A tele-ophthalmology system based on secure video-conferencing and white-board

Abstract

The paper describes a multi-screen real-time ophthalmology telemedicine system between a clinic and a hospital, referred to as TeleOph. TeleOph aims to mimic face-to-face consultation over public Internet network. It automatically connects still cameras and video cameras, and takes samples of pictures and videos respectively for remote consultation. Additionally, TeleOph employs a shared electronic white-board to enable an ophthalmologist to handle (e.g. change, highlight, zoom out/in) images, as well as control (e.g., play, pause, stop) video streams in both hospital and clinic in a synchronized manner. Moveover, TeleOph provides a collaborative-consultation function that allows ophthalmologists from different hospitals to jointly discuss and share patient data in order to increase the accuracy of consultation.