth embodiment causes at least two or more cameras 34a of the stereo camera 34 to photograph the nose N at any timing after the left/right eye switching control unit 56 has performed the rotation process (step S32).
  • the photographing position of the nose N by the stereo camera 34 is not particularly limited, but it is preferable for the stereo camera 34 to photograph the nose N near the center line C0 in order to reliably photograph the nose N.
  • the nose position detection unit 41B of the fourth embodiment detects the position (three-dimensional coordinates) of the nose N based on the images of the nose N captured by each camera 34a during the left-right movement process of the inspection head 22, and outputs the detection result to the tilt angle determination unit 43 (step S33).
  • the tilt angle determination unit 43 of the fourth embodiment determines a tilt angle ⁇ that can prevent the inspection head 22 from approaching the nose N based on the detection result of the nose position detection unit 41B (step S34). For example, the tilt angle determination unit 43 calculates the nose distance (shortest distance) between the inspection head 22 and the nose N when the inspection head 22 is brought close to the right eye OD to a predetermined working distance for each of a plurality of different tilt angles ⁇ . Then, based on the calculation result of the nose distance for each tilt angle ⁇ , the tilt angle determination unit 43 determines the smallest angle among the tilt angles ⁇ at which the nose distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold as the tilt angle ⁇ during inspection of the right eye OD.
  • the tilt angle determination unit 43 may determine the tilt angle ⁇ even before the left eye OS is examined, based on the detection result of the nose position detection unit 41B before the start of auto-alignment described in step S3A of FIG. 16 above.
  • the left/right eye switching control unit 56 ends the left/right eye switching control (step S35).
  • the drive control unit 46 determines the tilt axis TA corresponding to the right eye OD based on the tilt angle ⁇ of the right eye OD determined by the tilt angle determination unit 43, and displaces the inspection head 22 along this tilt axis TA to the examination position of the right eye OD.
  • the tilt angle ⁇ (tilt axis TA) corresponding to the position of the subject's face (nose N) before the examination of the right eye OD can be determined based on the detection result of detecting the position of the subject's nose N during left-right movement processing after the examination of the left eye OS.
  • the examination head 22 is prevented from approaching the nose N during auto-alignment for the right eye OD.
  • [Fifth embodiment] 29 is a side view of an ophthalmic device 10A of the fifth embodiment.
  • the ophthalmic device 10 of the first embodiment includes a swing rotation mechanism 20 having a rotation axis 20a parallel to the Y direction, and moves the inspection head 22 close to the subject's eye E along a tilt axis TA obtained by tilting the reference axis VA in the X direction (outward direction X1) with the subject's eye E as the center during auto-alignment of the inspection head 22.
  • the ophthalmic device 10A of the fifth embodiment moves the inspection head 22 close to the subject's eye E along a tilt axis TA obtained by tilting the reference axis VA in a direction other than the X direction with the subject's eye E as the center during auto-alignment of the inspection head 22.
  • the ophthalmic device 10A of the fifth embodiment has basically the same configuration as the ophthalmic devices 10 of the first, third and fourth embodiments, except that it is equipped with a tilt rotation mechanism 80 and performs auto-alignment of the examination head 22, which is different from the first embodiment. For this reason, parts that are the same in function or configuration as the ophthalmic devices 10 of the above embodiments are given the same reference numerals and their description is omitted.
  • the tilt rotation mechanism 80 corresponds to the rotation mechanism of the present invention, and constitutes the displacement mechanism of the present invention together with the already described XZ movement mechanism 16, Y movement mechanism 18, and swing rotation mechanism 20.
  • the tilt rotation mechanism 80 is equipped with a rotation axis 80a perpendicular to the Y direction and an electric drive mechanism that rotates this rotation axis 80a, and rotates (tilts) the inspection head 22 around the rotation axis 80a.
  • the rotation shaft 80a When the rotation shaft 80a is viewed from one side in the axial direction, the position of the rotation shaft 80a and the position of the objective lens 30 coincide (including approximately coincidence, the same applies below). As a result, the inspection head 22 is rotated (tilted) around the objective lens 30 by the tilt rotation mechanism 80.
  • the inspection head 22 of the fifth embodiment can rotate (swing and tilt) around two axes around the objective lens 30 by the swing rotation mechanism 20 and the tilt rotation mechanism 80. Therefore, the inspection head 22 of the fifth embodiment can rotate around any rotation axis perpendicular to the Z direction (including other than the rotation axes 20a and 80a) by driving at least one of the swing rotation mechanism 20 and the tilt rotation mechanism 80.
  • a direction other than the outward direction X1 of the first embodiment (a direction perpendicular to the Z direction and away from the nose N), for example, upward in the Y direction, is defined as the "outward direction Y1 (see FIG. 30)," and the axis tilted in the "outward direction Y1" from the reference axis VA around the subject's eye E is defined as the tilt axis TA.
  • the control device 40 of the fifth embodiment is basically the same as the control device 40 of the first embodiment, except that the tilt direction of the tilt axis TA differs from that of the first embodiment.
  • the tilt angle determination unit 43 of the fifth embodiment determines the tilt angle ⁇ of the tilt axis TA in the outward direction Y1 (see FIG. 30) relative to the reference axis VA when viewed from one side in the X direction, i.e., the tilt angle ⁇ of the tilt axis TA relative to the reference axis VA in the YZ plane.
  • the specific method of determining the tilt angle ⁇ is the same as the method of determining the tilt angle ⁇ in the first embodiment above, except for the tilt direction of the tilt axis TA, so a detailed explanation will be omitted here.
  • the drive control unit 46 of the fifth embodiment determines the tilt axis TA based on the tilt angle ⁇ determined by the tilt angle determination unit 43, and then drives the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 18, the swing rotation mechanism 20, and the tilt rotation mechanism 80 to perform auto-alignment of the inspection head 22.
  • FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a third example of auto-alignment of the inspection head 22 in the fifth embodiment. Note that this third example is basically the same as the 1-1 example (see FIG. 6) described in the first embodiment above, except that the tilt direction of the tilt axis TA is different.
  • the inspection head 22 is initially placed in the same initial position as in the first embodiment.
  • the drive control unit 46 in the fifth embodiment drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 to execute a first drive process that moves the inspection head 22 from the initial position in the outward direction Y1 (upward in the Y direction) to the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the X direction.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the tilt rotation mechanism 80 to execute a second drive process in which the inspection head 22 is rotated by a tilt angle ⁇ around the rotation axis 80a (see arrow R).
  • the optical axis O1 of the inspection head 22 becomes parallel to the tilt axis TA.
  • the second drive process may be executed before the first drive process.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 to start a third drive process in which the examination head 22 is moved to the examination position along the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the X direction (see arrow YZ1). This causes the examination head 22 to move toward the subject's eye E while keeping the tilt angle ⁇ constant (including approximately constant, the same applies below).
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 18 based on the alignment detection detected by the alignment detection unit 44 during the auto-alignment, and continues the third drive process until the inspection head 22 reaches the inspection position.
  • the drive control unit 46 switches the alignment mode of the inspection head 22 to the manual alignment mode.
  • the inspection head 22 may first be moved a predetermined distance forward in the Z direction (toward the subject's eye E), and then the first drive process described above may be started.
  • the first drive process may be executed to simultaneously move the inspection head 22 forward in the Z direction and outward in the Y1 direction and rotate the inspection head 22 at the tilt angle ⁇ .
  • the processing after auto-alignment of the inspection head 22 is basically the same as in each of the above embodiments, so a detailed description will be omitted here.
  • the examination head 22 can be moved along the tilt axis TA from an oblique direction (diagonally upward) to the examination position of the subject's eye E during auto-alignment. As a result, the same effects as those of the above embodiments can be obtained.
  • the inspection head 22 is brought closer to the subject's eye E along a tilt axis TA that tilts the reference axis VA in the outward direction Y1 (upward in the Y direction) with the subject's eye E as the center.
  • the tilt direction of this tilt axis TA is not particularly limited as long as it is perpendicular to the Z direction and moves away from the nose N.
  • the swing rotation mechanism 20 may be omitted.
  • Sixth Embodiment 31 is a side view of an ophthalmic device 60A of the sixth embodiment.
  • the ophthalmic device 10 of the second embodiment (see FIG. 19) is provided with a swing rotation mechanism 64 having a rotation axis 64a parallel to the Y direction, and during auto-alignment of the inspection head 66, the inspection head 66 is brought close to the subject's eye E along a tilt axis TA obtained by tilting the reference axis VA in the X direction (outward direction X1) with the subject's eye E as the center.
  • the ophthalmic device 60A of the sixth embodiment brings the inspection head 66 close to the subject's eye E along a tilt axis TA obtained by tilting the reference axis VA in a direction other than the X direction with the subject's eye E as the center during auto-alignment of the inspection head 66.
  • the ophthalmic device 60A of the sixth embodiment has basically the same configuration as the ophthalmic devices 60 of the second and third embodiments, except that it is equipped with a tilt rotation mechanism 90 and performs auto-alignment of the examination head 66, which is different from the second embodiment. For this reason, parts that are the same in function or configuration as the ophthalmic devices 60 of the above embodiments are given the same reference numerals and their description is omitted.
  • the tilt rotation mechanism 90 corresponds to the rotation mechanism of the present invention, and constitutes the displacement mechanism of the present invention together with the already described XZ movement mechanism 16, Y movement mechanism 62, and swing rotation mechanism 64.
  • the tilt rotation mechanism 90 rotates (tilts) the inspection head 66 around a virtual rotation axis 90a perpendicular to the Y direction.
  • the tilt rotation mechanism 90 is composed of, for example, a curved arm 92, multiple guide wheels 93, and a head movement mechanism (not shown).
  • the curved arm 92 is fixed to the swing rotation mechanism 64, and has a shape that follows an arc-shaped trajectory centered on the rotation axis 90a.
  • the multiple guide wheel portions 93 are held inside the inspection head 66 so as to be freely rotatable around a central axis parallel to the rotation axis 90a. These guide wheel portions 93 are arranged so as to sandwich the guide curved arm 92 in the Y direction. This allows the inspection head 66 to move along the curved arm 92.
  • the head movement mechanism (not shown) of the tilt rotation mechanism 90 is provided inside the inspection head 66 and moves the inspection head 66 along the curved arm 92.
  • this head movement mechanism is a publicly known technique (for example, JP 2022-112637 A), so a detailed description will be omitted here.
  • the inspection head 66 can be rotated (tilted) around the rotation axis 90a.
  • the inspection head 66 can be rotated (tilted) around the subject's eye E.
  • the inspection head 66 of the sixth embodiment can rotate (swing and tilt) on two axes, similar to the inspection head 22 of the fifth embodiment, by the swing rotation mechanism 64 and the tilt rotation mechanism 90. Therefore, the inspection head 66 of the sixth embodiment can also rotate around any rotation axis perpendicular to the Z direction (including other than the rotation axes 64a and 90a) by driving at least one of the swing rotation mechanism 64 and the tilt rotation mechanism 90.
  • a direction other than the outward direction X1 of the second embodiment (a direction perpendicular to the Z direction and away from the nose N), for example, the upward Y direction as in the fifth embodiment, is defined as the "outward direction Y1", and the axis obtained by tilting the reference axis VA in the outward direction Y1 around the subject's eye E is defined as the tilt axis TA.
  • the control device 40 of the sixth embodiment is basically the same as the control device 40 of the second embodiment, except that the tilt direction of the tilt axis TA differs from that of the second embodiment.
  • the tilt angle determination unit 43 of the sixth embodiment determines the tilt angle ⁇ of the tilt axis TA in the outward direction Y1 relative to the reference axis VA, similar to the tilt angle determination unit 43 of the fifth embodiment.
  • the drive control unit 46 of the sixth embodiment determines the tilt axis TA based on the tilt angle ⁇ determined by the tilt angle determination unit 43, and then drives the XZ movement mechanism 16, the Y movement mechanism 62, the swing rotation mechanism 64, and the tilt rotation mechanism 90 to perform auto-alignment of the inspection head 66.
  • FIG. 32 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a fourth example of auto-alignment of the inspection head 66 in the sixth embodiment.
  • This fourth example is basically the same as the 2-1 example (see FIG. 20) described in the second embodiment above, except for the difference in the tilt direction of the tilt axis TA.
  • the inspection head 66 is initially placed in the same initial position as in the first embodiment.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 62 to execute a first drive process to move the examination head 66 in the XYZ directions to a position where the rotation axis 64a and the rotation axis 90a coincide with the center of rotation of the subject's eye E.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the tilt rotation mechanism 90 to execute a second drive process in which the inspection head 66 is rotated in the outward direction Y1 by a tilt angle ⁇ around the rotation axis 90a (center of rotation of the subject's eye E) (see arrow R).
  • a tilt angle ⁇ around the rotation axis 90a (center of rotation of the subject's eye E) (see arrow R).
  • the inspection head 66 is moved to the tilt axis TA and the optical axis O1 becomes parallel to the tilt axis TA.
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 62 to start a third drive process in which the examination head 66 is moved to the examination position along the tilt axis TA when viewed from one side in the X direction (see arrow YZ1). This causes the examination head 66 to move toward the subject's eye E while keeping the tilt angle ⁇ constant (including approximately constant, the same applies below).
  • the drive control unit 46 drives the XZ movement mechanism 16 and the Y movement mechanism 62 based on the alignment detection detected by the alignment detection unit 44 during the auto-alignment, and continues the third drive process until the inspection head 66 reaches the inspection position.
  • the drive control unit 46 switches the alignment mode of the inspection head 66 to manual alignment mode.
  • first drive process and the second drive process may be performed simultaneously, as in Example 2-2 of the auto-alignment of the inspection head 66 in the second embodiment described above (see FIG. 21).
  • the processing after auto-alignment of the inspection head 66 (e.g. inspection head retraction control by the retraction control unit 54, left/right eye switching control by the left/right eye switching control unit 56, etc.) is basically the same as in each of the above embodiments, so a detailed description will be omitted here.
  • the examination head 66 can be moved along the tilt axis TA from an oblique direction (diagonally upward) to the examination position of the subject's eye E during auto-alignment. As a result, the same effects as those of the above embodiments can be obtained.
  • the inspection head 66 is brought closer to the subject's eye E along a tilt axis TA that is formed by tilting the reference axis VA in the outward direction Y1 (upward in the Y direction) with the subject's eye E as its center.
  • the tilt direction of the tilt axis TA that is centered on the subject's eye E is not particularly limited as long as it is perpendicular to the Z direction and moves away from the nose N.
  • the swing rotation mechanism 64 may be omitted.
  • the examination heads 22, 66 are moved to the examination position of the subject's eye E along the tilt axis TA with the tilt angle ⁇ determined by the tilt angle determination unit 43, but during manual alignment, the examination heads 22, 66 may also be moved to the examination position of the subject's eye E along the tilt axis TA with the tilt angle ⁇ .
  • the evacuation control is automatically performed by the evacuation control unit 54 after the examination of the left eye OS (first eye) is completed.
  • the left eye OS is inspected first, and then the right eye OD is inspected, but conversely, the right eye OD may be inspected first, and then the left eye OS may be inspected.
  • the displacement mechanism for displacing the examination head 22, 66 relative to the subject eye E is configured with an XZ movement mechanism 16, a Y movement mechanism 18, 62, and a swing rotation mechanism 20, 64, and is further configured with a tilt rotation mechanism 80, 90.
  • this displacement mechanism are not particularly limited.
  • a robot arm multi-joint arm
  • the displacement mechanism of the present invention may be used as the displacement mechanism of the present invention.
  • a combined fundus camera and optical coherence tomograph and a fundus camera alone have been used as examples of the ophthalmic device 10, but the present invention is not limited to this.
  • the present invention can also be applied to various ophthalmic devices (including devices that perform various treatments on the subject's eyes E, such as laser surgery devices) used to examine the left and right subject's eyes E (measuring eye characteristics, photographing, and observing), such as an optical coherence tomograph alone and an SLO device.
  • Measurement control section 51A Evacuation control section 51B... Left/right eye switching control section 52... Storage control Control unit 54...Evacuation control unit 55...Motion detection control unit 56...Left/right eye switching control unit 60...Ophthalmic device 62...Y movement mechanism 64...Swing rotation mechanism 64a...Rotation axis 66...Inspection head 70...Distance measurement sensor 80, 90...Tilt rotation mechanism 80a, 90a...Rotation axis 100...Objective lens 102...Objective lens 104...Inspection head C0...Center line E...Subject's eye F1...Upper region F2...Lower region H...Subject N...Nose O1...Optical axis OD...Right eye OS...Left eye P0...Initial position at start-up P1...Initial position before examination P2...Initial position before examination TA...Tilt axis VA...Reference axis X1...Outward direction X2...Left/right eye switching direction X

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PCT/JP2023/041453 2023-03-28 2023-11-17 眼科装置及び眼科装置の作動方法 Ceased WO2024202213A1 (ja)

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EP23930840.6A EP4670619A1 (en) 2023-03-28 2023-11-17 OPHTHALMOLOGICAL DEVICE AND ITS OPERATING PROCESS
CN202380096616.0A CN121001646A (zh) 2023-03-28 2023-11-17 眼科装置以及眼科装置的工作方法
JP2025509699A JPWO2024202213A1 (https=) 2023-03-28 2023-11-17
US19/341,684 US20260076543A1 (en) 2023-03-28 2025-09-26 Ophthalmic device and method for operating ophthalmic device

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Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH06181887A (ja) * 1992-12-21 1994-07-05 Topcon Corp 眼科装置
JP2013248376A (ja) 2012-05-01 2013-12-12 Topcon Corp 眼科装置
JP2020124350A (ja) * 2019-02-04 2020-08-20 株式会社ニデック 眼科装置
JP2021069415A (ja) 2019-10-29 2021-05-06 株式会社トプコン 眼科装置及びその制御方法
JP2022112637A (ja) 2021-01-22 2022-08-03 株式会社トプコン 眼科装置
JP2023506141A (ja) * 2019-12-18 2023-02-15 カール ツァイス メディテック インコーポレイテッド 眼科デバイスのための個人化患者インタフェース

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH06181887A (ja) * 1992-12-21 1994-07-05 Topcon Corp 眼科装置
JP2013248376A (ja) 2012-05-01 2013-12-12 Topcon Corp 眼科装置
JP2020124350A (ja) * 2019-02-04 2020-08-20 株式会社ニデック 眼科装置
JP2021069415A (ja) 2019-10-29 2021-05-06 株式会社トプコン 眼科装置及びその制御方法
JP2023506141A (ja) * 2019-12-18 2023-02-15 カール ツァイス メディテック インコーポレイテッド 眼科デバイスのための個人化患者インタフェース
JP2022112637A (ja) 2021-01-22 2022-08-03 株式会社トプコン 眼科装置

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
See also references of EP4670619A1

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JPWO2024202213A1 (https=) 2024-10-03

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