Jins Meme

JINS MEME
Category	smartglasses
Developer	JIN Co., Ltd.
Announced	January 2015
Released	Developers: April 2015 Consumers: January 2016
Price	324 USD (Dec 2015)
Operating system	unknown
Display	none
Resolution	none
Field of view
Weight	36 g
Controls	smartphone, inertial, buttons, electrooculography
Data available	Good
Risk factor	Low
Not Standalone
https://www.jins-jp.com/jinsmeme/en/

Jins MEME are ordinarily looking glasses designed and developed by a Japanese eyewear company Jins. They are not strictly speaking a head-mounted display as they do not have any displaying capability, nor does it feature any cameras. The frames of the glasses features a set of sensors that measures the position of the glasses and the electric potential of the wearer's eyes. The ability to analyse the eye movements is the main selling point of the glasses, the company markets the glasses to drivers. The eye-tracking can help prevent microsleep by warning the driver early for example. It can also track the user's posture. The device is not able to process the recorded data by itself and has to be connected to a smartphone to fully function. This is achieved by a Bluetooth connection.

The company also has an academic pack available to research institutions. According to Jins, the glasses are "world’s first scientifically-proven wearable eyewear." The academic pack features two Jins MEME glasses, as well as other items such as manual, adapter and so on, which now allow potential researchers to extract the raw data from the sensors directly, without an API.

Main characteristics

The device greatly resembles a pair of normal glasses as all of the electronics is hidden on the glasses' frame. The device does not feature any display or projectors. It also does not have a camera. The available sensors are an accelerometer, gyroscope, and an electrooculography sensor housed in the bridge of the glasses. The frame is thicker at the ends so there is space for the battery with indicated life of 16 hours on one charge. The device also feature a Bluetooth antenna for connectivity.

Jins MEME do not run any operating system and have to be paired with a smartphone to process and store the gathered data. For this, the company made a custom app available. So far the app only gathers and display the data but the company plans on expanding the features with future add-ons after the device release in 2016.

Purpose

Jins MEME is a head-mounted device that gathers data about the eye movements and position of the head of its wearer. It does not feature a display nor a camera. The recorded data can be stored and analysed in a connected smartphone. Several official apps are available.

Company & People

JIN CO., LTD. is a Tokyo, Japan, based retailer and developer of eyewear and other types of fashion merchandise.

• Hitoshi Tanaka - Founder and CEO
• Kazutaka Inoue - Director of the Jins Meme division
• Seiichi Saito - Creative and Technical Director
• Kentaro Shihaku - Creative Director

"We have challenged the historical limitations of eyewear, introducing a range of innovative glasses that move beyond vision correction to help solve problems of daily life.” - Hitoshi Tanaka, Interview for Wareable magazine

Important Dates

• January 2015 - JIN CO. announces Jins MEME during CES 2015.
• April 2105 - JIN launches the Academic Pack, a package of Jins MEME glases, software, and relevant accessories for researchers.
• January 2016 - Scheduled date of the consumer version release.

Public & Media Impact and Presentation

First articles from western media came out just (December 2014) before CES 2015. Wareable magazine said about Jins Meme that it is an "alternative to Google Glass" and discussed the electrooculography sensor and JIN CO. vision (see excerpt in Company & People) regarding smartglasses. Similar article appeared in Digital Trends. The article focuses on the looks of the device, calls it "innocent looking" and makes a positive remark that it "could be the future of smart eyewear." Interestingly, attention to the fact that Jins Meme does not look like other emerging smartglasses device is visible in other articles very often.

The device received great attention after it was officially introduced to western media on CES 2015 in January. In an article titled "Glassholes would get punched less wearing Jins subtle Meme smart glasses" Digital Trends made a comparison to Google Glass and praised the subtle looking design of the device. The author was impressed by the electrooculography sensor and called the device to be overall "subtle but powerful." An article on CNET again mentions how "normal" the device looks. It mentions that the device can help prevent eye-fatigue. The author was clearly impressed by the device and summarised his feeling by calling it "something you'd actually want to wear."

http://www.cnet.com/products/jins-meme/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/jins-meme-smart-eyewear-news/

http://www.wareable.com/smartglasses/jins-meme-smartglasses-to-get-western-exposure-at-ces-629

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/10/17/jins-meme-award-winning-glasses-track-your-physical-state-and-concentration-levels/

http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/20151105-ASEAN-INC.-S-GLOBAL-PUSH/Tech-Science/Keep-an-eye-on-your-health-with-Jins-Meme-glasses

http://japanese.engadget.com/2015/10/14/60-jins-meme/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/jins-meme-hands-on/

http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/14/jins-fatigue-tracking-smart-glasses-hit-japan-next-month/

http://healthcare.itmedia.co.jp/hc/articles/1512/05/news013.html

Related Technologies, Projects or Scientific Research

References