Patent ID: 7974699

Claim:
A vision regeneration assisting device for regenerating vision of a patient by stimulating optic nerves of a patient's eye with electrical stimulation pulse signals output from electrodes which are stuck into an optic disc of the patient's eye, comprising: an external device; and an internal device, the external device comprising: a photography unit which picks up an image of an object to be recognized by the patient; a power unit which supplies electric power to the external device and the internal device; a setting unit that individually sets the individual electrode output based upon various temporal output conditions, wherein the output may be applied simultaneously from a combination of electrodes; a storage unit which stores generation positions of phosphenes specific to the patient in association with the set temporal output conditions for the stimulation signals that has prompted the generation of the phosphenes, the storage unit storing the generation positions of the phosphenes in association with the set temporal output conditions for the stimulation signals individually output from each of the electrodes and the generation positions of the phosphenes in association with the set temporal output conditions for the stimulation signals simultaneously output from each of various combinations of electrodes; and a signal converter unit which processes image data of the object obtained by the photography unit, extracts optimal generation positions of the phosphenes among the stored generation positions based on the processed image data, and determines real output conditions for the stimulation signals based on the temporal output conditions associated with the extracted generation positions; a primary coil which transmits stimulation signal data including the real output conditions, and the electric power; and an external controller which controls the external device, and the internal device comprising: a secondary coil which receives the stimulation signal data and the electric power transmitted from the primary coil; the electrodes which are formed in a needle shape and configured to be stuck into the optic disc; and an internal controller which is configured to be disposed outside the eye and controls the internal device; a first lead wire which connects the secondary coil with the internal controller; and second lead wires which respectively connect the internal controller with the electrodes, each of the second lead wires having a length long enough to connect the internal controller disposed outside the eye with the electrodes stuck into the optic disc, each tip of the second lead wires on which the electrode is formed being a free end to be stuck into an optional position of the optic disc, wherein the internal controller controls the output of the stimulation signals from the electrodes based on the output conditions to make the patient recognize the object by the generation of the phosphenes.