South Korea's Intellectual Property Office has approved a Samsung patent that describes "smart contact lenses," featuring a display that projects images directly into wearer's eyes for realistic augmented reality.
Users can wear Samsung's smart contact lenses just like existing contact lenses. However, its smart contact lens are embedded with a tiny display, camera, antenna and sensors to detect blinks and movements. The sensors can control the various features using blinks. By connecting with other devices like smartphones, the lens can search for information about things the wearer sees in real time and show the result straight onto the retina.
Samsung said that the primary reason for the development of smart contact lenses is to provide clear images regardless of the wearer’s movement or the focal distance, and widen the viewing angle. Also, the company thought that the lenses can provide a natural way to provide AR.
The patent was filed in Sept. 2014.