One of the emerging frontiers of health and fitness tech is the smart ring, though options on that front are limited. For now, the incumbent is Oura, with South Korean tech giant Samsung releasing its own soon. Though it looks like Fitbit may be another player in this segment, as a patent for the company’s own smart ring has been granted by the USPTO.
The patent, titled “Ring for optically measuring biometric data” starts off just as you’d expect from a smart ring. And as you’d expect, you get the readings off of it through a companion mobile app. But it’s in the ways you can put it on that we see Fitbit maybe making its own version of a smart ring stand out from the pack. One example sees the ring having a hinge on one end connecting two halves together, with a connector of sorts on the other end, with an elastic string to hold both halves together.
Other possible implementations of the Fitbit smart ring is to make the ring itself flexible and adjustable. The paragraph itself ends with “other clasping mechanisms are contemplated”, meaning it’s still pretty far from its final design. That being the case, it remains to be seen if the company can come up with a design that skips the ring measurement step entirely.
Of course, as is the case with patents, having one granted doesn’t necessarily mean that a product you can buy will end up being made. And in the case of Fitbit, especially post Google acquisition, it may not even be available locally, since it pulled its official presence from the country last year.
(Source: USPTO)
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