Google patent filing illustrates Google Glass-like smart watch

Élyse Betters | Oct 3 2012 - 12:59 pm PT

Another day, another patent filing. Better yet—another watch patent.

Between the Pebble, Sony, Nike, and even Apple’s spin on the wearable Nano, there are plenty of smart watches going around these days. Google—however—wants to kick it up a notch. A new patent surfaced recently that depicts a Mountain View-branded wristwatch with Google Glass-like capabilities.

The timepiece, according to design filings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, features a transparent display that doubles as a second screen when flipped up from the base. The displays give access to Google apps, such as Gmail and Maps, and they provide real-time data for directions, notifications, products, etc.

Yes, this also means Google would have another platform for serving up ads. Enter the Google Glass similarities. The patent filing indicated the smart watch could track users’ surroundings, and it would then offer related products, points of interest, information, or practically anything else aggregated and related to the watch’s GPS coordinates.

Thus, the Internet giant-turned-Ad guru-turned-Hardware dabbler seems to have patented another idea that combines all of its efforts into one product. What do you think—yay or nay? Beware…it’s not as though patents often come to physical fruition; in fact, they hardly ever do. Sigh. [Source: USPTO, via Engadget]