E-Vision Smart Optics, Inc.

Wavetec Vision Systems, Inc.

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.

Kent State University

Wf Systems LLC

E-A Ophthalmics

Ware Tec Vision Systems, Inc.

Anthony Y Van Heugten

Dwight P Duston

Harry Milton

Daniel S Durrie

Joel D Zychick

Douglas Bryant

Liwei Li

Phil Bos

Ronald D Blum

William Kokonaski

Joshua N Haddock

Robert Hall

Joseph Thomas McGinn

Anita Trajkovska-Broach

David Boyd

John M Hunkeler

A beam steering device includes a substrate with a first refractive index that defines a cavity, an electroactive material in the cavity that has a variable refractive index, and two sets of opposing overlays. The overlays in one set of opposing overlays are parallel to each other, while the overlays in the other set are tilted with respect to each other. This allows one or more electric fields between the overlays to be used to align the electroactive material in two different directions to change its refractive index, allowing for a faster speed of beam steering through refraction than conventional approaches.

Beam steering devices

An electro-active lens is presented which utilizes a surface relief structures and an electro-active material, with a change in refractive index facilitating the change in optical properties. A molded structure and a liquid crystal are used to form a diffractive lens. In addition to the classical approach of utilizing diffractive optics and multiple Fresnel zones to form a lens, an additional structure is placed between Fresnel zones in order to improve the diffraction efficiency across the visible spectrum and reduce chromatic aberration.

Prism-enhanced lenses and methods of using prism-enhanced lenses

Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system, machine, device, manufacture, circuit, composition of matter, and/or user interface adapted for and/or resulting from, and/or a method and/or machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for, activities that can comprise and/or relate to, via a device implanted in a mammal, sensing a ciliary muscle movement and/or force and/or converting the ciliary muscle movement and/or force to a signal and/or a predetermined form of power.

Systems, devices, and/or methods for managing implantable devices

Bright ambient light can wash out a virtual image in a conventional augmented reality device. Fortunately, this problem can be prevented with a variable electro-active beam splitter whose reflect/transmit ratio can be varied or switched on and off rapidly at a duty cycle based on the ambient level. As the ambient light gets brighter, the beam splitter's transmit/reflect ratio can be shifted so that the beam splitter reflects more light from the display and transmits less ambient light to the user's eye. The beam splitter can also be switched between a highly reflective state and a highly transmissive state at a duty cycle selected so that the eye spends more time integrating reflected display light than integrating transmitted ambient light. The splitting ratio and/or duty cycle can be adjusted as the ambient light level changes to provide the optimum experience for the user.

Augmented reality device with adjustable electroactive beam splitter

Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system, machine, device, manufacture, circuit, composition of matter, and/or user interface adapted for and/or resulting from, and/or a method and/or machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for, activities that can comprise and/or relate to, via light from a light source, rendering an image on a retina.

Systems, devices, and/or methods for providing images via a contact lens

An electro-active lens provides simultaneous focusing at two different optical powers. It does this with a stack of electro-active lens elements aligned along the same optical axis that each focus light in different polarization states (e.g., horizontal and vertical polarization states). If a first and second electro-active lens elements have different optical powers, light in a first polarization state can be focused to one optical power and light in a second polarization state can be focused to a different optical power simultaneously. The electro-active lens can be switched between different single and multiple optical powers. People with presbyopia may use the electro-active lens mounted in eyewear in place of conventional bifocal glasses. The electro-active lens may also be used in a scope to improve target aiming.

Electro-active sporting glasses

A method of manufacturing an optic includes disposing electronic circuitry on a substrate. The method also includes depositing a first resin on the first side of the electronic circuitry and curing the first resin to form a first optical segment. The method further includes depositing a second resin on the second side of the electronic circuitry and curing the second resin to form a second optical segment. The first and second optical segments encapsulate the electronic circuitry. The first resin and the second resin can include multiple droplets of resin, thereby reducing mechanical force imposed on the electronic circuitry during printing and allowing conformal contact between the resin and the electronic circuitry. Accordingly, electronic circuitry of smaller dimension can be used to form the electronic eyewear.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing of electro-active lenses

A typical liquid crystal lens includes liquid crystal sandwiched between transparent substrates, which are patterned with ring electrodes. Applying a voltage across the electrodes causes the liquid crystal molecules to rotate, changing their apparent refractive index and the lens's focal length. The ring electrodes are separated by gaps and get narrower toward the lens's periphery. If the ring electrodes are too narrower, their cannot switch the liquid crystal well. To address this problem, an inventive liquid crystal lens includes a substrate with a stepped surface that defines concentric liquid crystal regions with thicknesses that increase with lens radius. Each region is switched by a different set of ring electrodes, which may be on, under, or opposite the stepped surface. Within each region, the ring electrodes get narrower farther from the lens's center. But the ring electrodes' widths also increase with liquid crystal thickness, offsetting the decrease in width that degrades lens performance.

Multi-depth liquid crystal electrode layer lens

An electro-active lens is presented which utilizes a surface relief structures and an electro-active material, with a change in refractive index facilitating the change in optical properties. A molded structure and a liquid crystal are used to form a diffractive lens. In addition to the classical approach of utilizing diffractive optics and multiple Fresnel zones to form a lens, an additional structure is placed between Fresnel zones in order to improve the diffraction efficiency across the visible spectrum, and reduce chromatic aberration.

A conventional head-mounted display (HMDs) can display a virtual image at a fixed focus (e.g., infinite focus). If the user looks at an object that appears closer than the virtual image, then accommodation by the user's eyes will cause the virtual image to appear blurry. The HMDs disclosed herein include a dynamic electro-active focusing element that changes the focus of the virtual image to account for accommodation by the user. This dynamic electro-active focusing element may include a curved layer of electro-active material, such as nematic or bi-stable (e.g., cholesteric) liquid crystal, disposed between a static concave mirror and a convex surface on a beam splitter or other optical element. Changing the refractive index of the electro-active material causes the focus of the dynamic electro-active focusing element, making it possible to shift the virtual image's focus in as the user's eyes change focus.

Growing community of inventors

Pacific Palisades, CA, United States of America

Anthony Y Van Heugten