Samsung granted patent for smart contact lenses with built-in camera

Samsung is developing smart contact lenses that are equipped with tiny cameras and sensors. A patent filing in South Korea shows that the tech giant is working on a potentially revolutionary AR eyewear.

Blog SamMobile reports that the company has been granted a patent in the Asian country that aims to improve augmented reality experience. The patent application shows a contact lens with tiny display, a camera, an antennae and sensors that detect movement. The lens projects images directly into the wearer’s eye.

An external device is needed for processing, perhaps a smartphone, and the wearer can input images by blinking.

Samsung’s primary reason for developing the smart contact lenses is the limited image quality that smart glasses can give, according to SamMobile.

Google Glass also uses similar features. But instead of using blinking, it lets users take pictures by winking. But as the patent application claims, smart contact lenses can provide a more natural augmented reality experience than smart glasses.

As the blog notes, the patent only shows that Samsung is working on concepts, not on actual products. Even though it has been granted the patent, there’s no proof that it will release a consumer product with the technology.

Google is also working on smart contact lenses. It filed two patents in the US in 2014, the same year that Samsung did. Google’s contact lenses were, however, designed for use by diabetic sufferers. The lenses aimed to read chemicals in the tear fluid of the wearer’s eye and alert the wearer when their blood sugar falls to dangerous levels.

In 2014, Samsung filed patent application in both South Korea and the US for the Gear Blink trademark. It’s unclear if the recently approved patent and the Gear Blink trademark application are connected.