Retinal stimulator

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a retinal stimulator comprising a camera for capturing an initial image and an implant device having a stimulating electrode array implanted in the retina, a matching method of the stimulating electrode array and the initial image being that a target region corresponding to the stimulating electrode array in the initial image is selected according to the tilt angle of the stimulating electrode array relative to the horizontal plane, wherein the number of pixels of the target region matches the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array. According to the present disclosure, the patient can see the image of normal visual angle without changing the hardware.

Description

[0001] The present application is a divisional application of the patent application with application number 2019107031183, titled "Matching method of electrode position of retinal stimulator", and filed on July 31, 2019. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of intelligent medical treatment, and in particular to a retinal stimulator. BACKGROUND

[0003] Retinal diseases such as RP (retinitis pigmentosa), AMD (age-related macular degeneration), etc. are important blinding diseases, and patients suffer from decreased vision or blindness due to blocked photoreceptor pathways. With the research and development of technology, technical means such as using a retinal stimulator to repair the above-mentioned retinal diseases have emerged. The existing retinal stimulator generally includes a camera device arranged outside the patient's body, an image processing device, and an implant placed in the patient's eyeball (also referred to as "implant device"). Among them, the camera device outside the body captures images of the outside world to obtain image signals, the image processing device processes the image signals and sends the processed image signals (also referred to as "visual signals") to the implant. The implant further converts these image signals into electrical stimulation signals to stimulate the ganglion cells or bipolar cells on the retina, thereby giving the patient a light sensation.

[0004] However, since the state of the surviving retinal cells of each patient is not consistent, the surgeon needs to select the most appropriate position to place the stimulating electrode array according to the actual situation, so that the position of the stimulating electrode array of the implant device set in the patient's eyeball may deviate, for example, the stimulating electrode array is tilted relative to the eye horizon. In this case, individual correction needs to be made for each patient so that the patient can experience a normal image viewing angle.

[0005] The existing correction method is usually achieved by adjusting the camera module. Specifically, the camera module of the camera device usually does not fix the camera when it leaves the factory. After the clinical operation is completed, the camera device captures the outside, for example, a T-shaped pattern during the boot adaptation process, and then the medical staff rotates the camera module according to the actual patient's experience. When the patient can feel the T-shaped pattern, the medical staff fixes the camera module. However, since the human eyeball needs to move constantly in daily use, the stimulating electrode array will often experience slow displacement after implantation, thereby causing the output image to be skewed, in which case the medical staff usually needs to adjust the camera module and other hardware again, causing an adverse user experience for the patient. SUMMARY

[0006] The present disclosure is proposed in view of the above situation, and aims to provide a matching method of electrode positions of a retinal stimulator, which can inhibit repeated modification of hardware and adjustment of output image positions after electrode displacement.

[0007] To this end, the present disclosure provides a matching method of electrode positions of a retinal stimulator, the retinal stimulator comprising a camera mounted outside an eye and a stimulating electrode array implanted in a retina, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: (a) acquiring an initial image having a predetermined number of pixels by means of the camera; (b) capturing a fundus photo containing the stimulating electrode array and acquiring a configuration position of the stimulating electrode array on the retina based on the fundus photo; (c) selecting a target region corresponding to the stimulating electrode array on the initial image according to the configuration position; and (d) processing the target region so as to match a target number of pixels of the target region with a number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array.

[0008] In the present disclosure, an initial image is acquired by means of a camera, a fundus photo containing a stimulating electrode array is captured, a configuration position of the stimulating electrode array on the retina can be acquired according to the fundus photo, a target region corresponding to the initial image is selected, and the target region is processed so as to match a target number of pixels of the target region with a number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array. Thus, the position of an output image can be adjusted without adjusting the position of the stimulating electrode array.

[0009] In the matching method of electrode positions of the present disclosure, optionally, before step (b), it further comprises: performing a grayscale processing on the initial image to obtain a grayscale image, and performing a binaryzation processing on the grayscale image to obtain a binary image. In this case, even in the case that the number of electrodes is small and the receiving information capacity is limited, the processing of the image can be optimized, and useful information of the image, such as the outline of an object or an obstacle, is retained as much as possible.

[0010] In the matching method of electrode positions of the present disclosure, optionally, before the binaryzation processing is performed, the grayscale image is further compressed. In this case, the redundant information of the image can be reduced, and the number of pixels of the image is reduced, so as to extract useful information of the image in the subsequent steps.

[0011] In the matching method of electrode positions of the present disclosure, optionally, the number of pixels of the target region is not less than the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array. Thus, the visual range of a patient can be increased.

[0012] In the matching method of electrode positions according to the present disclosure, optionally, in step (d), the target region is compressed to match the target pixel number of the target region with the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array. In this way, the patient can be better helped to recognize the image.

[0013] In the matching method of electrode positions according to the present disclosure, optionally, in step (d), a plurality of sub-regions with pixel numbers matching the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array are selected from the target region. In this way, the patient can be better helped to recognize the image.

[0014] In the matching method of electrode positions according to the present disclosure, optionally, further comprising periodically collecting a fundus photo containing the stimulating electrode array, and when the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array on the retina changes, the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array on the retina is acquired again. In this case, after the position of the stimulating electrode array changes, the patient can see the image with normal visual angle without changing the hardware.

[0015] In the matching method of electrode positions according to the present disclosure, optionally, the configuration position is the tilt angle of the stimulating electrode array relative to the horizontal plane when the eye looks straight ahead. In this way, the target region corresponding on the initial image can be selected according to the tilt angle of the stimulating electrode array.

[0016] In the matching method of electrode positions according to the present disclosure, optionally, the predetermined pixel number is greater than the target pixel number. In this way, the visual range of the patient can be increased.

[0017] In the matching method of electrode positions according to the present disclosure, optionally, the stimulating electrode array is arranged on the retina. In this way, the retina can be stimulated to produce light sensation by the electrodes on the stimulating electrode array.

[0018] According to the matching method according to the present disclosure, the patient can see the image with normal visual angle without changing the hardware. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a retinal stimulator according to an example of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a matching method of electrode positions according to an example of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 3 is a pre-processing flowchart of an initial image according to an example of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 4is a schematic diagram showing a process in a compression process to which an example of the present disclosure is related.

[0023] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration position of a stimulating electrode array in a fundus photograph to which an example of the present disclosure is related.

[0024] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing a target region of a stimulating electrode array in a dot matrix corresponding to an initial image to which an example of the present disclosure is related. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, for the same components, the same reference numerals are assigned and overlapping descriptions are omitted. In addition, the drawings are merely schematic diagrams, and the ratio of the size between the components or the shape of the components, etc. can be different from the actual.

[0026] In addition, the subheadings and the like involved in the following description of the present disclosure are not intended to limit the content or the scope of the present disclosure, but merely serve as a reading aid. Such subheadings should not be understood as dividing the contents of the articles, nor should the contents under the subheadings be limited only within the scope of the subheadings.

[0027] The present disclosure provides a method of matching electrode positions of a retinal stimulator. In the present disclosure, a target region corresponding to a stimulating electrode array can be corrected multiple times after a clinical surgery, thereby improving the phenomenon of image skewing due to the relative displacement of the electrodes. The present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0028] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a retinal stimulator to which an example of the present disclosure is related. The retinal stimulator 1 related to the present disclosure can be particularly suitable for patients who have lost their vision due to retinal diseases, but whose visual pathways such as bipolar cells, ganglion cells, etc. are intact. In the present disclosure, the retinal stimulator 1 is sometimes also referred to as an "artificial retina", a "prosthetic retina", an "artificial retina system", a "prosthetic retina system", etc.

[0029] In some examples, as shown in Figure 1 The retinal stimulator 1 can include an implant device 10, a camera device 20, and an image processing device 30. The implant device 10 can receive a visual signal and generate an electrical stimulation signal based on the visual signal to cause the patient to have a light sensation. The visual signal can be acquired by the camera device 20 and processed via the image processing device 30.

[0030] In some examples, the implant device 10 can include a stimulating electrode array 11 (see Figure 5). The stimulating electrode array 11 can include a prescribed number of stimulating electrodes (sometimes also referred to as "electrodes"). (Refer to Figure 5 ). The stimulating electrodes can generate an electrical stimulation signal in accordance with the visual signal. Specifically, the implant device 10 can receive the visual signal, and the stimulating electrodes can convert the received visual signal into a biphasic pulsed current signal as the electrical stimulation signal, thereby causing the ganglion cells or the bipolar cells of the retina to emit the biphasic pulsed current signal to generate a light sensation. In addition, the implant device 10 can be implanted in the human body, for example, in the eyeball.

[0031] In some examples, the visual signal received by the implant device 10 can be acquired and processed by the camera device 20 and the image processing device 30.

[0032] In some examples, the camera device 20 can be used to capture images and convert the captured images into visual signals. For example, the camera device 20 can capture images of the environment in which the patient is located.

[0033] In some examples, the camera device 20 can be a device with a camera function, such as a video camera, a still camera, or the like. In order to facilitate use, a small camera can be designed on (for example, embedded in) glasses.

[0034] In other examples, the patient can also capture images by wearing light and portable glasses with a camera function as the camera device 20. The camera device 20 can also be implemented by Google glasses or the like. In addition, the camera device 20 can be equipped on smart wearable devices such as smart glasses, smart headsets, smart wristbands, and the like.

[0035] In some examples, the image processing device 30 can receive the visual signal generated by the camera device 20. The image processing device 30 can process the visual signal and transmit it to the implant device 10 via a transmitting antenna.

[0036] In some examples, the image processing device 30 can be connected to the camera device 20. The connection between the camera device 20 and the image processing device 30 can be wired or wireless. The wired connection can be a data line connection, and the wireless connection can be a Bluetooth connection, a WiFi connection, an infrared connection, an NFC connection, or a radio frequency connection, and the like.

[0037] In some examples, the camera 20 and the image processing device 30 can be configured outside the patient's body. For example, the patient can wear the camera 20 on glasses. The patient can also wear the camera 20 on a wearable accessory such as a headwear, a hairband, or a brooch. In addition, the patient can wear the image processing device 30 on the waist, and the patient can also wear the image processing device 30 on a part such as an arm or a leg. Examples of the present disclosure are not limited thereto, and for example, the patient can also place the image processing device 30 in a handbag or a backpack carried on the body.

[0038] The process of the matching method of the electrode position of the retinal stimulator 1 will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The matching method of the electrode position of the retinal stimulator 1 involved in the present disclosure can be simply referred to as the matching method of the electrode position. Figure 2 is a flowchart showing the matching method of the electrode position involved in examples of the present disclosure. Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the pre-processing process of the initial image involved in examples of the present disclosure.

[0039] In the present embodiment, as shown in Figure 2 the matching method of the electrode position of the retinal stimulator 1 includes the following steps: (a) acquiring an initial image with a predetermined number of pixels by using the camera 20 (step S10); (b) acquiring a fundus photo containing the stimulating electrode array 11 and obtaining the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 on the retina based on the fundus photo (step S20); (c) selecting a target region M corresponding to the stimulating electrode array 11 on the initial image according to the configuration position (step S30); and (d) processing the target region M to match the target number of pixels of the target region M with the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array 11 (step S40).

[0040] In the matching method of the electrode position of the retinal stimulator 1 involved in the present embodiment, if the stimulating electrode array 11 is tilted after a clinical operation, the target region M corresponding to the stimulating electrode array 11 can be corrected multiple times without changing the hardware (such as re-adjusting the camera module), so that the patient can see an image with a normal visual angle.

[0041] In step S10, the initial image with a predetermined number of pixels can be acquired by using the camera 20. As described above, the camera 20 can be a camera.

[0042] In some examples, the initial image is, for example, an external environment in which the patient is located, such as a living scene, a traffic scene, etc. By taking a photo of the external environment by using the camera 20, the required initial image can be captured. In other examples, the camera 20 can capture an initial image every preset time T.

[0043] In the present embodiment, the predetermined number of pixels of the initial image can be, for example, 300,000, 1,000,000, 2,000,000, 5,000,000, 12,000,000, etc., but the present embodiment is not limited thereto. In some examples, the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array 11 can be 16, 20, 32, 60, 128, 256, 1,200, etc. In this case, the predetermined number of pixels of the initial image can be greater than the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array 11.

[0044] In some examples, the initial image can be an image captured by the camera 20 without any processing. Generally, the initial image captured by the camera 20 of the surrounding environment is a color image. That is, the initial image captured by the camera 20 without any processing can be a color image. In some examples, the color image can be an HSI image. The color image can also be an RGB image. However, examples of the present disclosure are not limited thereto, and the initial image captured by the camera 20 can be a grayscale image or a binary image, etc.

[0045] Generally, the appearance of an object or an obstacle in the initial image is the information that the patient is mainly concerned about, and in particular, identifying the outline of the object or the obstacle is beneficial to the movement of the blind or low-vision patient. On the one hand, not all color features and the like information in the color image can be used to reflect the shape features of the object in the initial image, and therefore, even if part of the above information of the color image is removed, the outline of the object or the obstacle can be better preserved. On the other hand, the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array 11 in the implanted device 10 of the retinal stimulator 1 is currently still relatively small, and the number of electrodes thereof is, for example, 60, 100, 150, or 256, etc.

[0046] In general, a relatively small number of electrodes is difficult to completely transmit all the information of the initial image, and it is often difficult to transmit information such as the outline of the object or the obstacle in the initial image. In such a case, if the initial image with a large number of pixels is directly corresponded to the stimulating electrode with a very limited number in the implanted device 10 of the retinal stimulator 1, since the number of stimulating electrodes cannot completely reflect the amount of information of the pixels of the initial image, it is easy to cause the image to be severely distorted. Based on this, the present disclosure performs grayscale processing and binary processing on the initial image, and even in the case that the number of stimulating electrodes is small and the receiving information ability is limited, the processing of the initial image can be optimized, and the useful information of the image such as the outline of the object or the obstacle is preserved as much as possible.

[0047] In some examples, in step S10, the initial image can be pre-processed. For example, the initial image can be pre-processed to remove some color information of the initial image. Figure 3As shown, the initial image can be subjected to a grayscale processing to obtain a grayscale image (step S11). In addition, the grayscale image can be subjected to a binarization processing to obtain a binary image (step S12). In addition, the grayscale image can be subjected to a compression processing (step S13). In some examples, the pre-processing of the initial image can be implemented by the image processing device 30.

[0048] In some examples, the grayscale image can be a special color image with the same size of R, G and B components (i.e. R=G=B values), which has less information than a normal color image. Each pixel of the grayscale image has a corresponding grayscale value. In some examples, each grayscale value can be represented by, for example, an 8-bit binary number, i.e. the grayscale value of the grayscale image ranges from 0 to 255. In other examples, each grayscale value can also be represented by, for example, a 16-bit binary number, and can also be represented by, for example, a 24-bit or more binary number.

[0049] In some examples, the grayscale processing in step S11 mainly processes the color information of the initial image, and does not change the information of the initial image other than the color information. For example, the grayscale processing can help highlight the useful information of the initial image in subsequent processing, such as the morphological feature information of objects or obstacles in the initial image.

[0050] In some examples, the grayscale processing method can be a component method, i.e. the value of any one of the R, G and B components can be selected as the grayscale value. For example, for a pixel in the initial image, if R=70, G=110 and B=150, the value of, for example, 70 can be selected as the grayscale value of the pixel, i.e. R=G=B=70 is set as the grayscale value of the pixel; the value of, for example, 110 can also be selected as the grayscale value of the pixel; and the value of, for example, 150 can also be selected as the grayscale value of the pixel. In this case, the grayscale image can be obtained by sequentially processing each pixel in the initial image.

[0051] In addition, in some examples, the grayscale processing method can also be a maximum value method, i.e. the maximum value of the R, G and B components can be selected as the grayscale value. For example, for a pixel in the initial image, if R=70, G=110 and B=150, the value of, for example, 150 can be selected as the grayscale value of the pixel. In this case, the grayscale image can be obtained by sequentially processing each pixel in the initial image.

[0052] In addition, in some examples, the gray-scale processing method can also be an average method, that is, the average value of the R, G, and B components can be selected as the gray-scale value. For example, for a pixel in the initial image, if R=70, G=110, and B=150, the average value of the R, G, and B values is 110, and 110 can be selected as the gray-scale value of the pixel. In this case, processing each pixel in the initial image in turn can obtain a gray-scale image.

[0053] In addition, in some examples, the gray-scale processing method can also be a weighted method, that is, the R, G, and B components can be weighted according to different weighting coefficients to obtain the gray-scale value. For example, for a pixel in the initial image, if R=70, G=110, and B=150, the weighting coefficient of R can be set to 0.3, the weighting coefficient of G can be set to 0.5, and the weighting coefficient of B can be set to 0.2, and then the gray-scale value of the pixel is 0.3*70+0.5*110+0.2*150=106. In this case, processing each pixel in the initial image in turn can obtain a gray-scale image.

[0054] In the above examples, the gray-scale processing can reduce the data amount (or information amount) of the initial image, facilitate subsequent processing of the image, and help highlight the useful image information in the initial image in subsequent processing. The useful image information can be, for example, contour information of an object or an obstacle.

[0055] In addition, for the implant device 10 of the retinal stimulator 1, since it needs to be implanted into the eyeball, the size of the implant device 10 is severely limited, and the number of stimulating electrodes in the stimulating electrode array 11 of the implant device 10 is also small. Therefore, by performing the binarization processing on the gray-scale image to obtain a binary image, the information of the pixels can be effectively transmitted to each stimulating electrode. For example, a low-level electrical stimulation signal can correspond to a pixel with a gray-scale value of 0, and a high-level electrical stimulation signal can correspond to a pixel with a gray-scale value of 255. However, examples of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, a high-level electrical stimulation signal can correspond to a pixel with a gray-scale value of 0, and a low-level electrical stimulation signal can correspond to a pixel with a gray-scale value of 255.

[0056] In some examples, the binarization processing in step S12 can include comparing the gray-scale value of each pixel in the gray-scale image with a preset gray-scale value. The gray-scale values in the gray-scale image can be divided into two categories, which are the maximum gray-scale value and the minimum gray-scale value. After changing the gray-scale values, a binary image can be obtained. In some examples, the preset gray-scale value can be set by a relevant person or determined by a related algorithm of the software used. In this case, the gray-scale image can be binarized to obtain a binary image.

[0057] In some examples, in the process of preprocessing the initial image, the initial image is processed to obtain a gray image, but the gray image still includes a lot of redundant information relative to the useful information of the image of the contour of the object or the obstacle, for example, the spatial redundancy caused by the correlation between adjacent pixels in the gray image. The number of pixels of the gray image can be reduced through compression processing to reduce the complexity in subsequent image processing (for example, binary processing) so as to extract the useful information of the image in the subsequent steps.

[0058] In some examples, as shown in FIG. 13, before the binary processing (step S12), the gray image can also be compressed (step S13), that is, the gray image is compressed to obtain a low-pixel gray image, so that the number of pixels of the compressed gray image is reduced, thereby facilitating the extraction of the useful information of the image in the subsequent steps. In some examples, the number of steps of the compression processing can be greater than or equal to two steps. Figure 3

[0059] In some examples, the step of compression processing (step S13) can include: first, partitioning the gray image to obtain a plurality of gray image regions Y; calculating the average gray value of the pixels in any one of the plurality of gray image regions Y, and taking the average gray value as the gray value of the gray image region Y; and taking each gray image region Y of the gray image as a pixel with the average gray value to obtain a low-pixel gray image. In this case, the gray image is compressed to facilitate the extraction of the useful information of the image in the subsequent steps.

[0060] For example, the pixels of the gray image are 160*144, and in order to facilitate the extraction of the useful information of the image in the subsequent steps, the number of pixels of the gray image can be reduced to 20*18 through the compression processing described above. Figure 4 FIG. 14 shows a schematic diagram of the process in the compression processing involved in the examples of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 14, a gray image with a pixel size of 160*144 can be divided into 20*18 gray image regions Y. Each gray image region Y contains 8*8 pixels. Figure 4 Figure 4 As shown in FIG. 14, the 8*8 pixels contained in one of the gray image regions Y and the gray values of the pixels thereof can be calculated to obtain the average gray value of the gray image region y, the gray image region y can be regarded as a pixel, and the average gray value can be taken as the gray value of the pixel. The gray values of the other gray image regions Y can be obtained as the gray image region y, and then a low-pixel gray image is obtained. The low-pixel gray image can be subjected to binary processing. In some examples, the number of pixels of the low-pixel gray image after the compression processing should not be less than the number of stimulating electrodes of the stimulating electrode array 11.

[0061] ​​However, examples of the present disclosure are not limited thereto, and other compression methods can be used in addition to the above-described compression method. For example, in some examples, the step of the compression process (step S13) can include: first partitioning the grayscale image to obtain a plurality of grayscale image regions Y, each grayscale image region Y including a plurality of pixels; calculating the average grayscale value of the pixels in any one of the plurality of grayscale image regions Y, and taking the average grayscale value as the grayscale value of the grayscale image region Y; comparing the average grayscale value of each grayscale image region Y with a preset average grayscale value, and determining the effective grayscale image region Y' in the grayscale image region Y; taking the effective grayscale image region Y' as a pixel with an average grayscale value, and combining each pixel in order to obtain a low-pixel grayscale image. In this case, the first compression process is performed on the grayscale image in order to extract useful image information in subsequent steps.

[0062] As described above, the low-pixel grayscale image after the compression process has a reduced number of pixels compared to the grayscale image before the compression process, and the redundancy of image data caused by the correlation between adjacent pixels in the grayscale image can be reduced accordingly. Thus, useful image information can be extracted in subsequent steps.

[0063] In some examples, both the compression process and the binarization process described above can be implemented using an image processing algorithm arranged on an FPGA (field programmable gate array). In the field of image processing, an FPGA can have the advantages of high reliability, good flexibility, large throughput, short development cycle, and low risk, and can greatly reduce the size and power consumption of the system, enabling high-speed real-time compression of images. In addition, the compression process and the binarization process described above can also be implemented using an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), a software program arranged on a computer, etc.

[0064] Figure 5 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement position of the stimulating electrode array 11 in the fundus photograph according to an example of the present disclosure.

[0065] In step S20, as Figure 5As shown, a fundus photo containing the stimulating electrode array 11 can be captured, and the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 on the retina can be obtained based on the fundus photo. In some examples, the stimulating electrode array 11 can be implanted on the retina and attached to the retina through a clinical surgery. Generally, due to the different states of the surviving retinal cells of each patient, the surgeon will select the most appropriate position to place the stimulating electrode array 11 according to the actual situation of the patient during the clinical surgery, so the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 of different patients will be different. The configuration position is the tilt angle of the stimulating electrode array 11 relative to the horizontal plane when the eye is looking straight ahead. In this case, the tilt angle θ of the stimulating electrode array 11 implanted on the retina of the patient relative to the horizontal plane L (also referred to as “horizontal plane L”) will be different. For example, the tilt angle θ of the stimulating electrode array 11 can be 0°, 10°, 15°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 135°, etc.

[0066] In some examples, after the stimulating electrode array 11 is implanted on the fundus of the retina, a fundus photo can be captured by a fundus camera (e.g., Topcon TRC-NW400). The captured fundus photo includes the stimulating electrode array 11, and in particular includes the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 on the retina. In this case, the tilt angle θ of the stimulating electrode array 11 relative to the horizontal plane L can be obtained by analyzing the fundus photo.

[0067] In some examples, the fundus photo containing the stimulating electrode array 11 can also be captured periodically to periodically understand whether the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 on the retina changes. In this way, the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array on the retina in step S20 can be updated periodically. When the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 on the retina changes, the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 on the retina can be obtained again.

[0068] In addition, in some examples, the stimulating electrode array 11 can be arranged on the retina. In other examples, the stimulating electrode array 11 can also be arranged under the retina.

[0069] In step S30, a target region corresponding to the stimulating electrode array 11 on the initial image (which can also be the initial image after preprocessing) can be selected according to the configuration position in step S20.

[0070] Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a target region of the stimulating electrode array 11 in a dot array corresponding to an initial image according to an example of the present disclosure. In some examples, as shown in FIG. 1, a dot array X corresponding to the initial image can be drawn in the image processing device 30 by software, which can correspond to the pixels of the initial image. For example, the dot array X can be drawn by software in the image processing device 30 according to the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 on the retina. Figure 6 Figure 6 ​A square in the dot matrix X in the initial image can represent a pixel of the initial image. And the target area M corresponding to the stimulation electrode array 11 is selected in the dot matrix X of the initial image according to the tilt angle θ of the stimulation electrode array 11.

[0071] In some examples, such as Figure 6 As shown, the shape of the target area M can be the same as the shape of the stimulation electrode array 11. For example, when the shape of the stimulation electrode array 11 is rectangular, the shape of the target area M can be rectangular. In some examples, the inclination angle Δ of the target area M relative to the horizontal plane L in the dot matrix X can be made the same as the inclination angle θ of the stimulation electrode array 11. In this case, the target area M can be made to correspond to the stimulation electrode array 11, for example Figure 6 The corresponding area a and the corresponding area b shown may correspond to Figure 5 The stimulation electrode 111 and the stimulation electrode 112 in the stimulation electrode array 11 are shown.

[0072] In some examples, the actual range of the selected target area M in the dot matrix X can be set manually. In some examples, the actual range of the selected target area M in the dot matrix X can be smaller than the number of electrodes in the stimulation electrode array 11, that is, the number of pixels in the target area M is smaller than the number of electrodes in the stimulation electrode array 11 (not shown). In some examples, the actual range of the selected target area M in the dot matrix X can be no less than the number of electrodes in the stimulation electrode array 11 (e.g., Figure 6 (as shown), that is, the number of pixels in the target area M is not less than the number of electrodes in the stimulation electrode array 11. For example, the number of electrodes in the stimulation electrode array 11 in the implant device 10 of the retinal stimulator 1 can be 60, 100, 150, or 256, etc. The number of pixels in the target area M can be less than or not less than 60, 100, 150, or 256, etc.

[0073] In some examples, since the configuration position of the stimulation electrode array on the retina in step S20 is periodically updated (the periodically updated configuration position may not change or may change), the target area is also periodically updated.

[0074] In step S40, the target region M may be processed so that the target pixel number of the target region M matches the number of electrodes of the stimulation electrode array 11. In some examples, the predetermined pixel number of the initial image should be greater than the target pixel number of the target region M.

[0075] In some examples, the number of pixels in the target area M may be less than or equal to the number of electrodes in the stimulation electrode array 11. In this case, based on the positional correspondence between the target area M and the electrodes in the stimulation electrode array 11 (not shown), each pixel in the target area M can be completely corresponded to an electrode in the stimulation electrode array 11, thereby transmitting the information corresponding to each pixel to each stimulation electrode for stimulation. The information corresponding to each pixel can be determined by the grayscale value corresponding to each pixel. For example, the electrical stimulation signal is at a low level, which may correspond to a pixel with a grayscale value of 0, and the electrical stimulation signal is at a high level, which may correspond to a pixel with a grayscale value of 255. However, the examples disclosed herein are not limited thereto. For example, the electrical stimulation signal is at a high level, which may correspond to a pixel with a grayscale value of 0, and the electrical stimulation signal is at a low level, which may correspond to a pixel with a grayscale value of 255. In this case, the patient can perceive an image at a normal viewing angle.

[0076] In some examples, the number of pixels in the target area M may be greater than the number of electrodes in the stimulation electrode array 11. In this case, the target area M may be compressed so that the pixels in the target area M have the target number of pixels and match the number of electrodes in the stimulation electrode array 11, and the information corresponding to each pixel in the compressed target area M is transmitted to each stimulation electrode for stimulation.

[0077] In step S40, the compression method of the compression processing in step S13 can also be used. For example, the compression processing may include: first partitioning the target area M to obtain multiple corresponding areas m (not shown); calculating the average grayscale value of the pixels in any corresponding area m among the multiple corresponding areas m, and using the average grayscale value as the grayscale value of the corresponding area m; treating each corresponding area m of the target area M as a pixel with an average grayscale value, thereby completing the processing of the target area M. In some examples, the number of divided corresponding areas m may not be greater than the number of electrodes of the stimulation electrode array 11. In this case, the pixels corresponding to the compressed target area M can have the target number of pixels and match the number of electrodes of the stimulation electrode array 11.

[0078] In some examples, the target area M can be divided into multiple corresponding areas m in the compression process described above. Figure 6 The partial corresponding region m shown is for example the corresponding region a and the corresponding region b. The average grayscale values ​​of the pixels in the corresponding region a and the corresponding region b can be calculated respectively, and the respective average grayscale values ​​are used as the grayscale values ​​of the corresponding region a and the corresponding region b respectively, and the corresponding region a and the corresponding region b are regarded as a pixel with their average grayscale values. The same processing can be performed on other regions (not shown), and the processing of the target region M can be completed. For example, the pixels of the compressed corresponding region a can be compared with Figure 5The stimulation electrode 111 of the stimulation electrode array 11 is matched, and the information corresponding to the compressed pixels of the corresponding area a (i.e., the average gray value of the corresponding area a) can be transmitted to the stimulation electrode 111 for stimulation. The compressed pixels of the corresponding area b can be matched with, for example Figure 5 The stimulation electrode 112 of the stimulation electrode array 11 is matched, and the information corresponding to the compressed pixels of the corresponding area b (i.e., the average gray value of the corresponding area b) can be transmitted to the stimulation electrode 112 for stimulation. If each corresponding area m stimulates the patient through the corresponding stimulation electrode, the patient can perceive the useful information of the image corresponding to the target area M.

[0079] For example, in some examples, another compression method of the compression process in step S10 can be used, and the compression process can include: first partitioning the target area M to obtain a plurality of corresponding areas m, each corresponding area m including a plurality of pixels; calculating the average gray value of the pixels in any one of the plurality of corresponding areas m, and taking the average gray value as the gray value of the corresponding area m; comparing the average gray value of each corresponding area m with a preset average gray value to determine the effective corresponding area m' of the corresponding area m; taking the effective corresponding area m' as a pixel with an average gray value, and combining each pixel in order to complete the processing of the target area M. In this case, the pixels corresponding to each sub-area can have a target number of pixels, and can be matched with the number of electrodes of the stimulation electrode array 11.

[0080] However, examples of the present disclosure are not limited thereto, and other compression methods can be used in addition to the compression methods described above. The compression method described above can compress the target area M to allow the patient to perceive the useful information of the image corresponding to the target area M.

[0081] In some examples, the number of pixels of the target area M can be greater than the number of electrodes of the stimulation electrode array 11, and a plurality of sub-areas with a number of pixels matched with the number of electrodes of the stimulation electrode array 11 can be selected from the target area M. The corresponding pixels in each sub-area can be matched with the number of electrodes of the stimulation electrode array 11, and any one of the plurality of sub-areas can be selected as a target corresponding area in turn to transmit the corresponding information to the corresponding stimulation electrode for stimulation.

[0082] In some examples, the processing method of the target area M described above can be used, for example Figure 6As shown, the target area M can be divided into a sub-area Q and other areas in the target area M except the sub-area Q, so that the sub-area Q and the other areas each have pixels that can match the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array 11. For example, the corresponding pixels in the sub-area Q and the other areas can be the same as the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array 11, so that the pixels in the sub-area Q or the other areas can be one-to-one corresponding to the electrodes in the stimulating electrode array 11. In this case, the sub-area Q and the other areas can be sequentially selected as target corresponding areas to transmit the information corresponding to each pixel in the respective areas to the respective stimulating electrodes for stimulation, so that the patient can respectively perceive the corresponding image useful information in the sub-area Q and the other areas.

[0083] In some examples, after the stimulating electrode array 11 is implanted in the retina, the constant movement of the eyeball can cause the stimulating electrode array 11 to slowly displace, so that the patient perceives that the image is skewed. In the present disclosure, the fundus photograph containing the stimulating electrode array 11 can be periodically collected, and when the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 on the retina changes, the configuration position of the stimulating electrode array 11 on the retina is acquired again, the target area M of the stimulating electrode array 11 in the dot matrix X is re-determined, so that the position of the output image (i.e., the target area) is dynamically adjusted, and the patient can see the image with normal visual angle without changing the hardware.

[0084] Although the present disclosure is specifically described above in combination with the drawings and examples, it should be understood that the above description does not limit the present disclosure in any form. Those skilled in the art can make modifications and changes to the present disclosure as needed without departing from the essential spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and these modifications and changes all fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A retinal stimulator, characterized by The retinal stimulator comprises a camera for capturing an initial image and an implant device having a stimulating electrode array implanted in the retina, and a matching method for the initial image is that a target region corresponding to the stimulating electrode array in the initial image is selected according to a tilt angle of the stimulating electrode array relative to a horizontal plane, the stimulating electrode array is in a rectangular shape, the target region is also in a rectangular shape and has the same tilt angle relative to the horizontal plane as the tilt angle of the stimulating electrode array relative to the horizontal plane, and the number of pixels of the target region matches the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array.

2. Retinal stimulator according to claim 1, characterized in that The initial image is an image of an environment in which a patient is located.

3. The retinal stimulator of claim 1, wherein, The implant device generates an electrical stimulation signal based on the initial image, and the electrodes in the stimulating electrode array emit the electrical stimulation signal to the ganglion cells or the bipolar cells of the retina to generate a light sensation.

4. The retinal stimulator of claim 1, wherein, The tilt angle of the stimulating electrode array relative to the horizontal plane is obtained based on a fundus photograph containing the stimulating electrode array.

5. Retinal stimulator according to claim 4, characterized in that The fundus photograph is captured by a fundus camera.

6. The retinal stimulator of claim 1, wherein, The number of pixels of the target region is not less than the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array.

7. The retinal stimulator of claim 1, wherein, The tilt angle is an angle of the stimulating electrode array relative to the horizontal plane when the eye is looking straight ahead.

8. The retinal stimulator of claim 1 or 3, wherein, An image processing device is further included, which performs a grayscale processing on the initial image to obtain a grayscale image.

9. Retinal stimulator according to claim 8, characterized in that The image processing device further performs a binarization processing on the grayscale image.

10. Retinal stimulator according to claim 9, characterized in that The image processing device further performs a compression processing on the grayscale image before the binarization processing to match the number of pixels of the target region with the number of electrodes of the stimulating electrode array.

Images