e-Vision
Through The 21st Century Looking Glass... Technology takes a Quantum Leap in the Field of Vision

The marvels of science fiction yesterday, is a reality today. The frenetic pace of technological innovation is very much a part of our culture and it has as left generations overwhelmed by the implications of these innovations for businesses, individuals and society. However, in the world of vision, more specifically lens technology, innovation, and science has not kept pace. The most recent major innovations in lens technology for eyeglasses were centuries ago with the advent around 1785 of the two-segment bi-focal lens which combined a top lens for distant viewing and a lower lens for reading. If we could bring back the creator of the bifocal lens, Ben Franklin, he would be shocked to see how little lens technology has advanced since the time of his original design. In fact, many of you must already be having your perception altered while reading this, looking through the clear lenses squarely rested on your nose. Eyeglasses, however functional or essential, are vastly limited in the transition from near to distance viewing.

All that has changed, now there is a human-centric variable optics solution, capable of electronically altering focus based on user demand that has been developed by innovator e-Vision™. By adapting liquid crystal (LC) technology and state of the art micro-electronic technologies to human vision applications, e-Vision can now alter the lenses in our eyeglasses, contact lenses and lens implants(“IOLs”) electronically to provide the appropriate prescription for reading, distance viewing or anywhere in between. This is more in line with medical device advancements that we all would expect (including Ben Franklin) in a category as important as vision science. “e-Vision Optics Inc. is a world leader in this new field, where electronics are merged with optical devices, which has led to electronic eyewear now available for sale to the public,” states Joel D. Zychick– President and CEO of e-Vision. The company non-exclusively licensed the patented technology to Mitsui Chemical in Japan, resulting in TouchFocus™ eyewear now for sale at select locations in Tokyo.

The technology utilized is liquid crystal (LC) based, somewhat similar to the liquid crystal display technology used in smartphones and computers and more recently in the micro-displays being used in Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality (all of which are generally known as XR). e-Vision on the other hand has harnessed the ability of molecules in LC to arrange themselves in varying directions to permit the wearer of e-Vision’s lenses to dynamically adjust (tune) the focus of the lenses from distance viewing to reading and anywhere in between. This lens technology takes advantage of state-of-the-art micro-electronics to provide extremely low power consumption (in a power management focused world) and high speed switching of the focus of the lens, in a very small, light and robust to port form factor with wireless power and control features.

We at e-Vision are a leader at leveraging electronics and optical devices into a single package, with a particular focus on vision science

e-Vision is utilizing this technology in smart glasses, electronic contact lenses (ECL), and in the near future, it is slated for use in IOLs. Worldwide it is estimated that 2.1 billion people need vision correction and those being corrected spend over $55 billion dollars per year. Presently for reading glasses, people rely on bifocals or progressive lenses that blend the areas of focus. Typically, the user looks down for their reading distance and looks up for far distances. Bifocals have two lens powers–the top half of the lens for distance and the bottom half of the lens for reading with a visible (fashion faux pas) bifocal line that cuts across the center of the lens. Progressive lenses can change the focus range gradually as one gazes down from distance vision on the top of the lens down to intermediate and reading vision at the bottom. Although progressive lenses offer multiple vision fields, they take time getting used to and not everyone can adapt to them (especially with contact lenses and IOLs) and they alter peripheral vision slightly. Today e-Vision is exhibiting a working prototype of its dynamic tunable lens technology demonstrating the ability of the e-Vision lens to shift/adjust to any focus from distance to reading and anywhere in between. In the case of the electronic contact lens/IOLs, the entire field of view of the e-Vision lens will change to the focus desired by the wearer–no more will you be looking down and up searching for a specific zone of focus on a lens.

e-Vision is also developing applications of its LC technology and its supporting wearable frame technologies (such as those used by Mitsui in its smart glasses) for X Reality (XR). In the rapidly advancing field of Augmented and Mixed Reality, e-Vision’s patented technology will keep the augmented and mixed reality content being projected in front of the user’s eye in focus as the users’ eyes change their focus. In augmented and mixed reality, the virtual content viewed is set to distance viewing, so if a user is focused at distance it works well. However, when the users refocus their gaze upon a near object in the real world, the virtual content goes out of focus. With e-Vision’s dynamic lens, they will be able to keep the content in focus regardless of what they are looking at, enhancing the augmented and mixed reality experience as a whole.“In the near future our glasses will alter the focus as the user changes their focus,” adds Tony Van Heugten–Chief Technology Officer of e-Vision.

For Virtual Reality e-Vision’s technology permits the device to be programmed with each individual user’s ophthalmic prescription so that they do not have to be worn over the user’s eyeglasses. All of the XR systems will benefit from utilizing e-Vision’s wearable frame technology that can provide power and control of the devices. For medical devices, e-Vision’s technology is being utilized by the Italian manufacturer, Adaptica SLR, in its head-mounted phoroptor where the patient can get involved in the process of determining their vision prescription with an interactive controller that will fine-tuning the adjustments for their corrective prescription, as opposed to the doctor verifying through trial and error.

The need for dynamic, fully tunable optics is now fully established according to these inventors and, as noted above, it is on the radar of companies across many industries.

Today e-Vision is a leader in the new field of electronic vision technology, with prototypes whose commercialization can be visualized. They worked with Mitsui and Adaptica in commercializing their products and they have also worked with NASA, and also with the US Army in developing unique vision solutions for their needs. For e-Vision, the roadmap is to make itself known in different industries and they are ready for the prime time—adopting its dynamic, fully tunable optics to the requirements of industry-specific companies, who would then offer the product to the consumer.