ELECTRONIC OPHTHALMIC LENS WITH SLEEP MONITORING

• US 20170112433A1
• Filed: 10/27/2015
• Published: 04/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Incorporated (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Incorporated (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Pugh, Randall B., Flitsch, Frederick A., Toner, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 10,314,530 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1103 Detecting eye twinkling
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4809 Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4812 Detecting sleep stages or cycles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6821 Eye
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/42 using electric radiation detectors optical or mechanical part G01J1/04; by comparison with a reference light or electric value G01J1/10
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 11/10 Electronic devices other than hearing aids
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/04 Contact lenses for the eyes disinfection or sterilisation of contact lenses A61L12/00

Abstract

An eyelid position sensor system and/or an eye movement sensor system for an ophthalmic lens having an electronic system is described herein for recording data associated with sleep of the wearer. The eyelid position sensor system is part of an electronic system incorporated into the ophthalmic lens. The electronic system in at least one embodiment includes a system controller and a data manager. In at least one embodiment, the eyelid position sensor system is utilized to determine eyelid position and the eye movement sensor system is utilized to determine eye position for the system controller to determine if the wearer is awake, asleep, or in REM sleep.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring sleep with a powered ophthalmic lens, the method comprising:

activating the powered ophthalmic lens;

initiating an accumulator on the lens to track a passage of time;

determining at a first lid sampling rate whether lid closure has occurred;

when lid closure is detected,

sampling at least once at least one of an accelerometer and a transducer, and

determining whether a threshold is exceeded, when the threshold is exceeded

retrieving a reading from the accumulator;

storing the accumulator reading and a reading of the at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer; and

determining whether the reading is below the threshold, when the reading is below the threshold, storing an indication of a REM end and returning to sampling lid closure.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

measuring a light level with at least one photosensor present on the lens;

storing the light level and current reading from the accumulator; and

determining when a change in light level occurs and storing the current reading from the accumulator with the light level reading.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

comparing the accumulator to a duration threshold; and

when the accumulator is in excess of the duration threshold, determining if the current light level approximates the initial light level reading, when initial light level is reached, terminating method.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein sampling of the at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer occurs at a first motion sampling rate until the reading exceeds the threshold, then sampling at a second motion sampling rate.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein when lid closure is detected, then sampling lid closure at a second lid sampling rate.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring a power supply on the lens for an available energy level;

when the power supply has the available energy level below a low energy threshold, performing at least one of

reducing the sampling rate for at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

reducing the sampling rate of at least one sensor,

terminating further sampling of at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

terminating further monitoring of the power supply,

storing a time stamp representing low energy based on the current value in the accumulator,

removing power from at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

sampling the lid closure at a second lid sampling rate that is slower than the first sampling rate, and

powering a memory where the readings are stored.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring available memory for storing readings;

when the available memory is below a low memory threshold, performing at least one of

storing a time stamp representing low memory based on the current value in the accumulator,

reducing the sampling rate for at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

terminating further sampling of at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

storing future readings from at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer over the earliest stored readings in the memory, and

deleting the stored sensor readings associated with the lowest accumulator reading and shifting the remaining stored sensor and accumulator readings in the memory.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein storing the readings includes transmitting the readings to an external device for storage.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the external device stores the readings with a time stamp based on the current time on the external device.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

sampling light levels with the external device and storing the light level with a time stamp in memory.

11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising receiving with the external device user input for initiation of a sleep study and a termination of the sleep study.

12. A method for monitoring sleep with a powered ophthalmic lens, the method comprising:

activating the powered ophthalmic lens;

initiating an accumulator on the lens to track a passage of time;

sampling at least once at least one of an accelerometer and a transducer; and

determining whether a first threshold is exceeded, when the first threshold is exceeded

retrieving a reading from the accumulator,

storing the accumulator reading and a reading of the at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer, and

determining whether the reading is below a second threshold, when the reading is below the second threshold, storing an indication of a REM end and returning to sampling lid closure.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein sampling of the at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer occurs at a first motion sampling rate until the reading exceeds the threshold, then sampling at a second motion sampling rate.

14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

monitoring a power supply on the lens for an available energy level;

when the power supply has the available energy level below a low energy threshold, performing at least one of

reducing the sampling rate for at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

reducing the sampling rate of at least one sensor,

terminating further sampling of at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

terminating further monitoring of the power supply,

storing a time stamp representing low energy based on the current value in the accumulator,

removing power from at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

sampling the lid closure at a second lid sampling rate that is slower than the first sampling rate, and

powering a memory where the readings are stored.

15. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

monitoring available memory for storing readings;

when the available memory is below a low memory threshold, performing at least one of

storing a time stamp representing low memory based on the current value in the accumulator,

reducing the sampling rate for at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

terminating further sampling of at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer,

storing future readings from at least one of the accelerometer and the transducer over the earliest stored readings in the memory, and

deleting the stored sensor readings associated with the lowest accumulator reading and shifting the remaining stored sensor and accumulator readings in the memory.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein any storing reading includes

transmitting the reading to an external device for storage.

17. A powered ophthalmic lens, the powered ophthalmic lens comprising:

a contact lens;

an eyelid position sensor system in the contact lens, the eyelid position sensor system including a sensor array having a plurality of measurement points vertically spaced from each other to detect eyelid position and a signal conditioner configured to sample the measurement points in the sensor array to detect eyelid position and provide an output lid signal;

an eye movement sensor system in the contact lens, the eye movement sensor system including at least one sensor to track and determine eye position and a signal conditioner cooperatively associated with the sensor and configured to track and determine eye position in spatial coordinates based on information from the sensor output and provide an output movement signal;

a system controller electrically connected with said eyelid position sensor system and said eye movement sensor system, said system controller configured to sample said eyelid position sensor system and said eye movement system based on at least one predetermined sampling rate; and

a memory in electrical communication with said system controller, and

wherein said system controller stores data based on each sample in said memory.

18. The powered ophthalmic lens according to claim 17, further comprising an accumulator;

and

wherein said system controller is configured to store a corresponding reading from said accumulator for each sample data set stored.

19. The powered ophthalmic lens according to claim 18, further comprising:

a power source electrically connected to said lid position sensor system, said eye movement sensor system, and said system controller; and

a resource management system in electrical communication with at least one of said power source and said memory;

said resource management system configured to determine at least one of a low energy level and memory storage threshold exceeded and in response to a positive determination, said resource management system is configured to at least one of

reduce all sampling rates of the system,

terminate all sampling of said eyelid position sensor system and said eye movement system, and

replace earlier data with newer data when memory storage threshold is exceeded.

20. A system comprising:

the powered ophthalmic lens according to claim 18; and

a base station capable of housing said lens, said base station including

a housing having a cavity of sufficient size for at least one lens,

a clock,

a communication system configured to communicate with any lens inserted in said housing including activating said lens and downloading data stored in said memory in said lens;

a memory configured to store downloaded data; and

means for communicating with an external computer to transmit data received from said memory in said lens.

21. The powered ophthalmic lens according to claim 17, further comprising a communications system configured to communicate with an external device.

22. The powered ophthalmic lens according to claim 21, wherein said system controller transmits any received signal output to the external device through said communications system.

23. The powered ophthalmic lens according to claim 17, wherein said eye movement system includes at least one accelerometer.

24. The powered ophthalmic lens according to claim 23, wherein said eye movement sensor system signal conditioner provides an output when a signal from said at least one accelerometer exceeds a movement threshold.