Smart contact lens – Wink and Snap
In a rapidly changing world, people are driven by innovations. These innovations are transforming the way we see, think and live. With increasing use of technology, the world of work is changing and electronics plays a vital role. During the last few decades, the impact of electronics has revolutionized many applications such as Smart phones, Smart watches, Smart TVs and Smart homes.
Today, we effectively use smart phone and gadgets to capture our moments forever as videos/photo. How would it be if our eyes became a camera?
Human eye is a 576MP camera. Using our eye, we can see the things and objects around us but fail to record those as memories. How would it be if there are advancements in the Contact lens space which will enable, record and play back images / videos using our eye? In the past, we heard about Contact lens, which is a thin lens placed directly on the surface of the eye. These lenses are worn generally by the user to correct vision or for cosmetic reason.
In the near future, one needs to upgrade their Contact lens to “Smart Contact Lens”. Smart Contact lens, a futuristic technology of the Contact lens was announced by Google on January 16, 2014. The lens is integrated with a camera / sensor, microchips and few electronics components for performing specific operations. These lenses are made of pliable, transparent nanomaterials which will directly contact the eye and do not obstruct the wearer’s view. Generally, we capture images and record videos using our smartphone and digital camera. Using Smart Contact lens, we can capture images & record videos using the built-in camera with a wink of an eye. Additionally, the lens has a storage unit for storing the recorded & captured images and it can be transmitted to our Smartphone using communication techniques.
Both Sony & Samsung have filed for a Patent i.e. Smart contact lens that captures images or videos using eye blink. Patent application owned by Sony (US20160097940 titled “CONTACT LENS AND STORAGE MEDIUM” depicts a contact lens camera with image stabilization and autofocus whereas Patent application Owned by Samsung (US20160091737 titled “SMART CONTACT LENSES FOR AUGMENTED REALITY AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURING AND OPERATING THE SAME” depicts a contact lens camera sends wirelessly to external device / Smartphone.
While this technology is interesting, further inventions in this space that could improve the resolution and clarity of the images will open up greater opportunities to file more patents.
However, there are challenges around privacy related issues and these can be addressed using authentication techniques such as proximity-based authentication, iris verification which can be performed before capturing and recording images / videos.
Smart Contact lens are also used in plenty of other applications like sensors analyzing tear fluid for measuring sugar levels, drug delivery, augmented reality, detecting light hitting the eye and night vision contacts. Tech giants like Google, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung and Sony are showing interest in updating Smart Contact lens.
Notably in the field of smart contact lens, 800 patents have been filed in the last 6 months and surprisingly 450 patents in last 3 months itself. This proves that smart contact lens is one amongst the many vibrant technologies today.
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