Failsafe Eye-Mountable Device for Presbyopia
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Solution Overview
Problem
Presbyopia, a progressive age-related loss of accommodative strength, affects millions, leading to increased blur at near distances, and existing solutions fail to provide reliable and safe vision accommodation in critical situations, such as driving or piloting, due to potential device failures.
Innovation Solution
An eye-mountable device with a failsafe subsystem that automatically transitions to a far field focal distance upon detecting failure conditions, using a gaze direction sensor system, accommodation actuator, and control electronics embedded in a flexible lens enclosure, ensuring safe operation by monitoring system health, timeout conditions, and responding to failsafe commands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If an accommodation actuator is used to adjust focal distance in real-time, then vision accommodation for presbyopia is improved, but device reliability deteriorates due to potential failure conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The device pre-sets a failsafe focal distance state that is automatically activated upon detection of failure conditions. This preliminary configuration ensures that when the accommodation actuator or control system fails, the optical lens immediately transitions to a safe default state without requiring active control, thereby maintaining reliability while preserving accommodation functionality during normal operation
Solution Approach 2:
A failsafe subsystem acts as an intermediary between the accommodation actuator and the optical lens. This subsystem continuously monitors system health and intervenes by forcing the lens to a failsafe state when failures are detected, mediating between the active accommodation control and the need for reliable safe-state operation
2Reliability
If multiple monitoring functions are added to detect failure conditions, then device reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The failsafe subsystem performs multiple monitoring functions using a unified control architecture. It simultaneously monitors the accommodation actuator, control system, and power supply, and manages multiple failure modes through a single integrated subsystem, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining comprehensive reliability monitoring
Solution Approach 2:
The control system includes self-diagnostic capabilities that automatically detect failure conditions without requiring external monitoring equipment. The system monitors its own operational parameters and triggers failsafe mode autonomously, eliminating the need for separate complex monitoring hardware
Data Source
AI summary
An embodiment of an eye-mountable device includes an optical lens; an accommodation actuator to provide vision accommodation for the optical lens; a controller including an accommodation logic to select one of a plurality of vision accommodation states for the device, the plurality of vision accommodation states including at least a failsafe focal distance; and a failsafe subsystem including a system health detector, the system health detector to monitor for one or more operational indicators for the device, wherein the failsafe subsystem is to cause the device to transition to a failsafe mode upon the failsafe subsystem identifying a failure condition for the device, the failsafe mode includes setting the vision accommodation state to be the failsafe focal distance.