Mumbai: Samsung was recently awarded a patent in South Korea for interactive contact lenses that has the capability to transmit or receive data to another nearby smartphone.
The patent pointed out that the mechanism of the smart contact lens requires numerous integrations—camera, movement sensors, a transmitter, and a display unit in the lenses' glass. Surprisingly, the smart lens technology can be controlled by the blink of an eye!
Yes, you read it correctly; a user has to blink in order to take pictures or interact with data displayed on the contact lenses. After the motion sensor picks up the blinking, the commands are sent to the user’s handset for further processing and the results are sent back immediately.
Moreover, users can stream video or send images to the contact lens from their device, and also send pictures taken with the integrated lens camera to their mobile devices for storage.
The blueprints of the patent showed that some of the circuits will be visible in the contact lens but will not obstruct vision in any case. Additionally, the blueprint also includes details about manufacturing methods.
Well, Samsung is not the first company that is en route to manufacturing smart contact lenses. Prior to this patent, a Swiss healthcare startup Sensimed was granted approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start researching on this technology; they received a patent in March 2015 but the prototype never saw the light of the day.
On the other hand, Samsung’s project is specifically aimed at exploring the methods of integrating augmented reality with modern day devices. The patent file on September 26, 2014, was approved a couple of days back.
