Get Ready For Augmented Reality Contact Lenses

Augmented Reality has become reality, as Samsung has patented the world’s first “smart” contact lenses.

With the blink of an eye one may one day be able to take a photograph. The contact lens would project an image directly into the wearer’s eye. The lenses would have a tiny display, a camera, antenna and sensors detecting movement. The camera and sensors would be controlled by blinking. The content/images would be wirelessly transferred through the lenses built-in antennae to the wearer’s smartphone for processing.

Image quality would be superior to smart glasses and would offer discretion, which can bring up issues of privacy.

The actual 29-page patent with blueprints was filed in September of 2014 but just recently published. Whether this patent will become a product is questionable, though Samsung had already trademarked the name GEAR BLINK™

Google has two similar patents, also filed two years ago. However, these deal with “smart” contact lenses for medical purposes, monitoring sugar levels for diabetics.

If these contact lenses become reality, they may add further distraction and even less face-to-face communication in our “connected” society.