here is the patent appliction..


Is Samsung serious about health wearabes?

Samsung gear X


Image source: Samsung
Samsung files patent for blood pressure tracking smartwatch
February 19, 2018 Ivan Jovin Smartwatch
Smartwatches can keeps tabs on steps, heart rate and sleep but none of them can measure your blood pressure. At least not with great precision. But it looks like a future smartwatch from Samsung might be able to do the trick.

High blood pressure – hypertension – increases the risk of a heart attack. One in three adults is affected but as there are no obvious symptoms, a third of these can be unaware of a problem. While self-checking is not a substitute for seeing a doctor, being able to regularly measure and most importantly track blood pressure over time is of great help in understanding how dietary, fitness and other changes effect your health.

Essential reading: Smart blood pressure monitors

Taking blood pressure readings requires a cuff to tighten around the arm or the wrist, and this has not changed with the advent of connected health devices. The closest we’ve come to a blood pressure tracking smartwatch is the Omron HeartGuide. Due out later this year, this is the first watch-sized sphygmanometer that promises readings as accurate as you would get from upper arm models. But it still needs to inflate itself. Its just that everything has been miniaturized.

Samsung’s patent shows the tech giant may have figured out a different way to take measurements. Similar to the light sensor used for heart rate sensors, it works by shining polarized light and then sensing the intensity of the scattered light. If the technology proves accurate, it means you’ll be able to monitor your blood pressure around the clock directly from your wrist.

The patent drawings show a watch called Samsung Gear X.


Image source: World Intellectual Property Organization
Whether this technology actually makes it to market is another question. Companies often file patents that never see the light of day, so don’t be too disappointed if you don’t see it in the next generation of Samsung watches. But the progress of technology is unstoppable. In just a few years time, we are sure blood pressure monitoring will become a standard offering of any half decent smartwatch.



Now, I cannot comment if such a thing is accurate or reliable. 



Gear x. Anyway I thought I better post it.
Will track along

But are they serious about health?

This shows they are very, very serious. 

Would they have very strict NDAs around their plans?

Heck yeah. Top secret, tight NDA? yeah. Nooobody has what is contained in this patent.



No- it may NOT be what Brian F. is optimistic about- the only thing I took home for sure....they are really serious about health wearables.

very interesting? That data would be really useful.....

1. 
   
   

   Samsung Gear X
   
   nice name... wanted to read a few different takes...
   
   
   Samsung Patent Points To Blood Pressure Tracking On ‘Gear X’
   February 15, 2018 - Written By Justin Diaz
   
   
   A Samsung patent that was recently discovered points to blood pressure tracking being possible on the ‘Gear X’ which could be an upcoming smartwatchfrom the company. That said it is worth noting that the diagrams in the patent filing show a square-shaped watch that looks very much like the old Gear Live and the original Galaxy Gear, Samsung’s one and only Android Wear smartwatch and its very first smartwatch that launched with Tizen, so the the pictures used in the patent filing are not likely to be the actual design for a new watch.
   
   As to the blood pressure sensor Samsung’s patent describes using polarized and depolarized light to read the blood pressure through a user’s skin, and then allow the watch to display that data on the screen of the watch like shown in the image above. Something to consider is that it is possible that the Gear X is not meant to be a smartwatch in the same way that the recently launched Gear Sportis, and may be more of a health-related wearable meant mostly for this purpose of capturing the user’s blood pressure so it could be monitored more easily.
   
   That said, other diagrams in the patent filing show the watch as having a number pad dialer for what would presumably be making phone calls, and that it would have NFC and possibly MST technology built-in so it could be used for making mobile payments. These factors point to this being more of a full-fledged smartwatch but there’s not much detail that can be gathered from the filing other than these few pieces of information as the majority of the writing is all in Korean. There’s no mention of when Samsung might release a smartwatch with a blood pressure sensor, and since the Gear Sport launched just within the last six months, it isn’t likely Samsung will have a new watch available anytime soon, which could mean a device with a BP sensor is further out, assuming that Samsung is even developing such a device in the first place and not just sitting on these designs for the time being.
   

   jfieb, Tuesday at 4:04 AMEditDeleteReport

   #52Reply

   John likes this.
2. 

   jfiebWell-Known Member

   
   
   

   Apple is widely-tipped to be looking into bringing blood pressure and blood glucose measurements to future iterations of its Apple Watch wearable.
   
   In a patent filed by Apple late last year, Apple described a non-invasive way to measure blood pressure.
   
   Unlike the light sensor mentioned in the Samsung patent, Apple’s patent describes a method that uses a heartbeat measurement, in conjunction with the pulse created by it at your wrist.
   
   Timing how long it takes to get from your heart to your wrist – known as the pulse transit time (PTT) – can be a reliable method to calculate blood pressure.
   

   jfieb, Tuesday at 4:08 AMEditDeleteReport

   #53Reply
3. 

   jfiebWell-Known Member

   I want to read a few different takes on it...Are they serious about health?
   
   Galaxy S9 is hiding a blood pressure monitoring sensor and it could be life saving to some
   
   
   Last night, Samsung launched the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ ahead of the Mobile World Congress 2018. The two phones, which are the flagship Galaxy S phones, have divided the Samsung fans and smartphone enthusiasts. While some have liked the improved hardware that Samsung has put in the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+, many are not happy with the fact that the design of the new phones remain similar to that of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S7. But in middle of all this talk about the cool specs and hardware, there is one feature that has gone unnoticed. This feature is the blood pressure monitoring sensor that the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ house and if it works the way Samsung is hoping it works, this feature could change the life for millions of people.
   
   Samsung Mobile chief D J Koh did talk about the feature briefly in his keynote at the Unpacked event where Samsung launched the two phones. He said that Samsung was the first company to bring a proper heart rate monitor to phones earlier. The company then expanded by also including ability to monitor the blood oxygen level through the phone. And now, said Koh, Samsung is adding blood pressure monitoring feature in the Galaxy S9.
   So there it is- Samsung is first with this health. Seems they made a new sensor to allow it to happen.
   
   With the patent application, which shows it in wearabe form. We have to be prepared for a wearable from them with this same feature-
   
   If accurate- the real benefits would be there......
   
   Will track along.
   
   
   Consider that if this comes to pass that the time delays start to make sense? 
   
   Samsung considers BP a feature for their whole platform....Samtphones already. Maybe wearables next.....hearable too one day?
   
   
   Would United Health & Samsung bring this to its insured.
   
   How tight would the NDAs have been around this technology?
   
   Very tight?
   
   Better not to say anything at all.
   
   
   We will find out but Appples approach to this is very different than Samsung.....
   they will compare the 2.
   

learned optimism

I chose this term on purpose. Its a good idea to adapt to this in the big pic of life, well beyond trying to apply it to just QUIK.
I will tiptoe around this as I don't want to make some here angry.
but it applied to me so it went like this.....

Learned optimism is the idea in positive psychology that a talent for joy, like any other, can be cultivated. It is contrasted with learned helplessness. Learning optimism is done by consciously challenging any negative self talk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_optimism


I was in the helpless category for a few yrs. and made a decision to learn, read, read, read, big shift for me was that refrain of mine.
the AP ( adjacent possible). Neg stuff could get in my head, like those songs that sometimes keep playing over several days.
No more....

every bit of incremental info IS useful. So once I add incremental info I do NOT discount it. Each little bit is useful. 

What incremental things have I learned just recently- in no order.

1. Telefonica at MWC- very useful and there are forces, vision of some carriers that do give a good reason for mandates for flagships and always on voice.

The certain feature- It is more specific than that- Its mandates for always on voice on Flagship smartphones.
So even here we are NOT waiting only for a Japanese carrier, if they dont do it maybe telefonica will....Its NOT just one guy.

2. Samsung patent application for the noninvasive BP watch.

just know Samsung IS serious about health wearables.

It helped me form the right picture of these NDA- ALL tier 1s are the same- and similar in some way to to Apple.
Tier 1 wearable
Tier 1 IoT player
Significant OEMs/ brand names.

Just dont say very much, dont even try to be vague as it might lead to a slip up-someone like me might find it & 
create trouble for them..
notice how the madate for always on voice was scripted to become- a certain feature. That was for a reason



3. Voice, voice, voice-there is enough info here how powerful, pervasive, and that its the input into digital assistants.
This CES- the best one for QUIK in its history- I have a mental pic of a new blog entry like the one of Sept 6.


the blog of sept 6

I am pleased to state we have seen a substantial increase in hearable engagements during the last four weeks. To keep pace with this demand, we’ve recently added three senior-level positions for product management


something like this...pick a date....this spring
I am pleased to state we have continued to expand in hearable engagements during the last six weeks since CES and MWC as we work toward the IoV that is the future.....



To the casual reader, the above is just made up- but if I do stuff like this it is a good way to do what?

consciously challenging any negative self talk.


Voice is so powerful that every month could see significant changes to the pipe....

NTT DOCOMO and Panasonic Collaborate on Pilot Experiment for Full Time Connected IoT Home Appliances Using LPWA Wireless Communication Technology

ACN NEWSWIRE

Mar 01, 2018

FacebookTwitterGoogle+Email

TOKYO, Mar 1, 2018 - (JCN Newswire) - NTT DOCOMO, INC. and Panasonic Corporation today announced that they have agreed in principle to collaborate on a pilot experiment aimed at creating a business model and developing and verifying technologies towards realizing IoT-based home appliances utilizing Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technologies. Tests are scheduled to start this fall, with a total of about 1,000 units of LPWA-enabled home appliances deployed in Tokyo, Osaka and Shiga Prefecture, located northeast of Osaka. This will be the first trial in Japan(1) that envisions a large number of home appliances connected to LPWA networks on a nationwide scale.

Because LPWA enables long-distance and low power communication, it is attracting a lot of attention from a wide variety of industries as the best suited wireless technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). DOCOMO, Japan's leading mobile operator, is actively promoting services using LPWA technologies. Panasonic has already introduced IoT-enabled home appliances that connect to cloud services via a smartphone or the internet. At present, customers need to individually set up network connectivity to use cloud services. IoT-enabled home appliances with LPWA technologies would allow users without internet connection at home to access cloud services through LPWA technologies, simply by switching on the appliance.

Panasonic, in September 2017, started offering services using DOCOMO's natural language dialogue engine(2) that enable users of its Blu-ray recorders and portable TVs to search and schedule programs from their smartphone. The two companies will work together to plan and examine home appliances that are more safe and secure to use equipped with LPWA, as well as devising convenient and user-friendly home appliances powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The companies will also work on cloud services for IoT-based home appliances, eyeing the use of DOCOMO's AI Agent Service(2) due this spring in order to respond accurately to the individual needs of each user through dialogue.

Once DOCOMO and Panasonic establish a business model and technology for IoT-enabled home appliances with LPWA communication technology in the trial, they will proceed to the commercial phase. Going forward, they aim to create new experiences and values for customers in the IoT era by connecting millions of Panasonic's LPWA-enabled IoT home appliances per year to the cloud services of DOCOMO and Panasonic via DOCOMO's nationwide wide-area communication network.

eyeing the use of DOCOMO's AI Agent Service(2) due this spring in order to respond accurately to the individual needs of each user through dialogue.

It is at this time that they might want a smartphone flagship with always on voice(?)

So DoCoMo is just like Telfonica, they have a nice vision

that includes an AI agent.  So there are multiple carriers with this vision...

will track along.

I will close with this snip from this thread....

To everything I would like to provide interactive AI service
Through natural dialogue, you can talk, Provide content, operate devices
As if everything has a will, you can dialogue. We will provide such a new experience.

DoCoMo vision

I will try to say it again as it helps me understand it better. This is the question I have been thinking about

Why would a carrier mandate always on voice on a flagship smartphone?

They would mandate always on voice IF they want to be Alexa....

A lot of hearables have the data go to Amazon, to cut that out- put it on the smartphone flagship and then and only
then does the carrier get the data/. Dont let Amazon build itself bigger, keep some value for yourself.

The Telefonica roadmap was helpful for me to get the answer.
Only these carriers, none in our part of the world- will consider always listening on their flagships.
To their loss. 

These carriers if they execute will be very smart....

I had a hard time with this because the USA seems NOT to have any such carriers, they have given all of this to GOOG and AMZN.....

Who are on my own list of carriers who have an inking of this?

In no order....

Japan's DoCoMo
Korea's KT
China- China Mobile

Telefonica in 6 countries.

there may be others.

This will be pretty easy for me to track.

QUIK cn you get the Japanese OEM concept device into the hands of the right people in ALL these carriers?

Oh, you already have. tnks.

I will close with this great snip from Telefonica on their own Alexa

“I can tell you that I am very proud of what we have achieved. I’m very proud of my team. I am very proud of Telefónica and the future we are writing,” said Telefónica’s chairman José María Álvarez-Pallet.

My .02 cents on that topic.

1. On the carrier mandating always on voice- that is the feature . The news from MWC on the carrier Telfonica relates. The carriers who create their own Alexa AI platforms
will have a different thought process and reasons to consider a mandate for a flagship with always on voice.. The list of such carriers is nice nice list of 4-5 guys so far that I can find.
There is one in Japan. The whole platform has to be ready- the device, the digital assistant, the cloud, the AI. so a LOT of things have to get worked out. If it doesnt all work right- its better to push it back and get it down. But not so long that they loose the chance and let it slip away.
I had NOT expected a Japanese carrier announcement at MWC. (The harsh criticism of Apples SiRi on the homepod tells us that like our Tier 1 wearable- it better work, ie understand what you said.)

The carriers like the Japanese one and Telefonica can't dither for too long or they will miss the opportunity.

1A. My thought process has shifted a little with the loss of many smartphone jacks and bluetooth hearables.....IF the carriers do NOT try an always listening flagship their customers are likely to use more hearables to the same endpoint? Either way all roads lead to always listening for every customer of a platform.The only difference is who gets the cloud. IF a carrier wants the data, they better put it on the flagship and make it easier.

2. On the concept device itself; It will be of interest ONLY (?) to those carriers, like Telefonica- who have the vision of their own ALexa.
So the Japanese OEM could show it to telefonica, and the few others who have the same vision.

why would they bother?

AI- voice is the input, but it only works well IF its always listening. When they put always listening on the phone, they will get the data, they
can offer more and get more. Amzn uses the dialog from the echo to help train their voice algos faster and thats why they are a fair bit better than SiRis now.


In the big pic its nice that Telefonica has very good reason to add a flagship with always listening. Now we know that there is a carrier in Japan thinking it over, Telefonica will consider it also. Some others....


With each such news item the odds go up that some one of them WILL give it a go. But IT HAS to work at some reasonable level-

IF a carrier wants the data- mandate always listening on the flagship?
A lot of hearables have the data go to Amazon, to cut that out- put it on the smartphone flagship and then and only
then does the carrier get the data/. Dont let Amazon build itself bigger, keep some value for yourself- for its toooo late.

From this point of view it seems that it has to happen?
In Japan, or in Telefonica turf, or in KT, or China Mobile.

The carriers are smart to want the data. Telefonica really gets it.

 QUIK, can you get the Japanese OEM  concept c over to telefonica and sign them up?

the will be interested.

1. 
   

   I will also track carriers and voice - like this one
   
   
   MWC 2018: Telefónica rolls out Aura voice assistant in Chile
   February 26, 2018 Web Editor 0
   
   
   BARCELONA – Allying with tech giants Facebook, Google and Microsoft, Telefonica has launched Aura, an artificial intelligence-powered digital assistant, in six countries, as well as announcing a new initiative to bring 100 million people in Latin America online by using mobile networking technology for the first time.
   
   Both developments were presented by José María Alvárez-Pallete, Telefonica chairman-CEO, during a full keynote at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
   
   First announced at last year’s Mobile World Congress, Aura works much like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana, allowing customers to request information and control devices through voice commands.
   
   “Aura is born as a commitment to make the artificial intelligence capabilities of Telefónica available to our customers in order to offer them a differentiated and personalized experience.
   
   
   
   “I can tell you that I am very proud of what we have achieved. I’m very proud of my team. I am very proud of Telefónica and the future we are writing,” said Telefónica’s chairman José María Álvarez-Pallet.
   
   Powered by artificial intelligence, the Aura technology will be available through apps that Telefónica’s customers can download onto their mobile devices.
   
   The system, which is available in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, uses artificial intelligence to interact with costumers, allowing them to manage their digital experiences with Telefonica and control the data generated.
   
   
   
   The company said Aura will run on its Movistar+ pay-TV platform in Spain, while being available via Facebook Messenger in Chile and Germany. In Chile, it will also be integrated with Facebook’s Safety Check service to help Telefonica customers connect with friends and family in emergency situations such as earthquakes.
   
   
   Will they get to always listening ?
   It does help to show that the move to Voice is pervasive.
   

   jfieb, Yesterday at 6:00 PMEditDeleteReport

   #2Reply
2. 

   jfiebWell-Known Member

   
   

   Commentary: This snip is very useful to me
   
   
   Telefonica....
   Aura voice assistant 
   
   The system, which is available in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, uses artificial intelligence to interact with costumers, allowing them to manage their digital experiences with Telefonica and control the data generated.
   
   
   How?
   
   1. Its a carrier, and like several other carriers they have an idea to be the AMZN alexa where they are strong.
   Its different than in the USA.
   
   2. Its easy to see why these sorts of carriers, with this vision would seriously want to consider Always listening voice mandates for a flagship phone.
   
   that way they get the data.
   
   A smartphone OEM who has always listening smartphones to show them might get some interest.
   
   
   
   So Japan OEM, can you sign up telefonica soon, they have will have some interest in the concept phone.
   Tnks in advance