Smart contact lens data transfer using Li-Fi

• US 10,678,071 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2019
• Issued: 06/09/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boss, Gregory J., Moore, Jr., John E., Rakshit, Sarbajit K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Don N
• Application Number:
  US16/369,956
• Publication Number:
  US 20190227348A1
• Time in Patent Office: 438 Days
• Field of Search: 398118
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 11/10 Electronic devices other than hearing aids
• CPC Class Codes: G02C 7/04 Contact lenses for the eyes disinfection or sterilisation of contact lenses A61L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/116 Visible light communication

Abstract

Systems and methods for smart contact lens data transfer using Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) are disclosed. In embodiments, a computer-implemented method, comprises: pairing a smart contact lens with a remote computing device, the smart contact lens including a data receiving device and a light transmitting device; receiving, by the smart contact lens, data from the remote computing device; and transmitting, by the light transmitting device of the smart contact lens, the data to a receiver device through Li-Fi communication between the light transmitting device of the smart contact lens and the receiving device.

Claims

1. A computer-program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a smart contact lens to cause the smart contact lens to:

pair with a remote computing device;

receive data from the remote computing device at a data receiving device of the smart contact lens; and

transmit, by a light transmitting device of the smart contact lens, the data to a receiver device through Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) communication between the light transmitting device of the smart contact lens and the receiving device, wherein the receiver device is distinct from the remote computing device.

2. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the program instructions further cause the smart contact lens to:

receive Li-Fi communication data from the receiving device; and

send the Li-Fi communication data to the remote computing device.

3. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the program instructions further cause the smart contact lens to:

receive the data from the remote computing device, wherein the transmitting the data to the receiver device is performed in real time.

4. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the program instructions further cause the smart contact lens to send acknowledgement data via radio communication from the smart contact lens to the remote computing device, wherein the acknowledgment data indicates that the data was transmitted by the smart contact lens.

5. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the data receiving device is a loop antenna.

6. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the receiver device is selected from the group consisting of:

an authentication device, a second computing device, and a second smart contact lens.

7. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the light transmitting device comprises a light emitting diode.

8. A system comprising:

a processor, a computer readable memory, and a computer readable storage medium associated with a computing device; and

program instructions to receive a selection of data to be transferred via Li-Fi between a first smart contact lens paired with the computing device and a second smart contact lens;

program instructions to send the data to a data receiving device of the first smart contact lens via radio communication signals, wherein the computing device sends the data to the data receiving device of the first smart contact lens based on predetermined data transfer rules; and

program instructions to receive an acknowledgement signal from the first smart contact lens indicating that the data was sent to the second smart contact lens,

wherein the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by the computing device via the computer readable memory.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions to send a signal to a second computing device paired with the second smart contact lens to request establishment of a link between the second computing device and the second smart contact lens; and

program instructions to send, upon receipt of the acknowledgement signal, a session tear down message to the second computing device indicating an end of a data transmission session.

10. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions to present, to a wearer of the first contact lens, a data transfer option based on the wearer of the first contact lens looking at the second smart contact lens for a predetermined threshold period of time.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprising program instructions to display an indication that the computing device is paired with the first smart contact lens.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein receiving the selection of data to be transferred comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

receive a manual selection of data through a user interface of the computing device; and

receive a voice command from a user indicating the selection of data.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising:

sending, by a computing device, one or more packets of data to a data receiving device of a smart contact lens based on predefined data transfer rules, wherein the data is configured to be transferred by the smart contact lens via Li-Fi to a remote receiver device, and wherein the computing device comprises a processor, a computer readable memory, a computer readable storage medium associated with the computing device, and program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by the computing device via the computer readable memory to cause the computing device to send the one or more packets of data.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising storing, by the computing device, the predetermined data transfer rules, wherein the predetermined data transfer rules are selected from the group consisting of:

rules based on location;

rules based on time; and

rules based on contextual analysis of the user'"'"'s surroundings.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising receiving, by the computing device, acknowledgement data via radio communication from the smart contact lens, wherein the acknowledgment data indicates that the one or more packets of data were transmitted to the receiver device by the smart contact lens.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the remote receiver device is selected from the group consisting of:

an authentication device, a second computing device, and a second smart contact lens.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the remote receiver device is a second smart contact lens paired with a second computing device and the method further comprises:

sending, by the computing device, a signal to the second computing device requesting the establishment of a viable link between the second computing device and the second smart contact lens; and

sending, by the computing device, a session tear down acknowledgement to the second computing device.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the smart contact lens includes a light transmitting device adapted to send light signals, wherein:

the remote receiver device is a second computing device; and

the light transmitting device comprises a light emitting diode adapted to send Li-Fi communication signals to a photodetector of the remote receiving device.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, a request for authentication data; and

gathering, by the computing device, authentication data and send the authentication data to the data receiving device of the smart contact lens,

wherein the smart contact lens is adapted to send the authentication data from the smart contact lens to the remote receiver device via Li-Fi communication, and the remote receiver device is in the form of an authentication device enabling user authentication.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising presenting, by the computing device, a data transfer option to a wearer of the first contact lens, based on the wearer of the smart contact lens looking at a second smart contact lens for a predetermined threshold period of time.