Temporal vision modification

• US 20060119793A1
• Filed: 12/03/2004
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gearbox LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Searete LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Tegreene, Clarence T., Wood, Lowell L. Jr., Hillis, W. Daniel, Jung, Edward K.Y., Hyde, Roderick A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,334,894 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 351/200
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/083 Electrooptic lenses

Abstract

Various embodiments of methods and systems for improving and enhancing vision are disclosed. Adjustable lenses or optical systems may be used to provide adaptive vision modification. In some embodiments, vision modification may be responsive to the current state of the user'"'"'s visual system. Certain embodiments provide correction of the subject'"'"'s near and far vision. Other embodiments provide enhancement of vision beyond the physiological ranges of focal length or magnification.

Claims

1. A method of providing adaptive vision modification, comprising the steps of:

a) Detecting a time-varying image coming from or formed by an eye of a subject;

b) Determining at least one image quality attribute for at least one finite areal fraction of said detected image within at least one spectral waveband of finite width; and

c) Adjusting a lens system in response to the at least one value of said at least one image quality attribute; and

d) repeating steps a) through c) to provide ongoing vision modification adapted to the current state of at least one time-varying characteristic of the eye optics of said subject.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining said at least one image quality attribute comprises determining a sharpness within at least one finite areal fraction of said detected image within at least one spectral waveband of finite width.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a sharpness of an areal fraction of said detected image within the at least one spectral waveband includes determining a spatial frequency content of said areal fraction of said image within said spectral waveband.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein adjusting a lens system in response to said sharpness of said detected image includes:

a) Determining an adjustment direction in response to the determined spatial frequency content; and

b) Adjusting the lens system in the determined adjustment direction.

5. The method of claim 4 further including:

a) Determining a change in the sharpness caused by adjusting the lens system in the determined adjustment direction; and

b) If the change in sharpness corresponds to a reduction in sharpness, reversing the adjustment direction.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein determining a change in the sharpness caused by adjusting the lens in the determined adjustment direction includes identifying a change in the spatial frequency content of the detected image.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the identified change in spatial frequency content is a change in peak spatial frequency.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein determining a sharpness of said detected image includes determining a peak spatial frequency

9. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting said time-varying image comprises detecting an image from at least one finite areal fraction of the retina of an eye of said subject.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein detecting said time-varying image comprises detecting an image projected upon or reflected from at least a portion of a fovea of a retina of an eye of said subject.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein determining an image quality attribute of said time-varying image includes determining a spatial frequency content of said image projected upon or reflected from said at least a portion of a fovea of a retina of an eye.

12. The method of claim 3 wherein detecting said time-varying image includes generating a data set representative of said time-varying image.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein generating a data set representative of said time-varying image includes generating a data set representative of at least one feature of said time-varying image.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein determining an image quality attribute of said image includes functionally transforming at least a portion of said data-set.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the functional transformation is a Fourier transformation.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein determining an image quality attribute of said image further includes identifying a selected subset of Fourier components resulting or derived from said Fourier transformation.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein determining said image quality attribute includes identifying a maximum value among one or more of the Fourier components in the subset of Fourier components.

18. The method of claim 1, comprising performing an image pre-processing step on said detected image prior to determining said image quality attribute.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said image pre-processing step comprises at least one of filtering, noise reduction, offset adjustment, contrast enhancement, spatial ‘

cropping’

, spectral selectivity, scaling, and selection of at least a portion of said detected image for further analysis.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein determining said image quality attribute comprises detecting or selecting a feature of said detected image.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said feature comprises at least one edge.

22. The method of claim 1, including a step of comparing said detected image to at least one reference image.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein comparing said detected image to at least one reference image includes comparing at least one feature or attribute of said detected image to at least one feature or attribute of at least one reference image.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein comparing said detected image feature or attribute to said reference image feature or attribute comprises first determining said image quality attribute of said detected image, and then comparing said image quality feature or attribute of said detected image with an image quality feature or attribute of said at least one reference image.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein said at least one reference image is a previous instance of said time-varying image.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein said time-varying image is detected from a first location of said eye of said subject, and wherein said reference image is detected from a second location.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein said first location comprises one of at least a portion of the retina of said eye and at least a portion of the back surface of the lens of said eye.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein said first location comprises at least a portion of the fovea of the retina of the eye.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein said second location is external to the eye of said subject.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein said second location is within the eye of said subject.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein said second location comprises one of at least a portion of the cornea and at least a portion of the front of the lens of the eye.

32. The method of claim 1, comprising a further step of determining a transfer function for the current state of said eye optics, wherein said step of adjusting a lens system comprises modifying a transfer function of said lens system such that the transfer function of a combination of said lens system and said eye optics comprises a desired transformation of a visual input to said eye.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein steps a) through c) are repeated at least about once every 3 seconds.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein steps a) through c) are repeated at least about once per second.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein steps a) through c) are repeated at least about three times per second.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein steps a) through c) are repeated with an update rate of between about ⅓

Hz and about 10 Hz.

37. The method of claim 1, wherein steps a) through c) are repeated with an update rate of between about 1 Hz and about 10 Hz.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein steps a) through c) are repeated with an update rate of between about 1 Hz and about 3 Hz.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein steps a) through c) are repeated at a rate at least as great as an expected intrinsic accommodation rate of said eye of said subject.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein steps a) through c) are repeated at a rate at least as great as the visual pigment reversal rate of the highest reversal rate visual pigment found in the retina of said eye of said subject.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting said lens system comprises adjusting a spherical focus of at least a portion of said lens system over at least one spectral waveband.

42. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting said lens comprises adjusting a cylindrical focus of at least a portion of said lens over at least one spectral waveband.

43. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting said lens comprises adjusting a higher order focus of said lens system over at least one spectral waveband.

44. A method of controlling a lens system, comprising the steps of:

a) Receiving an image signal representing a time-varying image detected from an eye of a subject;

b) Determining at least one quality of said image from said image signal;

c) Generating a lens system control signal in response to said at least one quality of said image; and

d) Sending said lens system control signal to an adjustable lens system, wherein said control signal is utilized to cause adjustment of said adjustable lens system to modify said at least one quality of said image.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein said quality of said image is determined from at least a portion of said image detected from at least a portion of the fovea of the retina of said eye of said subject.

46. The method of claim 44, comprising the further step of detecting at least one feature in said image, and wherein said step of determining at least one quality of said image comprises determining a sharpness of said at least one feature.

47. The method of claim 44, wherein determining at least one quality of said image comprises detecting at least one landmark in said image.

48. The method of claim 47 wherein said at least one landmark is in the foveal region of said image.

49. The method of claim 47 wherein at least one said landmark is at least a portion of an optic nerve of said eye.

50. The method of claim 44, comprising the further step of tracking the position of at least a part of the fovea of the retina of said eye.

51. The method of claim 44, wherein determining said quality of said image comprises performing a spatial frequency analysis of at least a portion of said image signal within a spectral waveband.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein said spatial frequency analysis includes at least one form of mathematical functional analysis.

53. The method of claim 52, in which the form of mathematical functional analysis includes Fourier transformation analysis.

54. The method of claim 52, comprising determining a peak spatial frequency content of said image signal.

55. The method of claim 53 wherein said Fourier transformation analysis includes determining a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).

56. The method of claim 44, wherein said image signal represents a time-varying image detected from a first position in said eye of said subject, and wherein determining said quality of said image signal comprises comparing said image signal with at least one reference image signal.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein said at least one reference signal corresponds to an at least one image detected from a different spacetime location than the location corresponding to said image signal.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein said at least one reference signal comprises at least one previous instance of said image signal.

59. The method of claim 44, including repeating steps a) through d) at a rate faster than the intrinsic accommodation time of the lens of said eye.

60. The method of claim 44, including repeating steps a) through d) at a rate faster than the visual pigment reversal-rate of the highest reversal-rate visual pigment found in the photoreceptors of said eye.

61. The method of claim 44, including repeating steps a) through d) at least about once every 3 seconds.

62. The method of claim 44, including repeating steps a) through d) at least about once per second.

63. The method of claim 44, including repeating steps a) through d) at least about three times per second.

64. The method of claim 44, including repeating steps a) through d) with an update rate of between about ⅓

Hz and about 10 Hz.

65. The method of claim 44, including repeating steps a) through d) with an update rate of between about 1 Hz and about 10 Hz.

66. The method of claim 44, including repeating steps a) through d) with an update rate of between about 1 Hz and about 3 Hz.

67. The method of claim 44, wherein said step of generating a lens system control signal comprises determining a transfer function representing the optical system of said eye of said subject over some visible spectral waveband and some field-of-view centered on the fovea of said eye.

68. The method of claim 58, including determining at least one quality of said previous instance of said image signal and comparing said at least one quality of said image signal quality to said at least one quality of said reference signal.

69. The method of claim 68, further including generating a lens system control signal to adjust said lens system in the opposite direction of an immediately preceding lens system adjustment if said at least one quality of said reference signal is better than said at least one quality of said image signal.

70. The method of claim 68, further including generating a lens system control signal to adjust said lens system in the same direction as an immediately preceding lens system adjustment if said at least one quality of said reference signal is worse than said at least one quality of said image signal.

71. A system for modifying the vision of a subject, comprising:

a) An adjustable optical system adapted to modify an input image impinging on the retina of an eye of the subject;

b) An image detector adapted to detect an image reflected from the retina;

c) An image analyzer for determining the quality of said reflected image; and

d) A controller for providing ongoing control of said adjustable optical system responsive to said quality of said reflected image.

72. The system of claim 71, wherein said controller generates a control signal for updating the setting of said adjustable optical system at a preset update rate.

73. The system of claim 72, wherein said controller comprises a device including a microprocessor, and wherein said update rate is controlled by a timer chip.

74. The system of claim 72, wherein said controller comprises a device including a microprocessor, and wherein said update rate is controlled by a software loop.

75. The system of claim 72, wherein said controller comprises digital hardware, and wherein said update rate is under hardware control.

76. The system of claim 71, wherein said adjustable optical system is adjusted faster than the intrinsic accommodation time of the lens of said eye.

77. The system of claim 71, wherein said adjustable optical system is adjusted faster than the visual pigment reversal-rate of the highest reversal-rate visual pigment present in the photoreceptors of said eye.

78. The system of claim 71, comprising a second image detector adapted to detect a reference image.

79. The system of claim 71, wherein said image analyzer comprises a device including a microprocessor.

80. The system of claim 71, wherein said image analyzer comprises an application specific integrated circuit.

81. The system of claim 71, wherein said image analyzer comprises a digital signal processing chip.

89. The system of claim 78, wherein said image modulator modulates at least the intensity of said input image in a spectral wavelength-dependent fashion.

82. A system for providing adaptive vision modification, comprising:

a) An image detector for detecting a time-varying image from at least a portion of a retina of an eye of a subject;

b) An image analyzer for determining the quality of said detected image;

c) An image modulator for modulating an input image impinging on at least a portion of said retina; and

d) A modulation controller for providing ongoing control of said image modulator in response to said quality of said detected image.

83. The system of claim 82, wherein said image modulator modifies the focal length of said input image.

84. The system of claim 82, wherein said image modulator modifies the magnification of said input image.

85. The system of claim 82, wherein said image modulator modifies one or more cylindrical focal properties including at least one of focal length or axis-of-orientation of said input image.

86. The system of claim 82, wherein said image modulator comprises an adjustable optical system.

87. The system of claim 82, wherein said image modulator modulates or controls at least the spectral content of said input image.

88. The system of claim 82, wherein said image modulator modulates at least the spatial frequency content of said input image.