The possibility that Samsung will release a set of smartglasses soon is becoming more clear due to a large number of approved patents on the part of the company over the last few years.
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Samsung’s Wearable Glasses patent details
In a new patent that was approved this week, “Wearable Glasses and method of providing content using the same’, Samsung provides clues around potential use cases of its proposed smart glasses.
This patent was originally filed on July 27th, 2020, and was approved on Nov 12th, 2020.
Are wearables going to detect alcohol in the future?
The one feature of this patent that stood out uniquely for me is the ability of the smart glasses to detect when the user has been drinking alcohol.
“The wearable glasses 100 may determine a drinking state of a user based on smell information measured using a smell sensor. For example, the wearable glasses 100 may analyze smell information measured using a smell sensor, and if an alcohol smell is recognized for a period of time, the wearable glasses 100 may determine that the user is drinking alcohol. The period of time may be predetermined.”
Combine this with the fact that the wearable determines whether a user has been driving and you have a good scenario where accidents are prevented and more.
Smell sensors have also been researched by Apple recently.
Samsung’s Wearable Glasses other details on health integrations
Beyond the embedded smell sensors on the smart glasses, the patent also provides information around the integration of other health information and the display of the same.
“For example, the wearable glasses 100 may receive pulse rate information, blood pressure information, heart rate information, body temperature information or the like measured using a wearable device. The wearable glasses 100 may receive biometric information from the wearable device via the mobile terminal 200 or may receive biometric information directly from the wearable device. The wearable glasses 100 may determine that the user is exercising if an average pulse rate of the user is equal to a threshold frequency or higher for a period of time. The period of time may be predetermined.”
The majority of this new Samsung patent focuses on various notification event alerts that may be received on the user’s smart glasses including the ability to display pill reminders.
“In this case, the wearable glasses 100 may sense that a notification event for displaying the schedule notification content 920 (e.g., “Time to take the medicine.”) has occurred.”
What’s next for Samsung watch users?
An approved patent does not necessarily mean that it will translate into a potential commercial product anytime soon.
But it is abundantly clear that tech companies are thinking through various use cases for smart glasses that will change how we interact with and use our wearables over the next few years.
