Patents

Lennox Industries won a patent for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning control device. [Image: USPTO Patent #18340116; DI Studio]

Bedford-based Nanoscope Instruments Inc.’s new patent covers an apparatus and method for measuring the functional vision of patients with low vision. [Illustration: Sources, USPTO Patent No. 12702291-B2; DI Studio]

Fort Worth-based Nacuity Pharmaceuticals won a patent this week for a method of treating retinitis pigmentosa with an oral antioxidant drug. This illustration shows pigment deposits in the retina, a sign of the genetic eye disease. [Illustration: AdobeStock]

Dallas-based Verily Health Inc.'s newly granted patent describes a virtual-reality headset designed to automate the pupil-response exam an eye care professional typically performs by hand with a penlight, using an infrared eye-tracking subsystem and light-sealed compartments over each eye to measure how the pupils react to controlled light stimuli. According to the patent, the manual version of the test produces results that "vary by practitioner," and Verily's system is designed to improve the "sensitivity, consistency, and ease" of conducting it, as well as to flag asymmetric pupil sizes — anisocoria — alongside afferent pupil defects. Fig. 1 shows the system in use: a user wears the headset while a clinician runs the test from a tablet. [Composite image: Sources, U.S. Patent No. 12611100, Fig. 1; DI Studio]