Bill Slawski at SEO by the Sea found three Google patents in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database that could feature heavily in designs for the new Google Glass project. The patents were acquired from Indy race car driver Dominic Dobson and his company, Motion Research Technologies, Inc, on March 30th. That date was only days before the announcement of Google Glass.
One of the patents, a “cell phone display that clips onto eyeglasses” might come as a comfort to those worried that Google Glass headbands might not work with their prescription eyewear. The patent covers a housing with “one or more first clips configured to removably secure the first housing to a frame of eyeglasses” and a second housing “configured to display the image to the user through the lens opening.”
The other two patents cover “Multi-use eyeglasses with human I/O interface embedded” and an “Ambient light display and system for displaying data.” The Multi-use eyeglasses, as described, would be very similar to the designs of Google Glass that were shown off. The ambient light display is part of the technology that makes devices such as Google Glass possible, but the patent files also include illustrations of a heads-up display inside of a motorcycle helmet. It’s not a stretch to see military and sports applications for Google Glass devices. As long as they are not actually made of glass, of course.
Google’s new initiative for wearable smart computing has been the subject of mockery, ridicule, and cynicism. However, there are rumors that both sunglass designer Oakley and video game publisher Valve are getting into the wearable computing market. With all of these leaders in their respective industries pushing the concept, consumers will be seeing these devices sooner rather than later.
(via Bill Slawski at SEO by the Sea)