If Google implements its latest patent, Google Glass could allow users to take photos and ‘like’ objects by framing it with their hands.
Raise your hands together in the shape of a heart, and instantly share a photo of what you love with your friends. That’s the idea behind Google’s latest patent, granted today by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patent describes three hand gestures that could be used by Google Glass to generate an image from the user’s field of view. Making a heart shape using two hands would prompt Glass to capture the area enclosed by the shape. Holding one hand in the shape of an L would capture a rectangular image, as if your finger and thumb formed the lower left corner of a picture frame. Larger rectangles would be captured by dragging the L-shape across the object in front of you, from top right to bottom left. Finally, the patent allows for simply drawing a closed-loop in your field of view with a single finger to create an image of whatever was in that loop.
These methods for taking images could complement Google’s image searching app, Google Goggles. Google Goggles generates search results based on an image, like the Golden Gate Bridge or a famous painting. Available on both Android and iOS phones, recent updates have improved text recognition and added recommendations for similar products when used for shopping.
Of course, a patent only means that Google could implement this functionality for Glass at some time in the future. If they do, I predict we might end up seeing scores of inadvertent photos of hamburgers showing up on Google+. For now, those could only come from the Glass Explorers, the early adopters who earned the privilege of purchasing Glass and testing it in the wild through Google’s #ifIhadglass contest. A retail date for Google Glass has not been announced.
Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office via Engadget.
