August 22, 2018
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Recent trademark filings by Samsung have fueled speculation over whether the tech giant is developing a new alternative to the LED-based biometric system currently employed by the Apple Watch.
In July, Samsung filed for trademark protection for the phrase “Samsung Speckle” in Europe. The application seeks protection for use of the name on a wide variety of goods, including portable computers, tablets and VR instruments.
However, reports have suggested that the filing is related to Samsung’s development of a smart watch called the Samsung Galaxy Watch, which would employ a laser interferometric system. Interferometry is a technique of using wave interference created by multiple overlapping light sources to extract information from objects including the human body. Currently, the Apple Watch uses an optical system of LED lights for its heart-rate sensor.
The new filing builds on curiosity that followed Samsung’s patent application for a “laser speckle interferometric system” in 2016. Since then, Samsung has filed for a number of other patents related to the process of using laser “speckle” patterns on human skin to authenticate the user and gather biometric information such as the heart rate.
Author: Wes Dutcher-Walls