Google submits patent application for laser projector in Project Glass product
Company looking to create interactive solution for anywhere keyboard
Google’s Project Glass concept certainly gathered our collective interest when it was announced last year. It also raised some decent questions in terms of functionality, chief among them — how would the user communicate with the device?
Well, according to a recent patent application that the company submitted, they might’ve figured out a pretty unique solution: project an interactive laser keyboard from the glasses onto the user’s hand or nearby surface.
Google has filed a patent application for a laser project built into their Glasses product which would project a virtual keyboard and allow the user to type messages out on their hand or nearby surface.
Patent 20130016070, entitled “Methods and Systems for a Virtual Input Device,” shows a version of Google’s Glasses with a laser projector built into the arm of the glasses so as to project a keyboard onto the hand of the user, or otherwise a nearby surface, to use as a touchscreen.
On the other arm of the glasses is a camera, which is used to interpret the user’s gestures and allow for the device to accept input via the tapping of the virtual keys as well as movement of the hand.
Keyboard projected onto hand can be communicated back to the glasses’ camera via gesture recognition.
No telling if this technology will actually be incorporated into the glasses, but it’s a pretty interesting solution. Laser-projected keyboards are already out and on the market at stores like Brookstone and Best Buy, so the technology’s a proven solution. As to whether or not Google can fine tune the technology to an unobtrusive, lightweight component that can fit on the arm of a pair of glasses remains to be seen.
View the full patent for yourself at uspto.gov ■
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