Spectacle lens manufacturing method and spectacle lens manufacturing system

• US 8,241,534 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2005
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hoya Corporation
• Original Assignee: Hoya Corporation
• Inventors: Akiyama, Hisanori
• Primary Examiner(s): Daniels, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): MINSKEY, JACOB T
• Application Number:
  US10/557,580
• Publication Number:
  US 20060189255A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,715 Days
• Field of Search: 264/1.1
• US Class Current: 264/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: B24B 9/148 electrically, e.g. numerically, controlled
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32024 Remote ordering, electronic selection article and fitting to form of client
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/35097 Generation of cutter path, offset curve
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45157 Grind optical lens
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/40 Minimising material used in manufacturing processes

Abstract

To reduce the types of blanks such as a semi-finished lens blank, materials, and processing time, a spectacle lens design device disposed at a factory on a manufacturing side and a lens processing device connected thereto block an applicable semi-finished lens blank or lens blank. The semi-finished lens blank or lens blank are blocked so that a reference surface thereof tilts at a predetermined angle using a numerical-control curve generator. The reference surface tilts based on order information sent from an order terminal disposed at a spectacle store on a order-placement side. Both surfaces of a plastic material are formed so that a geometric center of an edge shape positions at a center of a circle of a circular lens thereby satisfy an optical specification of the spectacle lens-related to the order. Next, the circular lens is processed to have the edge shape of the spectacle lens-related to the order to thereby obtain the spectacle lens-related to the order.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a spectacle lens to be set in one of two sub-frames of a spectacle frame, the method being based on order information including a prescription value, the method comprising:

a step of forming a lens member by obtaining a circular lens member by forming a circular plastic material into a curved surface shape of an optical surface satisfying an optical specification of the spectacle lens related to an order, the circular lens member being obtained before the lens member is processed into an edge shape, the circular plastic material being selected from a plurality of semi-finished lens blanks or lens blanks prepared in advance, each of the semi-finished lens blanks having a curved surface shape that is frequently ordered in a past actual order record and being used for forming the frequently ordered curved surface shape, each of the lens blanks being used for forming a curved surface shape that is ordered at low frequency in the past actual order record,

wherein, in the lens member forming step, based on the order information including spectacle frame information and layout information,

an optical center of the optical surface is set at a position having a distance away from a geometric center of the circular lens member, the distance corresponding to an inward eccentric quantity calculated based on a pupil distance PD and a distance between centers of the two sub-frames, a geometric center of the edge shape corresponding to an associated sub-frame center,

the geometric center of the circular lens member corresponds to the associated sub-frame center and the geometric center of the edge shape,

one surface of a selected semi-finished lens blank has not yet been processed into the curved surface shape satisfying the optical specification of the spectacle lens related to the order, but has been processed into a predetermined surface shape as the circular plastic material of a processing target, and

both surfaces of a selected lens blank have not yet been processed into the curved surface shape satisfying the optical specification of the spectacle lens related to the order, but have been processed into the predetermined surface shape as the circular plastic material of the processing target,

the lens member forming step uses a numerical-control curve generator generating the curved surface shape of the processing target by controlling distances from a cutting blade to the circular plastic material and a rotation axis, respectively, in accordance with the curved surface shape of a formation target while rotating the circular plastic material around the rotation axis passing through a specific point of the curved surface of the processing target, and

the circular plastic material is arranged so that the center thereof being a geometric center of an edge shape of the spectacle lens comes above the rotation axis, a calculation is made to obtain a tilt angle in a case where a reference surface of the circular plastic material is tilted at a predetermined angle with respect to a case where the processing is performed on assumption that an optical center or a lens vertex positions above the rotation axis, and a processing is performed by tilting the reference surface of the circular plastic material beforehand to offset the tilted angle.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the selected semi-finished lens blank or the selected lens blank has an outside diameter at least larger than a maximum distance between one of the sub-frame centers and the associated sub-frame of the spectacle frame related to the order and having the smallest outside diameter as well, the selected semi-finished lens blank or the selected lens blank being selected and processed so that the spectacle lens related to the order is manufactured.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the circular plastic material is set in a processing machine so that a normal direction at a geometric center of a surface to be processed of the circular plastic material becomes in parallel with a rotational axis of the processing machine.

4. A spectacle lens manufacturing system, comprising:

an order placement-side computer configured to process a transmit information required to order a spectacle lens including frame shape information;

a manufacturing-side computer configured to acquire information required to manufacture the spectacle lens-related to the order by receiving the information transmitted by the order placement-side computer; and

a spectacle lens manufacturing device configured to manufacture the spectacle lens-related to the order that is processed to have a shape settable in one of two sub-frames of a frame by performing processes including formations of a curved surface and edge shape on a circular plastic material based on the information acquired by the manufacturing-side computer, each sub-frame having a center, the circular plastic material being selected from a semi-finished lens blank or a lens blank, the semi-finished lens blank having a curved surface shape that is frequently ordered in a past actual order record and being used for forming the frequently ordered curved surface shape, the lens blank being used for forming a curved surface shape that is ordered at low frequency in the past actual order record;

wherein said spectacle lens manufacturing device selectively uses, as the circular plastic material of a processing target, the semi-finished lens blank of which one surface has not yet been processed or the lens blank of which both surfaces have not yet been processed to have a curved surface satisfying an ultimate optical specification but have a predetermined surface shape,

wherein an area of the edge shape on a surface of the circular plastic material is determined prior to processing the unprocessed surface of semi-finished lens blank or both surfaces of the lens blank to be curved, so that a geometric center of the semi-finished lens blank or the lens blank does not match an optical center of the spectacle lens but matches with a geometric center of the edge shape to be processed and the center of one of the sub-frames,

wherein an optical center of an optical surface of the spectacle lens is set at a position having a distance away from a geometric center of the spectacle lens before being processed into the edge shape, based on order information including spectacle frame information and layout information,

wherein the distance away from the geometric center of the spectacle lens corresponds to an inward eccentric quantity calculated based on a pupil distance PD and a distance between the centers of the two sub-frames, the geometric center of the edge shape corresponding to the associated sub-frame center and the geometric center of the semi-finished lens blank or the lens blank,

wherein said spectacle lens manufacturing device selects, out of a plurality of the semi-finished lens blank or the lens blank of different outside diameters and/or lens thicknesses prepared in advance, the semi-finished lens blank or the lens blank having the outside diameter and/or lens thickness size(s) allowing an appropriate processing for the spectacle lens-related to the order,

wherein the selection of the outside diameter of the semi-finished lens blank or the lens blank is conducted by specifying based on a distance from one of the sub-frame centers to an associated sub-frame and the spectacle lens-related to the order is manufactured by processing the selected semi-finished lens blank or lens blank, and

wherein the curved surface formation is performed to the unprocessed surface of the semi-finished lens blank or both of the surfaces of the lens blank selected by the selection,

wherein a numerical-control curve generator generates the curved surface shape of a processing target by controlling distances from a cutting blade to the circular plastic material and a rotation axis, respectively, in accordance with the curved surface shape of a formation target while rotating the circular plastic material around the rotation axis passing through a specific point of the curved surface of the processing target, and

wherein the circular plastic material is arranged so that the center thereof being a geometric center of an edge shape of the spectacle lens comes above the rotation axis, a calculation is made to obtain a tilt angle in a case where a reference surface of the circular plastic material is tilted at a predetermined angle with respect to a case where the processing is performed on assumption that an optical center or a lens vertex positions above the rotation axis, and a processing is performed by tilting the reference surface of the circular plastic material beforehand to offset the tilted angle.

5. The spectacle lens manufacturing system according to claim 4, wherein the circular plastic material is set in a processing machine so that a normal direction at a geometric center of a surface to be processed of the circular plastic material becomes in parallel with a rotational axis of the processing machine.