Last week the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Samsung that reveals a new kind of smartglasses accessory that goes beyond their Oculus VR style glasses. Due to the date of the filing, it may suggest that Samsung wants to beat Google's second project to market with smartglasses of their own design. The device could work with a wide array of devices like Galaxy Smartphones and tablets, an in-vehicle infotainment system, a game console, Apple TV, Google TV, MP3 players, cameras, medical devices like MRI's and beyond. As you could see by our cover graphic, Samsung also illustrates how the glass of the smartglasses could be changed from clear to being sunglasses. In the evolution of the smartglasses category, Samsung is shown to be further exploring the value of such an accessory.
Samsung Invents Smartglasses Accessory
Beyond being able to watch TV or play a movie on your smartphone and having it transferred to Samsung's smartglasses when it's safe to do so, Samsung sees other applications for their smartglasses accessory.
In Samsung's patent figures 4A and 4B noted below we're able to see that a text message being received by a smartphone or tablet is sent directly onto Samsung's smartglasses without the user having to pull out their smartphone.
In an entertainment scenario, Samsung notes that while a foreign movie is being played on your smartphone or TV and subtitles could be sent to your smartglasses.
As another example, when playing a music file, a smartphone or tablet could send Samsung's smartglasses tag information and lyric information for the music file.
As yet another example, a TV sports show playing on a smartphone or tablet, could send the smartglasses additional information regarding one or more players, close-up information, and other stadium news.
Samsung later notes in their patent filing that their smartglasses could be used as a camera for taking photos and videos and allow users to send commands to the glasses via voice. Whether Samsung will make it work with Google Now, Cortana, Siri or their own intelligent digital assistant wasn't clarified in the patent filing.
One Example Process: Samsung's patent FIG. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating an example of a process for displaying information on wearable electronic devices, according to aspects of the disclosure. According to the process, an electronic device 801 displays a plurality of image thumbnails. In some implementations, one or more of the image thumbnails may include only a portion of the thumbnails' respective images. Next, one of the thumbnails displayed on the electronic device 801 can be selected. More specifically, the electronic device 801 can receive user's touch input for selecting one of the thumbnails displayed on the touch screen. Next, the electronic device 801 can send the image corresponding to the selected thumbnail to a wearable electronic device 802. The electronic device 802 can receive the selected image from the electronic device 801 and display the whole image file in the preset region.
Types of Sensors: Samsung's smartglasses are shown to include more technology than you'd expect for such a tiny accessory. Samsung notes that their smartglasses could include a sensor module which could include at least a gesture sensor plus gyro, magnetic, acceleration, grip, biometric, temperature/humidity, ultraviolet atmospheric and proximity sensors for starters. Other sensors listed in Samsung's patent filing include an e-noise sensor, an EMG sensor, an EEG, an ECG sensor and a fingerprint scanner.
Type of Displays: The type of display module that could be used includes a panel or a hologram. The panel could employ a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or an Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED). The panel could be implemented flexibly, transparently, or wearably. For example, the panel may be constructed as a single module with a touch panel. The hologram can present a three-dimensional image in the air using interference of light.
Samsung's smartglasses could interact with a wide range of other devices including a smartwatch, a smartphone, a tablet, a desktop PC, a laptop PC, a netbook computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), an MP3 player, a mobile medical appliance, an electronic bracelet, an electronic necklace, an electronic accessory, a camera, another wearable device, appliances (e.g., refrigerator, air conditioner, vacuum cleaner, artificial intelligence robot, television (TV), Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) player, audio system, oven, microwave oven, washing machine, air purifier, digital frame), medical appliances (e.g., Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT), X-ray, ultrasonicator)), a navigation device, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, an Event Data Recorder (EDR), a Flight Data Recorder (FDR), a set-top box, a TV box (e.g., Samsung HomeSync, AppleTV, Google TV), an electronic dictionary, a in-vehicle infotainment, electronic equipment for ship (e.g., marine navigation device, gyro compass), avionics, a security device, an e-textile, a digital key, a camcorder, a game console, a projector and beyond.
Samsung filed their patent application back in Q4 2014. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.
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