It's no secret that Google plans to release a next-gen version of Google Glass, but details are scant.
Whatever the end result may be, the new specs will apparently include input from Italian eyewear maker Luxottica. CEO Massimo Vian announced the partnership during a recent company meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"Version two" of Google Glass "is in preparation," he said, though he had no additional details.
A Luxottica spokeswoman confirmed Vian's comments. Google declined to comment, saying only that "the team is heads down building the future of the product."
Luxottica teamed with Google in March 2014 for a deal in which the eyewear maker would provide a team of experts to work on Glass products, developed specifically under its Ray-Ban and Oakley brands. The company also partnered with Intel later that year on a similar project.
In January, however, Google ended its Glass Explorer program, and moved the futuristic headset from Google X, which handles up-and-coming "moonshot" projects, to a team within Google led by Nest Labs founder Tony Fadell. A month later, reports suggested that the U.S. tech giant would "redesign the product from scratch" privately rather than via a public beta.
Glass debuted in April 2012 as "Project Glass." Later that year, Google started accepting pre-orders for a very early "Explorer Edition" of the $1,500 specs. For a while, they were very hard to get, and had to be picked up in person, but Google opened public sales of the glasses last year.
Now, however, Google is taking the Apple approach—quietly working on the new Glass until it's ready for primetime. As a result, we don't know much about the new Google Glass, but a recently published patent might offer a clue.
As detailed by 9to5Google, the patent shows off a pair of high-tech specs with touch pads on both sides and the display device on the left. This is not the only Glass-related patent floating around, though, and being awarded a patent doesn't mean a company will actually incorporate the technology into any of its products.
For more, see PCMag's review of Google Glass Explorer Edition Version 2.0 and the slideshow above.