Google develops a technology to manage Pixel devices through gestures on the skin

Google is working on new technology that will give users the ability to control wearable Pixel devices, such as smartwatches or headphones, through touch control on the user’s skin.

The Lets Go Digital portal has had access to documents submitted in mid-2020 by Google LLC before the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO).

This patent is called ‘Skin Interface for Wearable Devices: Sensor Fusion to Improve Signal Quality’ and was approved and published on March 3, 2022.

What is it about?

It is a technology that receives the name of Sensor Fusion, it is integrated into the devices and is capable of capturing the mechanical waves created through gestures on the skin.

Once recorded by multiple sensors, the technology combines this motion data into an input command for the wearable Pixel device in use, such as a smartwatch or wireless headset.

In this way, you can raise or lower the volume of the headphones, as well as answer calls or resume playing audio or a song just by sliding your finger from the temple to the cheekbone or vice versa.

On the contrary, to manipulate the smartwatch, it would only be necessary to touch the wrist area and slide vertically, as well as on the back of the hand or on the forearm, according to the patent documentation.

Other gestures

In addition to swipes, this technology would be capable of registering other control gestures near the devices, such as a short or long touch, with one or several fingers, as well as the creation of touch areas in the shape of a rectangle, ellipse or circle.

In order for the devices to be able to distinguish between control movements and others that are not, which users make involuntarily, machine learning technology is used.

In this way, the user will be able to nod, chew, walk, pat or move his head without being detected as an input gesture by the devices and modifying its reproduction.

It should be remembered that at the end of February Sony introduced True Wireless Stereo (TWS) headphones with a similar feature, the Sony Link Buds.

They are equipped with a sensor that allows you to control the playback of a file without having to manipulate them, with what they have called a projected touch system. To do this, it is only necessary for users to touch their skin.