Last week the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Microsoft that revealed an invention relating to a wearable accessory in the form of a ring. The highly sophisticated wireless ring will act as an interactive input device to control a cursor on a mobile device such as a smartphone or heads-up display. It could interact with a set-top box or Television. Yet there's more to this ring and our report will tell you all about it.
The Ring as Wireless Mouse & Beyond
In general, Microsoft's invention generally relates to a short range wireless powered wearable accessory in the form of ring that one can wear on their finger. In one embodiment the ring has a small interaction area towards the palm of the hand that employs sensors to sense user input and can interpret this input and other data. For example, the ring can interpret user input as a scrolling action and select input actions like you would perform on a computer mouse.
Microsoft keeps the invention a mystery and only generally describes its application potential. Microsoft notes that the ring could be used in conjunction with augmented reality applications, audio-based menus and near-eye (as in a head mounted display) and remote display menus that need a readily available input device.
For example, the actuators can provide mouse or joystick-like functionality to navigate visual and audio menus. The actuators, similar to a computer mouse, can also provide various button clicks for selecting menu items or invoking predefined actions.
A Ring that Harvests Energy
A second aspect to Microsoft's wearable ring accessory invention is that it's capable of harvesting energy from nearby devices wirelessly via NFC. So the ring is able to harvest energy from a nearby NFC enabled smartphone, tablet or other device and/or computer.
The patent technically states that "The ring communicates user interactions and other data wirelessly using a low-power wireless solution. The ring contains a coil and other circuitry for energy harvesting from short range wireless enabled devices such as, for example, NFC enabled phones, while users interact with heir devices. A built in rechargeable battery is used to store the scavenged energy.
Short range wireless devices or short range wireless enabled devices refer to magnetically coupled wireless charging and communication devices. These can include devices such as, for example, Radio Frequency identification (RFID) tags such as Near Field Communication (NFC) tags.
The short range wireless powered ring contains a coil and other circuitry for energy harvesting from various short range wireless devices, such as, for example, near field communication (NFC) enabled phones. A built-in rechargeable battery is used to store the harvested energy.
The Ring's Sensing Abilities
While Samsung and Apple will have smartwatches for measuring your pulse or heartbeat, Microsoft envisions using a wireless ring. According to a third aspect of this invention, Microsoft notes that "Other embodiments of the ring are primarily sensing devices that measure, for example, a user's Galvanic Skin response (GSR), blood pressure and heart rate, or that measure physical conditions such as rotation, orientation, acceleration and temperature.
The ring may also contain physiological and inertial sensors. The ring can provide a readily available input device of small form factor that has an easily accessible energy source for ease of use.
It should be noted that the actuators and sensors of the various embodiments described in the patent application can be combined so as to provide an energy scavenging ring that can be used both as an input device and as a sensing device.
Microsoft's patent FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary schematic of a short range wireless communications system of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader and a RFID tag.
Microsoft's patent FIG. 2 noted below depicts a schematic of one exemplary embodiment of the short range wireless powered ring that includes actuators to allow the ring to be used as an input device.
Microsoft's patent FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary small interaction area on one embodiment of the short range wireless powered ring. The small interaction area is located towards the palm of a user's hand in this embodiment. For example, the actuators can detect a user's contact and this user contact can be interpreted by a microprocessor on the ring. These user contacts can be interpreted by the microprocessor as scrolling actions and other types of user actuation commands, such as, for example, "listen to speech input", "select something", "start something", and so forth.
Microsoft's patent FIG. 5 illustrated below shows a functional schematic of an exemplary ring 500 that harvests short range wireless energy.
Microsoft's patent application was published by the US Patent and Trademark Office last week and originally filed in Q1 2013. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time. Just for the record, Google revealed a similar idea back in May 2012 regarding a ring accessory though with different twists.
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