Mobile Dark Adaptation Testing for Home Retinal Screening
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current dark adaptometer devices are limited by their high cost, complexity, and restricted accessibility, making them unsuitable for home monitoring or easy screening of retinal disorders.
Innovation Solution
A mobile device application is developed to measure dark adaptation using a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet, which includes a light source, display, and imaging capabilities, allowing for the measurement of dark adaptation characteristics through a series of visual stimuli presented to the patient, with responses recorded to determine dark adaptation metrics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If clinical dark adaptometer devices are used, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) as a simplified copy of the clinical dark adaptometer. The mobile device replicates the essential measurement functionality using its built-in display, camera, and processing capabilities, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining measurement precision for dark adaptation assessment
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device serves multiple functions: it displays visual stimuli, captures patient responses via camera or input devices, processes measurement data, and provides results. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate specialized equipment, reducing overall system complexity while preserving measurement capabilities
2Measurement precision
If clinical dark adaptometer devices are used, then measurement precision is improved, but accessibility and ease of operation worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device application guides patients through the dark adaptation test independently. The app presents visual stimuli, records responses automatically, and processes results without requiring expert handling. Patients can perform the test themselves or with minimal assistance, greatly improving ease of operation and accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device application acts as an intermediary between the patient and the measurement process. It mediates the interaction by automatically presenting stimuli, capturing responses, and interpreting results, thereby eliminating the need for expert operators while maintaining measurement precision
3Measurement precision
If clinical dark adaptometer devices are used, then measurement precision is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages existing mobile devices that are already widely owned by patients. Rather than manufacturing and distributing expensive specialized equipment, the solution uses affordable, ubiquitous mobile devices with dedicated applications, dramatically reducing manufacturing and distribution costs while maintaining measurement precision
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The mobile device application provides a cost-effective and accessible method for measuring dark adaptation, enabling early detection and monitoring of retinal disorders, overcoming the limitations of traditional devices by allowing for home-based screenings.
Implementation Method 1
exposing at least one eye of a patient to a light source to bleach a retinal location of the at least one eye
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and devices are provided for measuring dark adaptation of one or both eyes of a patient, and more particularly, for measuring dark adaptation with a mobile device application. An exemplary method includes exposing an eye of a patient to a light source to bleach a retinal location of the eye, displaying on a mobile device a figure with a luminance and waiting until the patient communicates with the mobile device to acknowledge that the patient can see the figure, measuring and recording a level of the luminance and a time period between first displaying the figure and the patient communicating with the mobile device, continuing to display additional figures with decreasing luminance one at a time, and determining by a processor dark adaptation measurements of the patent based on the measured and recorded luminance and time periods.