Microsoft smartwatch shown off in new patents

Microsoft smartwatch shown off in new patents
Microsoft looking to strap itself to your wrist soon

Microsoft is looking to head into the wearable market later this year, according to new patents that have been uncovered.

With Google going big on wearable tech at its recent Google I/O event, it seems every major technology company is fed up waiting for the iWatch and have decided to forge ahead in the smartwatch space.

This means wearable technology is soon to be a crowded market - so a USP is needed. According to the patents found by WMpoweruser, Microsoft believes it has found a way to be a little different.

One patent is for something called: "Discreetly Displaying Contextually Relevant Information on a display device."

While this sounds similar to the simple notifications that the Samsung Gear range offers, the patent shows this to be a little more feature rich, with turn by turn navigation illustrated in the filing.

Putting things into context

Perhaps more interesting, however, is another patent titled: "Dynamic User Interfaces Adapted to Inferred User Contexts".

This patent changes how the smartwatch works, depending on what situation you are in. The examples that are shown are for someone out driving, jogging and sitting down.

The arrival of these patents doesn't mean we will definitely see a Microsoft smartwatch - this tech could easily arrive in a third party wearable - but it's looking increasingly likely that we will see Microsoft for the wrist sometime soon.

Via IntoMobile

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.