Abstract: Additional “auxiliary” bumps are used to stabilize alignment and reduce slippage of dense arrays of interconnect bumps on opposing die during a bonding process. One example of auxiliary bumps are interdigitated bumps. Interdigitated bumps are more self-aligning and laterally stable because bumps do not meet head-to-head. Rather, the head of a bump on one die falls into the space between bumps on the other die. Another example of auxiliary bumps are nail bumps. In nail bumps, one bump is harder (the nail) and “drives” into the opposing softer bump during bonding. This constrains the lateral movement of the two bumps relative to each other and reduces lateral slippage. In some embodiments, the auxiliary bumps and interconnect bumps are formed in the same process, and also bonded in the same process.

Abstract: An unobtrusive augmented reality (AR) system can be used to assist the wearer in every day interactions by projecting information from the contact lens display onto the retina of the wearer's eye. The unobtrusive augmented reality system includes a necklace and a contact lens display that are unobtrusive to the wearer and the wearer's surrounding environment. The necklace of the unobtrusive augmented reality system generates power and data for the contact lens displays. The necklace and contact lens display include conductive coils inductively coupled by a magnetic field. The inductive coupling allows data and power generated by the necklace to be transferred to the contact lens display. A projector in the contact lens display projects images generated from the data onto the retina of the wearers eye.

Abstract: A system includes an electronic contact lens that can detect eye gestures for initiating various actions. The electronic contact lens includes integrated sensors for obtaining sensor measurements characterizing eye motion. The sensor measurements are processed to detect gestures mapped to specific actions such as changing a power state of the electronic contact lens, activating or deactivating a user interface or other feature, or selecting an item from a virtual menu. The eye gestures may involve the user sequentially stabilizing at a starting pitch, executing a first motion that crosses a first pitch threshold, executing a second motion that crosses a second pitch threshold in an opposite direction from the starting pitch, and stabilizing at an ending pitch.

Abstract: A small imager mounted on a user's eye (referred to as a femtoimager) is coordinated with an external camera. The femtoimager may be contained in a contact lens, and it may be aligned with the gaze a user's eye. The femtoimager and external camera capture images with overlapping views of the external environment. Images from the two imagers may be compared with one another to estimate the femtoimager's view of the external environment relative to the camera's view of the external environment. This may then be used for different applications.

Abstract: A variety of femtoprojector optical systems are described. Each of them can be made small enough to fit in a contact lens using plastic injection molding, diamond turning, photolithography and etching, or other techniques. Most, but not all, of the systems include a solid cylindrical transparent substrate with a curved primary mirror formed on one end and a secondary mirror formed on the other end. Any of the designs may use light blocking, light-redirecting, absorbing coatings or other types of baffle structures as needed to reduce stray light.

Abstract: Systems and methods for activating a button within a display are described. Embodiments of the invention provide a multi-step activation process using user eye movement within the display. The multi-step activation process comprises displaying an confirmation element in response to a first user gaze at a button. The button is subsequently activated in response to a second user gaze at the confirmation element.

Abstract: Described herein are systems and methods that allow for secure wireless communication between a contact lens system and an accessory device to protect sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access to confidential information. In certain embodiments, tampering attempts by potential attackers are thwarted by using a Physically Unclonable Functions (PUF) circuit that is immune to reverse engineering. In addition, sensors monitor a to-be-protected electronic device to detect tampering attempts and physical attacks to ensure the physical integrity of the communication system.

Abstract: A contact lens has a core thick enough to accommodate a payload. The lens further has outer and inner coverings that cover parts of the core. Each covering is a thin layer of gas-permeable material shaped to form a respective cavity between the covering and the core. Oxygen passes through the outer covering to the outer cavity, through an air path within the core to the inner cavity, and through the inner covering to reach the cornea of the wearer's eye. To increase oxygen flow, a patterned structure is formed at an interface between the core and at least one of the outer and inner covering, comprising supports at which the core and covering contact, and recesses forming the cavity between the core and covering for oxygen flow. The outer and inner coverings may be made from different types of gas-permeable materials having different levels of gas-permeability and brittleness.

Abstract: A scleral contact lens has a core containing an optical filter. The core and/or the optical filter may comprise oxygen impermeable material, such that an overall oxygen permeability of the core is insufficient to oxygenate a user's cornea when wearing the contact lens. To provide oxygenation to the user's cornea, the contact lens further comprises an outer covering, and an inner covering, each corresponding to a thin layer of gas-permeable material shaped to form a respective manifold between the covering and the core. Oxygen from an outside environment passes through the outer covering to reach the outer manifold, through an air path formed within the core to the inner manifold, and through the inner covering to reach the cornea of the user's eye.

Abstract: In one approach, an LED array uses a combination of a half cavity and straight reflective sidewalls to improve the power distribution so that more light falls within the collection angle of the projection optics. From the bottom upwards, the LEDs in the array include a reflector, a thinner p-layer and a thicker n-layer. An active region (such as quantum wells) between the p-layer and the p-layer generates light. Without additional structures, the generated light would have an isotropic distribution and not much of the light would fall within the collection angle of the projection optics. However, the bottom reflector and p-layer form a half cavity for the light emitted from the active region. This alters the angular power distribution. Straight reflective sidewalls extending from the active region upwards into the n-layer further reflect light from the altered power distribution into the collection angle of the projection optics.

Abstract: An augmented reality system determines the position and orientation of an eye. The system includes an electronic contact lens that projects images onto a user's retina. The contact lens includes magnetic sensors. The magnetic sensors detect magnetic fields along one axis, or more than one axis, depending on their configuration. The sensors may be a conductive coil, a solenoid, or a tunneling magnetoresistance device. The sensors detect magnetic fields generated by magnetic sources. The magnetic sources may be collocated, or non-collocated, on a wearable device, a device in the environment, or a secondary electronic device. The sources may have different orientations such that they produce magnetic fields along different axes, and the sensors are configured to independently detect the magnetic fields. The system determines the pose of the eye using a combination of the measurements, and the position and orientation of the sensors and sources.

Abstract: Operation of an electronic contact lens takes into account saccadic motion of the eye and reduced visual perception during saccades (saccadic suppression). The user's eye motion is tracked, and onset of a saccade is detected based on the eye's motion. For example, saccades may be detected when the eye's acceleration or jerk exceeds a threshold. The endpoint of the saccade is then predicted in real-time while the saccade is still occurring. This may be the temporal endpoint (i.e., when the saccade ends) and/or the positional endpoint (i.e., the eye position at the end of the saccade). Operation of the electronic contact lens is adjusted based on the predicted endpoint.

Abstract: A contact lens has a core thick enough to accommodate a payload. The lens further has outer and inner coverings that cover parts of the core. Each covering is a thin layer of gas-permeable material shaped to form a respective cavity between the covering and the core. Oxygen passes through the outer covering to the outer cavity, through an air path within the core to the inner cavity, and through the inner covering to reach the cornea of the wearer's eye. To increase oxygen flow, a patterned structure is formed at an interface between the core and at least one of the outer and inner covering, comprising supports at which the core and covering contact, and recesses forming the cavity between the core and covering for oxygen flow. Because each recess spans only a short distance between supports, portions of the covering may be made thinner to improve oxygen flow.

Abstract: A display device is mounted on and/or inside the eye. The eye mounted display contains multiple sub-displays, each of which projects light to different retinal positions within a portion of the retina corresponding to the sub-display. The projected light propagates through the pupil but does not fill the entire pupil. In this way, multiple sub-displays can project their light onto the relevant portion of the retina. Moving from the pupil to the cornea, the projection of the pupil onto the cornea will be referred to as the corneal aperture. The projected light propagates through less than the full corneal aperture. The sub-displays use spatial multiplexing at the corneal surface. Various electronic devices interface to the eye mounted display.

Abstract: Authentication of a user is based on an electronic contact lens that contains a retinal scanner. The retinal scanner captures a retinal scan, which is used to authenticate the user (i.e., what a person is). The contact lens itself may also be used in the authentication process (i.e., what a person has). Authentication based on these two factors are used to control access to assets.

Abstract: An augmented reality system recognizes objects in a user's environment and operates an electronic contact lens based on the recognition. The electronic contact lens includes an integrated femtoimager that captures images corresponding to the user's gaze direction. The augmented reality system recognizes objects in the images and generates visual information relevant to the recognized objects that is presented using a femtoprojector integrated with the electronic contact lens. The visual information may include virtual control elements that the user can interact with to control smart devices. The augmented reality system can also configure various calibration parameters of the electronic contact lens based on a recognized environment associated with the recognized objects.

Abstract: Operation of an electronic contact lens takes into account saccadic motion of the eye and reduced visual perception during saccades (saccadic suppression). The user's eye motion is tracked, and onset of a saccade is detected based on the eye's motion. For example, saccades may be detected when the eye's acceleration or jerk exceeds a threshold. The endpoint of the saccade is then predicted in real-time while the saccade is still occurring. This may be the temporal endpoint (i.e., when the saccade ends) and/or the positional endpoint (i.e., the eye position at the end of the saccade). Operation of the electronic contact lens is adjusted based on the predicted endpoint.

Abstract: Presented in the present disclosure are system and methods embodiments that allow a user to wear a contact lens that provide a virtual framework for the user to retrieve information from one or more remote cameras and implement remote camera control via eye movement tracked by one or more motion sensors embedded within the contact lens. The remote camera control may include, but not limited to, pan, tilt, and zoom control. A user may activate projection of content captured from a remote camera and control the remote camera via an established communication link. The communication link may be a direct link or indirect link via one or more intermediate devices, e.g., a server and/or an accessory device. This unique way of projection activation and camera control by tracking eye movement provides a convenient and secure way for remote camera control without involvement of hands or voices.

Abstract: A variety of femtoprojector optical systems are described. The optical bodies for the systems may be made in batches by wafer-level optics. Each individual system may be made small enough to fit in a contact lens. In some designs, the optical systems include a solid transparent body with a curved primary mirror, a secondary mirror, an entrance window, an exit window, and at least one groove. The grooves function as a light trap that reduces the amount of stray light exiting the body of the optical system. The grooves may also create a snap point which allows removal of individual bodies from the wafer through controlled breakage. The designs may also include various light blocking, light-redirecting, absorbing coatings, or other types structures to reduce stray light.

Abstract: A small imager mounted on a user's eye (referred to as a femtoimager) is coordinated with an external camera. The femtoimager may be contained in a contact lens, and it may be aligned with the gaze a user's eye. The femtoimager and external camera capture images with overlapping views of the external environment. Images from the two imagers may be compared with one another to estimate the femtoimager's view of the external environment relative to the camera's view of the external environment. This may then be used for different applications.