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GooglePatent applicationHealth & bodyInterest 8/10

Google patents under-eyelid device that checks blood chemistry with infrared light

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This filing describes a small, flexible device that sits between a person's lower eyelid and their eye. It uses tiny infrared lights to shine on the tissue lining the eyelid and a sensor to read the reflected light, which helps measure specific chemicals in the blood without a needle.

Why it mattersIt offers a potential way to monitor blood health continuously and painlessly, similar to how smartwatches track heart rate, but using the eye area instead of the wrist.

In the filing’s own words

A chemical analyte can be monitored in the blood of a patient's palpebral conjunctiva. A device, including a mounting substrate configured to hold a microcircuit and to mount optoelectronic components, like one or more micro light emitting diodes (LEDs) and a micro photodiode detector adjacent to the one or more LEDs, can be inserted beneath a lower eyelid of the patient and above an eye. The mounting substrate and the optoelectronic components can be covered and protected by a casing including an infrared transparent encapsulation material, with a surface of the infrared transparent encapsulation material having hydrophobic surface properties in a region above the micro LEDs and the photodiode detector. The micro LEDs can emit short wave infrared light with wavelengths from 1300 nm to 1700 nm toward the palpebral conjunctiva. The photodetector can detect light reflected from the palpebral conjunctiva to monitor the chemical analyte.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A device configured to monitor a chemical analyte in a patient's blood, the device comprising: a mounting substrate configured to hold at least one microcircuit with wireless communication and a wireless power source and optoelectronic components, wherein the optoelectronic components comprise: one or more light sources configured to emit short wave infrared light with wavelengths from 900 nm to 1700 nm toward a palpebral conjunctiva of the patient; and one or more light sensors configured to detect light from the palpebral conjunctiva of the patient; and a flexible casing configured to fit between the lower eyelid and an eyeball of the patient, wherein the casing encapsulates the mounting substrate and the optoelectronic components, and wherein the casing comprises an infrared-transparent material, wherein a portion of the infrared-transparent material above at least the one or more light sources and one or more light sensors comprises hydrophobic surface properties, wherein the device is configured to be inserted between a lower eyelid and eye of the patient.

Facts

Company
Google (Verily Life Sciences LLC)
Official title
MONITORING A CHEMICAL ANALYTE IN A PATIENT'S BLOOD USING AN UNDERLID DETECTOR
Publication number
US20260305985A1
Application number
19483081
Filed
May 2, 2024
Published
Oct 8, 2026
Inventors
1
Claims
16

Classified under

A61B 5/14532 Human necessitiesA61B 5/0002 Human necessitiesA61B 5/1455 Human necessities
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.