ELECTRONIC OPHTHALMIC LENS WITH OSCILLATOR FREQUENCY ADJUSTMENT

• US 20170168322A1
• Filed: 12/14/2015
• Published: 06/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Incorporated (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Incorporated (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Toner, Adam, Pugh, Randall B.
• Granted Patent: US 10,302,970 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/00 Automatic control of frequency or phase; Synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/085 concerning mainly the frequency- or phase-detection arrangement including the filtering or amplification of its output signal H03L7/10 takes precedence; circuits for comparing the phase or frequency of two mutually-independent oscillations H03D13/00

Abstract

An eyelid position sensor system for an ophthalmic lens comprising an electronic system is described herein for adjusting an oscillator frequency on the lens. In at least one embodiment, the frequency adjustment is based on at least one signal received by the contact lens. In a further embodiment, the at least one signal includes a signal providing a plurality of transitions to compare to transitions in an oscillator output signal. In at least one embodiment, the source of the external signal is lighting. In at least one embodiment, updating the oscillator frequency between two lenses.

Claims

1. A method for updating an oscillator frequency of an oscillator residing in a contact lens, said method comprising:

receiving by a system controller on the contact lens at least one signal from an external source providing information allowing for adjustment of the oscillator frequency of the oscillator;

upon receipt of the signal,

computing an adjustment to the oscillator frequency based on information contained in the at least one signal,

adjusting the oscillator frequency according to the computed adjustment.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein computing and adjusting include after a period of time,

counting a number of transitions in the at least one signal from the external device for a predetermined time period;

computing and comparing the transition count to an expected count for the predetermined period;

adjusting the clock frequency down when the transition count is low;

adjusting the clock frequency up when the transition count is high.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the at least one signal includes two signals spaced in time by a predetermined amount from each other;

the at least one signal includes information regarding the current time;

calculating the adjustment for the clock frequency includes

determining a reference transition count based on the at least one signal that should have occurred between the two signals by the system controller,

determining a number of transitions in an oscillator output that occurred between the two signals by the system controller, and

comparing the number of transitions to the reference transition count.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the external source is at least one of a cellular telephone, a cellular telephone tower, an over-the-air broadcast signal, a WiFi base station, a LiFi node, and an ad hoc wireless network node.

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

updating a clock in the contact lens to match the time contained in the at least one signal where the information is a pilot signal;

adjusting the oscillator frequency up when the time on the clock prior to updating was slow compared to the updated time; and

adjusting the oscillator frequency down when the time on the clock prior to updating was fast compared to the updated time.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising recording a base time in memory by the system controller, where the base time is at least one of an initial operation time for the contact lens and a last update time for the contact lens, and

wherein adjusting the oscillator frequency includes

determining an update time differential between the times used to adjust the oscillator frequency of the oscillator,

determining a run time differential between the on the clock prior to updating and the base time,

determining a time drift based on the relationship between the update time differential and the run time differential, and

adjusting the oscillator frequency of the oscillator based on that relationship.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising requesting at least one signal from the external source.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving of the at least one signal includes

detecting with the at least one photosensor light;

counting with the system controller the number of transitions of light over a predetermined time period;

counting with the system controller the number of transitions in the output from the oscillator during the same predetermined time period; and

normalizing at least one of the transition counts to match a frequency of the other transition count prior to comparing transition counts where the transition count of the light is the information contained in the at least one signal, and

wherein the light transitions are flickers of the light.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the external source is indoor lighting having a known frequency,

the receiving of the at least one signal includes

detecting the light with at least one photosensor,

determining whether a brightness of the light matches a light threshold,

when the brightness matches the light threshold, the method further comprising after receipt of the signal,

detecting light with the at least one photosensor,

counting with the system controller the number of transitions of light over a predetermined time period to determine a light frequency,

normalizing the light frequency to the oscillator frequency prior to comparing the oscillator frequency to information where information is the light frequency.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the external source is indoor lighting having a known frequency,

the receiving of the at least one signal includes detecting the light with at least one photosensor,

the method further comprising after receipt of the signal,

counting with the system controller the number of transitions of light over a predetermined time period to determine a light frequency,

normalizing the light frequency to the oscillator frequency prior to comparing the oscillator frequency to information where information is the light frequency.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the indoor lighting is at least one of fluorescent lighting and LED lighting.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising receiving an input by the contact lens identifying the known frequency for fluorescent lighting.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the input is at least one of detection of a blink pattern template and a transmission from another external source other than the fluorescent lighting.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the external source is indoor lighting having a known frequency,

the receiving of the at least one signal includes

detecting the light with at least one photosensor,

determining whether a brightness of the light matches a light threshold,

when the brightness matches the light threshold, the method further comprising after receipt of the signal,

detecting light with the at least one photosensor,

counting with the system controller the number of transitions of light over a predetermined time period to determine a light frequency,

normalizing the oscillator frequency to the lighting frequency prior to comparing the oscillator frequency to information where information is the number of cycles of light.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein adjusting the oscillator frequency includes adjusting a register electrically connected to the oscillator.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein adjusting the oscillator frequency includes adjusting at least one of a variable resistor and a variable capacitor to change the oscillator frequency.

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

transmitting a synch signal to a second contact lens having at least one of a coded signal and a plurality of zeros and ones; and

adjusting an oscillator frequency on the second contact lens based on the synch signal received from the first contact lens.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising:

transmitting a drift level from the second contact lens to the first contact lens,

transmitting from the first contact lens to the second contact lens a second synch signal having at least one of a coded signal and a plurality of zeros and ones,

adjusting the oscillator frequency on the second contact lens based on the second synch signal received from the first contact lens,

transmitting an updated drift level from the second contact lens to the first contact lens,

comparing drift levels with the first contact lens, when a difference between drift levels is greater than a drift threshold, repeating transmitting the second synch signal, adjusting the oscillator frequency in response to the second synch signal, and transmitting the updated drift level.

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

sending a synch ping from the contact lens to a second contact lens;

setting an accumulator to zero on the second contact lens;

counting each cycle with the accumulator on the second contact lens;

sending a second synch ping from the contact lens to the second contact lens,

comparing contents of the accumulator to a ping threshold with a system controller on the second contact lens; and

adjusting the clock frequency on the second contact lens based on the comparison with the system controller on the second contact lens.

20. A method for updating a clock residing on a contact lens, said method comprising:

transmitting a time signal from a system controller through a transmitter on the contact lens to an external device;

receiving on the external device the time signal;

comparing on the external device the received time signal with a current time on a clock on the external device to determine a time correction;

when the time correction is more than a threshold;

transmitting a time correction signal based on the time correction from the external device to the contact lens,

receiving the time correction signal by the system controller on the contact lens, and

updating the time on the contact lens by the system controller based on the time correction signal; and

when the time correction is less than or equal to the threshold, transmitting a signal from the external device to the system controller that the time is correct.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the time correction signal includes the time correction.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein the time correction signal includes a frequency adjustment based on

adjusting an oscillator frequency for an oscillator in the contact lens up when the time correction shows the time on the contact lens is behind the time on the external device;

adjusting the oscillator frequency for the oscillator in the contact lens down when the time correction shows the time on the contact lens is ahead of the time on the external device.

23. A method for updating a clock residing on a contact lens, said method comprising:

recording a base time in memory by the system controller, where the base time is at least one of an initial operation time for the contact lens and a last update time for the contact lens;

receiving by a system controller on the contact lens at least one signal from an external source an external current time;

determining a run time differential between the base time and a current time on the clock;

determining an update time differential between the current time on the clock and the external current time;

updating the clock to the external current time received by the system controller;

determining a time drift based on the relationship between the update time differential and the run time differential; and

adjusting an oscillator frequency based on that relationship.

24. A method for synchronizing frequencies between two lenses, said method comprising:

transmitting from a first contact lens a synch signal to a second contact lens having at least one of a coded signal and a plurality of zeros and ones;

adjusting an oscillator frequency on the second contact lens based on the synch signal received from the first contact lens;

transmitting a drift level from the second contact lens to the first contact lens,

transmitting from the first contact lens to the second contact lens a second synch signal having at least one of a coded signal and a plurality of zeros and ones,

adjusting the oscillator frequency on the second contact lens based on the second synch signal received from the first contact lens,

transmitting an updated drift level from the second contract lens to the first contact lens,

comparing drift levels with the first contact lens, when a difference between drift levels is greater than a drift threshold, repeating transmitting the second synch signal, adjusting the oscillator frequency in response to the second synch signal, transmitting the updated drift level, and comparing drift levels.