Sony has filed a patent for a new kind of augmented reality technology – a simple set of contact lenses with the ability to project or record live video.

Switched on and off by a user’s blink, with the contacts able to detect if they were deliberate or not, image capture technology and data storage would be contained within the lens itself.

Piezoelectric sensors – which have the ability to generate an electric charge in response to applied mechanical stress – would mean that the device would be powered by movements of the eye.

Once developed, the smart contact lenses could be potentially used to improve vision or provide an augmented reality HUD. Google is also working on similar technology, filing patents in 2014 for a contact lens with micro camera, enabling hands-free photography.

With its own patent now filed, Sony must now find a way to fit the technology comfortably within the eye, potentially revolutionising the augmented reality market if it comes to fruition.