Compact Contrast-Sensitivity Test Device Using Smartphone Camera
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional contrast-sensitivity test devices are bulky, require controlled illumination environments, and yield inaccurate results due to subjective testing methods, making it difficult to effectively evaluate the performance of wavelength-controlling lenses in common settings.
Innovation Solution
A compact contrast-sensitivity test device with an illumination unit, visual target presentation unit, and response-time measurement unit that simulates various illumination environments and objectively measures response times to visual targets, allowing for accurate and easy testing of contrast sensitivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional contrast-sensitivity test devices are used, then they can conduct contrast sensitivity tests, but they are bulky and require controlled illumination environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential testing function from the complex conventional device by using a smartphone camera to capture visual targets and an illumination unit that can be positioned independently. This separates the core measurement function from the bulky housing and environmental control systems, achieving compactness while maintaining test reliability through objective image-based analysis
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces subjective human judgment with automated image processing and analysis. The smartphone camera captures visual targets, and software algorithms automatically analyze contrast sensitivity, eliminating the need for subjective testing and reducing the complexity of environmental control while improving measurement objectivity
2Ease of operation
If conventional subjective testing methods are used, then the test can be conducted, but the accuracy of obtained test results is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automated feedback through image capture and analysis. The smartphone camera captures the visual target presentation, and the system automatically processes the images to determine contrast sensitivity thresholds. This closed-loop feedback mechanism replaces subjective human judgment with objective automated analysis, significantly improving measurement precision while maintaining ease of operation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary illumination unit that presents visual targets through controlled lighting conditions. This intermediary system allows for precise control of contrast levels and presentation conditions, enabling accurate measurement while keeping the testing process simple and automated
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a contrast-sensitivity test device that is smaller than conventional ones and that enables a desired illumination environment to be easily set and enables a contrast sensitivity test to be conducted easily and accurately. The contrast-sensitivity test device includes: an illumination unit that emits illumination light such that a field of view of a subject is in a specified illumination environment; a visual target presentation unit that is located within the field of view of the subject and that switches and sequentially presents a plurality of visual targets having different contrasts; a response-time measurement unit that, when the illumination light is emitted, measures a response time after each visual target is presented until the subject recognizes the visual target; and a casing that houses the illumination unit, the visual target presentation unit, and the response-time measurement unit.