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

Abstract

A personal eyewear device 100 comprising a frame 104, an electronics module 106 including a processor 110, memory and power source 112, an eye tracking subsystem, and an eye imaging subsystem comprising a first imaging sensor configured to obtain first eye imaging data with respect to a left eye of the wearer; and a second imaging sensor configured to obtain second eye 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 one or more activation conditions for the eye imaging subsystem, wherein a first activation condition of the one or more activation conditions is based on the eye tracking data.

Claims

1. A personal eyewear device for obtaining eye 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;an eye imaging subsystem comprising:a first imaging sensor configured to obtain first eye imaging data with respect to a left eye of the wearer; anda second imaging sensor configured to obtain second eye imaging data with respect to a right eye of the wearer;the personal eyewear device further comprising:a scheduling module, wherein the scheduling module is configured to dynamically activate and deactivate the first imaging sensor and the second imaging sensor based on one or more activation conditions for the eye imaging subsystem, wherein a first activation condition of the one or more activation conditions is based on the eye tracking data.

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

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 first activation condition is met, wherein the first activation condition is related to an eye alignment with a first direction, wherein the eye alignment with the first direction is determined from the eye tracking data.

4. The personal eyewear device of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to:record a set of previous eye tracking data, wherein the previous eye-tracking data was captured over a previous period of time;determine a set of second directions, each corresponding to one or more of the set of previous eye tracking data;wherein the first direction is substantially different from the set of second directions.

5. 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.

6. The personal eyewear device of any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the eye tracking subsystem is configured to obtain eye tracking data with respect to a left and a right eye of the wearer, wherein the eyetracking data includes first eye tracking data corresponding to the left eye of the wearer and second eyetracking data corresponding to the right eye of the wearer, wherein the scheduling module is configured to: activate the first imaging sensor based on the first eye tracking data; and activate the second imaging sensor based on the second eye-tracking data, such that the scheduling module is configured to determine whether to activate the first imaging sensor independently of the second imaging sensor.

7. 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 a second activation condition of the one or more activation conditions is met in combination with the first 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.

8. The personal eyewear device of claim 7, wherein the time condition of the second activation condition is a time of day or a time elapsed since previous first and / or second eye imaging data was obtained by the eye imaging subsystem.

9. 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 visible spectrum, and wherein the eye imaging subsystem further comprises:a first ambient light sensor configured to detect an ambient light level in the vicinity of the personal eyewear device, wherein the scheduling module is further configured to activate the first imaging sensor and second imaging sensors based on a determination that a third activation condition of the one or more activation conditions is met in combination with the first condition, wherein the third activation condition is an ambient light condition, wherein the scheduling module is configured to compare the ambient light level against the third activation condition to determine whether the third activation condition is met.

10. The personal eyewear device of claim 9, wherein the eye imaging subsystem further comprises a second ambient light sensor, wherein:the first ambient light sensor is configured to detect a first ambient light level in the vicinity of a left eye of the wearer;the second ambient light sensor is configured to detect a second ambient light level in the vicinity of a right eye of the wearer;the scheduling module is configured to dynamically:62activate and deactivate the first imaging sensor based at least in part on the first ambient light level; andactivate and deactivate the second imaging sensor based at least in part on the second ambient light level.

11. The personal eyewear device of any preceding claim, wherein the scheduling module is configured to activate the first and second imaging sensors only when all of the one or more activation conditions are met.

12. The personal eyewear device of any preceding claim, wherein the scheduling module is configured to dynamically activate and deactivate the eye imaging subsystem based on the one or more activation conditions, such that the first imaging sensor and the second imaging sensor are activated and deactivated together.

13. The personal eyewear device of any preceding claim, wherein the first imaging sensor comprises a first pair of eye imaging cameras arranged at separate locations around a first rim of the personal eyewear device, and wherein the second imaging sensor comprises a second pair of eye imaging cameras arranged at separate locations around a second rim of the personal eyewear device.

14. A system for processing eye 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 imaging data from the personal eyewear device; anda data processing module, configured to process the first and second 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 imaging data from the user device.

16. A method of obtaining eye 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 imaging subsystem including a first imaging sensor and a second imaging sensor; andan eye tracking subsystem; the method comprising:obtaining, by 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 and the second imaging sensors based on one or more activation conditions such that the first imaging sensor and the second imaging sensor are in an active63mode, wherein a first activation condition of the one or more activation conditions is based on the eye tracking dataobtaining, with the first imaging sensor in the active mode, first eye imaging data with respect to a left eye of the wearer; andobtaining, with the second imaging sensor in the active mode, second eye 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 one or more activation conditions further comprises at least one of:determining that a second activation condition of the one or more activation conditions is met, wherein the second activation condition is a time condition; anddetermining that a third activation condition of the one or more activation conditions is met, wherein the third activation condition is an ambient light condition.

18. The method of any of claims 16 or 17, further comprising deactivating the first and second imaging sensors after obtaining the first and second eye imaging data, such that the first and second imaging sensors are in an inactive mode.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein deactivating the first and second imaging sensors comprises: determining that the first and / or second eye 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.

20. The method of any of claims 16 to 19, wherein dynamically activating the first imaging sensor based on the one or more activation conditions is performed independently from activating the second imaging sensor based on the one or more activation conditions.

21. The method of any of claims 16 to 20, wherein obtaining the firs teye imaging data comprises: capturing a first plurality of images of respective portions of the left eye of the wearer including one or more of a left iris, a left cornea, and / or a left sclera;wherein obtaining the second eye imaging data comprises:capturing a second plurality of images of respective portions the right eye of the wearer including one or more of a right iris, a right cornea, and / or a right sclera;wherein the method further comprises:using a photogrammetry process with respect to first and second plurality of images to obtain respective first and second three-dimensional models of the left eye and the right eye respectively, wherein the first and second three-dimensional models form at least a part of the first and second imaging data respectively.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first imaging sensor comprises a first pair of eye imaging cameras arranged at separate locations around a first rim of the personal eyewear device, and wherein the64second imaging sensor comprises a second pair of eye imaging cameras arranged at separate locations around a second rim of the personal eyewear device, wherein:capturing the first plurality of images of respective portions of the left eye of the wearer comprises synchronously capturing the first plurality of images with the first pair of eye imaging cameras; andcapturing the second plurality of images of respective portions of the right eye of the wearer comprises synchronously capturing the second plurality of images with the second pair of eye imaging cameras.

23. The method of any of claims 16 to 22, further comprising performing further processing of the first and / or second eye imaging data to determine a status of the wearer.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein performing the further processing of the first and / or second eye imaging data to determine the status of the wearer comprises: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 eye imaging data correlated with training status data;inputting, to the trained machine learning model, the first and / or second eye imaging data or a part thereof;receiving, from the trained machine learning model, an output including status data; and determining 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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