The present invention relates to a phoropter. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fully functional portable intelligent multi-function phoropter.
As all know, the traditional phoropter is a desktop device, which is large in size and heavy in weight. Once installed, it is inconvenient to move. Therefore, when people need to use a phoropter, they must go to a specific place, such as an eye clinic or an eyeglass shop, to know the condition of their eyes. Institutions with testing vision needs, such as school health centers, require large sums of money and space for installation. For parents who are concerned about their children's eye health, even if they have to go to the eye clinic often, they will not prepare a phoropter at home for backup. If the size of the phoropter is reduced and the price is lower, it will be a boon for the aforementioned institutions or individuals. Preferably, the phoropter is multi-functional. For example, the phoropter can perform visual acuity, color blindness, astigmatism and red-green tests at the same time.
This paragraph extracts and compiles some features of the present invention; other features will be disclosed in the follow-up paragraphs. It is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
In order to fulfill the aforementioned requirements, a portable intelligent multi-function phoropter is disclosed. It comprises: a plurality of control elements, installed on the casing with external portion exposed; two adjustable eyepiece modules, movably installed on a first side of the casing; a plurality of micro motors, wherein each micro motor interacts with one of the adjustable eyepiece modules and drives to adjust the corresponding adjustable eyepiece module, so as to change the focus location for light beams emitting from the inside of the casing to the outside and a spacing between two adjustable eyepiece modules; a liquid crystal display module, installed on a second side opposite the first side of the casing and inside the casing, projecting images to the direction of the two adjustable eyepiece modules; a control module, installed in the casing and signally connected to the control elements, the micro motors and the liquid crystal display module, executing following operations: making the liquid crystal display module present an operation interface; executing a default program according to the content of the operation interface and receiving control signals from the control elements to decide execute commands; making the liquid crystal display module present a designated test pattern according to a first execute command; driving the micro motors according to a second execute command; determining a test result according to a third execute command; and recording the test result and outputting the test result according to a fourth execute command; and a power supply module, installed in the casing and electrically connected to the micro motors, the liquid crystal display module and the control module, providing power required for operation to the electrically connected components.
According to the present invention, the control elements may further comprise at least one function button and a directional key to input signals to the control module.
According to the present invention, a first adjustable eyepiece module may comprise: a first convex lens, fixed on a first movable board; and a first concave lens, fixed on a second movable board, wherein the second movable board has a second gear rack installed thereon and is movably placed on the first movable board, and the second gear rack moves the second movable board parallel to an optical axis of the first concave lens by the rotation of a gear mounted to one of the micro motors. The first movable board has a first gear rack installed thereon, and the first gear rack moves the first movable board parallel to a direction vertical to the moving direction of the second movable board by the rotation of a gear mounted to one of the micro motors.
According to the present invention, a second adjustable eyepiece module may comprise: a second convex lens, fixed on one side of the casing and inside the casing; and a second concave lens, fixed on a third movable board. The third movable board has a third gear rack installed thereon and is movably placed on the side of the casing and inside the casing, and the third gear rack moves the third movable board parallel to an optical axis of the second concave lens by the rotation of a gear mounted to one of the micro motors.
According to the present invention, the power supply module may further comprise: a USB socket, receiving external power and transmitting information; a secondary battery; a charge and discharge control chip, electrically connected to the USB socket and the secondary battery, storing the external power received by the USB socket to the secondary battery, and outputting the power in the secondary battery; and a power management chip, transforming the voltage of the power outputted from the charge and discharge control chip to a plurality of voltage values, providing to electrically connected elements, respectively.
According to the present invention, the control module further comprises: a flash memory module, storing the test result, codes and code-related data; a synchronous dynamic random access memory module; a graphics processor, signally connected to the liquid crystal display module to control the image presented by the liquid crystal display module; a wireless communication module; and a controller, signally connected to the control elements, the USB socket, the synchronous dynamic random access memory module, the flash memory module, the graphics processor, the wireless communication module and the micro motors and electrically connected to the power management chip, executing the default program to execute the operations, temporarily storing part of the codes and called code-related data in the synchronous dynamic random access memory module, and transmitting the stored test result to a receiving device wirelessly connected through the wireless communication module.
Preferably, the wireless communication module is a Bluetooth module or a Wi-Fi module.
Preferably, the test pattern is complete or part of Tumbling E Chart, Landolt C Chart, Color Blindness Test pattern, Astigmatism Test pattern or Duochrome Test pattern.
Preferably, steps for the third execute command to determine the test result comprises: recording the control element pressed by the user and an operation mode thereof according to the complete or the part of chart or pattern presented; comparing the complete or the part of chart or pattern presented, the control element pressed and the operation mode of the control element pressed with a database storing complete or each part of the chart or pattern, corresponding control elements, the operation modes of the corresponding control elements, and corresponding eye status descriptions; and selecting the eye status description corresponding to the exact comparison result as the test result.
According to the present invention, the adjustable eyepiece module may change the focus location for light beams emitting from the inside of the casing to the outside, simulating an actual distance of 20 feet to 50 feet required for eye optometry into a distance of about 10 cm.
According to the present invention, the test pattern is a simulated image of a specific object seen through a spectacle lens with a specific eyeglass prescription. Simultaneously presenting the simulated images of the specific object each seen through a spectacle lens with a specific eyeglass prescription simulates the specific object seen through the spectacle lenses superimposed.
It can be seen from the foregoing description that the casing of the present invention is small so that the overall volume is small, and it is convenient to carry and use; the present invention has many test patterns, so different vision tests can be performed; and with the combination of convex lens and concave lens and the application of existing electronic components, the overall price is reduced. Thus, the invention satisfies the market demand for the phoropter.
The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments.
Please refer to
The casing 10 is an element to protect internal electronic and mechanical materials in the portable intelligent multi-function phoropter 1 and convenient for testers to hold. Viewing from the outside, the casing 10 has several openings, so that the first function button 20, the second function button 21, the third function button 22, the directional key 23, the first adjustable eyepiece module 30, the second adjustable eyepiece module 31 and a USB socket can be exposed for the testers to operate. The tester can hold the two sides of the casing 10 with both hands, operate the function buttons and directional key 23 with their fingers, and put the first adjustable eyepiece module 30 and the second adjustable eyepiece module 31 close to both eyes for testing. The schematic diagram in
As mentioned above, the first function button 20, the second function button 21, the third function button 22 and the directional key 23 are installed on the casing 10 through the holes respectively with external portion exposed. Each function button can be given a specific function through the settings of the program. The function buttons are used to input signals to the control module 60, usually to control the hardware. For example, short press (press and then release) the first function button 20 enables portable intelligent multi-function phoropter 1, long press (press and hold for a while) the second function button 21 turns on the liquid crystal display module 50 etc. However, the function buttons can also be assigned the function of operating software. For example, when the third function button 22 is pressed repeatedly, the built-in Tumbling E Chart, Landolt C Chart and other test interfaces will appear on the liquid crystal display module 50 in turn; when the third function button 22 is released from pressing, the current test interface can be used. The directional key 23 includes an up key 231, a down key 232, a left key 233, a right key 234 and an execute key 235 (ok key). This can be used as a tool for executing designed content of software. For example, when the Tumbling E Chart is chosen for the tester for visual inspection, the random “E” (comprising size and opening direction) in the Tumbling E Chart will be displayed on the liquid crystal display module 50. At this moment, the tester needs to use the up key 231, the down key 232, the left key 233 and the right key 234 to answer the opening direction of “E”, so that the control module 60 can judge the tester's vision. When the liquid crystal display module 50 shows “testing completed”, press the execute key 235 to jump out of the Tumbling E Chart test and return to the main menu. It should be emphasized again, types, functions and quantities of the above control elements are not intended to limit the application of the present invention. Physical input hardware that can be programmed based on actual hardware and software operations is within the claimed scope of the present invention.
For convenience of description, a side of the casing 10 having 2 adjustable eyepiece modules installed is a first side 11. Opposite the first side 11 is the second side 12. For further explanation, the first adjustable eyepiece module 30 and the second adjustable eyepiece module 31 are movably installed on the first side 11 of the casing 10. Here, “movably” means that the distance between two adjustable eyepiece modules can be adjusted, and the structure of each adjustable eyepiece module can also be adjusted. That is, they can be changed relative to the opening on the casing 10. In order to achieve the above purpose, the structure of the first adjustable eyepiece module 30 is slightly different from that of the second adjustable eyepiece module 31. Since the mechanism parts of the two in
The top of
The bottom of
In the present embodiment, the first adjustable eyepiece module 30 is used for the left eye and the second adjustable eyepiece module 31 is used for the right eye. In practice, the two can be interchanged. When testing, since the test image sent by the liquid crystal display module 50 will go through the first adjustable eyepiece module 30 and the second adjustable eyepiece module 31 at the same time, it can be seen by the left eye and the right eye, respectively. Therefore, the tester can close one eye and let the other eye perform the test. In addition, the distance F and distance F′ shown on
The liquid crystal display module 50 is installed on the second side 12 of the casing 10 and inside the casing 10, projecting images to the direction of the two adjustable eyepiece modules.
The control module 60 is installed in the casing 10 and signally connected to the control elements, the micro motors and the liquid crystal display module 50. To illustrate how these components are connected and how they interact, see
The controller 65 is a core element for operating the portable intelligent multi-function phoropter 1. The controller 65 is signally connected (connection between the components is represented by the solid line in
As mentioned above, the controller 65 (control module 60) can perform specified operations according to the application program it executes. These operations comprises: a) making the liquid crystal display module 50 present an operation interface; b) executing a default program according to the content of the operation interface and receiving control signals from the control elements to decide execute commands; c) making the liquid crystal display module 50 present a designated test pattern according to a first execute command; d) driving the micro motors according to a second execute command; e) determining the test result according to a third execute command; and f) recording the test result and outputting the test result according to a fourth execute command. These operations are described below.
In the operation a), the operation interface is an interface that guides the tester to perform the vision test with a series of text, graphics and tables, and changes the content accordingly. The process is provided according to the design of the application, and it is operated with the control elements. In the operation b), the execute command is the control signals (such as long press, short press) of the specific control element, which is used in conjunction with the display data of the operation interface to feed back the instructions for the application to execute the next step. For the convenience of description, each execute command proposed below, such as the first execute command, the second execute command, etc., is only the more important one among many execute commands, and is the focus of the present invention.
In the operation c), the designated test pattern that the first execute command asks the liquid crystal display module 50 refers to complete or part of Tumbling E Chart, Landolt C Chart, Color Blindness Test pattern, Astigmatism Test pattern or Duochrome Test pattern. For a better understanding of this, see
In addition, a technical feature of the present invention is that the test pattern may further be a simulated image of a specific object seen through a spectacle lens with a specific eyeglass prescription. The present invention has built-in hundreds of image-processed patterns to simulate and represent the images seen after passing through lenses of different eyeglass prescriptions. When one of the images is displayed on the liquid crystal display module 50 and projected onto the tester's eyes through the adjustable eyepiece modules, the tester sees it as if he had put on a lens of the corresponding degree. For example, an image that simulates 100-degree myopia and the tester sees it as if wearing a 100-degree myopia lens. Hyperopia does the same way. Furthermore, simultaneously presenting the simulated images of the specific object each seen through a spectacle lens with a specific eyeglass prescription can simulate the specific object seen through the spectacle lenses superimposed. For example, the simultaneous display of an image of an apple through a 100-degree spectacle lens and an image of an apple through a 50-degree spectacle lens means that the tester sees the image of an apple through a 150-degree spectacle lens. It seems to be a superposition of spectacle lenses of different eyeglass prescriptions.
The operation d) is that the portable intelligent multi-function phoropter 1 adjusts the adjustable eyepiece modules to change the focus location when light beams are emitted from the inside of the casing 10 to the outside according to the application's command to let tester comes to different test environments. Of course, In order to allow different testers to see the information of the operation interface clearly, testers can also manually adjust the adjustable eyepiece module to be free from the limitation of the application.
The operation e) is a follow-up after the operation c) is processed and determines the aforementioned test result. Subdivide the operation e) and it has the following sub-steps. First, record the control element pressed by the user and an operation mode of the pressed control element according to the complete or the part of chart or pattern presented. What this sub-step needs to do is to record the decision made by the tester under the condition that the information is displayed by the liquid crystal display module 50. Secondly, compare the complete or the part of chart or pattern presented, the control element pressed and the operation mode of the control element pressed with a database storing complete or each part of the chart or pattern, corresponding control elements, the operation modes of the corresponding control elements, and corresponding eye status descriptions. The database is built in the flash memory module 61. For example, the database records the opening direction of each E figure in the Tumbling E Chart, the control element that needs to be operated, and correct and wrong operation modes of the control elements corresponding to the opening direction (e.g., for the pattern “E”, the up key 231 is wrong, the down key 232 is wrong, the left key 233 is wrong and right key 234 is correct). Eye status description is whether it meets the vision requirements of the pattern, for example, vision is 0.8. Thirdly, select the eye status description corresponding to the exact comparison result as the test result. Due to the correspondence of the database, the test result of the tester can be quickly detected.
The operation f) is to record the test result determined by the operation e). The way the fourth execute command outputs the test result can be diverse. In addition to the transmission to the receiving device through the wireless communication module 64, it can also be transmitted to the device connected by a communication line through the USB socket 71. The aspect of the output test result is also diverse, for example, the table of test results shown in
The power supply module 70 is installed in the casing 10 and electrically connected to (connection between the components is represented by the dashed line in
In application, in addition to independent use, the portable intelligent multi-function phoropter 1 can be installed on a platform 2 as illustrated in
In summary, the present invention has the following advantages. The present invention reduces the traditional large-volume fixed eye examination instrument into a hand-held device that is easy to carry, but still retains complete functions. The present invention makes full use of the powerful computing power of the computer chip, and can instantly calculate the complex mathematical and optical parameters required for operation, as well as the results required for graphics. The large-capacity storage memory can store various patterns and texts required for existing eye optometry. The present invention uses a graphics processor with high efficiency drawing and display capability and a high-resolution liquid crystal display module, which can display various graphics, text and real-time operation instructions. The invention adopts the combination of a concave lens and a convex lens with the adjustable size display font and the calculation of computer software to simulate an actual distance of 20 feet to 50 feet required for eye optometry into a distance of about 10 cm, fitting the small size of this device. In addition, the invention uses computer graphics processing and special software algorithm to simulate the graphics and texts seen by the tester. Therefore, the user sees the graphics as if he saw the effect through spectacle lenses with different eyeglass prescriptions and different angles of astigmatism lenses. Hundreds of charts or patterns are pre-stored in the flash memory module, which can be regarded as virtual lenses and called to use when testing. Multiple virtual lenses can be superimposed. Different eyeglass prescriptions and astigmatism lenses used in traditional optometry will be converted into different graphics by the application software with its intelligent algorithm. After the testing, with the immediate operation of the controller and the comparison with the data in the current database data, the accurate visual acuity result can be obtained. Through the adjustable eyepiece modules with adjustable spacing and the focus calculation of the screen grid lines, the pupil distance of two eyes can be measured.
Different from the existing phoropters, the present invention can be widely used in the following: 1, personal and household use; 2, basic vision examination in the school medical center; 3, remote areas or villages without sufficient resources or equipment for vision test; and 4, an aid or auxiliary device in a clinic or hospital.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.