Samsung Considers Hands-Free Biometric Authentication for Watches

When it comes to biometric authentication, Samsung is looking way beyond fingerprints.

The technology maker has filed a patent application that looks to verify wearable purchase attempts via minute muscle movements—the small changes that happen when the fingers make a click motion—verified potentially by heart activity monitored through an electrocardiogram signal, according to a report in Patently Mobile.

Other secondary verification data points Samsung mentioned in its filing were a photoplethysmogram signal—a means for checking pulse via light analysis—as well as voice-pattern analysis and the shopper's electrical impedance.

Samsung's smartphones have included fingerprint authentication since the early-2014 reveal of the Galaxy S5. The company has also included heart rate monitors in many of its smartwatches.

This patent is the latest hint of the non-traditional payments authentication potential from a wearable device, such as a watch or wristband. In theory, not only would such tracking feel effortless to the shopper, but it would be hard for a thief to replicate. The downside, though, includes potential privacy problems associated with a payments firm having access to such data. Electrical impedance, for example, can also be used to calculate body fat.

This authentication could also be triggered by deliberate movements prompted by the payment app, the story noted. "The user may generate the trigger signal by performing a predetermined gesture, for example, opening a hand, clenching a fist, rotating a wrist, and/or other gestures known to one of ordinary skill in the art."