Eye-Mounted Display Retinal Compensation via Image Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current visual aid devices for localized visual impairment are conspicuous and lead to self-consciousness in public, limiting their usage among individuals with retinal disorders or injuries, as they do not effectively compensate for visual impairments without drawing attention.
Innovation Solution
An eye-mounted display system integrated into a contact lens or wearable device that captures images of the environment, processes them to compensate for visual impairments, and projects enhanced images onto undamaged sections of the retina, providing improved vision without being noticeable to others.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If visual aid devices (magnifiers, telescopes) are used to compensate for localized visual impairment, then visual function is improved, but social acceptance and user confidence deteriorate due to conspicuous appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the visual aid function with a contact lens, combining the corrective device with a cosmetic accessory that is socially acceptable. The contact lens serves both as a cosmetic item and as a vehicle for delivering the visual aid functionality, making it invisible to others while providing magnification or telescopic effects.
Solution Approach 2:
The visual aid system is nested within the contact lens structure. The optical elements (magnifying or telescopic) are integrated into the contact lens, which itself is nested on the eye. This nested arrangement allows the functional device to be hidden within a socially acceptable form factor.
2Reliability
If conventional visual aid devices are used, then visual impairment compensation is achieved, but device complexity and visibility increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions (visual aid, contact lens wearability, cosmetic appearance) into a single integrated device. The optical elements are merged with the contact lens material or structure, eliminating the need for separate visible aids while maintaining compensation functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The visual aid function is applied locally to specific regions of the contact lens that correspond to the user's damaged retinal areas. The contact lens provides localized magnification or telescopic effects only where needed, rather than requiring a full-field visible device.
3Ease of manufacture
If visual aid devices are made discreet, then social acceptance improves, but visual compensation effectiveness may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The contact lens provides localized optical correction precisely where the retinal damage occurs. By targeting specific regions of the lens corresponding to damaged retinal areas, the system maintains high compensation effectiveness while keeping the overall device discreet and cosmetically acceptable.
Solution Approach 2:
The functional optical elements are nested within the contact lens in a way that maximizes their effect on the retina while minimizing their visibility. The nesting arrangement allows the small-scale optical elements to provide significant visual compensation without requiring large visible structures.
Data Source
AI summary
An eye-mounted display is used to enhance vision of a user with visual impairment. Images of a user's unimpaired view of a surrounding environment are captured. These image are modified to compensate for the user's visual impairment. For example, the captured images can be magnified, an angular extent of the captured images can be compressed, or a contrast of the captured images can be enhanced. Also, the captured images can be modified by including identification of an object, a face, or an emotion. For a captured image including text, the text in the captured images can be modified. The eye-mounted display projects the compensated images onto the user's retina. When the user's retina has a damaged section, the eye-mounted display projects the compensated images away from the damaged section.