Google filed a patent for a blood-sucking smartwatch that could benefit diabetics. Google could be focusing on medical technology aside from its search-related business.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office published a patent filed by Google for a blood-drawing wearable. The description written in the abstract said that the patent is about a "system for needle-free drawing of blood."
The device uses a mechanism which blasts a microparticle into the skin, deep enough to penetrate the dermis and draw a small amount of blood. The blood sample is sent to a pressurized container to be analyzed in laboratories.
The patent continues, "Such an application might be used to draw a small amount of blood, for example, for a glucose test." TechRadar reported that the blood-sucking wearable could be beneficial to diabetics. The device could be used to do regular blood tests for health check-ups.
However, the existence of the patent does not necessarily mean that Google will be creating such a device. "We hold patents on a variety of ideas - some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't," Google told The Verge. "Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patents."
As per Gizmodo, Google is putting more and more efforts in medical technology. Google created the Alphabet company which focused on this field. The company is known for a number of health-related inventions such as the Google Fit application and the smart contact lenses.
Google's blood-sampling wearable might sound like a great idea but it brings up concerns on personal privacy. A device that collects people's private medical information and sends it to Google's data servers could pose privacy and security risks.
Google has not confirmed if the device will be developed for real. The patent was published on December 3, 2015 with the title "Needle-Free Blood Draw".
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