Summary
This post provides an analytical overview of Google’s recent patent filings in the United States, focusing on innovations in wearable technology and augmented reality. It examines a patent aimed at enhancing road safety by detecting whether a wearable device user is driving or a passenger, and restricting certain device functions accordingly. The post also discusses a patent for holographic projections on Google Glass, allowing users to experience augmented reality more efficiently. The involvement of Magic Leap in content development for Google’s holographic headset is noted. The article concludes by emphasising that patent filings do not guarantee product releases, and the future development of these technologies remains to be seen.
Google, the tech giant is working on things that only few in the world would dare to take on. The company is finding opportunities in the changing environment and discovering, developing and innovating products, services and methods in order to satisfy the changing needs. Here are the two new fascinating technologies which the company is in the process of developing.
Not too long ago, Google filed a patent in the USPTO that reveals a concept for an in-car tool which uses wearable device, apparently an android powered smart watch, for detecting whether the wearable user is actively driving the vehicle or merely a passenger. Google’s motive to use this patent is in the pursuit for road safety since many users may wish to access various other features like mobile phones, tablets, navigation systems etc while traveling in a vehicle. This invention as disclosed in Application no. 14/627122 is credited to Mohammed Waleed Kadous and assigned to Google. By using a combination of location sensors and motion sensors, the proposal also attempts to determine with a variable degree of probability whether the user is actively driving and if the driver meets certain thresholds, it sends information to specific devices to perform an action of restricting certain functions like texting or web browsing.
The company also filed a patent application to display holographic projections on its eye wearable device Google Glass. The new patent titled “ Light guide with Multiple In-Coupling Holograms for Head Wearable Display” details about superimposed computer-generated images on top of the wearer’s current real world view which is more efficient and easier to wear and allows a user to experience augmented reality as disclosed in Application no. 14/229169. The project has now been named Project Aura headed by Ivy Ross who previously took up the Google Glass project. In this particular invention, a US-based startup Magic Leap who is working with augmented reality gaming content production is designing the content for Google’s holographic headset.
These patents do seem exciting, like many other Google Patents. However, a patent does not promise the product release so let us just hope that Google will build and release these tools sometime in the future.
Authored by Anjali Santhosh
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