Sony Files Patent for Contact Lens Camera

Sony Computer Entertainment has been revealed to have filed a patent with the USPTO recently, which outlines the integration of a camera into a contact lens. This includes all of the necessary components for a camera to function including the imaging sensor, data storage, and even a wireless communication module. Sony isn’t the first company to file a patent for a contact lens that includes a camera, as last month it was found that Samsung had filed a patent for a smart contact lens back in late 2014.

This new patent is filed under the name “Contact Lens and Storage Medium” and is designed to be a complete camera system on its own, containing all of the required functions to take and store photographs, as well as a number of additional features including autofocus, zooming and image stabilization, which is useful on such a movable location as the human eye. Possibly the most interesting part of the patent is that the device will make use of wireless power via a built-in receiver module. While this is an incredibly useful feature on such a small device, there is the risk that depending on the frequencies on which the power is delivered that the device would be harmful to electrostatically hypersensitive individuals, of which many countries estimate constitute 4 to 5 percent of their population.

How long it make take Sony to develop this technology is currently unknown, with Samsung already having held a similar patent for almost two years with no information on the device being released so far.  This contact lens may be simpler as rather than developing a full AR package on the lens, Sony is concentrating on delivering a nigh-undetectable human-integrated camera system so we could see prototypes of the device sooner than expected, especially if it is being developed by Sony’s Future Lab.