New AR Contact Lenses from Google Go to Patent Office

“Yesterday, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Google that reveals a new multi-sensor contact lens computer system that may work with many future devices including Google Glass and/or other future wearable devices, an Android smartphone, a television, a gaming system, navigation and/or car stereo and beyond. If you're a die-hard Google fan, then this is a must read; because if you blink, you just might miss something great,” according to Patent Bolt. “According to a study that was published in February, 90% of vehicles by 2019 will Interface with wearable computers in one way or another. Beyond Google Glass, Google is working on an in-air gesturing system for vehicles and Google's latest invention will be able to work within such a system in connection with Glass.  Google is also working on their personal assistant Google-Now to work with Google TV. Integrating a blink-command system, as described in their latest patent about specialized contact lenses, would be able to issue commands such as change the channel or raise the audio for instance.” Read more.

New Technique Makes Smart CLs More Feasible

"A new way of making ultrathin, flexible and transparent electronics has been unveiled by researchers in Switzerland," reports Physics World. "The technique involves fabricating micron-thick electronic devices on a conventional silicon wafer, which is later detached by soaking it in water. The free-floating devices can then be placed onto a variety of biological tissues, including human skin and even a single hair. The technology could be used to make "smart" contact lenses for monitoring the pressure in an eyeball or for creating flexible solar cells." Read more.

Version of Google Glass Out Soon. Google CLs?

“A version of Google Glass for people who already wear glasses will arrive in a few months, the head of the Google project said Monday,” according to a post on CIO.com. “’In the next few months we will release a version that will integrate into glasses. So if you are wearing glasses, you'd be able to use this,’ said Babak Parviz, founder and head of the Google Glass project at Google, during a speech at the Hot Chips conference in Stanford, California, on Tuesday. If the Google Glass platform is successful, ‘you'll see different optics,’ Parviz said. But will there be Google Glass contact lenses? That is possible, but perhaps in the distant future, Parviz said.” Read more.

There’s also Computer World’s version of the story.

EPGL Medical Develops Power Source for AR Contacts

Engineers at EPGL Medical reportedly have invented the world's first self-powered, self-contained, power source for contact lenses.  Researchers are designing applications for use in contact lenses, such as displaying data in real-time about medical data such as their blood sugar level, oxygen level, heart rate, and EKG.  Powered contact lenses are also being looked into as delivery devices for drugs and other therapeutic applications.  Read more.

CL Continuously Monitors Intraocular Pressure (IOP)

“Smart contact lenses are no longer science fiction. In the last few years we have covered several smart contact lenses with different purposes,” starts the post on MedGadet. “One of these electronic contact lenses is the Sensimed Triggerfish, a device capable of continuous measurement of the intra-ocular pressure (IOP). It is the first of its kind, since current measurements of IOP, like applanation tonometry and air-puff tonometry, can only give us the IOP at a certain moment, whereas the Triggerfish can monitor the course of the IOP throughout the day. As we write this, the Triggerfish is already being clinically tested.” Read more.

Making AR Contacts a Reality

“Though it may be hard to imagine now, we may eventually be able to ditch head-worn devices like Google Glass and simply see images projected floating in front of us using contact lenses,” reports MIT’s Technology Review. “Researchers at Belgian nonelectronics reseach and development center Imec and Belgium’s Ghent University are in the very early stages of developing such a device, which would bring augmented reality–the insertion of digital imagery such as virtual signs and historical markers with the real world–right to your eyeballs. It’s just one of several such projects (see “Contact Lens Computer: It’s Like Google Glass Without The Glasses”), and while the idea is nowhere near the point where you could ask your eye doctor for a pair, it could become more realistic as the cost and size of electronic components continue to fall and wearable gadgets gain popularity.” Read more.

'Braille' CL Helps People 'See'

"Much in the way Braille allows people who are blind to “see” the written word, a bionic contact lens invented by Israeli researcher Prof. Zeev Zalevsky “presses” images onto the surface of the eye to help the brain decipher through touch what the wearer is looking at," reports Israel 21c. "The lens, still in a prototype stage, uses electrical signals sent to it from a small transponder, clipped to a pair of glasses or downloaded to a smartphone. A regular off-the-shelf camera, like the one inside a phone, “looks” at a crosswalk, items for sale in the grocery store, or at a loved one’s face, and transmits the encoded image via the lens to the wearer’s cornea. The image gets translated into a tactile sensation that can be interpreted visually." Read more.

Continuous Medical Monitoring with CLs

More of the light emitting diode contact lenses reported last week: “Soft contact lenses could display information to the wearer and provide continuous medical monitoring,” according to a MedCityNews post. “For those who find Google Glass indiscreet, electronic contact lenses that outfit the user’s cornea with a display may one day provide an alternative. Built by researchers at several institutions, including two research arms of Samsung, the lenses use new nanomaterials to solve some of the problems that have made contact-lens displays less than practical. A group led by Jang-Ung Park, a chemical engineer at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, mounted a light-emitting diode on an off-the-shelf soft contact lens, using a material the researchers developed: a transparent, highly conductive, and stretchy mix of graphene and silver nanowires. The researchers tested these lenses in rabbits—whose eyes are similar in size to humans’—and found no ill effects after five hours. The animals didn’t rub their eyes or grow bloodshot, and the electronics kept working. This work is described online in the journal Nano Letters.” Read more.