The Patent system continues to confuse and annoy me…
I can appreciate that the wearable internet connected computing platform in the form of eyewear (with camera, display, and voice activated / speech recognition control…) called “Google Glass” contains some genuinely unique and non-obvious functionality; though implementation is difficult enough that I doubt Google needs the protections of the Patent system.
Regardless; I’m more concerned now when it encroaches on other domains simply by the ability to INTEGRATE and INTERFACE with other systems.
In the case of SmartThings … we’re talking the ability for Google Glass to be an interface into the SmartThings world, or, more generally, the interface to your connected things (or Things). To me, the idea and general mechanisms to INTEGRATE any A/V interface to Things is obvious, and thus should not be granted a patent.
Yet… here it is:
"When the wearable computing device determines that a target device is within its environment, the wearable computing device obtains target device information related to the target device. The target device information may include information that defines a virtual control interface for controlling the target device and an identification of a defined area of the target device on which the virtual control image is to be provided. The wearable computing device controls the HMD to display the virtual control image as an image superimposed over the defined area of the target device in the field of view."Comments?