Lens supply system and related methods
The supply systems for providing spectacle ophthalmic lenses have improved efficacy, in particular with respect to lens blank picking performance and/or lens manufacturing performance.
1. A method for providing a semi-finished spectacle lens blank, comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a semi-finished spectacle lens blank, where said semi-finished spectacle lens blank has a manufacturing specification with nominal values for geometrical parameters of the semi-finished spectacle lens blank;
(b) performing a physical measurement of at least one geometrical parameter of said semi-finished spectacle lens blank to obtain a measured values of said at least one of said geometrical parameters;
(c) storing the measured value in a memory of a computer; and
(d) providing said semi-finished spectacle lens blank with an identifier that allows retrieval, from said computer, of said measured value stored in said computer,
wherein the geometrical parameters are selected from the group consisting of: a front curve radius, a back curve radius, a lenticular curve radius, a front surface sag height, the absolute minimum value of the front surface sag height, the local minimum value of the front surface sag height, the absolute maximum value of the front surface sag height, a local maximum value of the front surface sag height, the absolute mean value of the front surface sag height, a local mean value of the front surface sag height, a center thickness, an edge thickness, the maximum diameter of the lens semi-finished spectacle blank, a diagonal diameter, the minimum vertical diameter, the minimum horizontal diameter, a location of a polarization film within the semi-finished spectacle lens blank, and an orientation of the polarization film within the semi-finished spectacle lens blank.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (b) obtains a plurality of said geometrical parameters of said semi-finished spectacle lens blank, and the identifier of step (d) enables retrieval, from said computer, of the measured values for said plurality of geometrical parameters.
3. A computer program product, recorded on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising one or more stored sequences of instructions executable by a processor and which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to carry out the steps of the method according to claim 1 .
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the provided lens semi-finished spectacle lens blank has a first identifier, on the provided lens semi-finished spectacle lens blank, for retrieval of the nominal values for geometrical parameters of the semi-finished spectacle lens blank, and the identifier provided in step (d) for retrieval of said measured value is a second identifier, different from said first identifier, on the provided lens semi-finished spectacle lens blank.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the identifier is effective to permit both retrieval of the nominal values for geometrical parameters of the semi-finished spectacle lens blank and retrieval of said measured value.