Eyewear device, system, and method for obtaining fundus imaging data

Abstract

A personal eyewear device 100, system and method are provided for obtaining fundus imaging data of a wearer of the personal eyewear device 100 comprising a frame 104 for supporting one or more lenses 102 in front of eyes of the wearer, an electronics module 106 including a processor 110, memory and power source 112, an eye tracking subsystem configured to obtain eye tracking data and a fundus imaging subsystem comprising a first imaging sensor configured to obtain first fundus imaging data with respect to a left eye of the wearer; and a second imaging sensor configured to obtain second fundus imaging data with respect to a right eye of the wearer. A scheduling module is configured to dynamically activate and deactivate the first imaging sensor and the second imaging sensor based on the eye tracking data.

Claims

1. A personal eyewear device for obtaining fundus imaging data of a wearer of the personal eyewear device, the personal eyewear device comprising:a frame for supporting one or more lenses in front of eyes of the wearer when the personal eyewear device is worn by the wearer;an electronics module including:a processor;a memory;a power source for powering the electronics module;an eye tracking subsystem, wherein the eye tracking subsystem is configured to obtain eye tracking data with respect to at least an eye of the wearer of the personal eyewear device;a fundus imaging subsystem comprising:a first imaging sensor configured to obtain first fundus imaging data with respect to a left eye of the wearer; anda second imaging sensor configured to obtain second fundus imaging data with respect to a right eye of the wearer; anda scheduling module, wherein the scheduling module is configured to dynamically activate and deactivate the first imaging sensor and the second imaging sensor based on the eye tracking data.

2. The personal eyewear device of claim 1, wherein the first imaging sensor is arranged on the frame at a first position and is configured to capture first images of a left eye fundus of the wearer when the first imaging sensor is activated; andwherein the second imaging sensor is arranged on the frame at a second position and is configured to capture second images of a right eye fundus of the wearer when the second imaging sensor is activated.

3. The personal eyewear device of any preceding claim, wherein the scheduling module is configured to activate the first and second imaging sensors upon a determination that the eye tracking data meets a first activation condition related to an eye alignment with respect to the first and / or second imaging sensor.

4. The personal eyewear device of claim 3, wherein the scheduling module is configured to activate the first and second imaging sensors upon the determination that the eye-gaze tracking data meets the first activation condition in combination with a second activation condition, wherein the second activation condition is a time condition, wherein the scheduling module is configured to compare timing data against the second activation condition to determine whether the second activation condition is met.

5. The personal eyewear device of claim 4, wherein the time condition of the second activation condition is a time of day or a time elapsed since previous fundus imaging data was obtained by the fundus imaging subsystem.

6. The personal eyewear device of any preceding claim, wherein the eye-tracking data includes first eye tracking data corresponding to the left eye of the wearer and second eye-tracking data corresponding to the right eye of the wearer, wherein the scheduling module is configured to:61activate the first imaging sensor based on the first eye tracking data; andactivate the second imaging sensor based on the second eye-tracking data, such that the scheduling module is configured to activate the first imaging sensor independently of the second imaging sensor.

7. The personal eyewear device of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the scheduling module is configured to dynamically activate and deactivate the fundus imaging subsystem based on the eye tracking data, such that the first imaging sensor and the second imaging sensor are activated and deactivated together.

8. The personal eyewear device of any preceding claim wherein the first imaging sensor and the second imaging sensor are configured to detect light in the infrared or near-infrared spectral bands.

9. The personal eyewear device of claim 8, wherein the fundus imaging subsystem further comprises: a first fundus illumination source configured to illuminate the fundus of the left eye of the wearer with infrared or near-infrared light; anda second fundus illumination source configured to illuminate the fundus of the right eye of the wearer with infrared or near-infrared light.

10. The personal eyewear device of claim 9, wherein the first fundus illumination source is arranged on the frame at a first adjacent position to the first imaging sensor, and wherein the second fundus illumination source is arranged on the frame at a second adjacent position to the second imaging sensor.

11. The personal eyewear device of claim 9 or 10, wherein the scheduling module is configured to dynamically activate and deactivate the first fundus illumination source with the first imaging sensor and the second fundus illumination source with the second imaging sensor based on the eye-gaze tracking data.

12. The personal eyewear device of any preceding claim, wherein the first and second imaging sensors include a monochromatic camera, a multispectral camera or a hyperspectral camera.

13. The personal eyewear device of any preceding claim, wherein the eye-tracking subsystem comprises at least an eye tracking imaging sensor configured to obtain the eye tracking data, wherein the eye tracking imaging sensor has a lower resolution and / or a lower power consumption than each of the first and second imaging sensors when the first and second imaging sensors are activated.

14. A system for processing fundus imaging data, the system comprising:the personal eyewear device of any of claims 1 to 13;a user device configured to communicate with the personal eyewear device and to receive the first and second fundus imaging data from the personal eyewear device; anda data processing module, configured to process the first and second fundus imaging data to determine a status of the wearer.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the data processing module is external to the user device, wherein the user device is configured to communicate with the data processing module, and wherein the data processing module is configured to receive the first and second fundus imaging data from the user device.

16. A method of obtaining fundus imaging data of a wearer of a personal eyewear device, the personal eyewear device having:a frame for supporting one or more lenses in front of eyes of the wearer when the personal eyewear device is worn by the wearer;an electronics module including:an eye tracking subsystem; anda fundus imaging subsystem including a first imaging sensor and a second imaging sensor, the method comprising:obtaining, with the eye tracking subsystem, eye tracking data with respect to at least an eye of the wearer of the personal eyewear device;dynamically activating the first imaging sensor based on the eye-gaze tracking data such that the first imaging sensor is in an active mode,obtaining, with the first imaging sensor in the active mode, first fundus imaging data with respect to a left eye of the wearer;dynamically activating the second imaging sensor based on the eye-gaze tracking data such that the second imaging sensor is in an active mode; andobtaining, with the second imaging sensor in the active mode, second fundus imaging data with respect to a left eye of the wearer.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein dynamically activating the first and second imaging sensors based on the eye-gaze tracking data further comprises:determining that the eye tracking data meets a first activation condition related to an eye alignment with respect to the first and / or second imaging sensor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the eye tracking data includes an eye-gaze parameter indicative of an orientation of an eye of the wearer, wherein the determining that the eye tracking data meets the first activation condition includes:determining that the eye-gaze parameter is within a threshold difference of a predicted eye-gaze parameter, wherein the predicted eye-gaze parameter is indicative of the eye alignment with respect to the first and / or second imaging sensor.

19. The method of claim 17 or 18, wherein dynamically activating the first and second imaging sensors further comprises:determining that a second activation condition is met, wherein the second activation condition is a time condition, wherein determining that the second activation condition is met comprises:comparing timing data against the second activation condition to determine whether the second activation condition is met.

20. The method of any of claims 16 to 19, further comprising deactivating the first and second imaging sensors after obtaining the first and second fundus imaging data, such that the first and second imaging sensors are in an inactive mode.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein deactivating the first and second imaging sensors comprises: determining that the first and / or second fundus imaging data meets a quality condition related to a quality of the first and / or second fundus imaging data; andif the quality condition is not met:maintaining the first and / or second imaging sensor in the active mode.

22. The method of any of claims 16 to 21, wherein dynamically activating the first imaging sensor based on the eye tracking data is performed together with dynamically activating the second imaging sensor based on the eye tracking data, such that the method comprises dynamically activating the fundus imaging subsystem based on the eye tracking data.

23. The method of any of claims 16 to 21, wherein dynamically activating the first imaging sensor based on the eye tracking data is performed independently from activating the second imaging sensor based on the eye tracking data.

24. The method of any of claims 16 to 23, further comprising:performing further processing of the first and / or second fundus imaging data to determine a status of the wearer, by:training a machine learning model with a training dataset, the training dataset including a plurality of data entries, the plurality of data entries including training fundus imaging data correlated with training status data;inputting, to the trained machine learning model, the first and / or second fundus imaging data;receiving, from the trained machine learning model, an output including status data; anddetermining the status of the wearer from the output including status data.

25. A computer program, which, when executed by a processor, is configured to perform the method of any of claims 16 to 24.

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