Don't read too much into someone winking at you -- a researcher says he has developed a system that will soon let people run their iPods with the flick of an eye.

An invention by Osaka University researcher Kazuhiro Taniguchi's will allow people to operate devices like digital music players with eye movements alone.

Closing both eyes for one second starts an iPod, while blinking again stops the machine. A wink with the right eye makes the machine skip to the next tune, while with a wink of the left eye it goes back.

As a person does not have to move either hand, the system can serve as ''a third hand'' for caregivers, rock-climbers, motorbike drivers and astronauts, as well as people with disabilities.

''You don't have to worry about the system moving incorrectly as the system picks up signals when you close your eyes firmly. You can use this when you're eating or chatting with someone,'' The Sydney Morning Herald quoted device's developer Kazuhiro Taniguchi as saying.

The system - dubbed "Kome Kami Switch," or "Temple Switch" - can easily differentiate a deliberate one-second wink from natural blinking, said Taniguchi, a researcher at state-run Osaka University's Graduate School of Engineering Science.

''There are some people who are incapable of winking on one eye. For those, we can programme the system to give a command when they blink twice in a fast sequence,'' he said.

The Kome Kami Switch is also capable of operating television sets, air conditioners, room lighting and other household electronics.

Taniguchi hopes the system can eventually be adapted to run cellphones, wheelchairs and robots as "an ultimate remote control" used in everyday life.

The research team wants to launch a venture in two to three years to commercialise the switch.

The new switch is a variation of a system, which Taniguchi is still working on, that operates when wearers clench their teeth.