Engrossed in Sight: Patent for Google Glasses

google-glassAdjusting the rim of one’s glasses and balancing it on the tip of one’s nose, in numerous times every day surely can be very taxing. It demands caution too, as a lot of movement or even getting into a scuffle, with the imminent peril of punches to the face, would mean glasses falling off or broken down into pieces. One may consider googling this problem, and as always Google does have a solution!

A patent has been filed by the Chocolate Factory at the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), for glasses that perfunctorily modify their shape in accordance with the bodily movement.[i] Also known as Google glasses, they monitor what the individual adorning them is doing and react accordingly, much like the existent safety sunglasses. Although this is not a reaction to impending danger or threat but the said glasses will be able to tell the difference between the individual when sitting/running/jogging/jumping/moving or any other movement causing any slight shift of glass spectacles, thereby leading to grasping the forehead tightly. This patent predicts that an isolated device, for example a wristband or phone, would govern the movement and the frame will pull itself consequently.

The patent inventors, Mitchell Heinrich and Eliot Kim advocate that the mechanism, by which the arms of the eyewear grapple the head, is made up of piezoelectric material. Piezoelectric is the process by which electric charge or electricity results from pressure. This is accumulated in certain solid materials which bend when a current is applied, combined with a band containing a magneto rheological fluid. As well as keeping a close watch on the body movement, this patent guides that the glasses will alter automatically matching the position of the eyes. This is described in the lines, “wherein the first component includes an image capture device having a field of view that includes an eye, wherein the first component is configured to determine the movement of the wearable computing device by determining a drift in a location of a pupil of the eye from information corresponding to the field of view of the image capture device.”

The inspiration behind these glasses is not only to make sporty glasses but also improvise the image in the field of view. It is yet to be ascertained as to whether one would pay money for the much hyped Google glasses.

[i] U.S. Patent Application No.20130069985, Available at: http://www.google.com/patents/US20130069985, Last accessed on September 15, 2015.