Prototype of eye-controlled mobile phone unveiled

LONDON: Scientists have unveiled a prototype mobile phone that allows user to make and receive calls, and even play music, just by moving their eyes.

The prototype device has special electrodes -- that can pick up the movement of the eye -- attached to the earphones.

Eyes have "electrical potential" - positive at the cornea and negative at the retina - which changes depending on the movement of the eyeball.

The earphone electrodes are able to read these changing currents - known as an electrooculogram - and the mobile phone is pre-programmed to translate the information into a command.

Hence, a user can make or receive a call, simply by moving the eyes.

Similarly, music stored on the mobile phone can be played, paused or song skipped using eyeball movement - shifting the eye right and then left will play or stop a track.

The volume can be increased by moving the eyes clockwise and decreased by rotating eyes anti-clockwise.

The system works even when a person's eyes are closed, the Telegraph reported.

A spokesman for NTT DoCoMo, a Japanese mobile phone operator, which unveiled the prototype, said, "the system is only a prototype, but it provides an insight into the way we might be using our phones in years to come."

"In future, phones will be worn like accessories. We're keen to find new natural-gesture interfaces and clever ways of interacting with these devices to suit this anticipated future use," the spokesman said.