Oppo has filed a patent for a different type of technology for blood pressure monitoring in smartwatches.
The patent proposes using the strap of the smartwatch to create the air path required to take a measurement.
Smartwatches have come a long way in the last decade. When they first launched, they were more about mirroring your phone and showing you what notifications were coming through more quickly.
That's no longer the case though, with the best smartwatches now offering a much bigger focus on health features.
For devices like Apple Watch, there are functions like Afib and Sleep Apnea detection, while others, like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch Ultra for example, they offer also include the ability to take a blood pressure reading.
At the end of last year, Huawei announced the Huawei Watch D2, which looks like a chunky Apple Watch but is able to offer ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. This is a type of monitoring takes place over 24 hours, including automatic readings at night in order to give the user a better understanding of blood pressure changes throughout the entire day.
In order to do this, Huawei – and others – use airbag technology within their smartwatches, though that technology requires extra space in the watch casing in order to accommodate the air nozzle that inflates the air bag that is also in the watch case.
How will Oppo do blood pressure monitoring differently?
However, Oppo might have found an alternative that is similarly accurate, but more efficient. It recently filed a patent with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) that requires less space in the watch case, allowing for more sensors.
The patent filing was picked up by 91Mobiles and shows a different mechanism to what is currently used for blood pressure monitoring in smartwatches. It uses the watch strap instead.
As the report explains: "When the watch head is attached to the strap of the watch, it creates an air path, which in turn eliminates the need for having a separate air nozzle for inflating the airbag while taking blood pressure measurement."
It adds: "The strap helps in completing the air path, which has the air pump and the opening on the one end (towards the watch head) and strap and airbags on the other. The watch head connects to the strap using what the patent calls a ‘connecting assembly’."
The site also suggests that the patent could allow for better placement of internal components in future smartwatches and could therefore lead to more creative designs.
Of course, it is worth remembering that just because a patent has been granted, that doesn't automatically mean it will make its way onto a product.
There have been previous rumours suggesting Oppo might add a blood pressure monitor to the Oppo Watch X2, but whether it will and whether it will use the technology detailed in the patent remains to be seen for now.
It's also worth remembering that while Oppo might have this patent, if this technology is the way forward, others will no doubt follow with their own versions.
