Microsoft files patent for ‘Google-like’ augmented reality smart glasses

London: Tech giant Microsoft has reportedly filed for a patent for ‘augmented reality smart glasses’, a move that could see the firm challenging Google`s Project Glass.

The patent applied for by Microsoft describes how the eyewear could be used to bring up statistics over a wearer`s view of a baseball game or details of characters in a play. The newly-released document was filed in May 2011 and has been learnt to be highly detailed, the BBC reports. According to the report, the patent notes that entertainment organisers often provide screens showing information to enhance audience`s enjoyment of their events. But looking at these displays forces the user to turn their head away from the action: for example looking at the scoreboard at a baseball game, or translated lyrics at the side of the stage at an opera. Therefore, through these glasses, users would now able to see the lyrics next to the opera singer as an alternative to displays placed at the side of the stage. “[It would be] capable of generating display elements on various portions of a user``s display while remaining portions of the head mounted display are transparent to allow the user to continue to view events or occurrences within the live event," the patent says. "Other alternatives allow the display to become completely opaque, in order for the display to provide, for example, a display of a video such as an instant replay of the live event,” it adds. Microsoft has also suggested that a wrist-worn computer could be used to operate the device, or alternatively the user might control it through voice-commands and flicking their eyes to a certain spot, the report said. ANI