System and method for measuring and fitting spatio-temporal vision

US8428739B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Second Sight Medical Products, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Ashish Ahuja · Portola Valley, US
• Avraham I. Caspi · Rehovot, IL
• Jessy Dorn · Los Angeles, US
• Robert J. Greenberg · Los Angeles, US
• Kelly H. McClure · Simi Valley, US
• Matthew J. McMahon · Los Angeles, US
• Devyani Nanduri · Los Angeles, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 26, 2009
• Grant date: Apr 23, 2013
• Expiry date: Sep 17, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61N1/37247
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

This system gives the experimenter great flexibility to present spatio-temporal stimulation patterns to a subject. A video configuration file (VCF) editor allows the experimenter to determine the electrical stimulation parameters for each electrode. A Pattern Stimulation software program allows direct stimulation of chosen patterns of electrodes, scaled by the subject's VCF, through a Graphical User Interface. The subject then responds by drawing the outline of the phosphene he or she perceives on a touchscreen. The Pattern Stimulation program saves all of the trial parameters and the parameters of an ellipse fit to their drawing, as well as a raw data file containing the input to the touchscreen is saved. After the experiment, offline image analysis can be performed to obtain a detailed quantitative description of the subject's percepts. Image descriptors can assigned to the touchscreen data; these image descriptors can be used to make formalized comparisons between various experimental conditions. Various types of image descriptors can be used, including simple ellipse fitting, projections of the 2-D drawings onto one-dimensional axes, calculations of Hu moments, PCA, and ICA.