IP Library Granted Patent US 9,134,547
Granted Patent B2
US 9,134,547 · App. 13/656,114 · Granted Sep 15, 2015

Eyewear with chroma enhancement

Inventors: Brock Scott McCabe (Laguna Niguel, CA); Ryan Saylor (Mission Viejo, CA); Carlos D Reyes (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA)
Assignee: Oakley, Inc.
G02C7/104B29C45/14778B29C45/14819B29D11/0073B29D11/00865G02B5/223G02C7/108G02C7/12B29L2011/0016B29L2012/005G02B5/28G02C2202/16
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,134,547
App. No.
13/656,114
Granted
Sep 15, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

Some embodiments provide a lens including a lens body and an optical filter configured to attenuate visible light in certain spectral bands. At least some of the spectral bands can include spectral features that tend to substantially increase the colorfulness, clarity, and/or vividness of a scene. In certain embodiments, eyewear incorporates an optical filter that enhances chroma within one or more spectral bands. In some embodiments, a wearer of the eyewear can perceive the increase in chroma when viewing at least certain types of scenes.

Claims (82)

1. Eyewear comprising:

a lens body comprising an optical filter configured to attenuate visible light in a plurality of spectral bands, each of the plurality of spectral bands comprising:

an absorbance peak with a spectral bandwidth;

a maximum absorbance;

a center wavelength located at a midpoint of the spectral bandwidth; and

an integrated absorptance peak area within the spectral bandwidth;

wherein the spectral bandwidth is equal to the full width of the absorbance peak at 80% of the maximum absorbance of the absorbance peak;

wherein the optical filter comprises a blue light absorbance peak;

wherein the center wavelength of the blue light absorbance peak is between about 445 nm and about 480 nm;

wherein an attenuation factor of the blue light absorbance peak is greater than or equal to about 0.8 and less than 1;

wherein the attenuation factor of an absorbance peak is obtained by dividing an integrated absorptance peak area within the spectral bandwidth by the spectral bandwidth of the absorbance peak; and

wherein the spectral bandwidth of the blue light absorbance peak is at least 2 nm greater than a full width of the blue light absorbance peak at 90% of the maximum absorbance of the blue light absorbance peak.

2. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter comprises one or more chroma enhancement dyes, wherein at least one of the one or more chroma enhancement dyes is an organic dye with an attenuation factor greater than or equal to about 0.8 and a peak position located within a chroma enhancement window.

3. The eyewear of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the one or more chroma enhancement dyes is an organic dye with an absorbance peak having a center wavelength within a spectral band comprising wavelengths between 445 nm and 480 nm and an attenuation factor greater than or equal to 0.8.

4. The eyewear of claim 2 , wherein the one or more chroma enhancement dyes is a violet, blue, green, yellow, or red chroma enhancement dye.

5. The eyewear of claim 2 , wherein the organic dye has a dye strength greater than or equal to 44 L/(g·cm) in methylene chloride.

6. The eyewear of claim 5 , wherein the organic dye has a dye strength less than or equal to 490 L/(g·cm) in methylene chloride.

7. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the lens body is an injection molded, polymeric ophthalmic lens body.

8. The eyewear of claim 7 , wherein the ophthalmic lens body has prescription power.

9. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the spectral bandwidth of the blue light absorbance peak is greater than or equal to about 10 nm.

10. The eyewear of claim 9 , wherein the spectral bandwidth of the blue light is less than or equal to about 30 nm.

11. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter is the lens body or at least partially incorporated into the lens body.

12. The eyewear of claim 11 , wherein the optical filter is at least partially incorporated into a lens coating disposed over at least a portion of the lens body.

13. The eyewear of claim 12 , further comprising an adhesive.

14. The eyewear of claim 1 , further comprising a polarizing wafer disposed on a convex surface of the lens body.

15. The eyewear of claim 14 , wherein the polarizing wafer comprises a first insulating polymeric layer, a second insulating polymeric layer and a polarizing film disposed between the first insulating polymeric layer and the second insulating polymeric layer.

16. The eyewear of claim 15 , wherein the polarizing film comprises a dichroic dye.

17. The eyewear of claim 14 , wherein no lens element is disposed on a convex surface of the polarizing wafer.

18. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter is configured to increase the average chroma value of uniform intensity light stimuli having a bandwidth of 30 nm transmitted through the lens at least partially within at least one of the plurality of spectral bands by an amount greater than or equal to 5% as compared to a neutral filter that uniformly attenuates the same average percentage of light as the optical filter within at least one of the plurality of spectral bands.

19. The eyewear of claim 1 , further comprising an adhesive, wherein the optical filter is at least partially incorporated into the adhesive.

20. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the lens body is machined after initial formation of the lens body to modify optical power of the eyewear.

21. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the lens body comprises a plurality of lens body elements.

22. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter is configured increase the average chroma value of uniform intensity light stimuli having a bandwidth of 30 nm transmitted through the optical filter within a spectral range of about 440 nm to about 480 nm as compared to a neutral filter that uniformly attenuates the same average percentage of light as the optical filter within the spectral range of about 440 nm to about 480 nm, when outputs resulting from uniform intensity inputs having a bandwidth of 30 nm and a center wavelength within the spectral range are compared.

23. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter is configured increase the average chroma value of uniform intensity light stimuli having a bandwidth of 30 nm transmitted through the optical filter within a spectral range between about 540 nm and about 600 nm as compared to a neutral filter that uniformly attenuates the same average percentage of light as the optical filter within the spectral range between about 540 nm and about 600 nm, when outputs resulting from uniform intensity inputs having a bandwidth of 30 nm and a center wavelength within the spectral range are compared.

24. The eyewear of claim 23 , wherein the optical filter is configured increase the average chroma value of uniform intensity light stimuli having a bandwidth of 30 nm transmitted through the optical filter within a spectral range between about 540 nm and about 570 nm as compared to a neutral filter that uniformly attenuates the same average percentage of light as the optical filter within the spectral range between about 540 nm and about 570 nm, when outputs resulting from uniform intensity inputs having a bandwidth of 30 nm and a center wavelength within the spectral range are compared.

25. The eyewear of claim 23 , wherein the optical filter is configured increase the average chroma value of uniform intensity light stimuli having a bandwidth of 30 nm transmitted through the optical filter within a spectral range between about 580 nm and about 600 nm as compared to a neutral filter that uniformly attenuates the same average percentage of light as the optical filter within the spectral range between about 580 nm and about 600 nm, when outputs resulting from uniform intensity inputs having a bandwidth of 30 nm and a center wavelength within the spectral range are compared.

26. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter comprises a yellow light absorbance peak, wherein a center wavelength of the yellow light absorbance peak is between about 540 nm and about 600 nm.

27. The eyewear of claim 26 , wherein the yellow light absorbance peak has a maximum absorbance at about 574 nm.

28. The eyewear of claim 26 , wherein the center wavelength of the yellow light absorbance peak is between about 572 nm and about 576 nm.

29. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter comprises a red light absorbance peak, wherein a center wavelength of the red light absorbance peak is between about 610 nm and about 660 nm.

30. The eyewear of claim 29 , wherein the red light absorbance peak has a maximum absorbance at about 659 nm.

31. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the spectral bandwidth of the blue light absorbance peak is at least 3 nm greater than a full width of the blue light absorbance peak at 90% of the maximum absorbance of the blue light absorbance peak.

32. The eyewear of claim 31 , wherein the spectral bandwidth of the blue light absorbance peak is at least 5 nm greater than the full width of the blue light absorbance peak at 90% of the maximum absorbance of the blue light absorbance peak.

33. The eyewear of claim 32 , wherein the spectral bandwidth of the blue light absorbance peak is no more than 30 nm greater than the full width of the blue light absorbance peak at 90% of the maximum absorbance of the blue light absorbance peak.

34. The eyewear of claim 1 , wherein the optical filter comprises an organic dye having a dye strength that is equal to about 175 L/(g·cm) in methylene chloride.

35. Eyewear comprising:

an optical filter;

wherein the optical filter includes one or more chroma enhancement dyes configured to attenuate visible light in a plurality of spectral bands, each of the plurality of spectral bands comprising:

an absorbance peak with a spectral bandwidth;

a maximum absorbance;

a center wavelength located at a midpoint of the spectral bandwidth; and

an integrated absorptance peak area within the spectral bandwidth;

wherein the spectral bandwidth is equal to the full width of the absorbance peak at 80% of the maximum absorbance of the absorbance peak;

wherein at least one of the one or more chroma enhancement dyes has a blue light absorbance peak;

wherein the center wavelength of the blue light absorbance peak is between about 445 nm and about 485 nm;

wherein an attenuation factor of the blue light absorbance peak is greater than or equal to about 0.8 and less than 1;

wherein the attenuation factor of an absorbance peak is obtained by dividing an integrated absorptance peak area within the spectral bandwidth by the spectral bandwidth of the absorbance peak; and

wherein the optical filter is configured to increase the average chroma value of uniform intensity light stimuli having a bandwidth of 30 nm transmitted through the optical filter within a spectral range of about 440 nm to about 480 nm as compared to a neutral filter that uniformly attenuates the same average percentage of light as the optical filter within the spectral range of about 440 nm to about 480 nm, when outputs resulting from uniform intensity inputs having a bandwidth of 30 nm and a center wavelength within the spectral range are compared.

36. The eyewear of claim 35 , further comprising a cast, polymeric ophthalmic lens body.

37. The eyewear of claim 36 , further comprising a polarizing wafer disposed on a convex surface of the lens body.

38. The eyewear of claim 37 , wherein the polarizing wafer comprises a first insulating polymeric layer, a second insulating polymeric layer and a polarizing film disposed between the first insulating polymeric layer and the second insulating polymeric layer.

39. The eyewear of claim 37 , wherein no lens element is disposed on a convex surface of the polarizing wafer.

40. The eyewear of claim 35 , wherein the optical filter is configured to increase the average chroma value of uniform intensity light stimuli having a bandwidth of 30 nm transmitted through the lens body within a spectral range between about 440 nm and about 480 nm by an amount greater than or equal to 15% as compared to a neutral filter that uniformly attenuates the same average percentage of light as the optical filter within the spectral range between about 440 nm and about 480 nm, when outputs resulting from uniform intensity inputs having a bandwidth of 30 nm and a center wavelength within the spectral range are compared.

41. The eyewear of claim 35 , wherein the optical filter is configured to increase the average chroma value of uniform intensity light stimuli having a bandwidth of 30 nm transmitted through the lens body within a spectral range between about 440 nm and about 510 nm by an amount greater than or equal to 20% as compared to a neutral filter that uniformly attenuates the same average percentage of light as the optical filter within the spectral range between about 440 nm and about 510 nm, when outputs resulting from uniform intensity inputs having a bandwidth of 30 nm and a center wavelength within the spectral range are compared.

42. The eyewear of claim 35 , wherein at least one of the one or more chroma enhancement dyes is an organic dye.

43. The eyewear of claim 35 , wherein the spectral bandwidth of the blue light absorbance peak is at least 2 nm greater than a full width of the blue light absorbance peak at 90% of the maximum absorbance of the blue light absorbance peak.

44. A laminate comprising:

an optical filter configured to attenuate visible light in a plurality of spectral bands, each of the plurality of spectral bands comprising:

an absorbance peak with a spectral bandwidth;

a maximum absorbance;

a center wavelength located at a midpoint of the spectral bandwidth; and

an integrated absorptance peak area within the spectral bandwidth;

wherein the spectral bandwidth is equal to the full width of the absorbance peak at 80% of the maximum absorbance of the absorbance peak;

wherein the optical filter comprises a blue light absorbance peak;

wherein the center wavelength of the blue light absorbance peak is between about 445 nm and about 480 nm;

wherein an attenuation factor of the blue light absorbance peak is greater than or equal to about 0.8 and less than 1; and

wherein the attenuation factor of an absorbance peak is obtained by dividing an integrated absorptance peak area within the spectral bandwidth by the spectral bandwidth of the absorbance peak.

45. The laminate of claim 44 configured to be bonded to one of an injection molded lens body or a cast lens body.

46. The laminate of claim 44 , further comprising a first insulating polymeric layer, a second insulating polymeric layer and a polarizing film disposed between the first insulating polymeric layer and the second insulating polymeric layer.

47. The laminate of claim 46 , wherein no lens element is disposed on a convex surface of the laminate.

48. The eyewear of claim 44 , wherein the optical filter comprises at least one organic dye.

49. The eyewear of claim 44 , wherein the spectral bandwidth of the blue light absorbance peak is at least 2 nm greater than a full width of the blue light absorbance peak at 90% of the maximum absorbance of the blue light absorbance peak.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 21, 2012
From: MCCABE, BROCK SCOTT; SAYLOR, RYAN; REYES, CARLOS D.
To: OAKLEY, INC.
Reel/Frame 029339/0085 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 61549711 · Oct 20, 2011
Provisional Application 61645543 · May 10, 2012
Related Publication 20130141693A1 · Jun 6, 2013