Electromyographic sensing and vision modification

• US 10,702,375 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2016
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vista Ocular, LLC
• Original Assignee: Vista Ocular, LLC
• Inventors: Roholt, Philip C., Kokonaski, William, Fehr, Jean-Noel, McDonald, Randolph
• Primary Examiner(s): Willse, David H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shipmon, Tiffany P
• Application Number:
  US15/268,566
• Publication Number:
  US 20170079771A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,389 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/296 for electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6821 Eye
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/686 Permanently implanted devices, e.g. pacemakers, other stimulators, biochips A61B5/6861 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/1635 for changing shape
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/482 Electrical means
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/1683 having filiform haptics
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2220/0025 Connections or couplings between prosthetic parts, e.g. between modular parts; Connecting elements
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2250/0002 for data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/04 Contact lenses for the eyes disinfection or sterilisation of contact lenses A61L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/083 Electrooptic lenses

Abstract

Adjustable vision modification using various systems, devices, and processes are provided. Adjustable vision modification may include sensing ocular related physiological activities of a user and making adjustments in an ocular device or ocular system to change the vision of the user. Various sensors and sensor locations may be employed in embodiments to sense or otherwise obtain these physiological activities. Likewise, various ocular devices, ocular processes, and ocular systems may be employed for improving vision.

Claims

1. An electro-active intraocular lens comprising:

an adjustable intraocular lens;

a plurality of sensor arms extending away from the adjustable intraocular lens, each of the arms comprising a pair of electric sensors, the pair of electric sensors comprising a driving electrode and a sensing electrode; and

a processor configured to receive EMG signals sensed by sensing electrodes of the plurality of sensor arms, and to control focus of the adjustable intraocular lens using the received EMG signals.

2. The electro-active intraocular lens of claim 1 wherein the sensor arms have a parabolic or conchoidal shape and are positioned to center the intraocular lens within the capsular bag when the adjustable intraocular lens is implanted in an eye of a user of the adjustable intraocular lens.

3. The electro-active intraocular lens of claim 1 wherein the adjustable intraocular lens is detachable and wherein the at least one pair of electric sensors are part of a wenner electrode array.

4. The electro-active intraocular lens of claim 1 wherein at least one of the electric sensors is positioned on a sensor arm such that when the adjustable intraocular lens is implanted in an eye of a user of the adjustable intraocular lens, the sensor is positioned in an intravitreal space.

5. The electro-active intra-ocular lens of claim 1 wherein the processor carries out steps comprising detecting the EMG signals, determining the need for accommodative correction based on the detected signals, providing a drive signal to affect a change in the adjustable intraocular lens, which at least partially restore lost accommodation of an eye of a user of the adjustable intraocular lens.

6. The electro-active intra-ocular lens of claim 1 wherein the processor determines impedance of a received physiological signal impedance cyclography and signals received from one or more of the electric sensors.

7. An ocular system for improving vision comprising:

an adjustable intraocular lens;

a pair of haptic sensor arms extending away from the adjustable intraocular lens, each of the arms comprising a mated pair of electric sensors, the mated pair of electric sensors comprising an anode sensor and a cathode sensor; and

a processor configured to receive EMG signals sensed by the anode sensors and the cathode sensors and to control focus of the adjustable intraocular lens using the received EMG signals.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein at least one mated pair of electric sensors are positioned and configured to detect at least impedance changes occurring in a ciliary muscle during accommodation.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the impedance changes are used as input for the adjustable intraocular lens and wherein the adjustable intraocular lens is a variable focus lens.

10. The system of claim 7 further comprising an electric sensor sized between 0.5 mm² and 8.0 mm², and configured to be implanted in at least one of the following ocular locations of a user of the adjustable intraocular lens:

the episcleral, the intrascleral, the suprachoroidal adjacent to the ciliary muscle, the ciliary sulcus, the intracapsular bag, or the infrachoroidal of the user of the adjustable intraocular lens.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one pair of electric sensors is configured to wirelessly transmit a received signal to the processor and wherein the pair of haptic sensor arms is sized to fit within a capsular bag of a user of the adjustable intraocular lens.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one pair of electric sensors has protrusions configured for positioning about the ciliary muscle of a user of the adjustable intraocular lens and wherein each of the haptic sensor arms further comprises a reference sensor, the reference sensor configured to detect a reference signal level for comparison by the processor.

13. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor controls focus of the adjustable intraocular lens by using accommodative spike amplitude and resting spike amplitude of a ciliary muscle signal as well as accommodative spike frequency and resting spike frequency of a ciliary muscle signal.

14. The system of claim 7 wherein the processor is further configured to run instructions stored on a memory, the instructions causing the processor to control operation of the adjustable intraocular lens and instruct the adjustable intraocular lens to focus an optic of the adjustable intraocular lens, in order to correct vision for a user of the adjustable intraocular lens, using the received EMG signals wherein the adjustable intraocular lens provides active near focus for an eye of the user of the adjustable intraocular lens.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the processor is also configured to run instructions to separate a received non-accommodative, resting signal from an accommodative, active signal.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein focus of the optic of the adjustable intraocular lens is continuously variable.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the processor is also configured to run instructions to separate low voltage, low amplitude received signals (10-79 μ

V) from higher voltage, higher amplitude received signals (80-250 μ

V).

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the processor is also configured to run instructions that separate low frequency spike trains (0-1/100 msec, 1-2/100 msec, 3-4/100 msec) from high frequency spike trains (5-10/100 msec).

19. The system of claim 7 wherein at least two of the electric sensors are tuned to receive EMG signals between the range of 10 microvolts (μ

V) and 250 microvolts (μ

V).