Methods, systems, and apparatus for reducing the frequency and/or severity of photophobic responses or for modulating circadian cycles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9764157-B2
Application number	US-201414338182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 22, 2014
Priority date	Jan 17, 2011
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

An optical filter may reduce the frequency and/or severity of photophobic responses or for modulating circadian cycles by controlling light exposure to cells in the human eye in certain wavelengths, such as 480 nm and 590 nm, and a visual spectral response of the human eye. The optical filter may disrupt the isomerization of melanopsin in the human eye reducing the availability of the active isoform, whereas the attenuation of light weighted across the action potential spectrum of the active isoform attenuates the phototransduction cascade leading to photophobic responses. Embodiments of an optical filter are described. In one embodiment an optical filter may be configured to transmit less than a first amount of light in certain wavelengths, and to transmit more than a second amount of light weighted across the visual spectral response. Methods of use and methods of manufacturing optical filters are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for reducing the frequency and/or severity of photophobic responses or for modulating circadian cycles by controlling exposure of cells in a retina relative to a visible spectrum range of 400 nm to 700 nm, the apparatus comprising:
an optical filter configured to transmit:
light averaged across a first range of wavelengths between about 565 nm and about 615 nm, wherein the transmitted light across the first wavelength range is a dose of light experienced by receptive cells of a subject (D rec,590 ), and
light averaged across a second range of wavelengths within a visible spectrum less than about 565 nm and greater than about 615 nm, wherein the transmitted across the second wavelength range is a dose of light experienced over the visual spectrum
wherein the optical filter has a figure of merit (FOM) defined by:

F
⁢

⁢
O
⁢

⁢
M

=

1
-

D

rec
,
590

D

rec
,
590

⁡

(

T
=
1

)

1
-

D
vis

D
vis

⁡

(

T
=
1

)

where D rec,590 (T=1) is the light across the first wavelength range in the absence of an optical filter, and D vis (T=1) is the light across the second wavelength range in the absence of an optical filter, wherein the figure of merit of said optical filter is at least 1.3.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said light across the first wavelength range is approximately all of the light between about 565 nm and about 615 nm wavelengths and wherein said light across the second wavelength range is approximately all of the light outside of the first wavelength range.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said light across the first wavelength range is substantially all light above a short-pass filter wavelength between about 565 nm and 615 nm and said light across the second wavelength range is all light across the visual spectrum with a wavelength below said short-pass filter wavelength.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter is configured to transmit about 45% of the light across the first wavelength range and about 60% of the light across the second wavelength range.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the figure of merit of said optical filter is greater than 1.3, is greater than about 1.5, is greater than about 1.8, is greater than about 2.75, is greater than about 3, or is greater than about 3.3.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter includes dielectric multi-layers, embedded nanoparticle coatings, a color filter, tint, resonant guided-mode filter, a rugate filter, or any combination thereof.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the embedded nanoparticle coatings include at least one of metallic nanoparticles, dielectric nanoparticles, semiconductor nanoparticles, quantum dots, magnetic nanoparticles, or core-shell particles having a core material in a core and a shell material serving as a shell.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the metallic nanoparticles include at least one of Al, Ag, Au, Cu, Ni, or Pt, wherein the dielectric nanoparticles include at least one of TiO 2 or Ta 2 O 5 .

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the semiconductor nanoparticles or quantum dots include at least one of Si, GaAs, GaN, CdSe, or CdS.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein a shape of embedded nanoparticles in the embedded nanoparticle coatings is spherical or elliptical.

11. An apparatus for reducing the frequency and/or severity of photophobic responses by controlling light exposure to melanopsin ganglion cells in a retina, the apparatus comprising:
a composite optical filter configured to transmit:
light averaged across a Gaussian function with a central wavelength of about 590 nm and a full-width at half-maximum of about 50 nm, the transmitted light across the Gaussian function with a central wavelength of about 590 nm is a dose of light experienced by the melanopsin ganglion cells of a subject (D rec,590 ); and
light averaged across a Gaussian function with a central wavelength of about 550 nm and a full-width at half-maximum of about 134 nm, the transmitted light across the Gaussian function with a central wavelength of about 550 nm is a dose of light experienced over the visual response spectrum (D vis ); and
wherein a ratio including the light averaged across the Gaussian function with a central wavelength of about 590 nm and the light averaged across the Gaussian function with a central wavelength of about 550 nm is defined as a figure of merit (FOM) of the optical filter, the figure of merit being determined by:

F
⁢

⁢
O
⁢

⁢
M

=

1
-

D

rec
,
590

D

rec
,
590

⁡

(

T
=
1

)

1
-

D
vis

Assignees

• Univ Utah Res Found

Inventors

• Blair Steven M
• Katz Bradley Jay

Classifications

• A61N2005/0667

  Filters · 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

• A61M2021/0044

  by the sight sense · CPC title

• G02B5/289

  Rugate filters · CPC title

• G02B5/285

  comprising deposited thin solid films (G02B5/281 - G02B5/289 take precedence; multilayered film filters for fibre optic multiplexing G02B6/29361) · CPC title