Methods and systems for diagnosing and treating health ailments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016270656-A1
Application number	US-201615072290-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 16, 2016
Priority date	Mar 16, 2015
Publication date	Sep 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Configurations are disclosed for a health system to be used in various healthcare applications, e.g., for patient diagnostics, monitoring, and/or therapy. The health system may comprise a light generation module to transmit light or an image to a user, one or more sensors to detect a physiological parameter of the user's body, including their eyes, and processing circuitry to analyze an input received in response to the presented images to determine one or more health conditions or defects.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A user-wearable diagnostic health system comprising:
a frame configured to mount on the user; an augmented reality display attached to the frame and configured to direct images to an eye of the user; a light detector attached to the frame and configured to detect light reflected from an eye of the user; and a processor configured to conduct a health analysis of the user based on light detected by the light detector.

2 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the augmented reality display comprises a waveguide configured to:
allow a view of the world through the waveguide; and form images by directing light out of the waveguide and into an eye of the user.

3 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 2 , wherein the waveguide is part of a stack of waveguides, wherein each waveguide of the stack is configured to output light with different amounts of divergence in comparison to one or more other waveguides of the stack of waveguides.

4 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the light detector is an image capture device.

5 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the light detector is configured to track movement of eyes of the user.

6 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , further comprising a light source configured to emit light towards the user, wherein the light detector is configured to detect all or portions of the emitted light reflected by the user.

7 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 6 , wherein the light source is configured to emit non-visible light.

8 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 7 , wherein the non-visible light is infrared light.

9 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 6 , wherein the light source is configured to emit light of multiple wavelengths, wherein the system is configured to change the emitted wavelength based on features of the user to be imaged.

10 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the augmented reality display is a fiber scanning display comprising fibers configured to project light in a pattern to form images in the eye of the user.

11 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 10 , wherein the light detector comprises the fibers of the fiber scanning display, wherein the fibers are configured to receive light to image the eye of the user.

12 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 10 , wherein the fiber scanning display is configured to project light to the eye through the fibers and to receive reflected portions of the light during the health analysis.

13 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 12 , wherein the fiber scanning display is configured to change a wavelength of light projected through the fibers into the eye.

14 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 13 , wherein the fiber scanning display is configured to change the wavelength of light projected through the fibers to provide depth information for tissue that the light is reflected from.

15 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to conduct the health analysis by monitoring an eyelid of the user.

16 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to conduct the health analysis by monitoring a pupil of the user.

17 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to conduct the health analysis by detecting, using information captured by the light detector, one or more of: eye movements, eye movement patterns, blinking patterns, eye vergence, fatigue, changes in eye color, depth of focus of the eye, and changes in focal distance for the eye.

18 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to conduct the health analysis by detecting, using information captured by the light detector, one or more of: eye fatigue, dry eye, and hypertension.

19 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to conduct a health analysis of the user by applying pattern recognition to light detected by the light detector.

20 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to conduct the health analysis by detecting an intraocular pressure of the eye.

21 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is configured to detect intraocular pressure based on an amount or density of backscattered light detected by the light detector.

22 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to conduct the health analysis by directing the augmented reality display to provide light stimulation to the eye of the user.

23 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more sensors configured to conduct a non-eye diagnostic of the user.

24 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 23 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises an EEG sensor, wherein the processor is configured to conduct the health analysis by detecting brain activity.

25 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 24 , wherein the system is configured to issue an alert triggered by the detection of brain activity, wherein the alert is issued to one or both of the user and a clinician.

26 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 23 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises one or more sensors selected from the group consisting of temperature sensors, pressure sensors, light sensors, non-invasive blood glucose sensors, and ETCO2 sensors.

27 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more sensors configured to monitor one of more conditions of the ambient environment of the user, wherein the system is configured to conduct the health analysis using data collected by the one or more sensors.

28 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 27 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises a camera configured to image the ambient environment.

29 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 28 , wherein the camera and processor are configured to identify and analyze food, drug, nutrients and toxins that the user intakes.

30 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 28 , wherein the processor is configured to determine a head pose of the user based on information received from the camera.

31 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 27 , wherein processor is configured to correlate the one of more conditions of the ambient environment with other user health data.

32 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 27 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises one or more of location and orientation sensors.

33 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system of claim 32 , wherein the one or more of location and orientation sensors comprise an accelerometer, a GPS sensor, a compass, a gyroscope, an inertial measurement device, and a camera.

34 . The user-wearable diagnostic health system

Assignees

• Magic Leap Inc

Inventors

• Samec Nicole Elizabeth
• Macnamara John Graham
• Harrises Christopher M
• Schowengerdt Brian T
• Abovitz Rony
• Baerenrodt Mark

Classifications

• A61B3/1241

  specially adapted for observation of ocular blood flow, e.g. by fluorescein angiography · CPC title

• A61B3/0025

  characterised by electronic signal processing, e.g. eye models · CPC title

• A61B3/005

  Constructional features of the display · CPC title

• G02C7/027

  considering wearer's parameters · CPC title

• A61M21/02

  for inducing sleep or relaxation, e.g. by direct nerve stimulation, hypnosis, analgesia (for massage A61H; electrotherapy A61N, e.g. applying alternating or intermittent electric currents for producing anaesthesia A61N1/36021) · CPC title