Last week, Google added another patent to its patent pool. The new patent, approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, concerns an eye-tracking system. The system tracks the eye movements of users on a device — like, say, Google Glass — as they react to external images — like, say, advertisements.
In April, Google banned developers of Google Glass from using ads in their apps. Tech insiders wondered if that meant Google was changing its advertising policy, which has so far insisted on highly targeted ads.
Perhaps not.
Google's new patent includes a "pay per gaze" system that would allow advertisers to pay Google every time a Google Glass looks at an ad. The system would be able to determine which elements are most easily viewed by the user's eye and could detect a viewer's emotional engagement with an ad by measuring the dilation and contraction of their pupils.
After, of course, we are talking about privacy protection and the like. The patent states that the system will have an opt-in and opt-out function (activation-deactivation) and advertisers will be able to pay with the receipt of “anonymous analytics.”
According to a Google Glass spokesperson, the company has no plans to use this patent now or in the near future.
Still, who trusts Google?
