The US Patent and Trademark Office just awarded Google a patent on an “integrated finger-tracking input sensor device” for Google Glasses, which pretty much means that there’ll be a trackpad on the side frame of the glasses. That trackpad probably means that the Project Glass system will be controlled with your fingers and not just your voice or eyesight.
The patent spells out use cases such as tapping and scrolling with the trackpad, but it doesn’t specify how exactly it’d work in tandem with other Google Glasses controls. Although having a trackpad on your glasses seems potentially useful, it kinda dumbs down the dream of these specs being completely hands free. Either way, Google is smartly stacking up patents for any type of sci-fi glasses to come. [USPTO via Engadget]