When compared to design and developments in other industries like Consumer Electronics or even Industrial, Medical device and equipment design needs a special set of expertise as it involves strict certification procedure that determines the overall development cycle. Embien specializes in the design and development of equipment and devices for the healthcare industry. With our in-depth knowledge of embedded systems combined with exposure to medical certification standards such as IEC 601-1-2 and IEC 62304, we are a valuable partner for Medical device design and engineering. Recently Embien successfully did an Ophthalmic device development for vision testing - the advanced Digital Vision Chart development.
Digital vision acuity chart or more commonly a Digital Vision Chart (DVC) is a device that holds digitized formats of commonly available visual acuity charts that are used to determine the visual acuity of the human eye. It replaces the traditional fixed test distance eye charts placed in the wall by an LCD/LED display of variable test distance settings with the same traditional chart rules. It incorporates accurate design of characters of different acuity scales with appropriate alignment according to the standards of various charts such as Snellen, ETDRS, LogMar, etc. Apart from the visual acuity charts, it also incorporates charts for child eye test, color blindness test, and other special-purpose charts.
Latest DVC devices also support many features such as multimedia option for playing audio/video to provide awareness/education on the human eye, patient report generation, viewing and transferring to USB pen drives, etc.
Embien, a leading Medical Engineering Services provider, is tasked with the development of the DVC by the customer with requirements dictated by tough competition in the industry and certifications. In conformance to ICE 62304 standards, Embien followed the detailed procedure during the medical device and equipment design including identifying and defining all the scope of risk management. The device is developed with an ARM Cortex A8 based SoC at its heart and runs on Linux kernel. To render the UI and navigation, Embien's Sparklet embedded GUI library is used. The device supports different monitor sizes as well as could be configured for different distances and mirror effects. Digital vision chart designs are done based on the standard charts and digitized in vector graphics to prevent the loss of any information. For best results, the images are rendered using the OpenVG library dynamically based on the configured distance and monitor size. Hardware-accelerated video decoding is supported and integrated with the device for playing multiple format videos.
As a value addition, the device supports USB ports for interfacing external USB pen drives, RTC for time management, IR remote control for user interface, and audio jack for speaker output. Optional network connectivity is provided to send the test results directly to the hospital management system. As the device is expected to be powered on continuously for a long time in a day, though it may not be continuously used, intelligent power management is done. Easy firmware update option is also supported to enable device up gradation in the field.
Embien Technologies successfully delivered the device to the customer and supported them with the certification process. The device is currently deployed in hundreds of locations and helped the customer in acquiring a significant market share. Embien is yet again happy to have helped its customer in Digital Vision Chart development to reach greater heights!
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