Google has secured a trio of patents covering its Project Glass, the augmented reality (AR) spectacles which first came to light at the beginning of last month.

The trendy looking glasses are Android powered, and flash up notifications directly in the wearer's field of vision.

The patents pertain to a "wearable display device", and while there aren't detailed descriptions provided, they cover the areas you would expect, such as displaying information in front of the user's eyes, and playing back audio.

Google is continuing to work on them deep in the labs, although a working prototype pair was worn by Sergey Brin at a charity event shortly after the technology was revealed.

Google might well feel the need to protect its intellectual property in this case, as not long after Brin was seen with the specs, and they'd caused quite the stir, rival tech firms quickly started talking about their plans along similar lines.

No names were named at the time, but later in April, Oakley announced a pair of AR specs, although the company did note that it had been working on the device for over fifteen years. However, the Oakley glasses are apparently aimed at athletes, not the average consumer.

Source: BBC