

Google’s Project Glass will lock down when it senses theft, patent shows - namzo
http://venturebeat.com/2012/07/17/google-project-glass-theft-patent/

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btilly
So how does this work in practice?

I see a friend with these glasses. As a joke I pull of his glasses from behind
and pretend to steal them, then hand them back, and because it sensed that I
stole them (which I did) it is now locked and my friend can't use his glasses
any more.

There are a lot of details to get right. I hope they thought them all through.

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dustywusty
It's imaginable the process could be reverted, likely with a Google account
password. Similar technologies exist today with phones.

~~~
brittohalloran
Retina scan?!?

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Tobu
Good foresight. Here's one way things would pan out if you were running around
with someone else's extended mind:

[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/fiction/accelera...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/fiction/accelerando/accelerando.html#Tourist) — from Accelerando, by
Charles Stross

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gms7777
I find this a bit strange. I think more devices would probably be stolen by
setting the device down, or putting it in your bag and it getting snatched,
rather than someone pulling it off your head. And unnatural movement is pretty
hard to define.

Seems like it would be better to just be able to remotely lock them if you
know its been stolen than them locking automatically.

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ryusage
You're right, for sure. It seems like a less likely scenario. That being said,
the abstract at the bottom of the article makes it sound like the patent
involves profiling your normal movement patterns and then using that to
determine if the glasses are being worn by someone else. If that's the case,
and it actually works, then this might actually cover pretty a broad range of
thefts. Anyone had a chance to read the patent yet?

Edit: Thinking more about it, I don't think that could work. Even assuming
people had identifiable walking patterns, there's always going to be things
that unexpectedly change that (e.g. injury, or heavy bags while shopping).

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brittohalloran
"patent shows" -- crazy stuff is tossed into patents all the time just to
cover all possible bases. This in no way means that the actual production
Glass units will have this feature.

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jklein24
True, but even so, it's good to see Google patenting crazy things like this to
protect themselves a little more against the "patent everything" Apple
machine.

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doorty
_In response to determining an unnatural movement and/or an unauthorized user
wearing the HMD, the wearable computer triggers a locking mechanism, which can
beneficially provide security measures for the wearable computer._

So next time that a wearable computer comes to market that wants to lock out
unauthorized users, they have to deal with this patent. Seems pretty generic
to me.

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saraid216
You realize that's how _all_ patents work, right?

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4ngle
Come at me, McDonalds!

~~~
giblfiz
I'm assuming this is a reference to this:
[http://eyetap.blogspot.ca/2012/07/physical-assault-by-
mcdona...](http://eyetap.blogspot.ca/2012/07/physical-assault-by-mcdonalds-
for.html)

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K2h
So you get punched - and the time you want it most it goes into lock mode. I
hope it still continues to monitor when it is locked.

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general-marty
Alternative title, "Google's project glass will lock down when Google see
fit".

