Larry Page showed off a prototype of the company's forthcoming interactive glasses at a Google Zeitgeist event in London.

Project Glass, which Page described as being in an "early stage", aims to use a built-in lens display to allow users to receive and share information about their environment. During his demonstration, Page used a button on the futuristic eyewear to take and share a picture of the audience.

Early reports have suggested that the augmented reality specs will run on some version of Android and will integrate with apps like Google Latitude, Google Goggles and Google Maps.

The company has been working on securing patents, including a series of patents pertaining to a "wearable display device". In addition to confirming Google's desire to protect Google Glass from competitors, the patents suggest that the glasses may have some truly futuristic features. 

One patent in particular reveals the search giant is working on a Google Glass feature that will help hearing impaired users to detect and decipher sounds in their environments.

Though some reports have claimed the specs will be available by the end of 2012, it seems likely that a lot more development will take place before that happens.