Patent ID: 8215774

Claim:
An apparatus for measuring tear film layer thickness(es) (TFLT), comprising: a control system configured to: (a) receive the at least one first image containing optical wave interference of specularly reflected light and a background signal from a region of interest of the ocular tear film captured by an imaging device while illuminated by a multi-wavelength light source; (b) receive the at least one second image containing a background signal from the region of interest of the ocular tear film captured by the imaging device; (c) subtract the at least one second image from the at least one first image to generate at least one resulting image containing the optical wave interference of specularly reflected light from the region of interest of the ocular tear film with the background signal removed or reduced; (d) convert at least a portion of the at least one resulting image representing the optical wave interference of the specularly reflected light from at least a portion of the region of interest of the ocular tear film into at least one color-based value; (e) compare the at least one color-based value to a tear film layer optical wave interference model; and (f) measure the TFLT of the at least a portion of the region of interest of the ocular tear film based on the comparison of the at least one color-based value to the tear film layer optical wave interference model.