In January 2015 our Patently Mobile site posted a report titled "Samsung Advances their Iris Scanning and Recognition System." Samsung's patent application covering iris scanning indicated that they were working with 'lndustry Academic Cooperation Foundation – Yonsei University' on this new iris scanning system as they're noted as being one of the patent assignees. The technology was to beef up their standing IP on this technology. A rumor swirled in 2014 that they were aiming to introduce iris scanning with their Galaxy S6 but it never came to be. Yet now there's more proof it could be a solution on the way. Samsung has officially filed for a set of new trademarks that strongly suggest that they're actively pursuing this feature for future Galaxy smart devices such as a smartphone and/or their VR Gear headset.

Galaxy Iris

Late last week we discovered two Samsung trademarks. The first presented below is for the new Galaxy Iris.





The trademark was filed under International Class 009 which in-part covers such things as "Mobile telephones, smartphones, wireless headsets, tablets, 3D eye glasses, for computer monitors, for document printers, for use in the field of medical services – namely image capture, image arching" and more.

Beyond the obvious use of this feature in Galaxy smartphones, tablets and VR Gear, it appears that Samsung envisions iris scanning to extend to the enterprise market as well by extending it to future printers and desktop monitors. At the moment, security systems for the home or office were not included.

Interestingly Samsung's priority filing wasn't made in Korea but rather Japan under application number 2016-053175, filed 05/17/2016.

Galaxy Eyeprint

The second trademark filing of interest that Samsung filed last week was one for 'Galaxy Eyeprint.' It was filed under International Class 009 and carries the same verbiage as we noted above for Galaxy Iris.

While a trademark filing doesn't necessarily guarantee that a feature or product matching it will magically appear overnight, it most definitely is a sign that Samsung's marketing team wants the trademark securely on record. Though in this case, that's playing it a little too safe.

In reality, Samsung has patents on this feature and the rumors swirling around this feature have been ongoing for at least two years now. Samsung's trademark filings would strongly suggest that this feature is nearing market introduction. Whether that's for 2016 or 2017 is unknown at this time.

Patently Mobile presents a basic summary of new trademark filings with their associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each such trademark is revealed by the U.S. and/or other foreign Patent & Trademark Offices. This category covers a few Industrial Design reports each year while others could be found in our granted patent archives. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any trademark application should be read in its entirety for further details. About Comments: Patently Mobile reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit comments.