Huawei was recently granted patent for touch-sensitive rotating smartwatch bezel by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Now, less than a month after that, WIPO has granted one more patent to Huawei, this time for a unique gesture control method for smartwatches. The technology allows users to control smartwatches by drawing on the back of their hand or even in the air.
A whole new method of smartwatch control
The technology patented by Huawei projects ultrasonic or infrared signals in four zones around the watch. The watch can scan finger movements on these projected areas. You can literally write anything on the back of your hand and it will be interpreted as an input to the smartwatch. As projection is done around the smartwatch, the back of the hand should be aligned at the level of sensor to use it as a writing-pad.
According to the patent, the device can sense movements in four zones around the watch. This literally means besides the back of your hand, you can draw even in the air. The sensor will detect when you start writing or swiping and when you stop. In the intervening period the movements are followed and displayed on the screen of the smartwatch. All you need to take care of is to keep the finger at the same level as your arm. Huawei also has plans to implement double-clicking, long-press and multiple finger-gesture features to operate the watch through the sensor. The company is also expected to come up with a writing mode on the watch in the future.
The love for smartwatches is on a rise and its only fitting that its interface also grows robust with a wider range of inputs just like smartphones. One of the biggest problems with smartwatches is their small screens which can be clumsy at times to interact with. This new technology by Huawei can solve the problem of small screens and the difficulty to operate tiny smartwatches. The whole idea sounds quite interesting. But of course, as with any patent, it’s possible that nothing will come of it. And even if it does, it is very unlikely that we’ll see these gesture controls in Huawei Watch 3, though it would have certainly helped the wearable to stand out from the crowd.
