Sony applies for patent on contact lens camera that shoots photos in a blink

 

Our memories are fallible things. We remember something one way; but the reality can be quite different. Sony wants to change the way we look at contact lenses. The company has filed a patent for smart contact lenses, which will capture photos in a blink. Sony files a patent for contact lens camera therefore bringing Sony to the list of eyewear tech, which includes Google Glass.  The Japanese electronics company is working on contact lens that can take photos with a blink of an eye.

The company's patent application is for a "contact lens camera" that would allow the wearer to snap photos with a deliberate blink of the eye and store them on a wireless device like a smartphone or tablet. 

The contact lens camera would also have enhanced features like zoom and image stabilization, with the ability to differentiate between regular blinking and deliberate blinking for capturing images.

Sony is one of several companies in a race to make the smart contact lenses a reality. Google, whose Google Glass was a first step toward eyewear that can shoot photos and video, applied for a patent for a contact lens camera in 2014. 

 

Compared to the Google patent, the Sony application lists more features like zoom, focus, change of aperture and stability to prevent blurry photos. A sample design of Sony’s smart contact lenses shows various elements of the image-capturing lenses. Not just that, these lenses are also expected to come with a display to view the captured images. Sony explains the technique to communicate with the lenses via smartphone, switching them on and off.

One of the points in the patent reads,

”In the case where the user presses an end of his/her eyelid in a state in which the eyelid is closed, such press is sensed by the piezoelectric [pressure] sensor, and thus the switch can be turned on,”

These lenses won’t be up for trial until the next couple of years. However, the patent does me and get us excited about the future of photography and smart eyewear. Am imagining a contact lense that is also a tiny camera, recording and storing whatever I see, and even playing it back before my very eye. “What was really said at last week’s meeting? Play it back and see. Want to cherish forever some treasured moment—when you first saw your future spouse, or the birth of a child, or some other formative event? You may be able to soon.

And it gets better. Imagine how it might change the criminal justice system, this gives “eyewitness” its true meaning. Think of mob justice, riots, abuse of whatever kind, ‘matatu’ experiences #Ma3Stories or even Grandpa has an incredible Bigfoot, ghost, or UFO stories? Maybe all three? Let’s see the playback, Gramps; hahahaha let’s see the proof. (too much movies)