Google's patented smart lens goes in, not on, your eyeball

Google patents smart contacts you put right inside your eyes

Google wants to look out for you - literally. The tech behemoth has put out a patent for an experimental smart lens that would go inside your eyeballs.

The intra-ocular device, injected into the cavity of a subject's eyeball once the natural lens is removed, pretty much turns whoever has the implant into a real-life Adam Jensen.

The device packages an electronic lens, sensor, receiver, storage system, and power supply all into one injectable machine.

Credit: United States Patent and Trademark Office

Credit: United States Patent and Trademark Office

The patent, which lays claim on both the smart lens and the procedure to install it, also talks up an "energy harvesting antenna" that allows the device to stay powered wirelessly because, let's face it, sticking a AA battery in there just isn't happening.

It's not THAT crazy

There's also mention of an external device that couples with the eyeball that would take over processing duties, which could open up some potentially powerful applications for the implanted lens while staying discreet enough to stay in your eye.

Physically altering the human eye may sound like a squeamish proposition - and that's not entirely unfounded - but the process is not asimilar to LASIK or other laser eye surgeries that alter a person's lens to improve vision.

While the idea of swapping out real-life eye parts for mechanical ones might fill you with either glee or anxiety, at least there's solace in the fact that it can't possibly look any more awkward than Google Glass.

Parker Wilhelm
Parker Wilhelm is a freelance writer for TechRadar. He likes to tinker in Photoshop and talk people's ears off about Persona 4.