--- title: Eye On Tech: Google Patents Contact Lens Camera | TIME description: Wearing a Google product that sits in front of your eyes is so this year. The search engine would seemingly rather think about the future and something far more direct with contact lens cameras that could help the blind or enhance normal vision. canonical: https://time.com/video/GGjYcZqw/ og:title: Eye On Tech: Google Patents Contact Lens Camera og:description: Wearing a Google product that sits in front of your eyes is so this year. The search engine would seemingly rather think about the future and something far more direct with contact lens cameras that could help the blind or enhance normal vision. og:url: https://time.com/video/GGjYcZqw/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/GGjYcZqw/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eye On Tech: Google Patents Contact Lens Camera twitter:description: Wearing a Google product that sits in front of your eyes is so this year. The search engine would seemingly rather think about the future and something far more direct with contact lens cameras that could help the blind or enhance normal vision. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/GGjYcZqw/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Eye On Tech: Google Patents Contact Lens Camera > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Eye On Tech: Google Patents Contact Lens Camera [Watch (HLS stream): Eye On Tech: Google Patents Contact Lens Camera](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GGjYcZqw.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2014-04-15. Wearing a Google product that sits in front of your eyes is so this year. The search engine would seemingly rather think about the future and something far more direct with contact lens cameras that could help the blind or enhance normal vision._ --- Jul 27, 2023 4:23 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [CDC Warns of Serious Eye Damage From Improper Contact Lens Use-Brightcove](/video/5BZnTJaV/) ### CDC Warns of Serious Eye Damage From Improper Contact Lens Use-Brightcove [Google Signs Deal To Make Glucose-Measuring Contact Lens A Reality](/video/y7bP553N/) ### Google Signs Deal To Make Glucose-Measuring Contact Lens A Reality [Google Contact Lens Will Measure Glucose Levels in Tears](/video/FJTOMHtN/) ### Google Contact Lens Will Measure Glucose Levels in Tears --- ## Transcript Wearing a Google product that sits in front of your eyes is so this year, the search engine would seemingly, rather think about the future and something far more direct. Google may have something else you might wanna try, the company has now patented a contact lens system, that would have built in cameras, do you trust that. Hm. Hm, that was pretty much the reaction from a lot of media outlets, not quite sure what to make of the patent. The earliest story about the patent, seems to have come from Patent Bolt, which notes Google filed the patent application in the fourth quarter of 2012, the U. S. patent office, published the application earlier this month, with language indicating an altruistic purpose. The company says that, this technology could eventually be used to help the blind, someday see. Patent Bolt notes Google says the lenses could help blind people, by analyzing potential hazards, like traffic patterns in a busy intersection someone needed to cross. For example, the smartphone will be able to provide a voice generated warning, the the cross walk isn't safe to cross. Google also mentioned facial recognition software, in its opening summary, which Patent Bolt and other outlets note, would surely be of interest, to other professions, like law enforcement. As you can imagine, that's where the big brother comparisons began. Whether analyzing privacy issues when someone else wears the contacts, or how someone else could access the images from yours. But Google will have to jump some hurdles to get the lenses to market some day. As ExtremeTech points out, there are some concerns about power delivery. There is no space for a battery of course, so it has to be beamed in wirelessly, and whether it's wise to have a wireless device implanted in a rather sensitive organ. Tech Crunch notes, people who don't already where contacts, will be slow to warm to the lenses. Still as an assistive device, and an alternative to other, more obvious gadgets and intrusive tech, like hearing aids or cochlear implants. This could be a tech that has legs in the near future. 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