A device and a method, by means of which energy can be supplied to a retinal implant (12) via infrared radiation, are provided. To this end, infrared light is coupled in from an infrared light source (14), for example into a spectacle lens (13), and coupled out toward an eye (10) by way of an output coupling device (17) in order to illuminate the retinal implant (12).

A retinal prosthesis system according to an embodiment includes a converter, a retinal prosthesis, and a transmitter. The converter is placed in an eye, and transmits part of light incident on the eye therethrough while converting the energy of the other part of the light into electrical energy. The retinal prosthesis is placed in the eye and includes a photoelectric conversion element array configured to operate with the electrical energy received from the converter to detect the light having transmitted through the converter to generate an electrical signal. The transmitter is used to send the electrical signal generated by the retinal prosthesis to the visual cortex of the brain.

Polymer materials make useful materials as electrode array bodies for neural stimulation. They are particularly useful for retinal stimulation to create artificial vision. Regardless of which polymer is used, the basic construction method is the same. A layer of polymer is laid down. A layer of metal is applied to the polymer and patterned by wet etch to create electrodes and leads for those electrodes. The base polymer layer is activated. A second layer of polymer is applied over the metal layer and patterned to leave openings for the electrodes, or openings are created later by means such as laser ablation. Hence the array and its supply cable are formed of a single body.

Methods and devices for verifying that proper visual stimulation is applied to the visual prostheses are described. In one of the methods, a visual stimulation system implanted on a subject is simulated externally. An external testing device is also discussed.

The present invention is an improved system for use of eye tracking including spatial mapping percepts in a visual prosthesis by presenting an electrically induced precept through a visual prosthesis, requesting a subject look to the direction of the percept and tracking their eye movement. Eye movement is both faster and more accurate than asking a visual prosthesis user to point to the location of a percept. This method can be beneficial in a retinal prosthesis, but is particularly useful in a cortical visual prosthesis where visual cortex does not match the retinotopic map. Methods are presented for calibrating an eye tracker. Eye tracking hardware may also be used for blanking video information base on the subject's natural blink reflex.

Methods and apparatuses to detect configuration commands from waveforms received at a retina prosthesis device for calibrating the device are described. The device can comprise an array of pixel units to receive light to stimulate neuron cells to cause an effect of visual sensation from the light. The pixel units may have configurable parameters for the stimulation to the neuron cells. The configurable parameters may be updated according to the configuration commands detected without requiring micro processor and non-volatile memory in the device. The stimulation may be generated according to the updated configurable parameters to improve the effect of visual sensation from the light including compensation for the physiological and environmental variations and drifts.

A pulse current generation circuit (100) for neural stimulation includes an analogue signal receiving device (101) for receiving an analogue signal; an analogue-to-digital converter (102) for converting the analogue signal into a digital control signal; a current signal controller (103) for producing, according to the digital control signal, pulse current parameters for generating bidirectional pulse current signals; and a current generator (104) for generating, according to the pulse current parameters, bidirectional pulse current signals for neural stimulation, and the current generator can generate pulse currents of different precisions according to the pulse current parameters. In addition, the present invention further relates to a charge compensation circuit, a charge compensation method, and an implantable electrical retina stimulator using the pulse current generation circuit or the charge compensation circuit.

A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal polymer-based electrode array for a neural implant, according to the present invention, can comprise the steps of: forming a seed layer on a liquid crystal polymer substrate; forming a plating mold having a pattern selectively exposing a part of the upper part of the seed layer; plating an electrode material on the exposed seed layer by using the plating mold as a plating barrier layer; forming an electrode by removing the plating mold and the seed layer therebelow; embedding the electrode by compressing a liquid crystal polymer cover layer on the electrode; and forming an electrode site exposing the upper part of the electrode by selectively removing a part of the liquid crystal polymer cover layer.

An implant apparatus comprising a plurality of photo sensors, a plurality of micro electrodes, a plurality of guard rings surrounding the micro electrodes and circuitry coupled to the photo sensors and the micro electrodes are described. The photo sensors may receive incoming light. The circuit may drive the micro electrodes to stimulate neuron cells for enabling perception of a vision of the light captured by the photo sensors. The guard rings may confine electric flows from the micro electrodes to the targeted neuron cells. The apparatus may be implemented in a flexible material to conform to a shape of a human eyeball to allow the micro electrodes aligned with the neuron cells for the stimulation.

A method of manufacturing an electrode array includes forming a first insulating layer from a first nonconductive material; depositing, by pressure-driven extrusion printing, a first conductive material over a portion of the first insulating layer to form a first conductive layer; depositing a second nonconductive material over a portion of the first conductive layer and over an exposed portion of the first insulating layer to form a second insulating layer defining a gap exposing a portion of the first conductive layer; and depositing, by pressure-driven extrusion printing, a second conductive material into the gap and over the exposed portion of the first conductive layer to form a second conductive layer electrically connected to the first conductive layer to form at least one electrode of the electrode array.