ELECTRONIC CONTACT LENSES AND AN IMAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING THE SAME

• US 20150261294A1
• Filed: 03/13/2014
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OTOY, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Julian Michael Urbach
• Inventors: Urbach, Julian Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,817,051 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/04 Contact lenses for the eyes disinfection or sterilisation of contact lenses A61L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/101 having an electro-optical light valve electro-optical elements per se G02F
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object

Abstract

A powered contact lens is configured to receive rendered images and provide the rendered images to a user on a display screen built into it. The powered contact lens is also configured so that the position of the wearer'"'"'s eyes can be precisely tracked and the images can be rendered at a likely resting position. A power source located on the contact lens powers the display screen and the communication module. The communication module receives the rendered images from a disparate image rendering device. An image system comprises the image rendering device, a pair of powered contact lenses which are configured to received and provide the rendered images to a user.

Claims

1. A contact lens comprising:

a power source;

a wireless communication module;

a display screen; and

a tracking element.

2. The contact lens of claim 1, the tracking element further comprises:

a plurality of markings; and

at least one light source

3. The contact lens of claim 2, wherein the at least one light source comprises a plurality of light sources arranged on a periphery of the contact lens.

4. The contact lens of claim 2, the plurality of markings comprises a first subset of markings that extend from a first edge of the contact lens to a second edge of the contact lens and a second subset of markings that normal to the first subset of markings.

5. The contact lens of claim 2, wherein the plurality of markings are grooves made in a material of the contact lens.

6. The contact lens of claim 1, wherein the display screen is located at a central portion of the contact lens.

7. The contact lens of claim 1, wherein the power source and the wireless communication module is located behind the display screen.

8. The contact lens of claim 1, wherein the display screen comprises an OLED display.

9. The contact lens of claim 1, further comprising an accelerometer.

10. The contact lens of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication module comprises a Bluetooth transceiver.

11. An image system comprising:

at least one powered contact lens that comprises at least a display screen, a power source and a tracking module; and

an image renderer communicatively coupled to the at least one powered contact lens.

12. The image system of claim 11, the at least one powered contact lens comprises two powered contact lenses.

13. The image system of claim 12, wherein the image renderer comprises a camera for tracking a linear and angular position of the eyes of a user wearing the powered contact lenses.

14. The image system of claim 12, the image renderer comprises a communication interface for transmitting rendered images to and for receiving tracking data from each of the two powered contact lenses.

15. The image system of claim 12, wherein the image renderer comprises:

tracking logic, executed by a processor comprised within the image renderer, for determining changes in linear and angular positions of a user'"'"'s eyes that wear the two powered contact lenses.

16. The image system of claim 15, wherein the image renderer comprises:

analyzing logic, executed by the processor comprised within the image renderer, for estimating the final position at which the wearer'"'"'s eyes are likely to come to rest.

17. The image system of claim 16, wherein the image renderer comprises:

a rendering module, executed by a processor comprised within the image renderer, for rendering a viewpoint in a 3D virtual space at the likely final position.

18. The image system of claim 15, further comprising a thought detector for detecting electrical signals from the wearer'"'"'s brain.

19. The image system of claim 18, wherein the thought detector comprises a wearable portion configured to be attached to a wearer'"'"'s head.

20. The image system of claim 19, the wearable portion comprises electrodes configured to detect electrical signals from the wearer'"'"'s visual cortex.

21. A method of providing content comprising:

rendering, by a processor, an initial image;

transmitting, by the processor, the rendered initial image to at least one powered contact lens inserted into a user'"'"'s eye such that the rendered initial image is displayed on a display screen comprised in the powered contact lens;

tracking, by the processor, motion of the user'"'"'s eye wearing the powered contact lens;

estimating, by the processor, a final position at which the user'"'"'s eye wearing the contact lens is likely to rest based at least on the tracking;

rendering, by the processor, a second image that shows a viewpoint associated with the final position; and

transmitting, by the processor, the second image to the powered contact lens for display to the user.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein tracking the motion of the user'"'"'s eye further comprises:

receiving, by the processor, a continuous image stream of the user'"'"'s eye;

mapping, by the processor, the position of the user'"'"'s eye in the image stream relative to the 3-dimensional space based on positions of a plurality of markings included on the powered contact lens in the image stream.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein tracking the motion of the user'"'"'s eye further comprises:

determining, by the processor, changes in linear and angular positions of the user'"'"'s eye via the mapping.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein estimating the final position further comprises:

determining, by the processor, an amplitude and direction of the motion of the user'"'"'s eye.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, input from the user'"'"'s visual cortex.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein estimating the final position further comprises:

estimating, by the processor, the final position based additionally on the input received from the user'"'"'s visual cortex.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one powered contact lens comprises two powered contact lenses.

28. A method of providing content comprising:

rendering, by a processor, an initial image;

transmitting, by the processor, the rendered initial image to a powered contact lens inserted into a user'"'"'s eye such that the rendered initial image is displayed on a display screen comprised in the powered contact lens;

receiving, by the processor, input from the user'"'"'s visual cortex;

altering, by the processor, the rendered initial image based on the input from the user'"'"'s visual cortex;

rendering, by the processor, the altered image;

transmitting, by the processor, the altered image to the powered contact lens for display on the respective display screens.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein receiving input from the visual cortex further comprises:

receiving, by the processor, electrical signals sensed from the user'"'"'s visual cortex;

identifying, by the processor, a command from the received electrical signals.

30. The method of claim 29, altering the rendered initial image based on the input further comprises:

altering, by the processor, the rendered initial image based on the command.

31. The method of claim 28 wherein the image comprises text data and the command alters the text data.

32. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that cause a processor to:

render an initial image;

transmit the rendered initial image to at least one powered contact lens inserted into a user'"'"'s eye such that the rendered initial image is displayed on a display screen comprised in the powered contact lens;

track motion of the user'"'"'s eye wearing the powered contact lens;

estimate a final position at which each of the user'"'"'s eye wearing the contact lens is likely to rest based at least on the tracking;

render a second image that shows a viewpoint associated with the final position; and

transmit the second image to the powered contact lens for display to the user.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 32, wherein instructions for tracking the motion of the user'"'"'s eye further comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

receive a continuous image stream of the users eye;

map positions of the user'"'"'s eye in the image stream based on positions of a plurality of markings included on the powered contact lens in the image stream.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 33, wherein instructions for tracking the motion of the user'"'"'s eye further comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

determine changes in linear and angular positions of the user'"'"'s eye via the mapping.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 32, wherein instructions for estimating the final position further comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

determine an amplitude and direction of the motion of the user'"'"'s eye.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 32, further comprising instructions that cause the processor to:

receive input from the user'"'"'s visual cortex.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein instructions for estimating the final position further comprising instructions that cause the processor to:

estimate the final position based additionally on the input received from the user'"'"'s visual cortex.

38. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that cause a processor to:

render an initial image;

transmit the rendered initial image to at least one powered contact lens inserted into a human user'"'"'s eye such that the rendered initial image is displayed on a display screen comprised in the powered contact lens;

receive input from the user'"'"'s visual cortex;

alter the rendered initial image based on the input from the user'"'"'s visual cortex;

render the altered image;

transmit the altered image to the powered contact lens for display on the respective display screens.

39. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 38 wherein instructions for receiving input from the visual cortex further comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

receive electrical signals sensed from the user'"'"'s visual cortex;

identify a command from the received electrical signals.

40. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein instructions for altering the rendered initial image based on the input further comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

alter the rendered initial image based on the command.

41. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 38 wherein the image comprises text data and the command alters the text data.

42. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 38 wherein at least two powered contact lenses are inserted into each of the human'"'"'s eyes.