Add this one to the list of
unbelievably cool things Google has in the works: It has patented a
contact lens system that would include built-in cameras.
The technology could potentially
allow Google to shrink its wearable face computer — known as Google
Glass — into the size of a single contact lens. Rather than be
controlled by voice, those wearing the contacts would command their
device through, as Patent Bolt analyzes it, “a
sophisticated system” of “unique blinking patterns.” In other words,
people wearing these contacts may look even weirder than people in
Google Glass.
News of Google’s patent filing comes just a few months after the company revealed a prototype contact lens that monitors glucose levels.
The invention, which was developed in the company’s secretive Google X
Labs, could be a major aid for the millions of diabetics who must
measure their blood sugar by drawing blood from their fingers.
Google’s latest breakthrough in
contact lens technology could potentially grant the blind the ability to
see certain things, according to Patent Bolt’s close reading of the
patent application.
“For example, a blind person
wearing Google’s contact lens with a built-in camera may be walking on a
sidewalk and approaching an intersection. The analysis component of the
contact lens can process the raw image data of the camera to determine …
that there is a car approaching the intersection.”
Sounds rad. Let’s just hope it doesn’t spawn a whole new population of Glassholes.
Article from Yahoo
Hillary Maruwa 15th April, 2014
