Apple’s wearable ambitions look to extend well beyond the Apple Watch. A new patent filing suggests that Apple, among the many ideas the company is playing with, is a smart ring (the Apple Ring or Apple iRing?) that not only supports gesture control but could even incorporate a touchscreen and a microphone for voice commands.
A user controls an external electronic device with a finger-ring-mounted touchscreen that includes a computer processor, wireless transceiver, and rechargeable power source; the ring is worn on a first finger receives an input from a second finger, selects one of a plurality of touch events associated with the input, and wirelessly transmits a command associated with the touch event to the external electronic device.
The Apple Ring could be used as a more convenient alternative to larger touchscreen devices where these could be “cumbersome, inconvenient, or inefficient for certain tasks and applications.” For example, it would alleviate any fatigue caused by holding up an Apple iPad for a lengthy period of time. It could also replace a device in situations where the light of a touchscreen device could be “dangerous if it gives away the position of a threatened user.”
As the patent suggests, the Apple Ring could come in a range of shapes and materials. Apple has already taken a similar approach with the Apple Watch and could well do so here to offer different models to different markets.
Source : USPTO