Visual apparatus

• US 4,842,400 A
• Filed: 07/06/1988
• Issued: 06/27/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (AES Corporation), Siegfried Klein
• Original Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (AES Corporation), Siegfried Klein
• Inventors: Klein, Siegfried
• Primary Examiner(s): Bovernick, Rodney B.
• Application Number:
  US07/215,611
• Time in Patent Office: 356 Days
• Field of Search: 351/41, 351/158, 351/44, 351/45, 350/331 R, 350/330, 350/332, 2/432, 2/433, 128/16.5
• US Class Current: 351/158
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/023 with variable transmission, e.g. photochromic for welding A61F9/067
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/101 having an electro-optical light valve electro-optical elements per se G02F

Abstract

The visual apparatus makes it possible to limit the instantaneous luminous intensity without reducing the field of vision and comprises a plate with an opaque surface having a transparent slot, a support (2) on which said plate is mounted, said support bearing on part of the body of said person, said plate thus being placed in front of an eye of said person and a scanning means (8) connected to said plate for scanning the opaque surface of said plate by said transparent slot. The apparatus is used more particularly as medical spectacles in the case of cataracts, or as sunglasses.

Claims

1. Visual apparatus to be worn in front of the eyes of a person, characterized in that it comprises a plate having an opaque surface provided with a transparent slot, a support (2) on which is mounted said plate, the support bearing on part of the body of said person, said plate being placed in front of the eye of said person and a scanning means (8) connected to the plate for scanning the opaque surface of said plate by the said transparent slot.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the visual apparatus comprises another plate (6) having an opaque surface provided with a transparent slot, said other plate being mounted on said support so that it is located in front of the other eye of said person, said scanning means being connected to said other plate for scanning the surface of said other plate by said transparent slot.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that each plate is a cell constituted by two transparent walls between which is arranged an optical material, whose transparency is electrically controllable, each cell having electrodes disposed on the inner faces of the transparent walls defining controllable zones (14) shaped like a slot, said electrodes receiving electrical signals from said scanning means.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that the optical material is a liquid crystal film.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that each plate (4,6) is an opaque disk provided with a slot (34) following a diameter of the disk and the scanning means (8) controls the rotation of the disk.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that each plate is substantially rectangular, the opaque surface being formed by a membrane (32) having a slot (34) and the scanning means (8) controls the translation of the membrane.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said support is a spectacle frame.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the scanning frequency of the opaque surface by the transparent slot is fixed by the scanning means (8) at a frequency exceeding 16 Hz.

9. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that each plate is a cell constituted by two transparent walls between which is arranged an optical material, whose transparency is electrically controllable, each cell having electrodes disposed on the inner faces of the transparent walls defining controllable zones (14) shaped like a slot, said electrodes receiving electrical signals from said scanning means.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the optical material is a liquid crystal film.

11. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that each plate (4,6) is an opaque disk provided with a slot (34) following a diameter of the disk and the scanning means (8) controls the rotation of the disk.

12. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that each plate is substantially rectangular, the opaque surface being formed by a membrane (32) having a slot (34) and the scanning means (8) controls the translation of the membrane.

13. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that said support is a spectacle frame.

14. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the scanning frequency of the opaque surface by the transparent slot is fixed by the scanning means (8) at a frequency exceeding 16 Hz.