System and Method for the Treatment of a Patients Eye Working at High Speed

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and a method for the treatment of a patient's eye. The system comprises a laser apparatus, a scanning apparatus and an eye tracking apparatus for determining the actual position of the patient's eye and for generating alignment data of the patient's eye relative to a reference position of the patient's eye to the laser, said eye tracking apparatus being provided with a desired treatment shot file. Said scanning apparatus is connected via a first bidirectional bus to the eye tracking apparatus, said laser apparatus is connected via a second bidirectional bus to the eye tracking apparatus. The eye tracking apparatus adjusts the position data for each shot based on said alignment data of the patient's eye and provides aiming control signals representative of the target position data to the scanning apparatus for said shot via said first bidirectional bus. The eye tracking apparatus comprises a comparator for comparing the target position data with the actual position data provided by the scanning apparatus for the shot to be fired. Moreover, said eye tracking apparatus is sending a command signal to the laser apparatus via said second bidirectional bus for firing the shot when the target position data is equal to the actual position data of the scanning apparatus for the shot to be fired.

1 . A system for the treatment of a patient's eye comprising:
 a laser apparatus,   a scanning apparatus and an eye tracking apparatus,   said scanning apparatus being connected to the eye tracking apparatus via a first bidirectional bus,   said laser apparatus being connected to the eye tracking apparatus,   wherein the eye tracking apparatus provides aiming control signals representative of a target position data to the scanning apparatus for said shot and   wherein said eye tracking apparatus is capable of sending a command signal to the laser apparatus for firing a shot when the target position data is equal to the actual position data of the scanning apparatus.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the laser apparatus is sending a feedback signal to the eye tracking apparatus when a shot has been fired and wherein preferably the eye tracking apparatus processes to the next shot when a feedback signal is received and wherein the eye tracking apparatus is sending a shut-down signal to the laser apparatus if no feedback signal is received within a predetermined time. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the scanning apparatus comprises at least one movable mirror and detector means for providing detection signals representative of the actual position of the movable mirror for the shot to be fired to the patient's eye to the eye tracking apparatus. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the eye tracking apparatus comprises protocoling means for storing protocol information. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a computer system being connected to the eye tracking apparatus and the laser apparatus via a bus, wherein said computer system provides the desired treatment shot file to the eye tracking apparatus. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a computer system being connected to the eye tracking apparatus and the laser apparatus via a fast data transfer protocol, wherein said computer system provides a desired treatment shot file to the eye tracking apparatus, receives and stores protocol information from the eye tracking apparatus, and transmits and receives control data to/from the laser apparatus, and wherein and each of the eye tracking apparatus, the scanning apparatus, the laser apparatus and the computer system comprises a fast data transfer protocol. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the scanning apparatus comprises two moveable mirrors, which are positioned according to the target position data, each one of the two mirrors being movable by a respective actuator and the actual position of each moveable mirror being detected by a respective position sensor and one fixed mirror wherein preferably the two moveable mirrors are smaller in size than the fixed mirror. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising energy monitoring means for monitoring the energy of the laser. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  further comprising shutter means for providing every n-th laser pulse from a series of laser pulses to the reference surface, wherein n is a natural number greater than two. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 4  wherein the protocol information comprises at least one of the following: actual position data of the patient's eye, the actual position data of the scanning apparatus, target position data, and malfunction data. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a computer system being connected to the eye tracking apparatus and the laser apparatus, wherein said computer system receives and stores protocol information from the eye tracking apparatus. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a computer system being connected to the eye tracking apparatus and the laser apparatus, wherein said computer system transmits and receives control data to/from the laser apparatus. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the aiming control signals provided by the eyetracker to the scanning apparatus for said shot reflect adjusted position data based on alignment data of the patient's eye. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the eye tracking apparatus comprises a comparator for comparing the target position data with the actual position data provided by the scanning apparatus. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the bus is a second bidirectional bus. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the laser apparatus sends a feedback signal to the eye-tracking apparatus via a third bidirectional bus, wherein the eye-tracking apparatus forwards this signal to the computer system, and the computer system returns control data destined for the laser to the eyetracker. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the computer system sends control data directly to the laser without transiting through the eyetracker. 
     
     
         18 . A method for the treatment of a patient's eye using: a laser apparatus having a laser, a scanning apparatus and an eye tracking apparatus, comprising the steps of:
 providing aiming control signals representative of a target position data from the eye tracking apparatus to the scanning apparatus via a first bidirectional bus for said shot; and   sending a command signal from the eye tracking apparatus to the laser apparatus for firing the shot when the target position data is equal to the actual position of the scanning apparatus for the shot to be fired.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising the eye tracker comparing the target position data with the actual position data provided by the scanning apparatus for the shot to be fired. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the command signal is sent from the eye tracking apparatus to the laser apparatus via a second bidirectional bus.