Tag: ar glasses

Microsoft takes a big step toward the wearable glasses market.

Recently, the computer software and electronics company acquired a patent for object-recognizing augmented reality glasses from Osterhout Design Group, a deal worth $150 million.

The smart glasses equipped with this technology could result in people interacting with their environment in a whole new way.

More specifically, the patent for which Microsoft filed is an application called “Wearable Behavior-based Vision System”. The wearable device that could result from this technology may be smart glasses that look like large sunglasses, which could enhance how the wearer interacts with his or her environment.

For instance, if the wearer was crossing the street and a vehicle happened to be approaching at a fast speed, the glasses would warn the wearer if the vehicle was perceived as a threat. In addition to this function, allegedly, the smart glasses could combine the real world with the virtual world. Thus, if the wearer were playing a game using the glasses, for example, and he or she were walking around their home, the glasses will incorporate objects from the real world (ex. furniture) with objects from the game (virtual world).

Rumors about Microsoft developing augmented reality glasses are nothing new.

Since November 2012, there have been rumors circulating about Microsoft working on some form of wearable tech involving glasses. However, by securing this patent, it does seem that the company is serious about entering the wearables space.

On the other hand, simply because a company files for a patent, this does not necessarily mean it will use the technology as has been rumored. Until Microsoft officially releases information regarding what it plans to do with the application, there still is no solid evidence to back the old rumors. After all, it is quite possible that the massive corporation may only be building a prototype device that they have no intention of releasing to the market or at least not for several years down the road.

That being said, if it turns out that Microsoft does create object-recognizing augmented reality glasses, it would produce a smart glass device equipped with unique features that Google Glass would lack.

A surgeon in Nashville is looking into the various benefits that can be brought to an O.R. by the augmented reality headset.

A Nashville surgeon is currently investigating some of the ways in which his wearing Google Glass while in the operating room will be able to benefit him – as a surgeon – as well as the patient.

This augmented reality headset has been greatly embraced by the medical community.

Despite the fact that Google Glass is still in a limited release phase, the doctors and others in the medical community have been coming up with a large range of different potential uses for these and similar augmented reality devices. Although the public has had mixed responses to the devices, doctors appear to be ready to wear them and discover what they can offer in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and other potential benefits.

A company in Nashville is now taking the use of Google Glass in hospitals to the next level.

Octovis Inc. believes that there could be massive implications for the augmented reality technology in health care. It is now undergoing its “14-week startup boot camp” along with another company based in Nashville, Jumpstart Foundry, which is a business accelerator. This project is meant to test some of the various applications for the mobile technology among a handful of physicians.

Sanat Dixit, one of the participating physicians, is a neurosurgeon who has been working within the region for four years. He has now become the first doctor in Tennessee to bring the augmented reality device into the operating room. Moreover, he is also one of the only doctors in the entire Southeast to actually use this cutting edge mobile tech for professional reasons.

While the doctor is not permitted to reveal the name of the hospital in which surgeries have now been performed while using Google Glass – as the facility has yet to create an official policy regarding the use of this technology and wants to ensure that the privacy of its patients remains protected – what is known is that at least two procedures have been completed and it looks as though other facilities will soon be discussing similar efforts in the not too distant future.