Retinal Prosthesis Pulse Dictionary for Low-Lag Artificial Sight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current retinal prosthetic systems face challenges in achieving high visual fidelity due to difficulties in accurately reproducing the diverse firing patterns of retinal ganglion cells and significant lag times in processing and communication, which can degrade sight quality and generate excessive heat.
Innovation Solution
A retinal prosthesis system utilizing an external controller and implanted controller to optimize processing and communication, employing dictionary-based approaches for rapid computation and temporal dithering to stimulate retinal ganglion cells efficiently, with a dense electrode grid and personalized dictionaries to enhance visual signal processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If processing tasks are performed in a single location (either external or implanted controller), then device complexity is reduced, but processing speed and visual fidelity deteriorate due to lag times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the processing system into two segments: an external controller that performs computationally intensive tasks (dictionary generation, image processing) and an implanted controller that performs real-time stimulation control. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, achieving high processing speed while distributing complexity across multiple devices that work together
2Temperature
If computational processing is performed externally, then heat generation in the implanted device is reduced, but communication lag increases
Solution Approach 1:
The external controller performs preliminary processing of visual information and generates stimulation patterns in advance, storing them in a dictionary structure. This preliminary action reduces the computational burden during real-time operation, allowing the implanted controller to retrieve pre-processed stimulation patterns quickly without excessive heat generation or communication lag
3Measurement precision
If a dense electrode grid is used to stimulate retinal ganglion cells, then visual fidelity is improved, but the difficulty of accurately reproducing diverse firing patterns increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the complex problem of reproducing diverse firing patterns by changing the parameter representation from continuous temporal patterns to discrete dictionary-based stimulation patterns. Each dictionary entry encodes specific stimulation parameters (electrode activation patterns, pulse durations, intensities) that can be selected and combined to approximate natural firing patterns, making the control of dense electrode grids more manageable while maintaining high visual fidelity
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and methods for artificial sight in accordance with embodiments of the invention are illustrated. One embodiment includes a retinal prosthesis system including an external controller, a scene imager, an eye imager, an implanted controller, and a stimulation interface in communication with the implanted controller, where the stimulation interface is positioned to stimulate a plurality of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) of the eye, where the external controller is configured to obtain image data describing a scene from the scene imager, obtain eye position data from the eye imager, determine a field of view (FOV) in the scene based on the eye position data; where the implanted controller is configured to obtain the FOV from the external controller, continuously select stimulation pulses from a dictionary based on the FOV, and stimulate the plurality of RGCs using the stimulation interface in accordance with the selected stimulation pulses.