Google has filed a patent for a contact lens that would have a built-in camera, a function that would be especially helpful to the blind and to those in law enforcement.
While the technology won't be coming to the market any time soon, Google is laying the groundwork for a smart contact lens with a tiny, embedded camera that tracks what the wearer sees, Yahoo Tech reported via Patent Bolt.
Google's patent detailed how the futuristic device would assist the blind. The camera built into the lens could receive image data and communicate with a smartphone app; for example, the camera could "see" an approaching vehicle at an intersection and warn the blind person through the connected device with a voice warning.
Blind people may also be able to distinguish different faces with a face recognition feature, a part of the system that could also be used by law enforcement to quickly identify criminals. After scanning a face, the image data could be sent to a database to be compared to outstanding warrants and criminal records.
The incredibly innovative contact lens could also make binoculars obsolete since the built-in camera could zoom in on distant people or objects.
Google earlier announced a smart contact lens project spawned from Google Glass that would measure the wearer's glucose level through tears.
The Patent Bolt report emphasized that these smart contact lenses will not obstruct vision even with their intricate mechanical components.
Still in the prototype phase, the soft contact lens will feature intricate, miniaturized electronics, according to a post on Google's official blog.
For the contact lens, "think: chips and sensors so small they look like bits of glitter, and an antenna thinner than a human hair," Google said about the glucose-reading smart lenses. The prototype has a tiny wireless chip and a glucose sensor embedded between two layers of lens material.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
