Check Out Samsung’s Moto 360-style Smartwatch Patents
One of the reasons Motorola’s forthcoming Moto 360 smartwatch has captured tech fans’ attention is simple: it’s got a circular display, and it looks damn fine compared to the rectangular smartwatches being pushed by other OEMs. But a batch of recently published patents discovered by SammyToday shows that Samsung may have a more stylish smartwatch in the pipeline as well.
The patents all describe different new features that could potentially be included in a wearable device like a smartwatch, like using motion-based gestures to control the watch’s functions, like getting it to take a photo, open an app, or post something on a social networking site. There are also patents for a GUI that involves tapping on the screen to launch different functions, as well as using controls on the watch band to interact with the device itself. In all, it sounds like new and interesting ways to interact with a smartwatch, though some of them might result in you flailing your arms like a lunatic.
There’s also this bit from one of the filings about using a rotational gesture to read more text on the face of a smartwach – which is also incidentally my new favorite excerpt from a patent ever:
The really interesting part of these filings, though, is the round-faced diagrams that they show. Up until now, the only deviation from the standard rectangular dimensions the Gear line of smartwatches have offered was the Gear Fit. That’s still a rectangle, but it’s a different kind of rectangle. That makes a difference, and helps it stand out, but it still looks more ostentatious than necessarily stylish or fashionable.
A round-faced Samsung smartwatch could be a great addition to the company’s already-robust portfolio of wearables. Moreover, it’s entirely possible that whatever device it releases that these patents are based around could run Android Wear, rather than Tizen. Apparently Samsung reps recently explained during an earnings call that the company plans on supporting the Android Wear platform as well as Tizen, giving users options about where they’d like to go.
That makes sense, too, since Samsung would be foolish not to put out a device running the wearable platform of Google, one of its biggest technology partners. If we ever see a device boasting these features, it should be interesting. But until Samsung announces anything, well, these are just patents.
Browse the list of patents and links below for more…
- 20140143678 – GUI Transitions on Wearable Electronic Device
- 320140143737 – Transition and Interaction Model for Wearable Electronic Device
- 220140143784 – Controlling Remote Electronic Device with Wearable Electronic Device
- 20140143785 – Delegating Processing from Wearable Electronic Device
- 20140139637 – Wearable Electronic Device
- 20140139486 – Placement of Optical Sensor on Wearable Electronic Device
- 20140139454 – User Gesture Input to Wearable Electronic Device Involving Movement of Device
- 20140139422 – User Gesture Input to Wearable Electronic Device Involving Outward-Facing Sensor of Device
[Source: SammyToday via 9to5Google]