HOME EYEGLASS MEASUREMENT

Declan Kunkel Rafid Patel

Pooja Muddasani Courtney Owen

Rafid Patel

Necessary Terminology

The OCD is the Outer Canthal Distance, the distance between the outer corners of the eyes.

!The IPD is the Interpupillary distance is the distance from the middle

of one pupil to the middle of the other. !

The ICD is the Inner Canthal Distance, the distance between the inner corners of the eyes.

Our Problem

• It is nearly impossible to successfully procure eyeglasses online because an online eyeglass customer needs to know their interpupillary distance (IPD). In order to get that distance, a trip to the Optometrist is required, and optometrists do not voluntarily give out the IPD of clients. Also, Optometrist appointments are expensive, and often take the price benefit out of buying glasses online.

Our User

• Our user is a middle class individual looking to save money by buying eyeglasses online, and has time to wait for a pair of eyeglasses to be fabricated and delivered. Our user has a CYL in the range of +/- 4.00, and a SPH in the range of +/- 12. They must have single correctable vision (no bifocals). We’re targeting any adult 18 or older and parents of children who need glasses.

User ResearchWe interviewed several eyeglass users.

User Interviews Interview 1

One user said, “If I had known my IPD, I could have procured the same pair of glasses for $500 less than I did at the optometrists. I do not trust the current methods for IPD, as I was fearful of getting ill-fitting glasses”.

User Interviews Interview 2

Another user said, “I bought a pair of glasses online in just the style that I wanted: a style that cannot be found in stores. However, they were ill fitting and didn't work properly”.

This user wanted a pair of nice glasses, but was unable to use them properly due to their poor IPD.

User Interviews Interview 3

A third user said, “I wanted to buy glasses online so badly, but I wasn't comfortable finding my IPD with the ruler method the website recommended, so I had to buy some glasses at the Optometrists, for a huge mark-up!”

Optometrist Issues

Optometrists are not required to give out IPD to clients. Many Optometrists do not give out that measurement unless glasses are bought from their store, as glass lenses and frames are their primary source of income, and they fear losing business to the online marketplace.

Optometrists fear losing business to people who buy glasses online.

What Professional

Optometrists Use to measure

IPDWe went to many different eyeglass stores to research ideas and gather opinions.

Professional Optometrist

Lens Crafters Results

Lens Crafters uses a video camera that shines a light into the pupils and digitally measures the IPD of the patient.

This method is accurate to +/- 0.1mm

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Professional Optometrists

Target Optometrists,

Pearle Vision, and Vision Works

These Optometrists use a machine that contains a crystal that reflects a green laser light into the eyes of the patient, and then the IPD is manually measured

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This method is accurate to +/- 0.5mm

Optometrist Interviews

We visited :

Target Optometrists

Lens Crafters

Vision Works

Pearle Vision

Optometrist Concerns Page 1

Lens Crafters Optometrists say that measuring IPD for eyeglass shopping is “all guestimation” currently.

Vision Works says, “People who have bought glasses [online] often come in, embarrassed that the frames they bought [online] don’t fit. They just put measurements in [the online store] and the fit of the frame is crucial.

Pearle Vision Optometrists say “I don’t trust the accuracy of a webcam. There are a lot of measurements that go into getting the best fit for glasses”

Optometrist Concerns Page 2

Target optometrists had other concerns about buying glasses online. They said, “Trying the glasses virtually doesn’t give the same fit as trying the glasses on. Especially with bifocals, there is a problem with the placement of the two different lenses”.

Consensus

A good way to measure IPD at home does not currently exist, and there is a potential user market for a product that measure IPD accurately, quickly, and cheaply at home.

Competitor Products and Solutions

• There are several solutions that exist for solving this problem, dating back over 50 years.

Competitor Solution 1: Measurement Eyeglasses

• This solution calls for a pair of eyeglasses that have special tubes attached to them that when focused, allow the user to find the IPD.

• The drawbacks to this solution include: expense, and difficulty of manufacturing

Competitor Solution 2: Ruler and Mirror

• This method calls for the user to stand infront of a mirror and manually measure their IPD with a ruler. It is cheap and relatively easy to do at home

• There are many drawbacks to this method, as it is requires the user to squint at a ruler to determine an IPD, which is imprecise, resulting in poorly fitting glasses.

Competitor Solution 3: Online Webcam

• It is possible to find the IPD using a computer with a webcam and a credit card through a website.

• The disadvantages to this methods include inaccurate results and giving a credit card to an untrustworthy website.

Ideation Our Concepts

1. We could make an app that measures IPD using the camera flash.

2. WebCam App for computer, with Easy access to online.

3. Website that uses Webcam with PayPal.

4. Headband with flip down glasses that measures IPD.

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Basic Ideas Page 1

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. Ruler Device that measures IPD.

6. Computerized mirror device with IPD calculator.

7. A mirror and a light on a stick

8. Mark where your eyes are on a mirror.

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Basic Ideas Page 2

5.

6.

7.

8.

9. A prismatic device that reflects a laser into protective eye glasses

10. Get legislation passed to make IPD readily available.

11. Make a handheld device to capture an photo of the face of the user, then send it in to a company who will measure based on a reference frame.

12. Make IPD Measurement Surgical Loupes.

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11.

Basic Ideas Page 3

9. 10. 11. 12.

13. Make an kit that includes all the piece to build your own IPD measurement device.

14. Use a headband with drop-down lenses to extract IPD.

15. Have a reference ruler kit that contains two notches.

16. We could see if there is a correlation between temple and IPD measurements, then create a machine to measure the distance between the temples and extrapolate the user’s IPD

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Basic Ideas Page 4

13. 14. 15. 16.

Cut 1

• We were in the process of narrowing our ideas down to 6 ideas

Possible Solution One• We were exploring the possibility of making a

headpiece that a user wears to find their IPD using a mirror and a light.

Possible Solution Two• We were exploring the development an iPhone App

that finds the IPD of the user based on a reference frame, and a “face frame”. This would use the iPhone camera flash, which reflects in the fovea centralis (directly behind the pupil) in the human eye.

Possible Solution Three• We were developing an Windows 8 App that finds

the IPD of the user based on a reference frame, and a “face frame”. This would be compatible with any front facing webcam with a resolution of greater than 5 MegaPixles. We would use a secure money transfer system, most likely PayPal

Possible Solution Four

• We were looking into the “headband” IPD measurement system, which uses a system of pipes on a hinged leather strap and a ruler to measure the IPD of the wearer.

Possible Solution Five• If a correlation exists between inter-temple distance

and IPD, we explored the use an algorithm to simply find the IPD. We would use a caliper to measure Inter-temple distance, and use that figure in the algorithm to extrapolate the user’s IPD.

Possible Solution Six

• We were exploring the idea of IPD measurement surgical loupes, an exact system of optics that would provide a better, more exact IPD measurement than is available at most eye doctors.

Cut Two

• We hoped to create two prototypes that we can get to the trial phase to see which better fits our users needs.

Android/iPhone App

• We moved ahead with an app that would measure IPD, and make it widely available by making it compatible with both android and IOS operating systems.

Measurement Device

• We created a device that measures IPD using a physical model.

Prototyping Our Development

App Prototype Courtney and Pooja

3. 4.

After several attempts, we deemed the App idea impractical due to time constraints. We estimated that thousands of lines of code would be needed for this app.

Physical Model Declan and Rafid

We went through several variations of a physical measurement system, adjusting for comfort, ease of use, accuracy, and visual appeal with each new prototype.

We decided that this solution would be convenient for the user.

Physical Model Version 1

Concept: A head-worn frame features adjustable drop-down lenses with a hole drilled in them that lines up with the user’s pupils to get an accurate IPD.

Drawbacks: uncomfortable, hard to use

Physical Model Version 2

Concept: We expanded on the head-worn mechanism, adding a more exact measuring posts, and improved comfort factor.

The black color allows for the user’s eyes to focus through the hole better than with any other color.

Physical Model FINAL PROTOTYPE

Concept: We expanded on the head-worn mechanism, and we fine-tuned the measurement eyepiece carriages, and inserted a better locking mechanism to insure more accurate results.

The center post allows for the user to find the distance from one eye to the center of their face, their ICD.

General Concepts and Demo

To use this prototype, our user simply has to look through the eyepieces, and slide the two eyepiece carriages until they see the image as if it is inscribed in one circle as opposed to two.

Then, our user must lock down the eyepiece carriages with the locking mechanism, take off the headpiece, then simply look at the measurement of the IPD.

Physical Model Up-close-and personal

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Eye Piece Carriage:

Version1 Version 2 Version 3 Version 4

Physical Model Up-close-and personal

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Multiple print model

Physical Model Up-close-and personal

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Eye Piece:

Radius: 1.5 cm

Testing

• We took our device and hit the road, by going to Eyes Nouveau.

• We also tested it by comparing it to our own IPDs, by using the “double-blind” testing method

Eyes Nouveau

• The Optometrist at Eyes Nouveau really liked our Solution, and found it to be as accurate as their own office equipment. He would recommend it to patients, and found that it provides an accurate IPD measurement.

Double Blind Tests

• Subject 1, Test 1

• Prototype with nosepiece

• “I found that while the device was somewhat accurate. I had a bit of trouble while using the device because the median hurt my nose and I believe made the IPD somewhat off. Also because of the median, the eye pieces couldn’t be moved close enough for my eyes.”

Double Blind Tests

• Subject 1, Test 2

• Prototype without nose piece

• “I would use this device to buy glasses online since there is no other viable option, but I found a problem. The eyepieces were just a little too large, and I had to really force them to move.”

Double Blind Tests

• Subject 2, Test 1

• Prototype with nose piece

• “I found that it gave an accurate measurement of the IPD and would like to use this when I buy my next pair of glasses online”

Double Blind Tests

• Subject 2, Test 2

• Prototype without nose piece

• “Yet again, the device was able to get the IPD fairly well, but without the nose piece I found that the IPD was harder to calculate. I would definitely use the Prototype with the nose piece over this one”

Where We Will Go Next

We would like to procure a patent on this solution, as nothing like this exists today. This is a new design that makes it easy and cheap to buy glasses online with out have a optometrist appointment if you know your prescription. This device opens up the market, and allows our

user to buy glasses in styles that their optometrist does not carry.