Sony has come up with intelligent contact lenses capable of recording and playing video - all with the blink of an eye.

The Tokyo-based firm filed a patent application, published earlier this month, revealing how the smart lenses would use movements of the eyelids to activate various functions, CW33 reported.

Seven Japanese inventors designed the contacts, which would include a camera, a wireless processing unit and a storage unit.

This means the lenses could store their own video - unlike Samsung's smart lenses patented earlier this month, which rely on a smartphone.

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Sony filed a patent application (pictured), published earlier this month, revealing how smart lenses would use movements of the eyelids to activate various functions

Sony's smart contacts would use sensors to detect when a user closes an eyelid.

Depending on how long the eyelid remains closed, the lenses could distinguish voluntary movements from accidental blinking.

'It is known that a time period of usual blinking is usually 0.2 seconds to 0.4 seconds, and therefore it can be said that, in the case where the time period of blinking exceeds 0.5 seconds, the blinking is conscious blinking,' the patent application reads.

The contacts would use sensors to detect how long a user's eyelid stays closed, this distinguishing accidental blinks from voluntary movements (file picture)

Users could switch the camera mode on and off by closing their eyelids on purpose.

They could also use their smartphones to control the contacts.

Sony's lenses could also keep track of every time the user's eyelid closes while video is recording, so that the resulting black screens can be deleted later on.

To play video, users could use a predetermined movement of the eyelids, different from the blink required to activate or deactivate other functions.

'For example, the operation input is such that the user presses an end of the eyelid two times in a state in which the eyelid is closed,' the patent application states.

The contacts could also take photos, correct blurry images and manage auto focus, zooming and aperture controls.

The patent application, filed in February 2014, has yet to be reviewed.

That same year, Google filed a patent application, published earlier this month, devising contact lenses that could be injected directly into the eyes of the users.