The present invention relates to an optical device for treating an eye disorder, in particular for the mitigation of progression of myopia.
Myopia, also known as near-sightedness, is a condition of the eye where light from distant objects focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. This causes distant objects to be seen as blurry by the observer, while near objects appear normal. Other symptoms may include headaches and eye strain, whereas severe near-sightedness increases the risk of retinal detachment, cataracts, and glaucoma. Near-sightedness is the most common eye problem and is estimated to affect 1.5 billion people worldwide (22% of the population).
The exact underlying mechanism for myopia is still not fully understood, however in most cases it is caused by elongation of the eyeball or, less commonly, by the excess of optical power in the eye. There is tentative evidence that the risk of myopia can be decreased by having young children spend more time outdoors.
Time spent outdoors during childhood is positively associated with reduced myopia prevalence. This positive association is not affected by near work nor levels of physical activity engaged in while outdoors. With this in mind, a previous study, using the chick model, examined how short wavelength light interacts with the temporal sensitivity of the visual system during emmetropization. The results showed that when a temporally modulated light source lacked a blue component, the eye grew more when presented with low temporal frequencies than high temporal frequencies. Thus, the presence of blue light prevented temporal frequency dependent increases in eye growth. Given that typical indoor illuminants have lower energy at the blue end of the spectrum than the red, it was inferred that this paucity of short wavelength light in indoor illumination may increase the likelihood of human childhood myopia development (Rucker, Color and Temporal Frequency Sensitive Eye Growth in chicks, 2018).
The juvenile eye typically develops until the age of 18 to 21 years, and is accompanied by the progression of myopia. By the time the eye fully matures, it may become severely myopic and difficult to treat. Additionally, a high myopia has been shown to be associated with retinal detachment and other severe pathologies. Therefore, an effective preventive countermeasure for myopia and its progression has the potential to improve the sight of 2 to 5 billion people worldwide by the year 2050. Contemporary interventions to prevent juvenile myopia progression include pharmacologic agents and contact lenses. However, these treatments are less suitable for preventing the emergence of myopia because of the following: the onset of myopia usually occurs before the minimal recommended age for these treatments, the offered treatments may slow the myopia progression, but not eliminate myopia entirely, and these treatments may have considerable side effects.
In general, there are two paradigms striving to prevent myopia or its progression by wearable devices: (i) Orthokeratological remodeling of a contact lens (i.e. using specially designed contact lenses' curvatures to reshape the contour of the cornea) and (ii) modifying optical power distribution within progressive addition/multifocal lenses by inducing defocus in peripheral regions of the lens. A multitude of products and techniques being developed are based on these two paradigms, or their combination. Eye lens remodeling can be achieved by hard contact lenses, and peripheral defocus using multifocal lenses can be achieved by either contact lenses, or by eyeglasses. However, both paradigms produce mixed results.
There is a need in the art for a novel approach for treating eye disorders, in particular preventing the emergence or the progression of myopia (i.e. mitigation of the myopia propagation). In this connection, it should be understood that myopia prevalence is increasing globally and is close to epidemic status. As described above, the known techniques of the kind specified, i.e. the use of specially designed contact lenses' curvatures and the use of peripheral defocus in a progressive/multifocal lens, do not provide an effective solution.
With regard to peripheral defocus, the following should be noted. While the theory assumes that the eye is not in focus across its entire retinal surface simultaneously, it is believed that the peripheral retina can be out of focus, either under or over focused, while the central retina, the fovea, is in sharp focus. Based on this premise, it is speculated that introducing a concentrating lens to the periphery of the field of view, will result in reduction of myopia progression rates. However, the exact details of the required optical power and its distribution across the field of view remains uncertain, and varies from one treatment to the next.
Spectacles and contact lenses based on the peripheral defocus theory have shown only minor improvements in the prevention of myopia in clinical testing. Similarly, orthokeratology should not be considered as a first-line strategy, given the high risk of infectious keratitis and relatively low patient compliance. Currently, atropine ophthalmic drops seem to be the most effective treatment for slowing the progression of myopia, although the exact mechanism and long-term effectiveness of treatment is still uncertain.
It is, therefore, highly desired to provide a novel device for early treatment and/or prevention of myopia and its progression, as well as the treatment of other eye/vision disorders, such as mitigation of astigmatism propagation, and correction of sight impairments. Current market solutions are not sufficiently effective at addressing these needs.
According to the technique of the invention, a novel lens unit is provided, being configured for spectral selective retinal stimulation modulation, which is advantageously a passive modulation effect in the lens of the invention. More specifically, the lens unit comprises a lens substrate having a certain volume defining a front and back surface, wherein the lens unit carries a spectral coder which, when the lens unit is in use, operates as a temporal spectral coder with respect to a portion of input light interacting with the lens unit and reaching the eye. The lens configuration is aimed at mitigation of eye disorder progression, and, in particular, for the mitigation of myopia progression. Therefore, the novel lens unit has a wavelength selective passive retinal modulation for the mitigation of myopia aggravation. The lens unit may be used in a novel eyeglasses having a special pattern defining a periodic spatial modulation of wavelength selective transmittance of the lenses of eyeglasses, such that natural head and eye movement modulate wavelength dependent reception of light on the retina, and thereby initiate and maintain a long term process which mitigates the aggravation of myopia. The term “passive” refers hereinafter to feature of the lens unit, in which, to be operable, no specialized illumination is required.
In some embodiments, the novel lens unit of the present invention is configured to slow the relative rate of eye elongation for juvenile myopes.
It is generally known from a study by Rucker F., Britton S., Spatcher M., and Hanowsky S. “Blue light protects against temporal frequency sensitive refractive changes”, published in Invest Ophthalmol in Vis Sci. 2015; 56:6121-6131. DOI:10.1167/iovs.15-17238, that blue light and temporal sensitivity play a role in the emmetropization response. More specifically, it has been shown that illuminants rich in blue light can protect against myopic eye growth when the eye is exposed to slow changes in luminance contrast. In this study, active sinusoidal luminance time modulation of white light with blue or yellow light without blue at 80% contrast, at one of six temporal frequencies: 0, 0.2, 1, 2, 5, 10 Hz was investigated.
As described by (Gaston, 2014), spatial distortion has the potential for increasing overall sensitivity. As such, a grid design enabling spatial distortion of the “flickered” light enables a higher sensitivity to the angular flickering system. It has been shown that the rate of eye elongation increases if there is a deficit of blue light. It is therefore desirable to apply a spectral encoder (e.g. interference filter) that increases the portion of blue light reaching the eye (either by increasing reflection off the back (concave) surface of the lens towards the eye, or by decreasing reflection or increasing transmission of blue light off the front (convex) surface of the lens), thus increasing the overall blue component of the light reaching the eye, and obtaining a more neutral density.
The inventors of the present invention found that by configuring a lens unit (typically spectacles or clip-on lens) with an appropriate spectral selective pattern in the lens unit, an effective, passive and simple in use solution for the problem can be provided. In other words, the invention enables to generate a low frequency flickering signal with novel filter patterns/coating designs when used with natural angular user head and eye motion, and other types of motion. For example, the transmitted and reflected light produce a more neutral density daylight like spectrum by increasing the relative ratio of the blue spectral band through backside and front side reflection (since the solar spectrum has relatively equal proportions of blue and red light). The relative ratio between the transmitted and reflected light is a parameter enabling to control the prevention of the emergence or the progression of myopia. For example, a higher ratio may provide more light in the blue spectral band. As described above, it has been shown that the rate of eye elongation increases if there is a deficit of blue light. Therefore a controlled relative ratio is able to control myopia. The spectral coder may be thus configured as an interference filter applied to part of the back or front side of an ophthalmic lens, forming a geometry of coated regions and uncoated regions that, when worn by a dynamic eyeglasses wearer, transmit or reflect radiation into the eye with flicker temporal frequencies selected to retard eye growth rates. In this connection, it should be noted that, the term “interference filter” refers hereinafter to interference created in a transverse direction to the lateral dimensions of the different regions of the lens unit. As described above, the arrangement of the different regions provides a non-diffractive pattern with respect to the spectra of the light incoming on such an interference filter. For example these temporal frequencies may be the range of between about 0.2 and 20 Hz. In this connection, it should be understood that the range of temporal frequencies has been selected as follows: for example, it has been shown that when a temporally modulated light source lacks a blue component, the eye grew more when presented with low temporal frequencies than high temporal frequencies. Thus, the presence of blue light prevented temporal frequency dependent increases in eye growth, e.g. the presence of a flickering blue light source from 0.1-5 Hz can reduce the progression of Myopia. Temporal contrast sensitivity for human observers has previously been reported to drop to zero (the critical flicker fusion rate) near 65 Hz. Conventional computer screens utilize flickering rates at 2 settings 48 ad 60 Hz beyond the reported sensitivity of the human eye to detect modulation contrast. However, when the modulated light source contains a spatial high frequency edge, for the median viewer, flicker artifacts disappear only over 500 Hz, many times the commonly reported flicker fusion rate. (Lee, 2015) For chickens the CFF (critical fusion flicker) parameter is slightly higher than that of humans (Gaston, 2014), at 71 Hz.
It should be noted that, generally, the present invention can be used with eyeglasses which are not intended for any vision correction. In other words, the spectral selective pattern is provided on/embedded in an eyewear element which may or may not have any vision correction property (e.g. optical power, etc.). Therefore, the terms “lens unit” and “lens” used herein should be interpreted broadly covering also an eyewear element through which the user's eye is exposed to a scene.
According to the technique of the invention a lens unit is provided, the lens unit comprising a lens having a certain volume defining a back surface and a front surface, wherein the lens unit carries a spectral coder which, when the lens unit is in use, operates as a temporal spectral coder with respect to a portion of input light interacting with the lens unit and reaching the eye.
More specifically, the spectral coder includes a spectral selective pattern formed by an array of lens regions of the lens substrate having different spectral properties defining together a predetermined spatial transition profile and spectral and geometrical parameters. The spectral and geometrical parameters include a number of regions of the different wavelength selectivity, lateral shape and size of the regions, wherein the spectral and geometrical parameters of the spectral selective pattern are configured to enable treatment of at least one eye disorder. The spectral selective pattern is configured to induce spectral selective modulation of amount and spectral properties of light reaching a user's eye after interaction with the lens unit. The spectral selective pattern is configured to induce low-frequency temporal changes of the spectral selective modulation resulting from movements of the user's eye. When the lens unit is put in front of the eye in a field of view of the user, it affects, via spectral selective modulation, the amount and spectral properties of the light reaching the user's eye. Due to natural head or eye movements of the user wearing the lens unit with respect to the spatial and spectral pattern carried by the lens unit, and also with respect to ambient light sources to which the eye is exposed, the spectral selective modulations are temporal modulations of typically low frequency.
It should be understood that in such a spectral selective pattern, each region in the array of multiple regions of the spectral selective pattern has a certain wavelength selectivity different to that of adjacent regions. The wavelength selectivity can be described by a certain relation (e.g. ratio) between light responses (reflection and/or transmission) of the region to incident light of different wavelengths.
The parameters of the spectral selective pattern are configured to enable treatment of at least one eye disorder. The different regions of the spectral selective pattern can have different shapes/dimensions. These parameters include spectral distribution/profile, the percentage of surface coverage geometrical features (e.g. the number of regions of different wavelength selectivity, the periodicity or lack thereof, and their lateral shape and size), which all together define the spatial transition profile of the spectral properties/pattern. The spatial transition profile may have a certain variable periodicity along at least one lateral axis of the lens unit. The geometrical shape is not limited to any shape and may include grid, bars (horizontal, vertical), periodic pattern, non-uniform pattern, spiral, or concentric circles.
It should be noted and will be described more specifically further below, that an arrangement of the above different regions provides a non-diffractive pattern. More specifically, the regions of the different spectral properties in the spectral selective pattern are configured and arranged with a low spatial frequency with respect to visual spectra for which the lens is designed (lateral dimensions of the regions with respect to the wavelength of visual spectra). The spectral selective pattern is therefore a non-diffractive pattern.
Thus, according to the technique of the invention, a passive spectral selective spatial pattern is used in a field of view of the user, which results in a spectral selective modulation of the amount and spectral properties of the light reaching the user's eye. It should be understood that these spectral selective modulations are temporal modulations of typically low frequency due to a natural head or eye movements of the user wearing the lens unit with respect to the spatial and spectral pattern (which is carried by the lens unit) and ambient light sources to which the eye is exposed. Such natural head and eye movements with respect to the lens unit and/or with respect to ambient light sources (e.g. during a user's movement or any other activity) generate variation in the amount of light reaching different regions of the eye from different regions of the spectral selective pattern of the lens unit, whereas non-homogeneous distribution of the light interacting with the spectral selective pattern induces the variation. According to the technique of the invention, the spatial pattern induces targeted low frequency temporal modulation of the amount and spectral properties of incoming light, and, in particular embodiments, low frequency modulation of the amount of blue light reaching the eye, thereby enabling the treatment of myopia or other eye disorders. In other words, in some embodiments, the spectral coder may provide an increased retinal exposure to blue light.
In some embodiments, the spectral selective pattern is configured to define a plurality of spatial transitions (e.g. at least three) arranged along at least one lateral axis across the lens unit.
In some embodiments, the spectral selective pattern includes a pattern having a width of at least 5 mm.
In some embodiments, a ratio between different wavelength selectivities measured at different positions of the lens unit, either in transmittance through the lens unit, or in reflection from the back surface of the lens, is at least 2.
In some embodiments, at least one of the front and back surfaces of the lens unit is coated with a coating structure forming the spectral selective pattern. The coating structure may comprise a multi-layered coating structure being configured for coating the back surface of the lens. The multi-layered coating structure may comprise at least one patterned layer comprising the spectral selective pattern.
In some embodiments, the multi-layered coating structure comprises at least one reflective layer having reflective properties being configured to reflect light at wavelengths in the range of about 440 nm to 500 nm. The at least one reflective layer may have a reflection coefficient in the range of about 440 nm to 500 nm being higher than 10%. The reflective layer may have a back surface interfacing an upper surface of the coating structure.
In some embodiments, the at least one reflective layer is patterned.
In some embodiments, the multi-layered coating structure further comprises an anti-reflective layer interfacing the back surface of the lens.
In some embodiments, at least one of the front and back surfaces of the lens unit is tinted with a tinting forming the spectral selective pattern.
In order to better understand the subject matter that is disclosed herein and to exemplify how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting examples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention provides a novel lens unit for use in eyewear for the mitigation of propagation of myopia. In certain embodiments the lens has negative diopter power to correct present myopia. In some embodiments, the lens unit is configured for vision correction, i.e. formed to correct other or additional sight deficiencies. In other embodiments, the lens unit has no optical power and is used mainly for the mitigation of myopia by providing low frequency modulation of the spectral properties of incident light.
In an embodiment the eyewear is spectacles. In some embodiments eyewear may be, for example, fit-over glasses or clip-on lenses.
Referring to
The spectral selective pattern 116 has regions (pattern features) of different spectral properties arranged along at least one lateral axis 120 across the lens unit, i.e. in a lateral plane—regions R1 and R2 of two different spectral properties being shown in this non-limiting example. In other words, each region R1 and R2 in the array of multiple regions of the spectral selective pattern has a certain wavelength selectivity different to that of adjacent regions. The certain wavelength selectivity may be defined by a certain relation between a light response of the region and incident light of different wavelengths. The spectral and geometrical parameters of the spectral selective pattern may be configured to enable treatment of the at least one eye disorder. The spectral and geometrical parameters may include a number of regions of the different wavelength selectivity, lateral shape, and size of the regions. The regions of the different spectral properties in the spectral selective pattern may be configured and arranged with a low spatial frequency with respect to visual spectra for which the lens unit 100 is designed. The spectral selective pattern is therefore a non-diffractive pattern. It should be understood that in some embodiments such a pattern is in the form of regions of at least first spectral properties spaced by (surrounded by) the regions of at least second different spectral properties. These may be discrete regions of different spectral properties (as exemplified in
It should also be noted that the pattern is such that the regions of different spectral properties are arranged with a low spatial frequency with respect to visual spectra for which the lens is designed (i.e. lateral dimensions of the regions are larger, and even much larger, than the wavelength of visual spectra). In other words, the pattern is substantially non-diffractive with respect to the spectra for which the lens unit is designed.
Thus, in the present non-limiting example, the spectral selective pattern 116 is implemented as a coating being a multi-layered coating structure. The illustrated spectral selective pattern comprises coated regions R1 (having a first spectral property) on the lens designated in gray, and uncoated regions R2 designated in white (being regions of the lens having a second spectral property).
Spectral selective pattern 116 may be described for example by a geometrical shape (lateral structure) of the regions of certain spectral properties, e.g. the regions on which the coating is applied. The regions of the spectral selective pattern may comprise two or more regions having certain geometrical shapes including at least one of an elongated substantially rectangular shape, and a substantially ring-like shape. For example, the substantially ring-like shaped regions may include at least one of oval, circle and ellipse. More specifically, according to the illustrated embodiment, the pattern may comprise regions having elongated geometrical shapes, rectangular in this case, along the vertical direction in the plane of the lens (the lateral plane). Defining width as generally orthogonal to the elongation direction of a geometrical shape, the elongated shapes may have a width (lateral dimension) of at least 5 mm, or even less. In a specific and non-limiting example, the width of the coated regions may be in the range of about 0.5-20 mm. For example, the width of the coated regions may be 1 mm, 5 mm, 7 mm or 10 mm. Some other pattern configurations which may be applied are illustrated in and described below with reference to
As may be noted for the specific embodiment illustrated in
Several aspects of the optical properties consequent of the shape of the spectral selective pattern may be realized if the optical or spectral response profile along a cross section or a line in the lens plane/surface is considered. The spectral selective pattern may be characterized by its optical response, the reflectance from the lens unit, or transmittance through the lens unit at different wavelengths or wavelength (spectral) bands and at different regions thereof. The reflectance or transmittance may be expressed for rays parallel to the lens optical axis, or for rays at a normal angle to the lens surface.
Change in the optical response from one point to another in the lens plane may also be described by considering the profile of the respective response as it varies along the lens unit. Consider, for example the optical response variation along a lateral axis 120 crossing the lens as shown in
The pattern creation on/in the lens may generally be performed using any suitable technique. Also, patterning by selective coating is one of many possible examples of such pattern creation.
A coating process according to an embodiment of the invention and the resulting spectral response, are described below with reference to
More specifically, optionally in 202, a base anti-reflective coating is applied to the entire surface of the lens (no pattern). An anti-reflective coating is a type of optical coating applied to the surface of lenses and other optical elements aimed at reducing reflection to certain spectra, e.g. visual spectra for the purposes of the present application. Such coatings typically include multiple layers of evaporated/sputtered materials with alternating high and low refractive indices. Standard ophthalmic grade coatings reduce normal incident reflection to about 1% to 2%, while the normal incident reflection of uncoated surfaces of lenses, which typically have refractive indices above 1.5 and even above 1.6, are in the range of 4% to 5% per surface. For example, the coating may be essentially a grating. In this case, it is desired that the difference between each functional layer is maximal. This first step may increase the gap between a coated blue reflector (5-30% reflection) and an uncoated surface. Typical anti-reflective coatings are adapted for different lens materials, and have a low reflectivity, ranging between 1% and 2%.
In several embodiments of the invention, the coating process providing spectral selective pattern may be adapted to apply multi-layered coating structures (as described below) on top of the above-described anti-reflective coating.
In 204, a masking process is applied, in order to further perform material deposition by blocking certain areas with a patterning mask. Masking techniques may be performed, inter alia, by printing, marking, taping, plate masking or other techniques. Generally, such masks may be separate physical elements (plate masking); however, practically, coating using vapor deposition (e.g. CVD or PVD), utilizes a masking pattern deposited on the surface to be further coated. Generally, a specifically designed mask is used to block selected regions in a manner to protect them from interaction with a material being deposited, in the 206 deposition process. Mask geometry (i.e. a pattern of blocking and transmitting regions) is defined according to a predetermined pattern to be obtained on the lens (referring back to
In 206, multiple layers, forming together the desired spectral selective optical coating, are successively applied/deposited to the masked lens surface, i.e. to the anti-reflective coating on the surface of the lens in the present example. It should be noted that the provision of any base anti-reflective coating is generally optional, and the multi-layered spectral selective optical coating is designed either to be applied directly on the lens surface, or to be compatible with and to be applied on, the base anti-reflective coating. In certain embodiments, the application of the multilayered spectral selective coating structure provides an increased reflectance of the selected spectral ranges in the unmasked regions (regions not blocked by the mask). Examples of such multi-layered spectral selective coating are provided in reference to
According to certain embodiments, including those where the back surface of the lens unit is to be patterned, the use of a base anti-reflective coating and the spectral selective coating pattern thereon, increases the contrast between regions that are coated with the spectral selective reflective multi-layered coating structure (regions R1 in
In 208, the mask is removed. According to certain embodiments, mask removal can be performed via selective material removal process, through the use of a combination of different processes, using, inter alia, a wet chemical process, an oxidative process, a plasma process, or a mechanical process. Mask removal results in clean surfaces, leaving the underlying surface of the lens, or of the respectively anti-reflective coated surface, intact.
Optionally, further coating steps may be performed, for example, an application of an anti-smudge layer through thermal evaporation or other processes such as dip coating, spin coating or spray coating or cloth wiping of a chemical linker compound possessing hydrophobic or oleophobic properties.
Turning back to
In general, and in line with further analysis below, the spectrally selective pattern geometry may be designed under design constraints that affect the number of spatial transitions along a certain line (e.g. lateral)/axis (e.g. meridian) of the lens unit. According to several embodiments, there is at least one line/axis along the lens unit, such that there are at least three spatial transitions, preferably at least five spatial transitions or more between different spectral responses, i.e. between the adjacent regions of different spectral responses. Further, according to other design constraints, the pattern shape may be constrained so that there is no such line/axis along the lens unit for which there are more than 21 spatial transitions, preferably no more than 15 spatial transitions, and more preferably no more than 9 spatial transitions.
The following is a brief description of how the spectral/wavelength selectivity of different regions of the lens unit can be measured.
Continuing with the above example and the approximate values of reflectance for light normally incident on the back surface of the lens unit at wavelengths of about 450 nm and 625 nm, the spectral selectivity can be described. The ratio between the reflectance in the coated regions and the uncoated regions at 450 nm is about 23%:1.5% or about 15. However, the reflectance in other spectral bands also varies as a result of the application of spectrally selective coating. Therefore, in some cases it is more appropriate to consider a refined selectivity measure which is normalized by the response in a second wavelength or spectral band, thus for example the ratio considered above can be normalized by reflectance at about 625 nm. Performing this normalization separately in the different regions of the spectral selective pattern and calculating the normalized ratio provides a refined selectivity measure. The refined selectivity measure may be calculated for the response (the optical property) which may be either reflectance or transmission as follows:
The refined selectivity measure may be defined as the response in a first wavelength band in a first region, divided by the response in a second wavelength band in a first region. Alternatively, the refined selectivity measure may also be defined as the response in a first wavelength band in a second region, divided by the response in a second wavelength band in a second region.
Taking into account the concrete example described above, and the specific approximate values provided above for the reflection coefficients for normal incident light at 440 nm and 625 nm from the back surface of the lens unit, the spectral selectivity measure is about (23%:2.5%)/(1.7%:1.5%); that is about 8. As mentioned above, the refined spectral selectivity measure may be used also with respect to a spectrally selective transmission response, and also may be used with respect to a combination thereof.
Thus, according to certain embodiments, the coating structure comprises a multi-layered coating structure being configured for coating the back surface of the lens, the multi-layered coating structure comprising at least one patterned layer comprising the spectral selective pattern. According to some embodiments, the multi-layered coating structure comprises at least one reflective layer having reflective properties being configured to reflect light at wavelengths in the range of about 400 nm to 500 nm. In other words, the invention increases the overall exposure of the eye to blue light. For example, the blue wavelength range is {tilde over (λ)}peak=465 nm (half-band width 25 nm=>440 nm to 490 nm). According to such embodiments the at least one reflective layer is patterned. Further, according to such embodiments, the at least one reflective layer has a reflection coefficient in the range of about 440 nm to 500 nm being higher than 10%, preferably higher than 20%, and, more preferably, higher than 25%. According to various embodiments the multi-layered coating structure of the lens unit further comprises an anti-reflective layer interfacing the back surface of the lens.
According to certain embodiments, production of the spectral pattern can be performed by tinting the lens (substrate) according to specific geometrical and spectral parameters of the pattern to be produced in the lens unit. According to such embodiments, the process 200 may be modified and reordered as follows:
In step 1, a masking process is applied in order to further perform tinting through a printed/template patterning mask. Masking techniques may be performed as discussed above. Mask geometry is defined according to a predefined pattern to obtain a certain pattern geometry.
In step 2, a tint is applied, whereas, for example, tint may be successively applied by partial immersion in tint baths, typically at elevated temperatures for controlled and varying time periods. An immersion process may be used, and partial immersion for different periods of different regions of the lens may allow for forming a tint gradient pattern. As a result of different levels of tinting, the regions of different spectral properties may be created, and the spectral properties, defining either reflectance or transmission response in the respective point/site/location in the lens plane, may generate a spectrally gradient pattern formed by gradually varying spectral properties and, accordingly, gradually varying spectral response (as an alternative to a discrete spectral selective pattern). In general, the application of gradient patterns may smooth the transitions in the optical response between different regions of the lens and reduce higher frequency components content in the generated spectral selective modulation of light directed to the eye, which is further discussed below.
In step 3, the mask is removed. According to certain embodiments, the mask removal can be performed via selective material removal process, using, inter alia, a wet chemical process, an oxidative process, a plasma process or a mechanical process. Mask removal results in clean surfaces, leaving the underlying surface of the lens surface intact, with the tinted pattern being embedded within the lens volume.
In step 4, which in some embodiments is optional, an anti-reflective coating is applied to the entire surface of the lens. The anti-reflective coating may be similar to the anti-reflective coating described above. Applying a tint may be performed with a reflective tint for a reflective spectral selective response, or with spectral selective absorbing tint to generate a transmission spectral selective response. Application of an anti-reflective coating may be performed before or after the tinting procedure, depending on the chemical and physical characteristics of the tinting. For example, an anti-reflective coating can be tinted by printing a tinted layer on the top surface of the anti-reflective coating.
Turning to
In
In the figure, this is illustrated by different gray levels in different positions in the illustrated lens. The gradient forms a smooth transition from a first spectral property on the lens designated in dark gray, to regions of the lens having a second spectral property, designated in white. The transition profile (between zones of different transmission) generates the desired flicker mentioned above. Such a pattern may be produced by different methods including, inter alia, tinting, and, in particular, through an immersion process using partial immersion to provide partial tinting. The spectral selective pattern is thus adapted to create a wavelength dependent flicker, through relative movement of at least one of user's eyes and head with respect to the environment. The wavelength dependent flicker may be in a frequency range of about 0.2 Hz to 20 Hz.
In general, the spectrally selective patterns may be personalized, either to improve their effectiveness in mitigating the propagation of an eye disorder, to correct specific sight deficiencies in each of the different eyes, or to provide other values such as commercial values or charm, e.g. to provide a custom shape that is attractive to young children, to provide indication of manufacturing, or to enable a visual trademark on the lens unit.
An example of a non-symmetric pattern which may be applied according to different embodiments, and which comprises low spatial frequency components, is provided in
It should be emphasized that by selecting an appropriate non-symmetrical pattern, spectral selective light modulation may be generated through different motions (rotations or translations), even if the light is rather uniform.
The amount of light following the various paths depends also on the respective position and orientation of the user and his eyes (compound positioning of the head, the eyes, the eyewear and lens unit, and of potential occlusions) with respect to light sources and ambient lighting conditions in the environment in which the user is situated. To illustrate the effect of the spectral selective pattern on the amount and spectral properties of light reaching the eye, relative movements and changes in the relative compound positioning of the above listed elements involved should be considered. In particular, several relative movement examples are outlined as follows: (i) head rotation with respect to a certain point-like light source and how it affects light reflection from the back surface of the lens unit reaching the eye, (ii) eye rotation and how it affects light reflection from the back surface of the lens unit reaching the eye, and (iii) translational movement between the user and a light source and how it affects light transmitted to the eye. For simplicity, a point-like light source is considered. These simplified examples are for explanation purposes and can be generalized to compound movement, to general lighting conditions, and to different types of spectral selective patterns. Various light sources may be used in an indoor environment. For example, the light source may be light emitted from a computer screen, light emitted from an overhead fixture, or sunlight entering through a window. These different light sources are oriented differently with respect to the eyewear. For example, the light emitted from a computer screen is transmitted through the lens unit towards the eye. Light emitted from an overhead fixture may be transmitted through the lens unit, or reflected off the concave side of the lens unit towards the eye, depending on the location of the fixture with respect to the lens and eye. In indoor settings, these light sources of the input light (e.g. window, lamps or media or computer screens) are relatively static as fixtures, so when an eyeglasses wearer moves his/her head or eyes, the position on the lens, through which the light rays enter the eye, varies. With a spatially variable selective interference filter over the surface of the lens, the rays of light transmitted through a coated area on the lens unit are partially or fully reflected. The rays transmitted through an uncoated area are reflected or transmitted differently. This induces a “flicker”, or a variability in the signal reaching the eye. It is possible to generate low frequencies (<1 Hz) as a result of changes in angular reflection/transmission of indoor light sources. For explanation purposes, consider first two simplified cases of relative motion: (i) coupled head and eye rotation (moving together) and (ii) independent eye rotation. For coupled head and eye rotation and a sufficiently distant light source, it is also possible to consider, for the sake of explanation, that the spatial distribution of input light incident on the back surface of the lens, changes its position on the back surface of the lens according to head rotation. Thus, the modulation of the light reflected into the eye may be mainly according to head rotation, eye rotation and properties of the spatially variable selective interference filter formed on the back surface of the lens.
Reference is made to
Reference is made to
Referring to
Further, the distribution of light impinging on the back surface of the lens unit may not be homogeneous, e.g. due to partial occlusions of the back surface of the lens unit by the head. Also, the spectral selective pattern may be not symmetric. Consequently, rotation of the head changes the relative amount of light falling on the first and second regions of the spectral selective pattern, and thus further affects a change in the amount of light reflected into the eye.
Rotation/movement of the eyes, independent of head rotation, and accordingly independent from lens unit rotation, practically does not affect the distribution of the input light impinging on the lens unit. However, such eye rotation does affect the light signal (amount and spectra) reaching the eyes. Generally, it should be noted that light falling on the lens unit may be, and in most cases is, non-uniformly distributed on the lens unit surface. This may be due to different factors, such as the position of different light sources with respect to the lens unit, obstructions (e.g. by the nose) or possibly non-planarity of any lens unit surfaces. When considering the distribution of light falling on the back surface of the lens unit, this may be even more pronounced, e.g. due to more prominent obstacles. Consequently, the distribution of light incident on different features/regions of the spectral selective pattern may be not uniform. When considering light reflection from the back surface of the lens unit, and how light reaching the eye is modulated due to eye rotation, it may be beneficial to consider a combined effect formed by the effect of (i) non-uniformity of the distribution of light on the surface of the lens unit and (ii) lateral non-uniformity of the distribution of wavelength selective regions of the spectral pattern. In this case, i.e. the case where either the distribution of light or that the pattern on the lens unit is non-uniform, the rotation of the eyes with respect to the spectral pattern, for a given input light propagation path on the spectral pattern, results in a change in the amount of light, at specific spectral bands, directed into the eye from the lens unit. Specifically, in such a case, for the spectrally selective pattern, rotation of the eyes with respect to the pattern, results in a temporal modulation of the amount of reflected light, predominantly at the specific waveband for which the spectrally selective pattern/coating is designed. This temporal modulation depends on the rate of rotation/movement of the eye, and also on the non-uniformity of the combined light distribution.
Similarly, considering light transmission through the lens unit and how in such a case light reaching the eye is temporally modulated due to eye rotation, it may be useful to consider (i) non-uniformity of the distribution of light on the front surface of the lens unit and (ii) lateral non-uniformity of the distribution of wavelength selective regions of the spectral pattern.
The above described example of
Reference is now made to
The following is the description of a frequency components analysis in the spectral selective signal.
Temporal modulation of the light introduced to the eye may be analyzed in terms of its frequency components and would depend on the relative positions of the head, eyes, eyewear and lens unit with respect to the input light propagation, and with respect to the type and distribution of the input light. Temporal modulation rate would also depend on the spectral selective pattern geometry.
The actual amount of light reflected from the back surface of the lens unit into the eye can be considered by regarding, in ‘stage 1’, how much light can be reflected from each point on the back surface of the lens unit into the eye under complete reflectance, generating a ‘light potential reflection distribution’ (LPR distribution) which is dependent on (i) the environment (light sources and scene geometry and spectral composition of the input light), (ii) the head and eye and lens unit relative positions and orientations, but is not dependent on the (local) pointwise reflection coefficient (assuming “perfect” reflection). Then, in ‘stage 2’, the actual amount of light reflected from the back surface of the lens unit into the eye can be estimated by multiplying this light distribution by the pattern dependent, spectral dependent, reflection coefficient, and then integrated over the entire lens unit area.
Coupled head and eye movement, and in particular rotation, induces a change in the LPR distribution and induces a movement of the spectral selective pattern relative to this distribution. The rate of modulation of the spectral response is proportional, inter alia, to the rate of relative motion, and, in particular, to the rate this LPR distribution crosses the pattern spatial transitions. Thus, if, for example, the pattern features are arranged periodically with the 5 mm wide intervals (10 mm periodicity) and the LPR distribution moves over the lens unit at a constant rate in proportion to the head movement, say, at about 10 mm per second, then the dominant frequency of modulation of the light reflected into the eye at the specific spectral band is about 1 Hz.
The rate of movement of this LPR distribution over the lens unit as a result of the head rotation is approximately proportional to linearized lens angular speed. Thus, if the head rotates at 20 deg/sec and the radius of rotation of the lens is about 100 mm, then the linearized rate of movement of the LPR distribution across the lens unit is about 35 mm/sec. For a periodic pattern with the period of 25 mm, this would imply an induced modulation of the wavelength specific signal having a dominant frequency at about 1.4 Hz.
The following Table 1A outlines the approximate assumed conversion from degrees to mm on the lens based on the Back vertex distance (BVD), the distance between the lens and the eye rotation center, and the Head vertex distance (HVD), the distance between the lens and the head rotation center.
The following Table 1B outlines different parameters that may be experienced by a user with some assumptions of values for different translational motions when the minimal translational motion is referred to as slow, and the minimal translational motion is referred to as fast:
The following Table 1C outlines possible head rotation and eye frequencies for different periodicity (on-off distance):
Table 1D below provides approximate ranges for such dominant frequencies depending on different head rotation rates and different patterns that are approximated as periodic patterns of certain widths/periods.
Table 1E below provides approximate ranges for such dominant frequencies depending on different eye rotation rates and different patterns components considered as periodic patterns of certain widths.
The amount of light reflected into the eye due to the spectrally selective reflection and as a function of eye movement depends on (i) the compound pattern of light that is generated by the uniformity/non-uniformity of the spectral selective pattern geometry and by the uniformity/non-uniformity of the light distribution falling on the lens unit and (ii) the relative position of the eye (as function of the eye movement) which results in that different parts of this compound pattern of light are reaching the eye. Consequently, rotation of the eye will generate a rotation dependent signal and different rates of rotation would result in different temporal signals (different frequencies). However, it is necessary that the compound pattern will have spatial components that will correspond to the eye response to generate these eye position dependent differences and respective signals.
The eye integrates light coming from the lens unit non-uniformly, giving higher weight to light reaching the eye from the center of the field of view (FOV) being the region stimulating foveal vision. Eye rotation changes the orientation of the central field of view (orientation of the line of sight), and, in particular, changing the orientation of the center of the field of view, thereby moving the line of sight of the eye along the lens unit and changing the integrated signal. For a simplified explanation, the integration performed by the eye during eye rotation can be considered as an integrating window, i.e. a low pass filter passing over the pattern.
If, for example, the eye rotates at about 150 deg/sec, at a radius of rotation with respect to the lens unit of about 27 mm, the linearized rate of movement of the center of the field of view along the lens unit is about 70 mm/sec. If, for, example, the spectral selective pattern has a low frequency component that, in the spatial domain, corresponds to a pattern period of 40 mm, then the signal would comprise a dominant component at about 1.7 Hz.
The spectral selective modulation of light entering the eye as a result of translation of the user with respect to the environment, can be analyzed along similar lines as head rotation, with appropriate modifications. Results, indicating predominant frequency components that are evident in the spectral selective light modulation, are summarized in Table 1E above.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IL2020/051172 | 11/11/2020 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62941743 | Nov 2019 | US |