Wearable Image Projection for Peripheral Vision Correction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing VR and AR technologies for vision correction are bulky, expensive, and limit peripheral vision, causing motion sickness and restricting real-world interaction for individuals with vision defects like macular degeneration, as they block out the actual environment and fail to accurately relate to real-world views.
Innovation Solution
A Mixed Reality system using hardware and software to manipulate images, projecting them onto the peripheral receptors of the retina, avoiding the macula, and combining real-world and augmented visual information with minimal latency, allowing simultaneous perception of both.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If VR goggles are used to augment vision, then vision correction is achieved, but peripheral vision is blocked and motion sickness occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The display is segmented into multiple regions: a central occluded region for high-magnification virtual content and a peripheral transparent region for real-world vision. This segmentation allows different portions of the visual field to serve different functions, correcting vision defects while maintaining peripheral awareness and reducing motion sickness.
Solution Approach 2:
Different optical properties are applied to different regions of the lens. The central region has high magnification and occlusion for detailed visual correction, while the peripheral region maintains transparency and low magnification for spatial awareness. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between vision correction and peripheral vision preservation.
2Loss of information
If AR glasses with wave guides are used, then visual information is augmented, but peripheral view is mechanically restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The lens is divided into an occluded display region and a transparent peripheral region. The wave guide technology is applied only to the central occluded region, while the peripheral region remains optically transparent, allowing augmented visual information without mechanical restriction of the peripheral view.
3Reliability
If VR goggles block out real-world sight, then immersive virtual environment is achieved, but real-world navigation ability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The lens provides localized immersion in the central region while maintaining transparency in the peripheral region. This allows users to experience virtual content without losing awareness of their real-world environment, preserving navigation capability while achieving immersion where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the balance between virtual and real-world visibility based on user needs. The peripheral transparent region continuously provides real-world visual cues for navigation, while the central occluded region provides immersive virtual content, creating a dynamic mixed reality experience.
Data Source
AI summary
A wearable image manipulation system is described herein. The wearable image manipulation system includes a camera input system, an image projection system, where the image projection system is capable of being worn by a user, and a processor in communication with the camera input system and the image projection system such that the processor is capable of receiving an image from the camera input system, modifying the image to produce a modified image, and displaying the modified image on the image projection system. The camera input system may comprise a contact lens with a camera mounted thereon. Additionally or alternately, the system may be capable of tracking a user's eye movement to accurately capture where the user is looking with the camera input system.