Smart Ring War in 2024: Following Samsung, Also Apple
While Samsung Electronics is garnering attention by unveiling its smart ring ‘Galaxy Ring’ at ‘Galaxy Unpack 2024’, there are cautious predictions that Apple may also enter this market soon. IT media Apple Insider collected patents related to smart rings registered by Apple and introduced them on the 22nd (local time).
Full-fledged application for related patents starting in 2015
Apple registered a patent for a ring-style wearable device with voice control, haptic feedback, and a camera with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2015. This smart ring is equipped with a touch screen or touch pad interface, allowing you to wear the ring on your index finger and operate the screen with your thumb.
It is also equipped with heart rate measurement, inductive charging function, force touch, taptic engine for tactile feedback, and accelerometer and gyroscope for gesture input. Prior to this, there were rumors that Apple would release an Apple TV powered by a smart ring in 2013.
Finger movement recognition on Smart Ring
Apple applied for a patent called ‘Skin-to-skin contact detection’ in April last year. The gist of this patent is that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices detect the movement of the wearer’s fingers based on radio frequency technology.
For example, when you touch your finger with your thumb, the movement is immediately recognized. Additionally, the promised action can be performed even when the thumb touches another finger or touches another body part. If you use this function, you can control the device by recognizing finger movements even if the smart ring does not have a display.
Therefore, these technologies allow you to perform tasks while wearing a smart ring on both hands in a VR or AR environment. In 2022, Apple applied for a patent that would allow users to wear a smart ring and use their fingers to interact with other devices, such as displays near the user.
Pressure sensing/tactile feedback
Apple also describes a smart ring technology that allows users to receive haptic notifications and respond by pressing a ring input device with a ring surface pressure sensing input function in a patent registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in August 2023.
“Because the ring is worn on a daily basis and is often small in size, it can be used as an inconspicuous everyday communication device, and can easily communicate wirelessly with other devices capable of receiving communications,” Apple said in the patent document. revealed.
“It can also be used to provide input to wearable devices such as smartwatches, health monitoring devices, headphones, earphones, etc.”
Vision Pro is also controlled with a ring
Apple long ago registered a patent for a method of controlling headsets such as the Vision Pro with a smart ring. In November 2020, Apple applied for patents related to a ‘head-mounted device comprising a display visible to the user’ as well as a ‘wearable electronic device configured to be worn on the user’s finger’. Simply put, it is a smart ring used with Vision Pro.
This smart ring is not in the shape of a typical ring, but rather has a fabric-like element that extends to the tip of the finger, allowing even the bending of the finger to be transmitted to the headset. Equipped with a sensor, the headset can detect finger positions and movements and enable gesture input.
Apple Insider reported that Apple may design a smart ring to be used with the Vision Pro in the future because the Vision Pro has no additional controllers and recognizes hand gestures. Since there are so many smart ring patents applied for by Apple, there is a possibility that Apple will release a smart ring in the future, but since patent applications do not necessarily lead to product launch, launch is not certain.
In addition, the smart ring market, currently led by Oura Ring, still has few trustworthy companies, and since Samsung Electronics is likely to delay or give up on future product launches, Apple‘s entry into the smart ring market will need to be watched further. The media commented:
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