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A new Samsung Patent shows more of their work on a Future Smart Ring as a controller for an HMD, Smart TV, PC and more

1 cover - Samsung smart ring patent - Patently Mobile patent report

A few of the big trends coming to the tech sector over the next five years include electric vehicles (semi and fully autonomous), a wide range of foldable phones and tablets (hybrid tablet-notebooks) and advanced eyewear (Mixed Reality HMD, Smartglasses) and their respective controlling device accessories, such as smart rings.

Apple has a number of smart ring and other types of finger devices on record. Here are just a few of them: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07 and more. Google and Samsung are working on similar devices. Last summer we covered a Samsung smart ring patent and in today's report, we cover Samsung's latest patent filing for a smart ring titled "Wearable Device and Method for Controlling Same."  

​Samsung's patent relates to a wearable device (smart ring) worn on a finger and a method of controlling a wearable device worn on a finger, and more particularly, to a device and method for identifying a contact body part when a wearable device is worn on a finger to input a signal in a contact manner

​One embodiment in the patent filing may provide a wearable device and a method capable of controlling two or more operations even when a touch input of the same pattern is received, and controlling various operations in a limited touch area by matching different operations for different types of body parts touching the wearable device worn on a finger of a user.

A method of controlling a wearable device worn on a finger of a user may include sensing a contact by a second finger of the user through an outer surface electrode positioned on an outer circumferential surface of the wearable device worn on a first finger of the user, measuring an impedance between the outer electrode and an inner surface electrode contacting the first finger of the user as the contact is sensed, identifying a type of the second finger based on the measured impedance, and controlling an operation of the wearable device based on the identified type of the second finger.

​Samsung's patent FIG. 1 below is a schematic diagram of a method of identifying a type of a user's finger touching a wearable device, a smart ring and controlling a wearable device, such a head mounted device (HMD); ​FIGS. 3A,3B, 4A and 4B illustrate various aspects of a wearable device, in the form of a smart ring.

2 Samsung smart ring patent figs 1  3a-b  4a-b  Patently Apple - Patently Mobile IP report

Samsung's patent FIG. 6 below is a diagram for describing an operation of identifying a type of a finger of a user in contact with a wearable device as a contact is sensed by the wearable device. It can be seen that the sizes of the impedances Z1 and Z2 are differently measured in the first type TYPE 1 ′ and the second type TYPE 2'.

Samsung's patent FIG. 9 below is in an embodiment wherein a smart ring could control functionality related to target electronic devices such as a desktop, laptop, TV, tablet, and smartphone #905 or Mixed Reality Headset (HMD).  In an HMD scenario, the smart ring is able to assist a user move virtual object (a VO) in a scene as shown below. When a touch input for touching and dragging a finger (F1′) included in the same hand as the finger (F1′) wearing the ring occurs, the operation of the AR device may be controlled according to a control command corresponding to the touch input. For example, an image of the virtual object VO ′ displayed through the AR device may move in various directions according to which direction the user moves the smart ring.  

3 Samsung smart ring patent figs 6  9  11. Patently Apple - Patently Mobile IP report
In Samsung's patent FIG. 11 above, the smart ring may provide a service such as a make a phone call, send a message, start/stop music.  

For more details, review Samsung's patent application WO/2022/265354 that was published on December 22, 2022.

16.1AF   Patently Mobile - Patent Application

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