Recent patent applications related to Google Glass are providing insight into the hardware behind the Glasses.

Bone conduction for covert audio. This would allow more privacy so that no one can overhear a conversation; a vibration transducer allows the technology to work without a direct connection. U.S. patent application

A laser projector can be used to project an interface on any nearby surface, including the user’s own hand. The virtual input device includes a projector and a camera. The projector projects a pattern onto a surface. The camera captures images that can be interpreted by a processor to determine actions. The projector may be mounted on an arm of a pair of eyeglasses and the camera may be mounted on an opposite arm of the eyeglasses. A pattern for a virtual input device can be projected onto a “display hand” of a user, and the camera may be able to detect when the user uses an opposite hand to select items of the virtual input device. In another example, the camera may detect when the display hand is moving and interpret display hand movements as inputs to the virtual input device, and/or realign the projection onto the moving display hand.— U.S. Patent application

Eye scan ID and augmented imagery. An optical scanning unit that can be used for imaging different aspects of a wearer’s eyes to capture identification information and as a personal viewing device that enables wearers to see overlay images from a connected computer system, augmenting what a viewer sees. U.S. patent

Compact see-through display system. An optical system includes a display panel, an image former, a viewing window, a proximal beam splitter, and a distal beam splitter. U.S. patent application

Real-time visual enhancement. Augmented reality system. U.S. patent application

Dynamic Control of an Active Input Region of a User Interface. A heads-up display might have a touchpad on a sidebar of the device, or might be connected with another computing device such as a phone or laptop, and use a touchpad connected to those devices to run programs through the heads up display. A video camera may be used to capture real time images that could be “used to generate an augmented reality where computer generated images appear to interact with the real-world view perceived by the user.” U.S. patent application

Speech interfaces. Speech input can be received at the wearable computing device. Speech-related text corresponding to the speech input can be generated. A context can be determined based on database(s) and/or a history of accessed documents. U.S. patent application

Google is holding its first developer workshops this week, offering developers the chance to use the devices, so we should get more details this week.

Source for this post: Google Glass Hardware Patents, Part 1 from SEO by the Sea