Ophthalmologic photographing apparatus and ophthalmologic photographing method

Abstract

An ophthalmologic photographing apparatus includes: a photographing optical system that includes a scanning unit for scanning an examinee's eye with measurement light to obtain a tomographic image of the examinee's eye; an observing optical system that includes a light-receiving device for receiving reflected light from the examinee's eye to obtain a moving image of a front image of the examinee's eye based on a light-receiving signal from the light-receiving device; a display controller for displaying the front image acquired by the observing optical system in a still state on a monitor as well as enabling setting of a capturing position of the tomographic image, the setting using the front image; and a drive controller for controlling the scanning unit to acquire the tomographic image in accordance with the capturing position.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An ophthalmologic photographing apparatus comprising:
 a photographing optical system that includes a scanning unit for scanning an examinee's eye with measurement light to obtain a tomographic image of the examinee's eye;   an observing optical system that includes a light-receiving device for receiving reflected light from the examinee's eye to obtain a moving image of a front image of the examinee's eye based on a light-receiving signal from the light-receiving device;   a display controller for displaying the front image acquired by the observing optical system in a still state on a monitor as well as enabling setting of a capturing position of the tomographic image, the setting using the front image; and   a drive controller for controlling the scanning unit to acquire the tomographic image in accordance with the capturing position.   
     
     
         2 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising an operation input unit for accepting a user's instruction, wherein
 the display controller
 displays the front image acquired by the observing optical system in a moving state on the monitor, 
 switches the front image displayed on the monitor to the still state based on an operation signal input from the operation input unit, and 
 enables the setting of the capturing position of the tomographic image, the setting using the front image displayed in the still state, based on an operation signal input from the operation input unit. 
   
     
     
         3 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the display controller displays the front image on the monitor as a live moving image after the setting of the capturing position. 
     
     
         4 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein the drive controller performs tracking that controls the scanning unit to scan the set capturing position based on the live moving image of the front image. 
     
     
         5 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein the drive controller
 detects, by image processing, displacement between a live moving image of the front image, the live moving image being acquired by the observing optical system, and the front image in the still state, the front image being used for the setting of the capturing position of the tomographic image, and   corrects a scan position of the scanning unit based on the detection result.   
     
     
         6 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the display controller superimposes and displays a target indicating an acquisition position of the tomographic image on the front image displayed in the still state on the monitor as well as moves the target on the front image based on an operation signal input from the operation input signal to set the capturing position of the tomographic image to a position corresponding to a position of the target, based on an operation signal input from the operation input unit. 
     
     
         7 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein upon a scan position being corrected, the display controller changes a display position of the target to a position corresponding to the corrected scan position. 
     
     
         8 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the observing optical system includes a light-receiving device for receiving reflected infrared light irradiating the examinee's eye from the examinee's eye, and obtains the front image of the examinee's eye based on a light-receiving signal from the light-receiving device. 
     
     
         9 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the display controller captures the front image acquired by the observing optical system as a still image to display the still image on the monitor as the front image in the still state. 
     
     
         10 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the display controller
 detects displacement between a live moving image of the front image, the live moving image being acquired by the observing optical system, and a reference image, and   corrects a display position of the live moving image on the monitor based on the detection result to display the live moving image on the monitor as the front image in the still state.   
     
     
         11 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a setting unit for processing the tomographic or front image previously acquired to detect a feature portion of the examinee's eye by image processing, and setting a capturing position of a tomographic image on a front image based on a position of the detected feature portion, wherein
 the drive controller,
 detects, by image processing, displacement between a live moving image of the front image, the live moving image being acquired by the observing optical system, and the front image used for the setting of the capturing position of the tomographic image, and 
 corrects a scan position of the scanning unit relative to the feature portion based on the detection result. 
   
     
     
         12 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein
 the setting unit sets the front image used for the setting of the capturing position of the tomographic image as a reference image, and stores the reference image and information on the set capturing position of the tomographic image in a storage unit, and   the drive controller compares the reference image stored in the storage unit and a current front image acquired by the observing optical system, detects displacement of the current front image from the reference image by image processing, and performs tracking that controls the scanning unit to scan the set capturing position based on the detection result.   
     
     
         13 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein the feature portion is the optic disc. 
     
     
         14 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein the setting unit sets a circle-shaped area apart by a predetermined distance from a center portion of the optic disc as a capturing position of a tomographic image based on a position of the detected optic disc. 
     
     
         15 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein the feature portion is the macula. 
     
     
         16 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 an operation input unit for accepting a user's instruction; and   a photographing controller for capturing a tomographic image photographed by the photographing optical system based on an operation signal from the operation input unit, and storing the tomographic image in a storage unit.   
     
     
         17 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 16 , wherein the photographing controller judges whether or not the displacement falls within a predetermined allowable range based on an operation signal from the operation input unit, captures the tomographic image based on the judgment result, and stores the tomographic image in the storage unit. 
     
     
         18 . The ophthalmologic photographing apparatus according to  claim 17 , wherein
 the drive controller corrects a scan position of the scanning unit in a manner where the displacement falls within the predetermined allowable range, and   the photographing controller captures the tomographic image upon the displacement falling within the predetermined allowable range, and stores the tomographic image in the storage unit.   
     
     
         19 . An ophthalmologic photographing method comprising:
 scanning an examinee's eye with measurement light and obtaining a tomographic image of the examinee's eye;   obtaining a front image of the examinee's eye based on reflected light from the examinee's eye;   displaying the front image in a still state on a monitor as well as enabling setting of a capturing position of the tomographic image on the monitor where the front image is being displayed; and   controlling the scanning unit to acquire the tomographic image in accordance with the capturing position.