Newly granted patent Applu shows off a concept for a smart ring that would provide haptic feedback for notifications in the style of Apple Watch and would allow the user to press its surface to respond.
Newly Revealed "Ring Input Device With Pressure-Sensitive Input" is just the latest in a series of smart ring patents from the company, which could point to eventquality that it would Apple in some form could be put on the market in the foreseeable future.
The company already considered the idea of a similar type of wearable device in 2015. It was supposed to have voice control, haptics and even a camera. The year 2019 brought a number of indications that pointed to the efforts of the Cupertino giant to replicate functions Apple Watch in the ring.
Due to the relatively long period of time invested in the project and the huge number of patents and patent applications, it can be assumed that Apple approaching functional output. This year it was reported that a smart ring could, for example, be able to detect when you snap your fingers, which can be seen to be somewhat similar to the way Apple Vision Pro. It is therefore a question whether the company does not intend a similar product more as an accessory to the headset.
Attention is drawn to a newly granted patent Applu specifically focuses on the inner side of the ring, which could convey notifications, and the outer side, where controls could be placed.
Given the rings' dimensions, the patent says that the electronic rings "can be used as unobtrusive everyday communication devices that are readily available for wireless communication with other devices capable of receiving such communication."
Company Apple always strives for its patents to cover as wide a range of possible future uses of the technology as possible, and this case is no exception. Paragraphs characterizing the nature and purpose of the device specify alternative forms of wearing it.
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"Although ring input devices may be described and illustrated primarily as electronic hand rings in this document for ease of explanation," he says Apple, "it should be understood that examples of the disclosure are not so limited, but also include input devices in the form of a ring worn as part of a necklace, hoop earrings, electronic wristbands, electronic toe rings, and the like."
Regardless of the method of wear, such devices would be able to "receive wireless input from an accompanying device and provide information to the wearer." So, for example, "the ring can receive notifications from a smartphone and generate vibration alerts."
In the case of this latest smart ring patent Apple not only does it talk about feedback, such as the aforementioned haptic kind of notification, but its focus is also on what the wearer can do in response to it.
Further Apple notes that the ring "can be used to provide wireless inputs for a variety of devices." Specifically, it mentions "accompanying wearable devices such as smart watches, health monitoring devices, headphones, and the like." However, the list is far from limited to the named direction and beyond it extends it to smartphones, where the ring can be used, for example, "to scroll through a list using a rotating outer band" and does not forget tablets and laptops, media players and more. He concludes the wider use with a list that includes "desktop computers, control and entertainment devices for the smart home", through which he can, for example, turn on a lamp or select a different TV channel and the like.
The mentioned term "rotating outer strap" does not refer to anything like a strap Apple Watch, the tech giant is repeatedly considering a ring design that would have a fixed center worn on the finger and a rotating element that would wrap around the outside, so that outer perimeter could have touch buttons for selection, or the entire perimeter could rotate.
First I looked at today's date to see if it was April Fool's Day.
My Oura is completely sufficient for me so far, and if Apple will make a "smart" ring,
first i will compare if it can match our ring's abilities.
A smart ring and its functions are one thing, and the other (integral) side is the price and the user interface of the application associated with it. Apple today they are betting on subscriptions to their services. So we'll see?