Fitbit is already part of Google but it doesn’t mean the Fitbit team will stop working on new products. After the Fitbit Luxe fitness tracker was announced, several updates and improvements are also being released. There was the Stress Management being released to other trackers and smartwatches, two-factor authentication to protect accounts, and the recent Fitbit OS Update that added health features and more. Now we’re learning about a new patent that will offer more accurate blood pressure and SpO2 tracking.
The Fitbit smart ring patent is a new sensor technology that can offer better accuracy. It’s not official yet but a patent has surfaced, telling us about a ring that can offer medical grade tracking for health and wellness purposes. The patent was submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office and was later on spotted.
The filing tells us about a heart rate sensing smart ring design with important features. It was only published in June 2021 but the document was filed last year in December 2020.
The smart ring may also come with NFC which means the Fitbit Pay could be part of it. We can also look forward to a photodetector sensor. This one can check transmissive examination of blood oxygen levels–meaning better accuracy. Someday, glucose levels and blood pressure without the cuff may be tracked.
The patent says ”Systems can utilize the ring to monitor the oxygen saturation, pulse, blood pressure, glucose levels and lipd concentration”. That is enough to tell us the future wearable device will be useful.
A smart ring may work. We have seen similar concepts from years ago but nothing has really took off. There was that Samsung smart ring idea, the Talon smart ring game controller, and the Omate smart ring. Of course, we won’t forget the Oura ring, Amazon Echo Loop, and the Motiv Ring.
So this Fitbit smart ring seems interesting. It has potential to go big but we’re really not sure if many people will like the form factor. It can be used more extensively for medical purposes though. We’ll see.
