Anti-eye strain apparatus and method

Abstract

An anti-eye strain apparatus and method which automatically adjusts the brightness of a display to cause the muscles of the eyes of the user to adjust and refocus such that eye fatigue or tiredness is reduced or eliminated. The brightness is varied within a particular range and the brightness within this range is occasionally or periodically adjusted. The changing brightness preferably follows a predetermined pattern or cycle. These brightness changes may be perceptible or imperceptible to the viewer. The brightness of the display may be adjusted mechanically, for example by a potentiometer, by a computer attached to a monitor, for example by an application or software, or by changing the palette of colors or the gray scale.

I claim:  
     
         1 . An automatic screen brightness controller for reducing eye strain, comprising: 
 brightness control software stored in a machine readable storage media;    a processor operatively connected to said storage media; and    a display of the type that permits the brightness to be varied;    said brightness control software including instructions that direct the brightness of substantially the entire display to be varied over time within a range of brightness in accordance with a predetermined pattern, wherein the range is less than 80 percent of the total range of brightness of the display and the screen content may be easily seen throughout the range.    
     
     
         2 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said range is randomly selected.  
     
     
         3 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said range is selected by a user.  
     
     
         4 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said range is between about 5 and 50 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         5 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said brightness control software varies the brightness over a series of sequential time intervals.  
     
     
         6 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 5 , wherein said sequential time intervals are randomly selected.  
     
     
         7 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 5 , wherein said sequential time intervals are selected by a user.  
     
     
         8 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 5 , wherein said sequential time intervals are between about 60 and 300 seconds.  
     
     
         9 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said pattern is randomly selected.  
     
     
         10 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said pattern is selected by a user.  
     
     
         11 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said pattern is a sine wave.  
     
     
         12 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said pattern is a series of increasing and decreasing ramps.  
     
     
         13 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said pattern is a combined step and series of increasing and decreasing ramps.  
     
     
         14 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein the brightness of the display is periodically varied.  
     
     
         15 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein the brightness of the display is randomly varied.  
     
     
         16 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein a rate of change of the brightness of the display is substantially imperceptible to a user.  
     
     
         17 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said range is between about 2 and about 30 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         18 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said range is between about 5 and about 15 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         19 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 1 , wherein said range is about 10 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         20 . A method of adjusting the brightness of a screen to reduce eye strain, said method comprising: 
 providing brightness control software stored in a machine readable media;    providing a processor operatively connected to said storage media;    providing a display; and    automatically varying the brightness of substantially the entire display over time within a range of brightness in accordance with a predetermined pattern, wherein the range is less than 80 percent of the total range of brightness of the display and the screen content may be easily seen throughout the range.    
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said range is between about 2 and about 30 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said range is between about 5 and about 15 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said range is about 10 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said range is between about 5 and about 50 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein said brightness control software varies the brightness over a series of sequential time intervals.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein said sequential time intervals are between about 60 and about 300 seconds.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the brightness of the display is periodically varied.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the brightness of the display is randomly varied.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein a rate of change of the brightness of the display is substantially imperceptible to a user.  
     
     
         30 . An automatic screen brightness controller for reducing eye strain, comprising: 
 brightness control software stored in a machine readable storage media;    a processor operatively connected to said storage media; and    a display of the type that permits the brightness to be varied;    said brightness control software including instructions that direct the brightness of the display to be varied periodically over time, wherein the time between the beginning of one variation and the beginning of the next variation is less than 1 second or at least 60 seconds.    
     
     
         31 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 30 , wherein a range over which said instructions direct the brightness to be varied is less than 80 percent of the total range of brightness of the display such that the screen content may be easily seen throughout the range.  
     
     
         32 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 30 , wherein said range is between about 2 and about 30 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         33 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 30 , wherein said range is between about 5 and about 15 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         34 . An automatic screen brightness controller as in  claim 30 , wherein said range is about 10 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         35 . A method of adjusting the brightness of a screen to reduce eye strain, said method comprising: 
 providing brightness control software stored in a machine readable media;    providing a processor operatively connected to said storage media;    providing a display; and    periodically varying the brightness of the display over time, wherein the time between the beginning of one variation and the beginning of the next variation is less than 1 second or at least 60 seconds.    
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein the brightness is varied over a range of less than 80 percent of the total range of brightness of the display and the screen content may be easily seen throughout the range.  
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein said range is between about 2 and about 30 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein said range is between about 5 and about 15 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 35 , wherein said range is about 10 percent of the total range of brightness of the display.  
     
     
         40 . A method of reducing eye fatigue, the method comprising: 
 providing a display screen; and    periodically varying the value of at least one display parameter of the display screen, wherein the variation affects substantially the entire image displayed upon the display screen, and wherein the time between the beginning of one variation and the beginning of the next variation is at least 60 seconds.    
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the time between beginnings of adjacent variations varies.  
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the display parameter is selected from the group consisting of brightness of the display, contrast of the display, color level of the display, and gray scale of the display.  
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the display parameter is the brightness of the display.  
     
     
         44 . A method of reducing eye fatigue, the method comprising: 
 providing a display screen; and    periodically varying the value of at least one display parameter of the display screen, wherein the variation affects substantially the entire image displayed upon the display screen, and wherein the time between the beginning of one variation and the beginning of the next variation is less than 1 second.    
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the time between beginnings of adjacent variations varies.  
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the display parameter is selected from the group consisting of brightness of the display, contrast of the display, color level of the display, and gray scale of the display.  
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the display parameter is the brightness of the display.