Huawei introduced Gentle Monster Smartglasses in Paris back in March 2019. Huawei pointed to the summer of 2019 for a launch though it drifted to November 15, 2019. The Huawei X Gentile Monster Eyewear can be reviewed on their website here.
A few months after the Huawei event in Paris, Samsung's first patent for smart glasses surfaced that was quite detailed. You could review our report on that patent here.
Late last month the US Patent & Trademark Office published Samsung's second smartglasses titled "Optical Device."
Samsung's patent FIG. 33 below illustrates a pair of augmented reality glasses which includes a 'first 'augmented reality providing device' #10a and a 'second augmented reality providing device' #10b, a support frame #20, and eyeglass temples #30a and #30b.
Samsung's patent FIG. 31 above is a perspective view of an augmented reality providing device and more specifically a curved lens.
Samsung's patent FIG. 1 below is a perspective view of an augmented reality providing device. The lens #100 may also be formed in various suitable shapes other than the polyhedron, such as a circular cylinder, an elliptical cylinder, a semicircular cylinder, a semi-elliptical cylinder, a distorted circular cylinder, and/or a distorted semicircular cylinder. The distorted circular cylinder and the distorted semicircular cylinder refer to a circular cylinder and a semicircular cylinder having a non-uniform diameter.
In order to expand an area of the flexible display device #200 visible to the user's eye E, that is, a field of view (FOV) of the user, the lens may include a plurality of first reflective members (#410), a plurality of second reflective members (#420), a plurality of third reflective members (#430), and a plurality of fourth reflective members (#440).
Each of the first through fourth reflective members may be smaller than a pupil of the user's eye. For example, each of the first through fourth reflective members may have a diameter of about 4 mm or less. In this case, it may be difficult for the user to recognize the first through fourth reflective members because the user focuses on a real image (e.g., the user's eyes are focused on a real image at the time).
Samsung's patent FIG. 16 above is an alternative design wherein the lens is formed in the shape of an elliptical cylinder having elliptical first and second surfaces and a side surface.
Samsung's patent application 20200026084 titled "Optical Device" that was published on January 23, 2020 was filed in July 2019 in the US and July 2018 in Korea. It's a technical patent with 33 patent figures covering several alternative design concepts.
Samsung's files for next-gen Fingerprint ID Technology
Samsung introduced the Galaxy S10 with ultrasonic fingerprint ID under the display during an event on February 20, 2019. The devices began shipping in certain regions such as Australia and the United States on March 6, 2019, then worldwide on March 8, 2019. There were some issues with their first-gen ultrasonic fingerprint technology.
On April 18 or a month after the Galaxy S10 hit the market worldwide, Samsung had filed for a patent to advance their ultrasonic technology. Patently Mobile covered their first-gen patent for ultrasonic fingerprinting in 2018.
One thing that stood out is that it appears that the second-generation Ultrasonic technology is designed to work with displays with 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rates. That might be a hint that the S20 will deliver a higher refresh rate.
The patent also states that Ultrasonic fingerprinting isn't restricted to phones but could extend to future Samsung notebooks, televisions (or TV remote), Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active, Galaxy Tab tablets and devices relating to the Internet of Things (IoT).
Samsung's patent FIG. 2 below illustrates a Galaxy smartphone with an OLED display (#1) may include an application processor (#11), a display driver integrated circuit (DDI) (#12), and a display panel (#13). The application processor may be optional and may be connected, as an external device, to the OLED display device.
The application processor may control the DDI. The application processor may provide image data and control signals and a clock signal for the image data to the DDI.
Samsung patent FIGS. 7A, 7B, 8 and 10B are schematic views illustrating changes in display state values in a display area; FIG. 13 is a layout view of an input sensing layer.
Samsung's patent application 20200042759 is highly technical one. Whether their next-gen specifications are to make it more secure than its first generation technology is unknown. For the technical savvy, check out the details here. The Ultrasonic method is likely to prevail considering that Qualcomm introduced 3D ultrasonic technology in late November 2019.
As a backup plan, Samsung also filed for a patent under number 20200045826 covering older yet next-gen "Optical Sensor" technology for under display fingerprint ID.
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