According to foreign media reports, apple is continuing to research and develop a new wearable device - Smart ring. The smart ring includes a finger mounted touch screen that can also be used to wirelessly transmit commands to another nearby device.
So far, apple is in a leading position in wearable computing. Apple's smart watch dominates the smart watch market. Airpods is one of the most popular wireless headphones today. Although this is a good start for the iPhone manufacturer, the company has not rested on its achievements in wearable devices.
On Tuesday, the U.S. patent and Trademark Office granted apple a patent called devices, methods, and user interface for a wearable electronic ring computing device. In the patent, apple describes a smart ring that can be worn on a finger. Apple's patent claims that this smart ring is not just a peripheral input device of another device, such as a wearable wireless mouse, but a mini smart watch provided in the form of a smart ring.
The smart ring includes a processor, a wireless transceiver, a power supply and a microphone. The ring will also include other sensors to detect and interpret gestures, as well as a control panel perpendicular to the circumference of the ring, which functions similar to digital crown of Apple watch.
This smart ring may also include multiple tactile actuators for providing force feedback information and 'transmitting direction information' to users, motion sensors for 'sensing writing action', biometric sensors for health tracking and security, and NFC communication. The wireless connection can also be extended to send identification information about the user to the auxiliary device, allowing it to unlock the Mac, just like the related functions of the apple watch.
Gestures defined by Apple include using a finger wearing a ring to point to a separate device to prompt wireless links, sliding or flicking gestures to change choices in the menu, etc.
By using multiple transmitters in different positions, this smart ring may also share its rotation angle with other devices and triangulate the position of each transmitter in 3D space using other hardware. Although this is helpful for more accurate motion detection, knowing the location of two or three specific points on the smart ring can help to understand the exact angle of the smart ring or its motion (including rotational motion).
The above patent also refers to the touch screen, which can be used to input characters drawn by the user, which is also similar to a text input method provided by Apple watch.
Apple submits a large number of patent applications every week, but this does not mean that all the concepts described by the company can be transformed into finished products, but they at least indicate the areas in which the iPhone manufacturer is interested in R & D.
Previously, a device similar to a ring appeared in the patent application, including devices and methods for a ring computing device with a similar title in 2015. The patent describes a ring wearable device with a display. Its display uses voice, gesture and touch inputs to control and interact with larger computing devices.
Considering the similarity with the patent application and Apple's work in developing apple watch, Apple's development of smart ring or similar hardware seems to be a logical process. Not everyone wants to wear an apple watch, and not everyone wants to wear an airpods headset with health monitoring all the time, which makes the smart ring look like a wise choice.
Apple is not the only large technology company considering smart rings as a computing platform. Amazon recently launched echo loop, a smart ring that contains two microphones that can be activated by pressing a button and provides tactile feedback. It also relies on independent host devices to perform command and data connections, and supports Alexa voice assistant.