Google’s Project Glass will lock down when it senses theft, patent shows

[btilly]

So how does this work in practice?

I see a friend with these glasses. As a joke I pull of his glasses from behind and pretend to steal them, then hand them back, and because it sensed that I stole them (which I did) it is now locked and my friend can't use his glasses any more.

There are a lot of details to get right. I hope they thought them all through.

[dustywusty]

It's imaginable the process could be reverted, likely with a Google account password. Similar technologies exist today with phones.

[ttran4]

I've seen this happen a lot of times. This case is more likely than getting them snatched out from a theft.

[Tobu]

Good foresight. Here's one way things would pan out if you were running around with someone else's extended mind:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/accelera... — from Accelerando, by Charles Stross

[gms7777]

I find this a bit strange. I think more devices would probably be stolen by setting the device down, or putting it in your bag and it getting snatched, rather than someone pulling it off your head. And unnatural movement is pretty hard to define.

Seems like it would be better to just be able to remotely lock them if you know its been stolen than them locking automatically.

[ryusage]

You're right, for sure. It seems like a less likely scenario. That being said, the abstract at the bottom of the article makes it sound like the patent involves profiling your normal movement patterns and then using that to determine if the glasses are being worn by someone else. If that's the case, and it actually works, then this might actually cover pretty a broad range of thefts. Anyone had a chance to read the patent yet?

Edit: Thinking more about it, I don't think that could work. Even assuming people had identifiable walking patterns, there's always going to be things that unexpectedly change that (e.g. injury, or heavy bags while shopping).

[pavel_lishin]

Depending on how you interact with Google Glass, it could simply make sure that your hand is yours, or that your eye is yours, and not allow anyone else to use the device (unless you put it in a "guest" mode for X amount of time.)

[Gustomaximus]

They will want "unnatural movement" to be hard to closely define so the patent covers as much territory as possible. The specific detection will be work in progress.

[brittohalloran]

"patent shows" -- crazy stuff is tossed into patents all the time just to cover all possible bases. This in no way means that the actual production Glass units will have this feature.

[jklein24]

True, but even so, it's good to see Google patenting crazy things like this to protect themselves a little more against the "patent everything" Apple machine.

[doorty]

In response to determining an unnatural movement and/or an unauthorized user wearing the HMD, the wearable computer triggers a locking mechanism, which can beneficially provide security measures for the wearable computer.

So next time that a wearable computer comes to market that wants to lock out unauthorized users, they have to deal with this patent. Seems pretty generic to me.

[saraid216]

You realize that's how all patents work, right?

[4ngle]

Come at me, McDonalds!

[giblfiz]

I'm assuming this is a reference to this: http://eyetap.blogspot.ca/2012/07/physical-assault-by-mcdona...

[K2h]

So you get punched - and the time you want it most it goes into lock mode. I hope it still continues to monitor when it is locked.

[general-marty]

Alternative title, "Google's project glass will lock down when Google see fit".