Google Granted Patent for Smart Contact Lens for Diabetes

On 24^th March , the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office granted Google a patent for a “smart contact lens having an uneven embedded substrate and method of manufacture.” Many believe the smart contact lens patent could be used to monitor a wearer’s blood sugar levels. 

Last year, Google teamed up with European drug maker Novartis to develop a smart contact lens prototype that uses miniature sensors and a micro-thin radio antenna to track glucose levels that can then be uploaded to a mobile device and monitored by patient and physician alike. As part of the partnership, Novartis’ Alcon eyecare unit would continue to develop and commercialize Google’s contact lens technologies.

Google believes the smart contact lens could be less invasive for diabetic patients that must prick their fingers constantly to measure glucose levels. The company applied for the patent in September of 2012. 

While introducing the Google Smart Contact Lens project in January last year, project C-Founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz, have said “We’re now testing a smart contact lens that’s built to measure glucose levels in tears using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor that are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material. We’re testing prototypes that can generate a reading once per second. We’re also investigating the potential for this to serve as an early warning for the wearer, so we’re exploring integrating tiny LED lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds. It’s still early days for this technology, but we’ve completed multiple clinical research studies which are helping to refine our prototype. We hope this could someday lead to a new way for people with diabetes to manage their disease.”

Source: Google and HIT