Andy Rubin may soon walk onstage at an event somewhere with Essential Smart Glasses, a pair of spectacles that could be considered as the successor of the ill-fated Google Glass.
Just recently, the father of Android took the wraps off the anti-iPhone that is the Essential Phone and the Amazon Echo competitor Essential Home. On that note, it seems that the new company is far from done in expanding its products in the tech business.
Essential Smart Glasses Patent Uncovered
Patently Apple uncovered an old but interesting patent filed by Essential, and it shows a pair of smart glasses equipped with displays and cameras.
From the look of things, 510 and 520 point to the lenses, 530 and 540 are the cameras that face the wearer, and 550 is the sensor that faces the environment.
"The one or more lenses 510, 520 can be prescription lenses, photosensitive lenses, sunglass lenses, etc. Each lens in the one or more lenses 510, 520 includes a dual-mode display, with one or more using facing cameras 530, 540 placed within the dual-mode display. The one or more user facing cameras 530, 540 are oriented towards the user, and can track the direction of the user's gaze. One or more environment facing cameras 550 can be placed on the frame of the glasses 500, or within the one or more lenses 510, 520. The one or more environment facing cameras 550 record the environment that the user sees," its description reads.
Considering the hardware involved, the Essential Smart Glasses will be more than just an easier way to take photos, like what Snapchat's Spectacles offers. As mentioned earlier, it's leaning toward something like the Google Glass, and that means it'll take advantage of augmented reality.
Essential engineers wrote down an example of its use, where the wearer can look at a barcode of a product and get more affordable choices thanks to the wearable's processor.
Why Google Glass Failed, According To Rubin
In a Wired interview, Rubin said that the Google Glass failed because the world wasn't ready for it, and it wasn't because the product itself was bad.
Put differently, the Essential smart glasses patent shows that Rubin believes in the technology, and the company just might launch it once it thinks consumers are prepared to start wearing them.
How Likely Essential Smart Glasses Will Happen
Aside from the Essential Smart Glasses patent, Patently Apple also found an image of a patent design with LG Display, and it appears to be the display that's used on the Essential Phone.
On top of that, it also got ahold of the patent for the 360-degree camera accessory that comes with the smartphone for an extra $50.
That just goes to show that it's likely that the Essential Smart Glasses will follow suit and become a real product in the foreseeable future, not to mention that Essential has been dabbling with AR for some time now.
Long story short, the era of smart glasses could soon begin, with Essential among the front lines to pave the way.
