Retinal Prosthesis with Enhanced Thermal Imaging

描述（由申请人提供）：我们建议开发和评估热成像系统作为视网膜假体输入方式的效用。视网膜假体可以恢复因视网膜外退行性疾病如色素性视网膜炎（RP）或黄斑变性而失明的人的部分视力。Argus II视网膜假体系统旨在为患有严重到深度色素性视网膜炎的盲人提供视网膜电刺激，以引起视觉感知。植入的视网膜外阵列提供了一个10 x 6的电极网格。这60个像素点的电脉冲刺激视网膜的剩余细胞，导致大脑对光线模式的感知。当前的空间分辨率只有0个总像素。在这种低分辨率下，佩戴者很难有效地处理许多重要任务中的普通光线和颜色信息。当前在低分辨率系统中的补偿技术应用于可见光图像的增强、放大和平移，这些技术对视网膜植入物具有实用价值。然而，其他信息来源，如热成像，更自然地与视网膜阵列的有限分辨率对齐，并可能提高系统在重要任务中的效用，如人员寻找和移动。拟议的项目旨在提供和实验热成像作为视网膜植入物的输入方式。将在Argus II患者中指定、设计、建造和评估一个原型系统。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to develop and evaluate the utility of a thermal imaging system as an input modality to a retinal prosthetic. Retinal prostheses restore partial vision to people blinded by outer retinal degenerative diseases such as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) or Macular Degeneration. The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System is intended to provide electrical stimulation of the retina to elicit visual perception in blind individuals wih severe to profound retinitis pigmentosa. The implanted epiretinal array provides a 10 x 6 grid of electrodes. Electrical pulses at these 60 pixel sites stimulate the retina's remaining cells and result in the perception of patterns of light in the brain. The current spatial resolution is only 0 total pixels. Ordinary light and color information is difficult for wearers to effectively process n many important tasks at this low resolution. Current compensation techniques in reduced resolution systems apply enhancement, magnification, and panning of visible light imagery, and these techniques have utility to retinal implants. However, other information sources such as thermal imaging more naturally align to the limited resolution of retinal arrays and may improve the utility of the system in important tasks such as people finding and mobility. The proposed project seeks to provide and experiment with thermal imagery as an input modality to retinal implants. A prototype system will be specified, designed, built, and evaluated in Argus II patients.