As Patently Mobile's last report of the year we cover 5 patents. The first covers a new 360° bubble interface covering photos and videos for smartphones and VR headsets. The other four are simple links to Samsung patents covering a smart home hub; a flat smartphone that could be rolled-up; an LCD display that will be able to bend; and finally, experimental smartphones with different shapes that have a single display uniquely folding over to both sides and the bottom of the phone.
In the first of 5 patents covered in this report, we focus on Samsung's Brazilian team that filed for a patent covering a method for displaying 360° media on a bubbles interface with touch screen or in-air controls.
The user will be able to view virtual projections of the bubbles that contain 360° photos or videos and be able to navigate through a plurality of bubbles with an interface that will have controls in the bubbles when touched physically or virtually to edit content, to send finished bubbles to friends using social media.
The user will be able to tap, click, pinch, stretch, use multiple touches, drag and drop, rotation, and long press action; providing a navigation movement through the plurality of bubbles in a three-dimensional manner. The user will be able to group the plurality of bubbles in the interface by a user-defined classification including at least one of a date, time, location, tag, and category.
In Samsung's patent FIG. 11 be we're able to see how they're working on a version of the bubble interface for a future headset. Samsung even stretches it by saying it could also apply to a future Augmented Reality TV screen.
While I've noticed a few things on the web about Samsung Bubbles (01 and 02), I really didn't see anything that matched what Samsung describes in their December 2018 U.S. patent filing. I couldn't find a solid report on this in relations to a smartphone which is presented below.
Unfortunately I don't own a Samsung VR headset so I wasn't able confirm if what their 360° website matches what is presented in this latest patent.
If you have experience with Samsung's current VR headset and have used this feature, tell us in our comment section below if a user has the controls on the bubbles to "edit" or "share" with social media as shown in the patent figure above.
Samsung filed their patent in the U.S. in September 2017. It was published earlier this month.
Closing out 2018
To close 2018 there are few patents that I didn't have time to get to this year. In order to start fresh in 2019 I'm passing along the links to the Patent Office patents should one or more of them interest you.
01: ROLLABLE DISPLAY DEVICE AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE INCLUDING THE SAME
02: HOME DEVICE CONTROL DEVICE AND OPERATION METHOD THEREOF
03: CURVED LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY
Lastly: All-New Samsung Smartphone Concepts
The last patent images in this report reveal an all-new Samsung smartphone concept that provides users with 100% display on the face without buttons or even a camera. Depending on how they market this phone it's either very bold … or very stupid. If it's marketed as a budget phone for kids or third world markets, then not including camera could make sense.
The patent figures above show two concepts with one having a hexagon shape that offers 6 sides with display slots. All of the display sides are manufactured from the same single display that is cut and folded accordingly. The link to this last patent will be made available later this week.
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