Google Glass could be coming back, with a much slicker new design

It would take a lot for the new design to make Google Glass popular among consumers

The new design is slightly less bulky (US Patent and Trademarks Office)

After falling victim to its own hype and dying an undignified death, Google Glass, the 'smart glasses' Google launched in 2013, could be coming back in a slightly less lame form.

According to a Google patent application, which was approved last week after being filed in September 2012, the company has created an alternative design for Google Glass.

Rather than sitting on the face like a bulky pair of regular glasses, the alternate design wraps around one side of the user's head instead, appearing slightly less intrusive.

The new Google Glass design sits on the side of the user's head (US Patent and Trademarks Office)

Google Glass is a fairly impressive device in itself - controlled through voice commands, a tiny screen in front of the user's eye can display messages, maps, and even video chats with other people.

Essentially, it has many of the uses of a regular smartphone, shrunk into a smaller package and worn on the face.

However, the product was met with little interest from the public, despite its capabilities, and a stigma around Glass grew due to privacy concerns over the idea that users could covertly take pictures or video of people around them.

Maybe Google Glass was ahead of its time, or maybe it was just too intrusive to gain any popularity.

Google took Glass out of production in January this year, so it's unclear when or even if this new design will be put into production