Forbes reports [forbes.com] that google has filed a patent application [tinyurl.com] for a device which would be worn inside of the users eyeball.
Described in a patent application dated April 28, 2016, the device is injected in fluid that then solidifies to couple the device with the eye’s lens capsule, the transparent membrane surrounding the lens. Injection would take place ”following the removal of the natural lens from the lens capsule,” the patent reads.
The planned device injected into the eye contains a number of tiny components: storage, sensors, radio, battery and an electronic lens. The eyeball device gets power wirelessly from an “energy harvesting antenna.” The patent describes what looks like an external device to interface with the eyeball computer. The two will communicate through a radio and the ”interface device” contains the processor to do the necessary computing.
According to the patent, the electronic lens would assist in the process of focusing light onto the eye’s retina.
The patent application has a horrifying description of the installation procedure:
forming a hole in an anterior surface of the lens capsule using a laser, wherein injecting the fluid into the lens capsule is performed through the formed hole, and wherein positioning the intra-ocular device within the fluid is performed through the formed hole
[...]
applying ultrasonic vibrations to a natural lens disposed in the lens capsule such that the natural lens is fragmented; and removing the fragmented natural lens from the lens capsule
[...]
removing the fragmented natural lens from the lens capsule comprises: applying suction to the lens capsule to remove the fragmented natural lens while introducing a replacement fluid into the lens capsule
[...]
the fluid comprises a silicone monomer, and wherein solidifying the fluid comprises applying light to the silicone monomer sufficient to polymerize the silicone monomer into a silicone hydrogel.
I wonder how many animals Google has blinded during testing.
Note to editor: I used a tinyurl link for the patent application because the preview wasn't handling the very long actual url with lots of angle brackets in it correctly. This is not ideal for obvious reasons, and if it can be replaced that would be awesome. I tried it on a test page of my own without any problems, so I think this must be a result of rehash code somehow.