Lens design to enhance vision quality

Details Lens design to enhance vision quality Lens design to enhance vision quality

2001-07-23

2004-02-24

Schwartz, Jordan M. (Department: 2873)

Optics: eye examining, vision testing and correcting

Spectacles and eyeglasses

Ophthalmic lenses or blanks

C351S16000R

Reexamination Certificate

active

06695449

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of the U.S. provisional application No. 60/225,954 filed on Aug. 17, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optics and, more specifically, to optical lenses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The human eye
100
, as shown in
FIG. 1A
, includes a cornea
102
, an iris
104
that forms an aperture known as the pupil
106
a
and a retina
108
onto which light rays are focused. When the eye
100
is subjected to low ambient light conditions, the iris
104
dilates, resulting in a pupil
106
a
having a large aperture. If there is no spherical aberration in the cornea
102
, then parallel light rays entering the eye
100
will be focused on a single point of the retina
108
. If, on the other hand, the cornea
102
exhibits spherical aberration, as shown in
FIG. 1B
, the light rays will be focused over an area of the retina
108
.
As shown in
FIG. 1C
, when an eye
100
without corneal spherical aberration views an object
110
, light from each point (e.g., points A, B) along the object
110
are focused along corresponding points (e.g., points A′, B′) on the retina
108
, resulting in a clear image. This situation changes when the eye
100
has a spherical aberration, as shown in FIG.
1
D. Light from each single point (e.g., point A) on the object
110
is directed to several points (e.g., points A′, A″, A′″), causing the object
110
to appear blurred.
This situation changes when an eye
100
is subjected to high ambient light conditions, as demonstrated in FIG.
1
E. The iris
104
contracts, which results in the pupil
106
e
having a small aperture. Because light rays from an object
110
passing through the cornea
102
are constrained by the contracted pupil
106
a
, they tend to be highly focused on the retina
108
. Thus, the object
110
appears in focus.
Therefore, there is a need for a lens that provides additional correction to a user when the user's eye is subjected to low ambient light conditions, but that provides relatively less correction when the user's eye is subjected to high ambient light conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention which, in one aspect, is a contact lens that includes a central zone and a peripheral zone. The central zone extends radially from a center to a central intermediate edge and has a radius corresponding to a radius of a contracted pupil of a user when subjected to a high ambient light condition. The central zone also has a constant first refractive power across the central zone. The peripheral zone extends radially from the central intermediate edge to an outer edge. The peripheral zone has a refractive power that is equal to the first refractive power at the intermediate edge and that changes radially and progressively toward a second refractive power, different from the first refractive power, at the outer edge.
In another aspect, the contact lens also includes a non-optical zone that extends radially from the outer edge to an outermost radius corresponding to a radius of a user's cornea.
These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the following drawings. As would be obvious to one skilled in the art, many variations and modifications of the invention may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5125729 (1992-06-01), Mercure
patent: 5139325 (1992-08-01), Oksman et al.
patent: 5181053 (1993-01-01), Brown
patent: 5619289 (1997-04-01), Seider et al.
patent: 5771088 (1998-06-01), Perrott
patent: 5815239 (1998-09-01), Chapman et al.
patent: 5864379 (1999-01-01), Dunn
patent: 5929969 (1999-07-01), Roffman
patent: 6244708 (2001-06-01), Chapman et al.
patent: 6305801 (2001-10-01), Kerns, Jr. et al.
patent: 0 942 312 (1999-09-01), None
patent: WO 00/08516 (2000-02-01), None
International Search Report application No. PCT/EP/09463 filed Aug. 17, 2001.

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