Non-invasive high-speed blinking kinematics characterization.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to analyze the differences in blinking kinematics of spontaneous and voluntary blinks using for the first time a self-developed, non-invasive, and image processing-based method. METHODS: The blinks of 30 subjects were recorded for 1 min with the support of an eye-tracking device based on a high-speed infrared video camera, working at 250 frames per second, under two different experimental conditions. For the first condition, subjects were ordered to look in the straightforward position at a fixation target placed 1 m in front of them, with no further instructions. For the second, subjects were additionally asked to blink only following a sound signal every 6 s. RESULTS: Mean complete blinks increased by a factor of 1.7 from the spontaneous to the voluntary condition while mean incomplete blinks reduced significantly by a factor of 0.4. In both conditions, closing mean and peak velocities were always significantly greater and durations significantly lower than opening ones. When comparing the values for each condition, velocities and amplitudes for the voluntary condition were always greater than the corresponding values for spontaneous. CONCLUSION: Voluntary blinks revealed significant kinematic differences compared to spontaneous, thus supporting a different supranuclear pathway organization. This study presents a new method, based on image analysis, for the non-invasive kinematic characterization of blinking.

There is more to accommodation of the eye than simply minimizing retinal blur.

Eyes of children and young adults change their optical power to focus nearby objects at the retina. But does accommodation function by trial and error to minimize blur and maximize contrast as is generally accepted? Three experiments in monocular and monochromatic vision were performed under two conditions while aberrations were being corrected. In the first condition, feedback was available to the eye from both optical vergence and optical blur. In the second, feedback was only available from target blur. Accommodation was less precise for the second condition, suggesting that it is more than a trial-and-error function. Optical vergence itself seems to be an important cue for accommodation.

Estimation of the mechanical properties of the eye through the study of its vibrational modes.

Measuring the eye's mechanical properties in vivo and with minimally invasive techniques can be the key for individualized solutions to a number of eye pathologies. The development of such techniques largely relies on a computational modelling of the eyeball and, it optimally requires the synergic interplay between experimentation and numerical simulation. In Astrophysics and Geophysics the remote measurement of structural properties of the systems of their realm is performed on the basis of (helio-)seismic techniques. As a biomechanical system, the eyeball possesses normal vibrational modes encompassing rich information about its structure and mechanical properties. However, the integral analysis of the eyeball vibrational modes has not been performed yet. Here we develop a new finite difference method to compute both the spheroidal and, specially, the toroidal eigenfrequencies of the human eye. Using this numerical model, we show that the vibrational eigenfrequencies of the human eye fall in the interval 100 Hz-10 MHz. We find that compressible vibrational modes may release a trace on high frequency changes of the intraocular pressure, while incompressible normal modes could be registered analyzing the scattering pattern that the motions of the vitreous humour leave on the retina. Existing contact lenses with embebed devices operating at high sampling frequency could be used to register the microfluctuations of the eyeball shape we obtain. We advance that an inverse problem to obtain the mechanical properties of a given eye (e.g., Young's modulus, Poisson ratio) measuring its normal frequencies is doable. These measurements can be done using non-invasive techniques, opening very interesting perspectives to estimate the mechanical properties of eyes in vivo. Future research might relate various ocular pathologies with anomalies in measured vibrational frequencies of the eye.

Two-dimensional optical wavelet decomposition with white-light illumination by wavelength multiplexing.

We present a novel method for achieving in real time a two-dimensional optical wavelet decomposition with white-light illumination. The underlying idea of the suggested method is wavelength multiplexing. The information in the different wavelet components of an input object is transmitted simultaneously in different wavelengths and summed incoherently at the output plane. Experimental results show the utility of the new proposed method.

Extended scale-invariant pattern recognition with white-light illumination.

A previous method of obtaining scale-invariance detection with white-light illumination has been improved on. We were able to detect different scaled versions of the target up to a magnification factor equal to 2. We simultaneously detected several versions in the same scene, because each scale factor is codified in a different wavelength. Experimental results demonstrate the proposed technique and show the utility of the method.

Shift- and scale-invariant recognition of contour objects with logarithmic radial harmonic filters.

The phase-only logarithmic radial harmonic (LRH) filter has been shown to be suitable for scale-invariant block object recognition. However, an important set of objects is the collection of contour functions that results from a digital edge extraction of the original block objects. These contour functions have a constant width that is independent of the scale of the original object. Therefore, since the energy of the contour objects decreases more slowly with the scale factor than does the energy of the block objects, the phase-only LRH filter has difficulties in the recognition tasks when these contour objects are used. We propose a modified LRH filter that permits the realization of a shift- and scale-invariant optical recognition of contour objects. The modified LRH filter is a complex filter that compensates the energy variation resulting from the scaling of contour objects. Optical results validate the theory and show the utility of the newly proposed method.

Rotation-invariant optical recognition of three-dimensional objects.

An automatic method for rotation-invariant three-dimensional (3-D) object recognition is proposed. The method is based on the use of 3-D information contained in the deformed fringe pattern obtained when a grating is projected onto an object's surface. The proposed method was optically implemented by means of a two-cycle joint transform correlator. The rotation invariance is achieved by means of encoding with the fringe pattern a single component of the circular-harmonic expansion derived from the target. Thus the method is invariant for rotations around the line of sight. The whole experimental setup can be constructed with simple equipment. Experimental results show the utility of the proposed method.

Three-dimensional object recognition by fourier transform profilometry.

An automatic method for three-dimensional (3-D) shape recognition is proposed. It combines the Fourier transform profilometry technique with a real-time recognition setup such as the joint transform correlator (JTC). A grating is projected onto the object surface resulting in a distorted grating pattern. Since this pattern carries information about the depth and the shape of the object, their comparison provides a method for recognizing 3-D objects in real time. A two-cycle JTC is used for this purpose. Experimental results demonstrate the theory and show the utility of the new proposed method.