Optics: eye examining – vision testing and correcting – Eye examining or testing instrument – Objective type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-01
2003-02-25
Manuel, George (Department: 3737)
Optics: eye examining, vision testing and correcting
Eye examining or testing instrument
Objective type
Reexamination Certificate
active
06523955
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to spectacles which, utilize a specular reflection on their interior side to record electronically a retinal reflex image formed in the eye. This image is modified by means of a computer and, by means of an illumination device and a back reflection, is physiologically without delay by way of the same spectacles superimposed on the original image such that an improved visual impression is created.
The use of opto-electronic spectacles for the reflection of computer-generated images into the eye, which has the name “cyberspace” or “virtual reality”, is increasing very rapidly. This technique has a wide range of benefits for an application in the entertainment industry as well as in various fields of industry, traffic and medicine, and its spread and significance will constantly increase with the availability of increasingly faster image processing computers.
The application by means of closed non-transparent glasses, in the case of which images are provided to the eye by miniaturized cathode ray tubes or liquid-crystal matrices by way of mirror systems or glass fiber systems, is most common. It is a particular advantage of this technique to couple by means of a moving three-dimensional imaging, the image sequence or the action with different movements of the wearer of the spectacles. Thus, a changing of the viewing direction as the result of the movement of the head or the change of the perspective is simulated as the movement progresses. The movements of the arms and the fingers of the wearer of the spectacles can be entered into the image by means of sensors in order to permit him to directly intervene in the action.
In newer systems called “augmented reality”, the wearer of the spectacles, by means of partially transparent spectacles, can view the environment as well as an image of cameras, which is reflected in by way of the spectacles, of the same scene or of other image contents by means of a miniaturized monitor at the helmet. A well-known variant of this process which is called a “helmet-mounted display (HMD)” has already been introduced for the guidance of combat planes.
However, several problems have become known concerning this technique which are the result of the function of the sense of sight and await improved technical solutions. In the case of closed spectacles and a rigidly coupled monitor or monitor image, when the wearer of the spectacles moves his head, the scene moves along in the same direction, which unnaturally is in conflict with his visual habits. As the result of the imaging of the eye, he is accustomed to the fact that the scene extends precisely in the opposite direction. So far, this problem has been solved only incompletely by means of the cumbersome measuring of the head movement and of the eyeball by means of external angle-of-rotation sensors, by a corresponding image processing and by the tracking of the generated image.
As the result of the adaptation movements of the eyeball, which originate from so-called vestibular ocular reflexes (VOR) of the ear canal system and are used for holding the fixation point during movements of the head, the eye itself is capable of roughly stabilizing the retinal image. The fine adjustment takes place by means of the image as the reference. This image tracking is additionally used by the eye for adapting the VORs of a dynamic eye alignment.
This means that a superimposing of outside images can provide a realistic impression of the image only when they are coupled to the real retinal image.
In the case of closed spectacles, it is attempted to use the image of the blood vessels (ocular fundus) as the reference (retina tracking). However, this supplies an only insufficient resolution and is suitable only for monocular viewing (see, for example, E. Peli, “Visual Issues in the Use of a Head-Mounted Monocular Display”,
Optical Engineering,
Vol. 29, No. 8, Page 883 (1990). A simultaneous stabilization in both eyes of images by means of these is virtually impossible because of the different alignment of the eyes. In addition to the deterioration of the image quality, the conflict between the vestibular and the visual information frequently leads to motor disturbances ranging to seasickness. These problems of the existing technology are described, for example, in the overview article by E. Peli, “Real Vision & Virtual Reality” in
Optics & Photonics News,
July 1995, Pages 28-34.
It is an object of the invention to solve the problems involving image stabilization in the case of the superimposing of outside images by means of the real image.
The invention is based on the older German Patent Application 19631414 with the title “System for Detecting Retinal Reflexes and the Superimposing of Additional Images in the Eye”. In this application, a system is described by means of which the retinal reflex image is detected by means of a confocally imagining, two-axis scanning system by way of the reflection of the interior side of partially transparent and correspondingly curved spectacles serially by means of a high-sensitivity photodetector.
It is suggested there to serially project the improved image on the retina by means of lasers and a beam splitter via the same light path in the reverse direction of the taken image.
Furthermore, it also becomes possible to additionally superimpose other images on the retina.
This technique basically solves the above-mentioned problems, but concrete implementations and applications are not indicated. It is the fundamental idea of the new invention to use this process for improving the perceptivity of the eye. The physical-technical problems which must be solved for this purpose are the result of the physiological characteristics of the eye and the constantly varying illumination conditions in the environment. Because of the variable light conditions and the different optical tasks, the eye is a very dynamic sense organ with respect to its basic functions. It adapts itself to the variation of the intensity of the background illumination for 12 decades. It changes from colored sight in daylight to purely black/white sight at night. Light in the wavelength range of from 400-1,500 nm is transmitted by the eye and imaged on the retina. In this case, only light in the range of from 400 nm to 750 nm is perceived; that is, the infrared light in the range of from 750 to 1,500 nm, which is very bright in the case of an exterior as well as an interior illumination, remains unutilized for the visual perception.
The eye horizontally and vertically covers an angular range of approximately 1000. However, the image resolution decreases very rapidly with the angular distance from the visual axis. The attentive momentary vision is limited to a central angular area of only +/−5°, and the “sharp” vision, for example, when reading or driving a car, is limited to the very small central angular range of +/−0.5°. In addition, various movements of the eye also take place constantly. This results in consequences which, under certain circumstances, impair the perceptivity of the eye and are to be improved within the scope of the invention:
Adaptation
accommodation
sharpness capacity
defective vision
age-related reduced capability, and
movement dynamics.
It is an object of the present invention to suggest an arrangement which, similar to the eye, has very variably designed basic functions and is adapted to the requirements of the seeing process but simultaneously also takes into account and utilizes the special physiology and dynamics of the eye and the varying illumination conditions of the environment as well as the invisible IR-range. This can be achieved only insufficiently by means of the scanning variants (serial grid scan, serial spiral scan) indicated in the earlier application. This concerns the scanning pattern of the image-taking of the retinal reflex as well as the back-projection of the laser image into the eye.
A basic problem of the serial image scanning in contrast to the parallel image scanning is the short dwell
Abersfelder Guenter
Eberl Heinrich Alexander
Grantz Helmut
Halldorsson Thorsteinn
Schmidt-Bischoffshausen Horst
Crowell & Moring LLP
Eberl Heinrich A.
Manuel George
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