A new patent granted to Google last week (via Glass Almanac) depicts a hardware revision that may become part of future iterations of Google Glass, and it looks like the Mountain View company is attempting to tackle the social stigma that comes with wearing a pair of glasses fitted with an external prism and projector. The patent, labeled as D710,928 on the patent and trademark office website, is described as simply a “wearable display device” and features a set of images showing what looks like a normal pair of glasses with a transparent display on the inside.

Basically, this patent attempts to solve the problem of the bulky external prism on Google Glass by moving it closer to the eyes, and it appears that the piece of glass used to display the contents of the screen is much smaller. Notably, the patent has been granted to Google engineer Mitchell Heinrich, who has been instrumental in the development of Glass and has many of Google’s other Glass-related patents in his name. But based on this patent, all we really know is what we can see in the pictures—and from the diagrams alone, there’s not much substantial info to learn.

Google has had a hard time keeping Glass’ reputation clean, and aesthetically, the external projector that sticks out the front of the device is a deal breaker for some who might want to wear the device on a daily basis. But Glass is surely going to get many revisions in the future—as long as the project is alive—and it appears that one direction Google might want to take is making the device just a little more subtle. Head over to the US Patent and Trademark office website to view all of the images.

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