Automated Vision Testing System for Reducing Clinical Time
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vision testing protocols are time-consuming and inefficient, requiring clinicians to spend excessive time completing standardized visual acuity and low contrast acuity tests without ensuring flexibility or maintaining accuracy.
Innovation Solution
A method that presents optotypes on a display with progressively decreasing size or contrast, allowing patients to identify the smallest line they can read accurately, then advancing through subsequent lines until identification fails, with results recorded electronically and displayed or printed for efficient testing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a clinician uses traditional vision testing protocols to ensure accurate and reliable testing, then measurement precision is maintained, but loss of time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically presenting optotypes and recording patient responses without requiring manual administration. The controller automatically manages the testing sequence, eliminates manual chart handling, and pre-configures the testing protocol, thereby reducing the time clinicians spend on administrative tasks while maintaining testing accuracy through standardized automated procedures
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical testing procedures with an automated electronic system. The controller electronically displays optotypes on a screen, automatically tracks patient responses, and processes results without manual intervention. This substitution eliminates the time-consuming manual administration of traditional vision charts while preserving measurement precision through consistent, standardized presentation of optotypes
2Productivity
If a clinician reduces testing time to increase productivity, then productivity improves, but measurement precision may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The automated system enables continuous testing without interruptions for manual chart changes or data recording. The controller continuously presents optotypes and records responses in real-time, eliminating gaps in the testing process. This continuity allows clinicians to efficiently manage more patients per day while maintaining precise measurements through uninterrupted, standardized testing protocols
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates immediate feedback mechanisms where patient responses are automatically recorded and processed by the controller. This real-time feedback ensures accurate tracking of visual acuity measurements without requiring manual verification, thereby maintaining measurement precision while reducing testing time and increasing overall productivity
Data Source
AI summary
A method of vision testing includes providing a display, presenting a first chart of optotypes wherein each line progressively decreases in size or in contrast of the optotype relative to a background. The method includes having a patient identify and read the optotypes, noting which line of optotypes at which the patient can correctly identify all of the optotypes in the first chart, confirming that the patient has correctly identified all of the optotypes in the line of the first chart, and then presenting a second chart of optotypes wherein each line of the second chart progressively decreases in one of size or in contrast of the optotype relative to a background. The size or contrast of the noted line of optotypes from the first chart that the patient correctly identified is presented as either a first line of optotypes or a second line of optotypes on the second chart.