When it comes to patents, it is difficult to know anymore who is the most innovative. Companies are constantly applying for and filing patents for just about everything one could think of. Samsung is well known for their large number of patents being filed, with a new one seeming to pop up almost on a weekly basis. Not to mention, Google are quite keen on the patent portfolio too and even recently launching a ‘sell your patent’ feature for those looking to off-load patents quickly. That said, more recently some interesting patents have been coming from Amazon’s stockpile. It was only a couple of days ago when news emerged that Amazon had filed a very interesting patent for ear identification. More specially, an ear-unlock feature for smartphones.
This is rather self-explanatory, but to recap, the patient looked to introduce technology which would allow users to use their ear as a means of identification. Capturing an image of the ear, the user could hold the phone up to their ear and unlock the device or make a call and so on. Much the same as smartphones owners are doing now with their fingerprints. Well, another Amazon patent has now been noted and this one looks to capitalize on the features (and design) made famous by Google Glass.
The Glass-inspired wearable Amazon have filed a patent for, are glasses which are referred to as ‘wearable computers’ and effectively allow the user to more easily obtain information from the surrounding environment. It is thought that Amazon might be looking to use the technology to make the running of their enormous warehouse(s) more manageable. Workers will be able to easily identify the exact item and process the item with little room left for mistakes to be made. The glasses will easily be able to identify the location of a product with the use of the “imaging sensor” and processing information will be visible to the worker through the wearable computer. Of course, whether a product like this (if it makes it through the patent process) would ever become viable to Amazon as a mainstream product remains to be seen. Either way though, it does seem that wearables, in general, are likely to continue growing and in some interesting ways. Those interested in checking out Amazon’s Glass-like device in more detail can do so by clicking on the source link below.
